Lookout Mountain

Yesterday I rode from right out my door to the top of Lookout Mountain and back. The route wasn't too bad - I felt safe the entire trip, but there were a few too many lights. The ride took a bit over three hours and my avg. HR was 130, although that is artificially low due to my heart slowing while stopped at traffic signals. I got in a half hour or so at 160-165 bpm while climbing, so not a bad effort.



I also snapped a bunch of pictures during the ride. Most of these were taken while riding, so excuse me if there not the greatest photos.

The bike path approaching downtown:


Confluence Park - you can see the man-made kayak course (this one's for my Dad):


Six Flags on the left and Invesco Field at Mile High (lame name) on the right:


Where I'm headed:


Where I'm headed, from much closer...I'm going right up by the towers:


But to get there I've gotta wrap my way around the mountain to it's right...you can make out an "M" on the face of the mountain for the Colorado School of Mines, and you can also see one of the roads cut into the side of the mountain:


A few minutes into the climb:


As is often the case, one can see a higher portion of the road ahead:




Pitstop for a scenic overlook:


The top! Buffalo Bill is buried up here. Four states (Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska, I presume) are visible from here. This shot is of Golden, however:


Here's Denver:


View of some other mountains from the top:


A chart showing exactly which mountains are in the above photo:


Yours truly at the top:


Back down into Golden:


By the time I got down I was pretty hungry. Two eggs and two strips of bacon don't make for a large enough breakfast before a 3 hour ride. I would have brought some PBJs with me, but didn't expect the ride to take so long. Scone time: