Here at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, we love celebrating the connections between the steam-powered locomotives of yesterday and our leg-powered locomotives of today. A rail-trail, or a rail-with-trail, is a great way to pay tribute to the nation's railroad history by integrating it with our recreation and transportation future.

But how to describe the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic? Staged on neither a rail-trail nor rail-with-trail, this annual bike race set amongt the San Juan Mountains of central Colorado creates a unique connection between bike and train. As in, bike versus train.

Back in the day when mining for gold and silver was the biggest industry in the region, Jim Hayer worked as a brakeman on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, which had run steam-powered locomotives between the mining towns of Durango and Silverton since the 1880s.

Jim's younger brother Tom was a bicycle enthusiast who grew up alongside the same tracks on which his brother worked every day. A healthy rivalry naturally developed between older and younger brother. One day, full of the flush of youth, Tom challenged Jim to a race--Tom on his bike, Jim on his train--from their home to nearby Silverton.

As the train came by the house, the steam whistle screamed, signaling Tom to climb onto his steel-framed 10-speed and pedal furiously up over the rim of the volcano, down into the caldera and to Silverton below. The train took a shorter and easier route, but with limited speed due to the narrow twists and turns, making for an even contest between man and machine. When Tom eventually became strong enough to win--which he did--the bragging rights were his, and the whole town knew it.

Years later, in the spring of 1972, 36 riders came together to celebrate the season's first run of the train and to accept the challenge made legendary by Tom and Jim Hayer. In the 37 years since, the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic has become one of the most renowned bike events in the West, famed not just for the unique character of the race but also for its stunning natural setting.

Held each Memorial Day weekend, the event now attracts riders from across the world, each competing to beat each other as well as the puffing engine that races them into Silverton on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, now a National Historic Landmark.

If the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic sounds like your kind of challenge, be sure to book ahead. Many of the categories for this year's event are already full. Check the event website at www.ironhorsebicycleclassic.com for details.

Photos courtesy Imagesmith Photo.