Riding up Lookout Mountain

I enjoy bicycling.  Every since my knee surgery, running has not been the same for me, and I don't enjoy swimming in winter.  Colorado has some of the finest cycling around.  So, bicycling works for me.

Typically, winters mean long hours with the trainer.  However, every once in a while, even in winter, the sun peeks out and things warm up.  The high today was 55* per Apple Widget, 57* per car thermometer.  I wanted to take the opportunity to get out and ride.


My favorite ride around is Lookout Mountain.  Lookout is right here in downtown Golden, CO, and so it is extremely convenient.  Although we have a community center (gym) in town with all your typical fitness-equipment type of devices, Lookout is like the ultimate outdoor playground.  On a given summer day, you could run into cyclists (road, mtn, and unicycle), hikers, runners, trail runners, dog walkers, skateboard racers, parachuter-people catching thermals, climbers, hang-gliders, model RC airplane enthusiasts, photographers, and tourists.  The perfect thing about riding Lookout, is that there are so many optional extra loops and possibilities at the top that keep you going up if you are so inclined.  Otherwise, you can cruise down and be done, or indulge in some repeats.


Today was mostly cyclists and tourists.  Maybe a couple of the model airplane guys and hikers with dogs.


I typically don't enjoy riding when the weather is below 60*, but today was an easy exception.  My road bike is packed away for the winter.  No matter, given the shape I'm in, the mountain bike was the logical choice.    I knew I had lost fitness, my only goal was a leisurely ride up the mountain.  I wasn't looking to lollygag, but I purposefully left my HR monitor at home (I later wished I'd had it).


As noted above, the "course record" for this is around 16 minutes.   My personal best is about 27 minutes and change (near empty road bike), and the first few times I tried it on my mountain bike just getting into it was somewhere around 40-45 minutes.   Today took me 1 hour.   60 minutes exactly.   It was easily the hardest trip I've ever made up the hill.  It is amazing how decimated my fitness now is.  I had been riding regularly until early September.  I passed no one, and everyone passed me.  There was some pain, and there were definitely a few times I was ready to just turn back down.   I made it up, though.   Towards the top, it got easier.  Granted, this is a geographic phenomena on the actual hill as it flattens out, but seeing what would normally be a nothing of a sight was tremendous.

When I ride this route with my club in summer, this is our re-grouping point.  There were no one around from the club who had beaten me to the top today, in fact, no one was hanging out, but it was still nice to see.


Of note, one of the things I alluded to earlier in the blog were weird symptoms going back into summer and possibly spring.  Every ride up is timed (by me).  I worked twice as hard and twice as smart in 2009 as I did in 2008, and all summer long, my times were consistently 3-5 minutes behind 2008 times.  I wasn't sure what to make of it then, so I worked harder, but I'm happy enough to blame it on the massive lymph nodes now.


From here, on a given summer day, I may not even bother to stop and instead press on straight ahead for further climbing up towards Genesee.  On a weekend group ride, this may just be the beginning of a ride into Evergreen or to Idaho Springs and the Central City Parkway before hitting Rollinsville.   


Today, it was my finishing point, or very nearly so.   It is beyond rare that I actually bother to hit the "Observation Deck," but given the difficulty of the ride, I wanted to.   Draw your own symbolism for the ride.