Because most people can’t stay atop a unicycle for more than a moment or two, seeing a one-wheeled rider cranking up mountain passes and rolling into Silverton is quite the event.
Mike Tierney of Aspen first attempted riding a unicycle in the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic in 2005. He was urged to enter by fellow unicyclist Bill Manning, then the director of Trails 2000, who had cajoled the Iron Horse into allowing a “uni” division.
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.”
About six unicyclists began with the train whistle that year. Some made it down Main Avenue, some to the Animas Valley. Manning made it to Purgatory. There were few other two-wheeled riders around by that point, but Tierney kept going.
He was no stranger to mountain passes – he trained on 12,095-foot-high Independence Pass – but he wasn’t used to linking two passes together, and was still nervous about finishing. He got kudos from onlookers, but by the time he rolled into Silverton, “they actually rolled the streets up,” Tierney recalled with a laugh. He was hoping to eat at the restaurant that had posted a sign, “Free food to unicyclists or Lance,” but it was already closed.
A few officials disassembling the finish line congratulated him, but otherwise the street was deserted. It had taken about six hours. A dozen people were anxiously waiting on a bus for him to arrive so they could all head back to Durango. As great a day as it was, the end was a little anticlimactic.
Ten years later he tried again. This time, in 2015, he started early so he could blend in with other riders.
“What a difference that made,” he said. “That turned the event into a whole nother ballgame.”
He mixed in with the event for the final 2½ to 3 hours and had a ball.
“You lost a wheel,” a passing rider would quip.
“I live in Aspen. I can only afford one.”
As he approached Silverton, word spread.
“There were people running out of stores: ‘The unicyclist is here!’” Tierney said. “You could just see the wave build.”
He felt the appreciation and the love and felt the tears welling. “It’s a moment that I want to bottle up for history.”
After that, Tierney decided to do the Iron Horse every year to push his limits and pedal a highway with no cars. He sees how it makes people’s day to see him, and likes the feeling of giving back to the world in a fun, positive way.
In spring 2022, Tierney, 63, retired from 42 years of serving on the Aspen Highlands ski patrol. He still runs a solar energy business, now in its 40th year.
In an April interview, Tierney said he planned on making perhaps a final Iron Horse unicycle trip, his eighth, to celebrate the 50th.
“It’s just so cool how they support this thing,” Tierney said of the Durango and Silverton communities. “Over 50 years of doing it, and it hasn’t shown any letdown.”
