Iron Horse weekend in Durango is always huge. It's no coincidence that Ed Zink's child falls during the greenest time of the year, drought notwithstanding. Since I'm in a really big training binge right now, I decided to ride up the course early & take photos instead of racing, that way I can keep piling on the hard miles.
Time is still limited cause I'm heading out the door shortly for what will likely be a 10 hour MTB epic - details to follow - but here is a sampler of yesterday's road race.
Our very own Rolando Gonzales (well sorta...he rides for Team HealthFX in the dirt, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory on the road) took the win. RMCF took charge of the race at milepost 1, sending an early break up the road comprised of some all-rounders and riders with good power on the flats. Word on the street is Grant Berry was instrumental on the flats, fully sacrificing himself for the better climbers. He still managed a top 15 finish, and that's damn good in this race. Nobody expected them to stay away and nobody chased. Rolando was in this group and continued to ride stellar through the passes to take the win. I don't know what the final time gaps were, but the gap between the first 4 and the chase group was huge, seemed well over 5 minutes but I wasn't looking at time. RMCF owned the race putting a flock of riders in the top 20 and possibly 5 in the top 10...
The chase group was comprised of Scott Moninger, Mitch Moreman, Phil Z (how is that spelled??), and last year's winner Eric Carter. They were hauling the mail when they went by my spot near the top of Molas. How fast? Check out this short video clip (apologies in advance for the lame quality, but hey, it's my first).
Lot's of other great rides out there. There was an endless stream of riders in the passes...it was impressive to see. Lot's of smiles too, surprsingly.
T. Brown rode singlespeed, of course. Or is that a fixie? Gawd, I hope not.
Ned hammers away only seconds behind the chase group.
Robbie Robinette, 40-44 national champ showing good form for a giant.
Ian rode a strong race in the 3's
More pics up here.