CycloMonkey in Sunol, CA

I live in Pleasanton, California. CycloMonkey lives with me at the moment. This is the story of our first bike ride together.

On a cool Saturday morning, CycloMonkey begged to joined me for a bike ride. Nothing much and not too far from home, in case he panicked or tossed his stuffing. There was no safe way to hang on to the bike, my helmet or anything else but he folds up nicely into a pocket. He was snug in my jersey's center pocket, looking backwards. Despite the fact that he couldn't see where we were going, he was exhilarated to be moving. We opted to head down to the little town of Sunol and climb Kilkare Road.

The air was crisp, the morning sun filtered through the trees. A perfect day for a bike ride. It was quiet, relatively free of traffic and moderately scenic. And fortunately, there were no dog chases (Sunol is famous for once having a dog as its mayor). This part of Northern California bears little resemblance to a monkey-infested jungle but there is a beautiful canopy of trees. Squirrels were the most exotic animals we saw. He did spot several flamingos on a bull-dozer (honest), so we turned around to visit. They bonded. Apparently, this flamingo knows the legend of traveling flamingos who hook up with humans and travel all over the world - getting handed off to other humans traveling to still other places. And this is what CycloMonkey now wants to do.

This was a short, successful outing. No drama. We did our climb in Sunol, then returned to Pleasanton for a cup of coffee at Tully's. CycloMonkey entertained a few little kids, puzzled a few grown-up and soaked up the small-town ambiance. Tully's is a gathering place for other cyclists and we talked about where to ride next. Tomorrow.