Something new?

I want to try something new out. I'm not just a one dimensional person with only Land Rovers as my life. I heard that collective sigh and muttered "bummer"....

I also like to ride bikes, road and mountain. And I went on a ride yesterday, so I hope to tell the tale today.

Loading up my bike and gear in the 109 then driving down to Santa Cruz, Calif I parked in front of the old Wrigley's building(yes of the gum fame) that is now home to Santa Cruz bikes. It was very quiet on the Thanksgiving Holiday morn as I geared up and headed N. on Mission Street.

My loose plan was to ride over to Wilder Ranch State Park and then climb to the top by 1 of many possible ways. As I passed the horse corrals I finally decided that I would go up the west side of Englemann's loop and then climb up Wild Boar Trail. Once there I wasn't sure which way I would go.

The coast around here is composed of sedimentary layers laid down in a series of marine terraces. It has been lifted and exposed by tectonic plate interaction. Between the different terraces are short intense climbs of 30-50 feet elevation gain in about the same amount of linear distance. I'm out of shape and could only ride the first one and the third one.
Once at the top of Wild Boar Trail I stopped for the view and to get my heart rate back into normal range, I'd only come 2 miles and already climbed 800 feet. Here's a view looking further up Wild Boar;

It was during this climb I became aware of both the warm temperature and high humidity, both a rarity around here. So deciding on going on up I followed Wild Boar over to an un-named cutoff and connected to Long Meadow Trail.

At the connection with Long Meadow, you can see more climbing in the distance;

So up I went, and up and up, this hill is a long grind in first gear when you are in as bad a shape as I am. Once at the top and rolling along I came across this bush, I don't know what it is, but each "flower" is composed of  fairy seeds.

Then it was back to the uphill and heat(notice no shade trees)....

And still I climbed until I came to the 1 shade tree, from it one is about halfway up the climb and you can see it going on up;

It took me a while but I made it up to where Long Meadow connects with Chinquapin Trail, here I had a snack this was my max elevation of around 1,300ft. While resting and deciding which way I was going to get back I espied this grass growing in a log;

I was in a quandary as to how to get back as there are 2 trails I really like to do downhill. Wild Boar Trail and the Emma McCrary Trail. Doing the EMT would be a longer ride and I didn't feel up to it in the humidity so I headed down Chinquapin to the Eucalyptus Loop where I took a break at the picnic table.

 On a clear day from the picnic table you can see some 60 miles to Pacific Grove across the Monterey Bay. Anywho after deliberating and seeing the downhill had cooled me off a bit, I was feeling better I decided to take the EL down to Old Cabin Trail and hook up with the Wild Boar.

Here is the junction of the EL and OCT plenty of ruts on the way down!;

I felt good I didn't crash in any! From the same viewpoint looking over to Old Cabin, so named due to the cabin that used to be there, it has fallen down and can no longer be seen, someone lived in it in the late 1800's.

The trail disappears into those woods and goes down into a creek bed and then you climb out the other side, very steep on both sides. It was some 10 degrees cooler down in the bottom. Going up the other side there is my favorite part of the park. It is beautiful and quiet, I see that this last winter took it's toll on the trail;

 I rode up the first hard section but didn't have the gas to get all the way up. After that effort I didn't even have the motivation to try the last climb. I did get on it about halfway up where it starts to flatten out.

Finally I was back at the Wild Boar, Old Cabin junction and I knew it was about a half an hour back to my 109.

Then it was just a matter of following trail past the horse corrals and getting on the County Bike Path back to town.

The ride was 13.86 miles with 1,561 feet of elevation gain. I hope you enjoyed the tale.

I have never tried to upload a video and did not take one on this ride, but I think I will try to upload one now from a different ride. If you want to see any of my videos on youtube you can find me under the name meignotus.

Here goes;

As I was putting my bike back in the 109 next to the pump track, this guy with 2 kids were leaving the track and he commented on my nice Land Rover. He gets extra point for not calling it a toyota!