Thursday, June 2, 2011

THE Iron Horse

The Family Davis had another amazing adventure in Durango this weekend. Thanks to Uncle Mitch Spencer rode in his first Iron Horse. Nearly 2,500 riders race the Silverton Train over a few mountain passes. The race is only 50 miles but 30 of those miles are straight up hill. One of the things I love about Spence is when he gets into something he does his best to understand it, and his bike is no different. Before the race he switched all his cables, tuned the gears and replaced both wheels. He rode with the Fort Lewis College centennial team so he wore a special jersey and started in the front. We made signs to cheer him on, but the boys were only interested for about 3 secs. We rode up a few miles to cheer him on before it go too steep and they shut the road down. He had to climb over two 11,000 foot peaks! The tallest we have around here is 8,000 so he couldn't even train for it. Spencer is really amazing, not only did he make it but he's such a gentleman he helped some random lady over the last peak. As he approached her he could hear that she was sobbing, literally crying as she pedaled. I guess she was spent and worried the sweeper car was going to catch her before she could get over the last peak and the head wind was just about to do her in. So Spencer talked to her, calmed her down and let her draft off of him. So he pulled her over the top before leaving her on the last decent. What an amazing guy! We are so proud of him!! Way to go Spencer.

During the rest of the weekend Mitch showed us a great time in Durango, we watched the llama movie 5 times and attended more races. It was a great weekend and the boys can't wait to see Uncle Mitch again. Audrey thought the criterium was amazing and laughed the whole time. She won all the spectators around us over and had her own fan base.

2 comments:

Daryl & Gayelene said...

Way to go Spencer. That is some steep mountain passes. I bet it was a beautiful ride, if you could enjoy it while pedaling.

Delia D'Nell said...

wow! That is awesome!