The 12 Days of Lookout

On the way back to the start line of the Haystack TTT one of my teammates, Lucas, informed me that we may very well be the only 3’s on the team in town for the Lookout Hill Climb race on May 1st. Most of the 3’s are heading down to the Gila in New Mexico, leaving a scant few behind to race the local events and try to mix it up for more Best All Round Team (BAT) points. Since our team is off to a great start this season, keeping some BAT effort going despite the absence of most of the team might make a difference in the long run. I felt the grim hand of fate now steering me toward the base of Lookout Mountain…it would certainly be a killing. Despite Lucas’s assurances that he’d help pace me up the hill as long as he could (it likely should be the other way around) I still had my reservations about doing it. While the only thing to lose is about $30 bucks and the ability to walk for the rest of the afternoon, it doesn’t make sense to enter events like this if you really don’t stand a snowball’s chance of making it. One should play to their strengths, and for the weak its better to just play with yourself or something like that. In any case, it was about at this point in my self-doubt and wallowing that I agreed to give it a shot.

The Lookout Hill climb is a 4.5 mile mass start race up the winding, steep grades of Lookout Mountain Road: from pillar to post just about 1,200 feet of elevation gain. I’ve done this race and it is brutal. An event geared strictly towards mountain goats, anyone without some serious base mileage and intense training doesn’t stand a chance in hell. So as I pondered this fate and my options for helping out the team, I settled on an idea, and a far fetched one at that. Bike racing is not like a History or Math test…you can’t cram for it at the last minute, yet with my proverbial test on the horizon that is about the only thread of hope I can cling to. So I decided that I will cram for the Lookout Hill Climb: over the next two weeks I will ride Lookout in some form or fashion at least once every day. Is this an advisable training plan?--absolutely not. Is it a good idea?--not really. Will it work?--time will tell. I only want to crack the top 10...15...ok 20. My odds may very well be better that only 20 people will enter.

I’ve already ridden Lookout a handful of times this year, but nothing like the regularity of last year when my training was certainly more focused and disciplined. It was also around mid May, when I was feeling my best cycling shape ever, I clocked a 19:47 time (measured unofficially of course, I’ve bombed both of my past officially timed Lookout efforts.) About a minute off the 3’s winning time for last year, I can’t help but think that lazy 2010 Jason is even more screwed if uber-motivated 2009 Jason didn’t stand a chance. I think I managed a 24:45 a couple weeks back, under extreme duress and self pitying. I have a long way to go.

On Sunday I set about my task at hand with great flourish and enthusiasm. I rode from my home out to Lookout and climbed the mountain at a steady tempo. Descending back down to the pillars I recovered and set about riding the first 2 miles of the route in a very difficult gear at a very slow pace. The theory behind this form of riding is to build muscle strength, power and a smooth pedal stroke. I repeated this 3 times, each time finding the effort increasingly more difficult. After the third effort I descended back down to the start, grabbed a snack and rode back to the top a final time. After getting home I figured I logged nearly 50 miles of total riding, much of which was done on the hill. I felt that this was a good start.

Monday I could feel the prior day’s effort in my legs and really didn’t want to make the trip back out to that damn hill, but I’m in this boat now. My goal for Monday was a near race pace effort up the mountain to assess the extent of my deficits. I rode up to the pillars and stopped for a moment, grabbed my stop watch and GO. I focused on riding the initial 2 miles smoothly and without burning myself too deep before the middle fast stretch. By the middle section I felt composed and my HR was in a good place; drink of water and more steep climbing. When I hit the last section of steep switch backs I could feel it but was still within myself to keep my pace and finish strong. Cruising past the ’post’ at the top of the climb I hit my stop watch and stopped the clock at 21:40. Ok, that is an improvement from my March time, maybe there’s a glimmer of hope after all.

Today I again hit the road back out to Lookout, this time bent on a Lookout “recovery” ride. I don’t know if that phrase has ever been uttered before, but on a diet of Lookout I needed to get a recovery in somehow. I again made my way up to the pillars and this time set about my climb with the deliberate goal of keeping my heart rate low…very low. I spun my legs casually and freely and made my way up the climb. It actually felt great to ride at a high cadence and low effort despite the grade of the road beneath me. When I got to the top my unofficial time was around 26 min (no clocks on recovery day). Considering my complete lack of effort for the entire climb, I also viewed this very positively. Tomorrow I’ll be back at the hill. The forecast calls for a higher likelihood of rain in the afternoon, so my ride could be interesting. I suppose if push comes to shove, I might have to dress the part and ride my Surly up…every day, in some form or fashion. I guess I’ll see about that.