day 41

Today was the big day...trail ridge road!!! Feeling fresh after a $ 4.50 all you can eat pancake breakfast at the campground, we headed out seeking the highest paved road in the US! Because the trailer was better balanced Mark offered to take one of my panyurs which was so nice, my bike felt a million times lighter! We made our way through town, where of course there was a parade going on, which, oddly enough last time I was in Estes Park there was a parade as well, a bit ironic. We entered Rocky Mountain National Park around 11 am and began our adventure into the clouds! We climbed, climbed, and climbed some more. Along the way we met John from Wisconsin who was very friendly and was heading our way! We talked with him and decided we would split a campground later that evening! As we headed up the last five miles or so, the weather changed rapidly, storm clouds rolled in, the crosswinds began and with no guardrails and very thin shoulders, we were both a bit sketched out but kept pedalling! (mom, I can tell you this now because I survived!) we took about a mile hike, can you believe it, I went for a hike?! The path took us up to an elevation of 12,300 and had a circular gold plate on top of the highest rock that told you the mileage of every national park and in what direction they were in! Pretty sweet! We hopped back on our bikes and headed up the last two miles to the visitors center where we scarfed down some lunch as we looked out into the beautiful mountains! We met a guy named Alan who said he rode our same route fifteen years before and was on business trip in Denver...he told us to enjoy it while we still can! He is from Virginia so we may be calling him in a few weeks! We put on some warm clothes, because when your up that high, it's pretty dang chilly! We checked our breaks and began the descent, so fun!!! Hard, sharp u-turns, in the midst of the rocky mountains, with lush forest and wildlife at every corner! The hard work earlier that day definitely was all worth it in the end! The road thenturned into straight up dirt/gravel, and I was over it pretty quickly...needed an extra sports bra or something! We got to the campground just before dark and met Joe, who had just finished sixth in the continental divide mountain bike race from Canada to Mexico, 2750 miles, 21 days, an average of 125 miles a day, 17 hours a day....insane!!! So far only 13 have finished and there was a 60% dropout rate!!! I hurriedly took a shower so I could get rid of my dust unibrow! Mark didn't even shower until after he ate and he looked like a chimney sweeper! We talked with John for awhile and then slept like logs!