photos by Stephen Eginoire

The cycling mecca of the Southwest will once again be in the limelight as the 40th annual Iron Horse Bicycle Classic returns to Durango this weekend. With a jam-packed schedule full of on- and off-road madness, racers have been busy with a little last-minute conditioning. And for some, that means stacking up the road miles and crushing the vertical. Heres a glimpse of last weekends round of pavement pounding, as cyclists voyaged north on U.S. Hwy 550, where Old Man Winter was still alive and well.

Classic. Cruising past the Coal Creek hairpin. Engineer Mountain rises above Durango Mountain Resort, as a rider heads home toward greener pastures. The reward: bombing down Shalona Hill. Finally, some downhill. A rider makes it over a very wintery Coal Bank Pass. Pigeon and Turret peaks, seen here, are just a few of the 13ers riders have the pleasure of viewing. Scottsdale crew Melissa and Art McWhirtet, left, and Kurt Kutzleb, right, of Durango, chit-chat on top of Coal Bank.

 

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