The 2.3-Mile High Club

I know it's unprecedented for me to publish two posts from the same state, but today was a banner day for CUS 2k7. In what may very well have been our most intense day of climbing to date, we ascended 5,000 feet from Estes Park to the peak of Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved highway in the United States. It was an arduous process, but we finally reached the summit, atop a mountain at 12,183 feet above sea level. The second to arrive at lunch, I promptly put on every warm article of clothing I had, made an almond butter and banana sandwich, and dove into the van to curl up in the fetal position on the bench behind the driver's seat. Once I had warmed up, we went to the gift shop in search of hot chocolate, and then hit up the bathroom before leaving. Unfortunately, since I was wearing every warm article of clothing I have in addition to my bib spandex, I pretty much had to strip down at the front of the bathroom line. I emerged from the john wearing bike shorts that make me look like a Warsaw Pact greco-roman wrestler, and matching spandex arm warmers and leg warmers, much to the joy of the other Bike and Builders in line, who whipped out their cameras to capture my moment of embarrassment. I take their schadenfreude as a sign that we have truly bonded as a family.