I rode up Hamilton this past Sunday and started about 4:50pm. It was probably 15 degrees cooler than Saturday. Very nice (virtually no traffic descending [although there was a heavy CHP and sheriff presence early in the ride due to young men in souped up coupes must have attracted resident's attention) and any cooler and I would have liked to have had a vest for the descent.
I should be happy to be an old guy who gets up and safely down. But the more you ride it (and start looking at the posted times from the LKHC series), the more you'll think about breaking it up into the three climbing segments and analyze what you can do to go faster--which usually for me comes down to don't take it easy on the flatter parts. I was reading today about the ultra-marathoner who died on Mt. Diablo this past week. I believe one can over exert oneself and it probably isn't wise to try red-line it all the way up. I think I'll continue to ride fairly easy to the bridge by the fire station and then go the final 6.5 miles and 1,800 feet as hard as I can.