Hello, Santa Cruz!

Some El Niño we're having. It was like 73° F today in Santa Cruz, CA! I happened to have the day off, so rather than go work on stuff that really needed to get done, I decided to go for a really nice mountain bike ride. I called up my friend, John, yesterday to secure his day, so we were good to go!

I thought we were getting jump on the day, by me meeting up with him at his house in Hayward by 9am, but I got a little behind schedule due to some very heavy traffic. We shoved off from his place around 9:30, but still didn't arrive to Wilder Ranch State Park until 11:00! I brought my old trusty 100 Best Mountain Bike Rides in the Bay Area book, (yes, the one that's 20 years old and has gottem me lost numerous times) and we were good to go! Well, it's been over 10 years, since I was last at Wilder and things have changed a little, starting with the parking lot area. Immediately, we set off in the wrong direction and got a little lost.

Eventually we found our way to the "tunnel" and we were somewhat on our way. The book had a shitty map and we weren't really in the mood to keep trying to decipher what it told us to do, so we just picked a loop and started riding. We first headed up the Engelmans Loop until we got to the Wild Boar Trail. There was a bit of climbing to do, but it wasn't too bad- very manageable. It was great that the sun was out and there was a slight ocean breeze breathing down our necks. The ground was a little gravely and sandy with ruts, but not unridable. It was nice to actually have some trees to ride in!

Then we took the Old Cabin Trail to hook up with the Eucalyptus Loop. The climb up Old Cabin got a little tougher, but it still was nothing compared to the Pine Mountain Loop on Mt. Tam. (That was so steep and exposed, it wasn't even fun!) Finally, we got to the top of Eucalyptus, where we took a break on a park bench and ate some fig bars. After that, it was almost all down hill :)

We took Eucalyptus down until we found the Wilder Ridge Loop. It was totally the payoff! This ride was basically 4 miles up, 4 miles down. Lots of ruts and hardpack single and double-track. With it raining not too long ago, the dirt was nice and packed- very little dust. The trail dumped us out on Highway 1, where we had to struggle to figure out where to go next. Eventually we figured out that we just needed to ride South for about a mile until we found the park entrance.

All-in-all, it was a fantastic ride! No one crashed! No one cramped! The perfect starter climbing ride for what I hope will be an equally smashing season. We packed up the car, took down the top and headed into town for some Pizza My Heart! I couldn't think of a better way to spend my Wednesday!