John Rubano moved to Durango full-time in 2007. A Denver-area native, the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic had taken on “mythical status” during his youth after a bike-tinkering hippie down the street mentioned it.
The neighbor showed him French-language cycling magazines, and the young Rubano ate it up. “I don’t know what it was. It was just magical to me.” The guy owned a vintage mail truck he would drive to races.
“He goes, Oh, there’s this race down in Durango called the Iron Horse,” Rubano recalled. He replied with a boy’s curiosity: “Oh, tell me about it!”
After living in Chicago and Los Angeles, where he established a career as an actor/musician – he was a regular on ABC’s “According to Jim” and still tours as trumpet player with Jim Belushi and the Sacred Hearts Band – Rubano and his wife, Sue, settled on Durango.
The couple had vacationed in Southwest Colorado since the 1990s, and after arriving for good, John gravitated toward the bike scene.
It wasn’t long before the gregarious Rubano had met many of the local players and become a road and gravel group ride pillar, as well as a regular at Bread, the bakery from where many rides begin. He credits Bread’s co-owner, the late Rob Kabeary, and Mountain Bike Specialists manager John Glover for speeding his indoctrination into the local cycling life.
Rubano – also known for his touring four-man play “The Bicycle Men,” which he brought to Durango in 2012 and 2015 – raced and rode the Iron Horse a total four times before an idea took hold: The Iron Horse should have a gravel ride. He approached executive director Gaige Sippy with the idea in 2017.
Gravel riding can be traced back more than 100 years. Before pavement was nearly ubiquitous, long bike rides used gravel or dirt roads of necessity. The Tour de France and other European stage races often used gravel or dirt roads, and some still do. Gravel riding has taken hold lately in the United States for several reasons.
Said Durango rider Ned Overend, “One of the reasons people are into gravel is cars scare the hell out of them.” Durango riders have trained on gravel “since forever,” he said.
Rubano every fall would do a large group gravel ride during the “Boure Bike Fweest” organized by Drew Bourey and Wade Moore in the 2000s. Overend, Devo co-founder Chad Cheeney, local cycling icon Hal McLean and others led or were involved with various rides.
Meanwhile, rides such as Unbound Gravel, a 200-mile marathon gravel ride in Kansas, were blowing up in popularity. Some are rides, some are races. Every August, Steamboat Springs now hosts “SBT GRVL,” four routes from 37 to 142 miles. “Belgian Waffle Rides” are gravel events held in four states scattered during the year, with 50 to 85 percent of the 100-plus-mile routes off-road. Durangoan Sarah Sturm won the 2019 BWR in San Diego.
Unbound Gravel, in the Flint Hills around Emporia, Kansas, is the iconic event of gravel, riders agree. It began in 2006 with 34 riders and now hosts around 4,000 for the one-day event in early June.
To keep up, the bicycle industry began creating gravel-specific bikes. Overend represents Specialized, which offers multiple styles, including a gravel ebike.
So when Rubano approached Sippy, it didn’t take much convincing. Yep, this is the biggest growth area, Sippy agreed. He asked Rubano to think up a good course.
Gravel roads wind through much of La Plata County, not to mention surrounding counties. Rubano came up with a 50-mile loop that incorporated county roads east of Durango, including the well-known “Glockenspiel,” a quick, steep climb and descent, and the Texas Creek section.
The Iron Horse debuted gravel riding in 2017, and Rubano dubbed it “La Strada La Plata.” It’s a lyrical name, and also an homage to the Strade Bianche, a one-day Italian race that uses gravel roads and is quickly becoming a classic.
Rubano enjoyed the camaraderie of La Strada La Plata, and introduced many participants – more than 100 that first year, larger numbers in following years – to a new network of roads.
“I’ve never been on those roads before,” was a typical reaction, Rubano said. Many were hooked: “It’s beautiful. There’s no one out there. It’s great.”
When local rider and racer Ian Burnett joined the Iron Horse team, he inaugurated a second gravel loop, and the Iron Horse now offers 55- and 93-mile courses with aid stations.
Rubano envisions a weekend of gravel rides for the Durango area, perhaps based out of Durango Mesa Park. But that’s in the future.
“Gravel’s blowing up all over the country,” Rubano said. “It really is.”
