Segway riders get high on Mount Washington

Segway owners can now proudly say that one of their own has climbed a mountain, after a circus clown dressed as a butler pulled off the feat earlier today.

Rob Owen, a retired clown, and two other riders surged up Mount Washington at 12.5 mph, the AP reports. It took the Segway riders two and half hours to complete the 7.6 mile endurance test. The team used six batteries, fought off 50 mph winds and battled bitter cold to reach the 6,288-foot mountain summit. All of which begs the question, why not buy a motorbike?

This latest episode adds to a string of odd scooter-related events, including the capture of a Segway thief and the troubling rise of bloggers on wheels. Segway owners will stop at nothing to make their $5,000 investment pay off.

It remains unclear as to why Owen dressed up like a butler for the epic ride up Mount Washington. It surely won't help reduce the ridicule he receives from neighbors and friends. Perhaps he felt it lent a bit of dignity to the affair.

"Winds were gusting from all sides and I had to stay down, just like skiing," Dick Norris, 69, a train conductor and fellow rider told the AP. "It’s like doing a boogie dance the whole time. You’re using your muscles all the time.

"I’m going to be sore tonight."

Dick's pain and effort won't go without reward. In addition to the obvious glory and inevitable fame associated with riding a scooter, Dick and his two companions will receive a bumper sticker.

The sticker reads, "This Segway climbed Mount Washington" and can now be proudly displayed on their, um, car. ®