Back to Back Lookout Mountain Loops

With spring here, weather getting warming and Scapin, my beloved Italian steel road bike, freshly tuned, I have caught the cycling bug, as I seem to do each time this year.  I am lucky enough to live close to Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado, so I generally do my regular loop up the mountain and down the I-70 frontage road.

Scapin with the green, spring foothills behind

On my first ride up the mountain, I got walked by the single speed mountain bike.   Oh, the shame.  I am in moderate shape and currently doing 30 minute climbs (from the towers to the Buffalo Bill's Grave sign) and this guy went past me like I was standing still.  I knew at that time that I had no choice but to a second lap to redeem myself.

I can't put my finger on what the elevation grade 

looks like, but I can't stop staring at them.

The second climb felt better, as I had the opportunity to pass some folks on the climb, including the infamous "gear head". A gear head is a person that owns the most expensive, cutting edge equipment yet rides at a pace that warrants training wheels.

See the entire ride here:

View Back to Back Lookout Mountain Loop in a larger map

On my second lap descent, I was hit with a spring squall, complete with wind, rain and even hail.  Tired and welted, I returned home ready to ride another day.