California Dreamin’

Day Four – July 23, 2007

By Hallie Dozier

 

This Tour des Trees has been an exceptionally important event for me – IT’S IN CALIFORNIA! I am a former resident of California and have had precious little time to return to visit this incredibly beautiful state in this beautiful country I call home. And in the years my husband and I lived here in San Francisco, I was not involved in distance cycling – at that time, it was a dream I had yet to realize.

So, for me, this Tour des Trees combines so many things that make up my personal dreams – the beauty of the Pacific Coast (at a rate well under 20 mph), the smells of the native grasses on the hot summer breeze and the beauty of the towering redwoods and imported eucalyptus, the feel of the fog rolling in off the ocean, the energy that one can only find along a coastline such as California’s, and the joy of getting there under my own power, and in the company and fellowship of many, many wonderful cycling companions.

 

Now, other writers have told you about the sweat, the heat, the headwinds, the pulls up hillsides and the feeling of  Zoom-Zoom as you speed almost silently downhill – so I won’t tell you just how hard some of the hills I climbed today were. What I will tell you is that the first glimpse of that beautiful Pacific Ocean thrilled me, and my heart skipped a beat when I first spied the San Francisco skyline, and I was exhilarated, smiling and speechless as I pedaled across the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge. And I have to tell you that I was so happy that from the GG, our route took us past the neighborhood that was my home from 1989-1992 – the Outer Richmond. We even pulled up next to my very favorite restaurant in this beautiful city, the Pacific Café, at 34^th and Geary. Then we passed the Cliff House at Point Lobos, Ocean Beach, the windmill at Golden Gate Park and the San Francisco Zoo – all my old stomping grounds. I tell you all – this tour is a really, really special thing for me, and thus far, this has been the best.

 

 

For me this is Tour des Trees No. 3. I hope it is 3 of many.