We cruised out of the park, over the freeway and took a right on Table Mountain Blvd; riding about 2 miles before arriving at the turn that would take us up Table Mountain.  The left turn on Cherokee Road can be a bit difficult to find; it is not well marked. After the turn the road takes you through a few urban streets for a short ways until you reach a bridge over a canal. Here the road starts to trend up the hill in a gentle fashion.  Don’t let it fool you, the real show comes about 5 miles up the hill. 

It was a glorious day to ride the foothills; the grass was tall and green, the flowers were everywhere, and the sky was incredibly deep blue with white puffy clouds.  Although most of the climb up Table Mountain is moderate in nature, there is one little stretch close to the end with little shade that can not only bring some real burn to your legs, but the a real flush to your face and can cause you to overheat if you aren’t careful, even on a moderate day.  So it is with little surprise that when I saw the stone spring and water trough at the side of the road it was an excellent excuse for a photo op.  After a few minutes resting in the cool grass we were off. The top is absolutely breathtaking, especially if the wildflowers are blooming.  This year we probably missed full bloom by a week or two, but it was still incredible; blue and yellow flowers all the way to the edge of the mountain with a view of the valley in the far distance that went for probably 100 miles.  This particular day there was a wildflower event taking place, so the traffic was fairly heavy, but bicyclists and motorists alike were courteous and it worked well.