The course:
The Ironhorse Classic is a race from Durango to Silverton over two mountain passes.
The race starts in Durango (elevation ~6500ft) and heads north on hiway 550
(perfect asphalt, huge shoulder, road closed!). The first 10 miles is nearly flat, then the
course tips slightly uphill until about mile 15, when the climb to Purgatory
(I guess it has been renamed the Durango Mountain Resort now) begins.
This climb lasts about 8 miles and climbs approximately 2200 ft for an average gradient
of around 5%. The first .5 mile is even steeper, and the peleton gets absolutely shattered here.
There is a brief respite from climbing between 24 and 30 miles - just some rollers as the route
passes through beautiful pine and aspen forests. A 180 degree switchback announces the
beginning of the climb to Coal Bank Pass. After a 6 mile, 6% climb the route crests the 10,600
foot Coal Bank Pass before plunging 800 feet in 2.5 miles. Another 180 degree switchback and
the route climbs to Molas Pass. At 10,900 feet, Molas is the highest point in the race. However,
the climb to Molas is less severe than to Coal Bank; 4 miles at an average gradient of around 4%.
After Molas the course falls 1500 feet to the finish in Silverton.
The strategy:
Although somebody always attempts to get away in advance of the big climbs, they very rarely
succeed. The first pitch towards Purgatory makes the initial selection while the climb to Coal Bank
Pass usually determines the winner - or at least the podium. The descents are neither really steep
or really technical, with only a couple of tight switchbacks to provide an opportunity for the good
descenders to shine. So, my strategy was to stay with the peleton in the lead-up to the first climb,
make sure I was in the first 10 or 15 when the climb starts, and to try and stay with the front group
on the climb. Assuming I was successful there (and if I wasn't, it probably wouldn't matter for the rest
of the race) I would test myself on Coal Bank Pass against the leaders. Then I would either try to
hang on (if they were stronger) or drop as many as I could on Coal Bank, with a final showdown on
the climb to Molas.
The race:
The whistle started the race at 8:05 MDT, and one rider shot off the front immediately.
Although I had lined up at the very front, I had no interest in using all my energy on the flats and let
him go. One other rider bridged up so there were two riders out from the starting gun. The peleton
was fairly disinterested in chasing, and the pace was moderate. We kept the two leaders barely
in sight up to the initial climb. As expected, the climbers went to the front and pushed hard on this
first climb, and 2/3 of the field was dropped within a half mile. I was in the first four or five riders when
an Excel Sports rider from Boulder started to get a gap. With 8000ft of climbing still to come I didn't
want to hit the redline, and let him go (a mistake I'll come to regret later). He took one other rider
with him. There were now 4 riders in front of me (the two that took off at the starting gun, plus the
two that were getting away on the first climb). I turned around to check on the peleton, but I was
alone between the leaders and the group. I set a steady pace and continued to climb.
The Excel Sports rider dropped his companion and I caught up to that dropped rider in short order.
There were now three riders in front of me, and I had one rider to work with. We soon reeled in the
two riders that initially broke away at the starting line; now only the Excel Sports rider was off the
front. Not long after that, a group of 7 or 8 riders from the main peleton managed to catch our small
group of 4. After the chase none of them were particularly interested in working at the front, so I
worked with one or two other guys to limit the damage until we got to the base of Coal Bank Pass.
I was feeling pretty confident in my ability to ride with this group up the hill, as I had dropped most of
them on the first climb. However, one of the original breakaway riders put in a hard attack at the start
of the climb, and I had to dig pretty deep to stay on his wheel. No use saving any energy now; this is
the climb that decides the race. The attack narrowed the group of survivors to five. The pace slackened
a bit as that selection was made, and I went to the front to keep the pace high on the climb. The six
miles to the summit took a little over ½ hour. As I crested the summit I looked back to see three other
riders still with me. Excel Sports was still out front, and with literally thousands of riders on the course,
we had no way of knowing if he was 10 seconds or 10 minutes ahead. I pulled up my arm warmers,
zipped up my vest and began the descent. Just as I was beginning to build speed, a rider I did not
recognize flew by me (and our group of 4) so fast nobody could tell if he was in the 45+ field or not.
So now we had one off the front for sure (Excel Sports), and maybe one other. There was open road
ahead of me, and the corners off Coal Bank were not very difficult, so I got off the seat, laid on the top
tube and hammered down the descent. To my enormous surprise (since I SUCK on the downhills),
I actually dropped 2 of the three riders that were with me at the summit of Coal Bank Pass.
So, it was me and Xavier (Chavy) Fane from Crested Butte at the start of the climb to Molas, with
Excel Sports and *maybe* one other rider in front of us. I recovered well on the descent, and felt
good starting the last climb. I rode hard, and soon dropped Chavy. Suddenly I summitted Molas and
zipped up for one last descent into Silverton. I flew by Rob Dolman and Gerard Prosnier, who apparently
decided to ride the Cat 3 race as a tour (Rob had actually just finished a 30 mph tour of the boulders just
off one of the tighter turns on the descent, but turned out to be OK). No riders passed me on this descent,
so I reached the outskirts of Silverton confident I had at least third place wrapped up. This year the course
ended on the far side, instead of the near side, of Silverton, which gave you about an extra half mile of a
slight uphill grade to outsprint any competitors. Again, there were so many riders on the course I couldn't
tell who was or wasn't in my race, so I did my best imitation of a sprint to the finish. I passed 10 - 12 riders
(none of them in an Excel Sports uniform), and finished in about 2:36:00.
The final results confirmed that the rider who passed me on the descent from Coal Bank was indeed a 45+
racer, so I ended up in third place. It also turns out I was only thirteen lousy seconds away from winning the
race. Sigh - I wish I had some time checks out on the course. I don't know that I could have caught him,
or beat him at the line, but it would have been fun to try. Oh well, that's the end of spring race season.
I'm taking some time off racing this summer, then leaving for a 4 week bike tour this fall, so I don't have
any races planned until the Furnace Creek 508 in October. Good luck to all the Procon racers this
summer and fall.
-Craig Long
|