Sgt. Ben Stuever with the Colorado State Patrol met with race director Gaige Sippy at 6 a.m., and the two men made the call immediately.

"All we needed was a car to spin out of control and hit a bunch of bikes, and that's before the road closure - the road got much worse from (Durango Mountain Resort)," Stuever said.

"Also, we don't want all these people cold, wet and freezing to death. It had to happen one year, didn't it?" he said.

Former race director Ed Zink, who has been involved in every Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, said it was the first time the race was canceled entirely. In 1997, riders were pulled off the course because of cold and wet weather, and no results were recorded.

"It was a pretty easy call - there's a lot of snow up there," Zink said.

Sippy said there were 5 inches of new snow at Durango Mountain Resort and more than a foot in Silverton on Saturday morning.

Word spread quickly about the cancellation, and downtown eateries swelled with idle riders.

"I'm really disappointed, but I understand why they did it - it's just not worth the medical risks, for one thing," said Linda Lacy, a physician from El Paso, Texas, who began training for the ride in December.

Lacy was eating breakfast with her family among a standing-room only crowd at Carver Brewing Co. She said it was a shock to arrive in Durango after leaving the 100-degree temperatures of West Texas.

"The anxiety was more in the preparation for the weather than the climb itself - I didn't bring the clothes I needed," Lacy said.

All citizens' tour riders received their souvenir T-shirts, which many agreed will become collector's items.

Race organizers will not refund the registration fee. In a news release, race organizers said that entry fees are used to pay for law enforcement, transportation, the event's Web site, materials and other non-refundable costs. The IHBC also will donate a portion of the proceeds to Mercy Regional Medical Center's new breast- cancer center.

The ride to Silverton could not be rescheduled for today or Monday because the IHBC permit to close U.S. Highway 550 was good for only Saturday because of the additional State Patrol personnel necessary to staff the race. Also, IHBC staff members and volunteers will be working at the Morehart Subaru Downtown Criterium today and at the Alpine Bank East Animas Time Trial on Monday.

Riders may transfer their registration fees to either the criterium or the time trial, but Zink said both are filling up quickly.

The criterium is an in-town, high-speed race divided into several age and ability categories. Zink said the registration deadline is one hour before each race.

For Monday's time trial, the registration deadline is noon today.

Zink said this is the first year a time trial has been part of the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic since the 1980s. Individual riders leave the starting point on East Animas Road (County Road 250) near 32nd Street every 30 seconds and are timed in a semi-sprint north across Baker's Bridge, up Shalona Hill on County Road 250 and across the finish line near the railroad tracks.

"It's like a triathlon," Zink said. "You have to ride by yourself, which is probably something different for a lot of the Iron Horse riders."

Zink said neither the criterium nor the time trial can accommodate the 2,500 riders who were literally left out in the cold Saturday morning, but he said there's nothing stopping people from making the trek to Silverton anyway.

"(Today) is predicted to be absolutely beautiful, and we encourage people to get out and enjoy it," Zink said.

"We can't support their rides, but if they came from a long way away, then they should take a nice little ride while they're here."

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