As the sun rose over the East Mountains, Cece got gifted with a beautiful array of sun and shadow. It was early and it was very cool and the team began to arrive and warm up for what would be a long morning of climbing up to Oak Flats. It is a 10 mile climb straight up and while you are breathing and trying to compare your suffering to other things you have survived, you can look out and see and smell a high pine forest...one of Cece's favorite places. The canyons are deep and the drop offs are steep and it is a beautiful place to be.
It is wonderful to have friends who know you and ride your pace and agree to ride and stay together! It is such a great feeling to work cooperatively with each other calling out road hazards and taking care of the other person! You know, if it is 10 miles up, it is 10 miles down...and none of us really want to go fast on the descents. Going fast on the descents could mean 40-50 mph...we try to keep it about 20-30 just to play it safe. We even stopped to ensure the safety of Toto...a cute black Scottish terrier who was running along the highway. Cece tried to give her some water but her little legs kept her scurrying along and then across the highway. None of us could bear watching that erratic little dog get hit by the fast moving traffic...and as far as we know, she did not. We tried to shuffle her off the highway.
Once on top and into the Gonzales Road loop, we were gifted with lots of wonderful rollers, sunflower fields and fast downhills that enabled us to just coast up the next hill. Ahhh! We all loved this. As we finished the loop, Cece made a point to stop into the Chameleon Cafe to see the owner Josephine. Cece rides in honor of her mother Geraldine, who passed on due to Leukemia. Jo was there and happy we stopped in. She told Josephine that visiting her is what gets her up this mountain each time! And this is true!
Yun and Cece decided to come back to the Chameleon cafe in the next few weeks and do the Gonzales Road Loop a few times. They decided they would drive up and park at the cafe rather than climb that hill any time soon! Just so you will laugh, as we climbed up, Keith looked down and saw the top of a red plastic pitch fork. He said, "We are climbing up the road to hell!" We already knew that! But Cece wonders if we were in hell or Oz....after all, we did have Toto! 
Post Script: Many have asked about the person in the background. That is our 15 year old teammate who did not eat properly for the ride and she suffered and threw up as a result.
