Cocoposts

Four Decades on the Horse

Will Sands in The Durango Telegraph has the history of the Iron Horse, the bike race from Durango to Silverton this weekend, and the brothers who started it all. (Telegraph Photo of rider on Coal Bank Pass last week.)

Four decades later, Tom and Jim Mayer are also going to make a second run at it. In honor of the 40th anniversary, the brothers will again race from Durango to Silverton this Saturday, Jim inside the locomotive and Tom atop the same Schwinn Paramount that he rode and won the original challenge on back in 1971. “It’s no longer a 10-speed; my knees can’t do that any more,” Mayer said. “But I thought it would only be appropriate to ride the original frame in tribute.”

(Telegraph photo of an early Iron Horse race)

Dick Frances - Horseman

Dick Francis died Valentine's Day.  The New York Times captures his flashy professional horse career as champion jockey before the 42 books.  

His lifelong deep affinity for horses is described by The Mail Online - Welsh-born to a "horsey" family,  a truant who rode more than he studied.  (Sorta sounds familiar.)  

But the bestest part about the Mail story that the Times won't touch is the contention that Francis didn't write his books.  His wife did.