The annual Colorado School of Mines Lookout Hill Climb Time Trial is the second race of the season. VR7 was well represented by David Nelson, his wife Allegra Nelson, and Dan Kaskubar. Thanks to Serge Olivier for snapping some sweet pics of the riders.

Allegra Nelson Lookout Hill Climb Photo Credit: Serge Olivier

David set a blistering pace up the mountain. He finished the pillar to BB Grave segment in 20:39. That is an extremely impressive time. He placed fourth overall in the SM4 category. Results can be found at coloradocycling.org. His average speed was 13.2 mph and his estimated power output was 292 Watts. See the below data collected using the greatest cycling app currently known to man, Strava…

David Nelson’s Strava Data

David Nelson Lookout Hill Climb Photo Credit: Serge Olivier

For those of you who have never ridden Lookout before it is a 4.5 mile climb from the pillars at the bottom of the climb to the turn off for the Buffalo Bill’s Grave. The average gradient is 5% for the climb. It is not the steepest climb around, but it makes for a fantastic Time Trial. The fastest time this year went to Michael Burleigh and his impressive mustache. Burleigh rode the 4.5 mile climb in 18:04… That’s fast…

The local cyclists are not the only ones that know Lookout Mountain. The USA Pro Challenge has included the iconic Golden, Colorado climb in 2 of their week long races. Tom Danielson talks about the climb below. The crowds that have lined the road for the pro peleton field in the past were large and rowdy. I’m sure there will be future opportunities to see some of the great names in the sport of cycling charge up Lookout.

The weekend didn’t end with the hill climb on Saturday. The Colorado School of Mines hosts their criterium on Sunday as well as a sprint race. The criterium course was slightly different than last year’s course which slammed riders into a brutally steep climb over and over until only the strong were left… Which was about 2 laps in… The course this year was a little more forgiving. Check out the video posted by Garrick Mitchell from Thump Cycling. Ok so I lied. It looked just as brutal as last year. Wanted to congratulate Adam Fivehouse for his third place finish in the crit on Sunday. Adam is the coach of the University of Denver Cycling Club and rides for Primal. Nice work out there Fivehouse.

Special shout out to my alma mater, the Colorado School of Mines. Their cycling promo video shows some shots of the Lookout mountain ride, and the cycling team puts on the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb Time Trial every year as well as the crit and street sprints. Topher mentions the 2007 National Championship in mountain biking. I raced on the team that year and have fond memories of Nationals.