Lookout...the end

On the 12th day of Lookout, the mountain sent to me: 12 days of climbing...

Today actually summarized my entire Lookout climbing escapade over the past two weeks. I woke up this morning and it was snowing. Later the snow turned to rain. Then by the time I headed home to face the dreaded mountain for the last time it was sunny and pleasant. Once I started riding pleasant turned quickly to windy and cold. It was like reliving the past 12 days all at once...at least meteorologically speaking.

I'm not sure what exactly was gained by riding Lookout Mountain 12 days in a row. I certainly don't know if I'm any more or less prepared for Saturday's race than before I started. I'm sure I am... However at this point I feel strangely like I'm back in school...feverishly studying for a test, living solely off of orange soda, Doritos and Pez; its 2:24am and I've hit that point where you realize nothing more will go into your brain. I've done all the climb-cramming my legs will hold without crossing the line into severe overtraining. I'm definitely over trained...just not severely so quite yet. With the jury still out on the effectiveness of last minute hyper training, I can say that I've enjoyed the experience regardless of my fate on Saturday. My mental block on training seems to have dissipated. Having a goal helped me focus enough to start riding with more regularity and push my fitness levels more than when I was just piddling around avoiding the subject. I worked through some of my descending issues, and at least now on Lookout I feel like I'm close to descending and cornering with the same level of confidence I had last year.

I think I also realized some things about my riding. I certainly enjoy my opportunities to ride to work each day, but beyond that I enjoy being out on my bike (especially when its not taking me to work.) At some point, even during the crappiest of riding days there's always that moment where you feel like a kid again. When your bike was your passport to new places and adventure. You could get on your bike and take off on your own for a while, cruise down hills, pedal hard and never know quite where you'd end up. While I knew at least for the past two weeks that I'd generally end up at Lookout at some point, there was always that moment: I'd feel gravity sweep my bike and pull it through a turn; I'd experience that first push of tail wind driving me faster; that instant where the sun pulls from behind a cloud and returns warmth to cold extremities. Damn, cycling is fun...even after 12 days of climbing its still fun.

So after a nice soak in the tub with some Epsom salts and after a bit of work on the legs with the recovery stick, I should feel right as rain again. And there's no climbing tomorrow so that will be a relief.  To sum up the nuts and bolts of my experience here's some Lookout Stats:

Days of Climbing: 12
Trips Up and Down the Mountain: 14
Miles of Lookout Climbing: 63
Miles of Lookout Descending: 63  (I know that's some pretty hard math)
Total Miles on Lookout: 126
Total Miles To and From, Up and Down etc:  314
Miles of cheating due to driving out one rainy day in the Vanagon: 16