Great Santa Cruz Muni Ride

[nathan]

Yesterday the forecast here in Santa Cruz, Calif was for rain and wind. We've been having unseasonably wet weather for over a week now. But I guess we all figured that once you're wet it doesn't matter so no one cancelled due to the dire predictions. We ended up yesterday morning with 12 people riding. The route started with the '02 CMW Saturday afternoon ride at The Forest of Nicene Marks, followed by a 6 mile climb on fireroad to Sand Point. Then down 8 miles of fun single track. This ride puts you pretty much out of sight and sound of civilization and is super duper scenic. Riding through redwood forests, lots of trees with moss, misty fern gardens etc with the occasional view over all of Monterey Bay. Everyone did great even though the ride took 6 hours to cover over 16 miles. If there's any moral to the story it's to get out and enjoy riding regardless of anything else.

The only bummer is that this may be the last time we legally ride in this park as they are renegociating the use terms and it may include only hiking in the near future. That would be a real shame - I first rode here on mountain bike 21 or 22 years ago.

Here are some photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/278982535fqtznH and here's a topo map of the ride.

---Nathan