No racer’s name is more attached to the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic than Ned Overend’s.

It was the Iron Horse that jump-started his cycling career. His five men’s road race wins are unparalleled. In return, his presence has attracted hundreds, if not thousands, to the Memorial Day weekend festival.

In an April interview, the cycling legend and Durango hometown hero talked not only about what the Iron Horse has meant to his career, but to the lives of others in the community. It starts with Ed Zink, whose boundless energy kept the event going from its inception to its 50th running this year.

“It’s his legacy, for sure. It’s an amazing legacy,” Overend said of Zink, who died in October 2019 at age 71. “Not only the amount of lives he’s touched by people who have embraced the Iron Horse and gotten into cycling because of it. But also racers like myself who he’s helped inspire and gotten into the sport.”

About this series

This year marks the 50th running of the annual Durango-to-Silverton race pitting bikes against train. Ed Zink, who promoted and fostered the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic from the start in 1972, died in October 2019. He was eagerly anticipating the 50th anniversary, and this Memorial Day weekend’s festival is being held in his memory.

In conjunction with the Iron Horse organizing committee and as part of its 50th celebration, former Durango Herald writer and editor John Peel put together a series of stories looking back at the race and ride’s history. These stories and more were compiled in a book, “Iron Horse Bicycle Classic 50th Anniversary: Looking Back, Racing Forward.”

There is a definite “Ned factor” to the Iron Horse and the growth of Durango cycling, Iron Horse outgoing director Gaige Sippy said, recalling conversations he had with Zink. Overend’s popularity was a factor in bringing racers to Durango, and even citizen riders to the Iron Horse. After all, not everyone has a trail-filled in-town mountain park named in their honor, as Overend Mountain Park is for Ned.

Overend was 26 when he competed in his first Iron Horse in 1982. By then he had established himself as a top competitor in local running events. But an overuse injury from mountain running nudged him toward cycling.

As he participated in the Narrow Gauge 10-mile run during Memorial Day weekend, he noted the excitement from the downtown road bike criterium happening simultaneously. Cycling drew a crowd, and, “If you’re an athlete, you want to be part of that.”

Overend had dabbled in triathlons, and now became more acquainted with his 10-speed Crescent road bike, which a Swedish high school cross-country teammate had sold him in San Diego. With Reynolds 531 tubing, Campagnolo groupset, and sew-up tires, the bike was reasonably state-of-the-art.

Riding with the local hotshots gave him a clue that he “had some potential.” For the 1982 Iron Horse, he entered as a Category 4 racer, the low rung on the racing ladder, and was “fully expecting to win” that category. What he didn’t foresee was competition from Santa Fe, New Mexico, rider Todd Gogulski, a 20-year-old Cat 4 rider just starting a successful career. Gogulski would go on to join Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong on top international teams, then make a name as a cycling TV broadcaster.

Overend said he and Gogulski had an epic battle, with Ned pulling off the Cat 4 win. His time was within 2 minutes of the overall winner, Jonathan Boyer, and within a minute of Andy Hampsten, another notable pro.

The Outdoorsman (now Mountain Bike Specialists) hired him as a mechanic early in 1983, and Zink made sure Overend’s schedule allowed him time to train and compete. Overend, still working his way up the cycling ladder, returned to the Iron Horse in 1983. He won the overall men’s road race as a Cat 2 rider, beating U.S. Cycling Team member Ron Kiefel by 2 minutes. (Later that year Kiefel would win the national road and time trial titles.)

Within a couple of years Overend gravitated toward mountain biking and began winning national and international titles in that discipline. At the 1986 Iron Horse, Overend pulled off the first King of the Mountain double, winning the Saturday road race to Silverton and the Monday mountain bike race at Edgemont Ranch. The Edgemont event was a trial run for Durango hosting the National Off-Road Bicycle Association championships later in the year; Ned would win that, too.

Arguably his career highlight occurred in 1990 when he won the first mountain bike championships sanctioned by the established world body of cycling, Union Cycliste Internationale, or UCI. Overend raised his arms in triumph as he crossed the finish in front of an adoring throng of hundreds of fans at Purgatory ski area. Thirty-two nations competed.

Most men’s road wins

Five:

• Ned Overend (1983, 1986, 1987, 1992, 2011)

Three:

• Burke Swindlehurst (1995, 1998, 2010)
• Scott Price (1999, 2000, 2001)

Two:

• John Timbers (1973, 1974)
• Alexi Grewal (1979, 1984)
• Mike Carter (1988, 2005)
• Anthony Colby (2007, 2009)

After winning his fourth Iron Horse road race in 1992, the next victory was a long time coming, and unexpected when it did. People already impressed with his career longevity were further amazed when in 2011, at age 55, he outdescended Durango 19-year-old Howard Grotts to roll into Silverton for a fifth title.

That win was met by incredulity and deep appreciation by his fans, many of whom are near his age and found inspiration.

Said Overend: “It’s always a big deal to win the Iron Horse.”

Overend was a bit stunned when informed during the interview that he’d be racing his 40th Iron Horse this year. (That wasn’t quite correct because of the 2008 cancellation when no one started. Actually, 2022 will be No. 39.) He finished all but one of those, in 1989, when he dropped out with what was later diagnosed as mononucleosis.

Like any rider, he sees the attraction of riding beautiful alpine passes, the lure of doing it with no cars on the road, the challenge of churning uphill a total of 5,500 feet.

“Kudos to the Iron Horse committee who puts it on and maintains it,” Overend said. “It takes a tremendous amount of energy.”

He still trains for the Iron Horse, but for the 50th running had no expectations and felt little of the pressure he once did.

“I’m looking forward to it.”