<\/p>\n
Marisa Asplund finally won an Iron Horse Bicycle Classic on Saturday after three runner-up finishes.<\/p>\n
The Durango native crossed the finish line at Durango Mountain Resort in 1 hour, 26 minutes, 51 seconds, claiming the title in the shortened 26.5-mile race.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about time. Truth be told, as I\u2019m sure a lot of people are, a little disappointed with the course,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, I feel satisfied; it\u2019s not the queen stage it usually is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow Durangoans Sheena Carswell and Maria Santiago came in second at 1:27:01 and third at 1:33:09, respectively.<\/p>\n
Both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s fields started together, which played into the strategy of the women\u2019s race, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was from the gun. I was really having to toe the line with all the men,\u201d Asplund said. \u201cBecause everyone was fighting for wheels, it was screaming fast out of the valley.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asplund, the 37-year-old coach, counselor, trainer and therapist, jumped to the front of the women\u2019s field early, keeping up with men\u2019s racers Ned Overend and Todd Wells out of the gate.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s pretty good company \u2013 a Hall of Fame cyclist and a three-time Olympic mountain biker, respectively \u2013 for the rider who\u2019s missed the last couple of years of competitive cycling because of a blood disorder.<\/p>\n
Asplund held that position leading into the first hill, and she kept her lead through the finish.<\/p>\n
The field started to scatter more as they started to climb Shalona Hill, the race\u2019s first big climb.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people went out fast. There was no easy rollout through the valley,\u201d said Carswell, a 43-year-old registered nurse at Southwest Cardiology Associates. \u201cIt was a little daunting being with the men.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carswell tried to stay with a group as much as she could, but she couldn\u2019t make up the distance to Asplund, who has a decade\u2019s worth of professional cycling experience and is a trained triathlete.<\/p>\n
Asplund thrice times has finished runner-up to Mara Abbott, who holds the IHBC women\u2019s record with four titles.<\/p>\n
Abbott wasn\u2019t in this field, which raced to the top of the DMR parking lot in front of the plaza, climbing sharply after the downhill from Needles Country Store leading to Purgatory\u2019s front gate.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrutal. Totally brutal. I\u2019ve been up here a million times, but we didn\u2019t know exactly where it would finish,\u201d Asplund said. \u201cWe came around the corner, and people started their sprint. Typically we\u2019re not sprinting at 9,000 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n