I rode Lookout in 24:15 last September during a race. Although that was the fastest I’d ever done it, I wasn’t satisfied. Over the latter part of the year and the first part of this year, I tried 8 times to lower my time. All to no avail. I could consistently get in the mid 24’s, but just could not go any lower. Despite having a newer/lighter bike and pretty much turning myself inside out I pushed so hard.

Today was different. I felt lousy. My legs were tired and sore. I started at Morrison and rode an hour with 2,000′ of climbing just to get to the start. I went with the intention of riding hard, but ended up backing off somewhat and resigning myself to another missed attempt because I was feeling so bad. When I was getting close to the top, I clicked over to the stopwatch display on my bike computer. It had just turned over 21 minutes. Holy Cow!! I couldn’t believe it. I started sprinting for all I was worth and made it to the line in 23:09 for my new record. Finally!

Kind of a wierd way to go about it, but I’ll take it :-). Makes me feel like I can crack 22:00 with fresher legs and an easier warmup. I’m a slave to the stopwatch.