Lookout Mountain

Yesterday was the annual hill climb race up Lookout Mountain. I didn't scare anyone with my climbing prowess, but I was pleased with my results.

For once, my category got to start a little later in the morning (10AM) which gave me the time to get there early to register and warm up. This, more than most other races, requires a good warmup. I ended up warming up for 40 minutes, but I think I should have gone a little longer. I was a little worried about getting all my extra stuff in the car and getting to the line in time for a good starting position. I still ended up starting near the back of the pack, which isn't a huge deal on this race but it still added probably 10 seconds to my time.

Partway up I got a really bad side cramp and had to let up a bit. I hadn't been looking at my heart rate during the race, but afterwords I can see why I was hurting. My heart rate was pegged between 180 and 190 the whole time. One of the cool things about this race is that having all those fast riders around makes me go that much harder.

Last year my time up Lookout was 24:10. Last week when I rode it as training my time was 22:40. Yesterday my time was 21:48. A personal best, and an excellent year-to-year improvement (almost 10%). I love knowing that training works. :)