Lookout

With no new snow in the mountains, or at least not enough to make a significant difference in ski conditions on Saturday, Brant, Adam and I went out for a bike ride. From REI out to Lookout Mountain and back. Nice little ride, about 2.5 hours in total, gently rolling uphill on the way out and a slight decline on the second half of the way back. Oh yeah, there's also a 4.25 mile hill (Lookout Mtn) that sparked an impromptu TT/FTP test. Adam had been planning on it; Brant and I had not. Or at least I hadn't. Legs felt on and off on the ride out and when we got there I told Adam I'd carry his water bottle to make his bike lighter. Since it's always helpful to have rabbits up the road to chase, Brant went first. I waited about 3 minutes and then took off, followed by Adam about 2 minutes behind me. The first 100 yards I wasn't committed to the effort required and then......well I clearly just quit thinking otherwise I wouldn't have committed to the effort.

Tom Danielson holds the record up the hill at 16:02. On this day I was really almost right there with him, killing it with a time of around 26:00. Yes, you read that correctly. Tom Danielson can go up that hill 10 whole minutes faster than me. That's why he's a Pro Tour rider and I'm.....not. My best time up it was 24:48 on 8.31.09 and I held 273 watts (avg). The first time I ever timed it was in an annual race last year where I went up it in 25:34 with avg watts of 261. The good news is I have 3 months to add 10 watts to be on par with where my cycling was last year. Or I can add 20 watts to be where I was at the end of last season. I think it's do-able.