One night in the Mecca where to ride (Santa Cruz, Ca)

MrGreedom

MrGreedom

Well-Known Member
Im meeting a friend from grade school and her family to crash their camping trip to the Redwood Forest this weekend. Turns out night 2 we are camping out in Henry Cowell right in the heart of Santa Cruz. I have never been to the Ca mtb mecca so I'm soliciting input.

If you could only do one ride up there what would it be? I like flow trails, but also love technical chunky stuff that shake the cobwebs out. I pedal up, but not looking for a sufferfest. My fear level is minimal so I will huck things that I probably shouldn't be. Everything there should be in my wheelhouse of whats rideable. I'll be riding alone though so I should probably keep the danger factor low. What's the best most memorable riding experience there?
 
Looks like some opportunities, but I'm not familiar with the area.
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Get a shuttle from the bike shop in Aptos. Do the Flow trail up in Soquel Demo Forest and maybe Braille . Braille has a bunch of features. Then ride all the way down the trail back to the bike shop on the high speed Aptos Creek fireroad 14 mi. The trail ends right in the bike shop parking lot. I've only been there once so I'm not an expert but we had a blast doing this.
https://www.mtbproject.com/directory/8012296/soquel-demonstration-state-forest
Bike shop shuttle info https://www.epicentershuttle.com/shuttle
 
I just came back from my annual Santa Cruz trip, which was 4 days of camping at Henry Cowell. Unfortunately Santa Cruz proper only has one area that you can call mountain biking, and that is Wilder Ranch State park. Which is just next door to Santa Cruz bikes headquarters. The real mountain biking is next door to Santa Cruz at the Soquel Demo Forest, proper mountain biking, no shuttles, but you ride in, pick some segments to ride, then ride back out of the valley back to the car.

Also you can rent a Santa Cruz carbon wonderbike for $40 at SC Hq.
 
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I say Soquel too but there is a lot of climbing involved. The worst part to me is that there's climbing after your downhill so you end your ride with a climb which I hate.

If you take the shuttle, there's a bunch of single track on the way down too. A local was showing me around but I cramped up and had to take the fire road back. There are still some climbing sections on the fire road. If you have your own ride you might want to just drive to Soquel and skip the fire road/single-track down. Check some of the routes in Soquel to get an idea of mileage and elevation gain. Seems like most people only do 2 laps up there.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys!

Ive done my due diligence and see that our site is riding distance from Wilder Ranch. There are 34 trails in there according to Trailforks. That will be my main plan. The day I drive out I will go check out Soquel for a quick spin before I get on the highway.
 
MrGreedom said:
Thanks for the feedback guys!

Ive done my due diligence and see that our site is riding distance from Wilder Ranch. There are 34 trails in there according to Trailforks. That will be my main plan. The day I drive out I will go check out Soquel for a quick spin before I get on the highway.
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I wouldnt ride from Henry Cowell to Wilder, you'll regret it. Park at SC's HQ and ride over.
 
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