This definitely isn't the most attractive picture of me at the top of Mt. Evans--highest road in North America that I cycled up at Endurance Corner's Boulder camp last month--but it is one of the funniest. With my thoughts drifting beyond the triathlon and fitness world this week and into two of my other loves, food and restaurants, this photo became all too appropriate to post.
Stephanie Izard of
Top Chef fame opened her new restaurant
Girl and the Goat in Chicago's West Loop on Monday. While I'm no chef--and I don't eat goat--you have a girl and a goat three feet away in the above photo. That's what I'm greeted with upon reaching my first fourteener, on a bike no less--wandering mountain goats.
I learned a few things while pedaling up Mt. Evans and then hanging out at the top. The 14,000-foot climb attracts a lot of bikes, cars and goats. Our group of 25 or so hearty souls clamored to the top, and I rode with two older men for a bit but their pedal power got the best of me. I stopped counting the number of cars that passed me by early on--it was getting depressing, especially when the incline really hurt. And those goats? They could hang out on top all day, and this guy pictured had even more furry friends, cuter too, in my opinion. Crazy? Yes. Entertaining? Let me know what you think.
And if you've stumbled upon this post because of my Stephanie Izard reference--and you dined at her new restaurant--I'd love to know what you thought. Forget triathlon, training and fitness, the food side of my brain is urging me to skip it for a night and go.
Photo provided by Chuckie V.
