Eureka and Aptos

This past weekend I decided to ride up Eureka Canyon and down Aptos Creek.

First thing in the morning I loaded up my XC bike in my Van of Holding and drifted my way over 17 to Corralitos (I'm still breaking in the all terrain tires on the rear, and the tread squirm is giving me a few degrees of crabbing in high speed corners). I rolled in and parked near the sausage market just before 10am and noted a gaggle of roadies had assembled in preparation for an assault on the Eureka pavement. I wasn't sure if they were a casual group or were going to push a fast tempo, but as it turned out they took off a minute or two before I was finished getting my shoes on, and that was the last I saw of them, so it seems they were leaning towards the latter. No matter though, I wasn't planning on drafting anyway.

I locked up my van, fired up my garmin, and set off up the cold part of Eureka. I was glad I brought a wind breaker.

The pavement was trash, as expected, but I didn't have to spend a lot of time dodging potholes thanks to the chubby 29'er tires monster trucking over everything in their path. I wondered how the roadies up the way were enjoying the chipped and buckled surface.

Speaking of roadies, I was fully expecting to see an intermittent stream of them passing me every now and then up the hill, but oddly enough I saw almost nobody on two wheels for the entire climb. In fact, the first cyclist I came across was a fellow on an older MTB grinding his way up the slope between Rider and Lower Highland.

"Oh, thank goodness, I must be going the right way" he said, upon seeing me riding my mountain bike.

"Are you going to Demo?" I asked, "you can get there going this way but it's a long climb."

He didn't respond, and soon disappeared behind me. It later occurred to me that he might have been looking to turn off at Rider in order to climb Buzzard Lagoon, but I wasn't going to turn around to go find out. Either way he would have an adventure.

Soon enough I came to the hot part of Eureka. I think I can live here for three lifetimes and still not get used to how abrupt the microclimate changes are. I thought about removing my windbreaker, but I hadn't put on any sunscreen underneath as I planned on the jacket keeping the deadly solar lazer from scorching my flesh. So it stayed on.

Past Tindall Ranch, past Grizzly Flat (the other, other one), around the hairpin, past Upper Highland, and then that long, sunny traverse towards Buzzard/Ormsby. Finally hit the dirt at 1hr 5min, which was on the slow side of my ballpark estimate. Probably would have been closer to 45-50min were I on my road bike and not carrying a hydration pack. It's just so easy to go slow with those tractor gears.

Climbing Buzzard was a familiar slog. Got passed by one rider, but he stopped a few seconds later to wait for his slower friend. As one does.

Came up to the junction of Aptos and found a group of lost riders, as is tradition. "It's our first time, do we go up or down?" they asked.

"Up," I said, swinging around the corner and past the gate. I didn't see their expression, but suspected they weren't all smiles upon hearing that news.

Two of them were fairly energetic in their climb though, while the third fell behind a bit. I followed the third for a bit, being lazy and avoiding the gravel bikers flying down the other half of the twin-track, but soon enough I pulled past. I also passed the two riders I had seen earlier, who had leapfrogged me at the gate, and passed the remaining two lost riders who had pulled off to wait for their slower friend. As one does.

Came up to the second gate and, for once, didn't almost wipe out on that root hiding behind the gate post. I guess there's something to be said for the nimble handling of an XC bike. There was another pair of riders on their way up past the gate, and I slowly caught and passed them.

There was quite a party going at the benches with a couple different groups catching their breath after climbing up from the demo parking lot, or perhaps after climbing through Nisene Marks.

"Is that a Kestrel?" a fellow asked, standing astride a Cannondale XC bike. I didn't get his name, but I will call him RoadieBro for reasons that will soon become apparent. "They used to be all the rage in the triathlon world, haven't seen one in ages."

I told him I found this particular model on BikesDirect, and mentioned that Kestrel changed ownership a few years ago, which probably explained their drop in visibility.

The conversation continued and he asked about tires, noting he was unhappy with his Schwalbes, as they didn't grip well on the dry dusty fire roads. They were Racing Ralphs? Racing Rays? Rocket Rons? Something with a lot of Rs. I told him that I got good grip from my Aspens, despite them looking like they were designed by someone who asked "what if: XC tires, but LESS tread?"

He mentioned that he'd recently transitioned from the roadie life (thus me nicknaming him RoadieBro for the sake of this report) and had initially mistakenly filled his tires to a rock hard 40psi, but later got improved results dropping things down to a more reasonable MTB pressure, though he still wasn't completely happy. I suspect that eventually some combination of different tires and better cornering technique will bring him to a happy, grippy place.

There was some talk about routes chosen for the day. RoadieBro had ridden up Aptos through Nisene Marks, along with his friends GravelBro and TrailBro, whose actual names I also did not get. TrailBro seemed to be the most confident of the bunch, while GravelBro wasn't looking forward to white-knuckling the descent on his road-bike-in-disguise.

When I mentioned that I had climbed Eureka out of Corralitos, RoadieBro was quite surprised to realize that the road connected between A and B. I mentioned I was going to drop down Aptos to make it a loop and they shared some concern about the steepness of the descent.

There was some talk that the three of them might like to drop down one of the Demo trails, but they were leaning away from it due to the extra climb out, as well as having to navigate that annoying rock garden between the benches and helipad. We all agreed that flow was a lovely trail and would have made a nice candle on the cupcake of the climb they had just endured, were it not for the extra obstacles bookending it. I also mentioned that I liked Sawpit, except for the even worse rock garden on Ridge past Flow.

"Oh, is that as bad as the rocks at Santa Teresa?" RoadieBro asked.

"Heavens no," I said. "It's much, much worse."

Eventually I decided that I'd rested up enough and set off down Aptos and into Nisene Marks. I noticed the group of lost riders from earlier was sitting at the side of the trail and may not have realized that the entrance to Ridge was right there, and I briefly considered if I should tell them that Demo was not in the direction I was heading. But I figured they would have an adventure either way.

The descent was mostly smooth and not alarmingly steep. I got lots of practice dipping the bike down into the flat turns to hook up the side knobs. XC bikes do roll fast. There was one lumpy section I probably should have slowed down for a bit more, judging by the fact that I had to true my rear wheel again when I got home, but I didn't pinch the tire so other than rattling my bones there was no harm done.

There was a decent mix of hikers and bikers climbing the road so I was happy that there was good sight lines to see them well in advance, and should that fail my timber bell was ringing at about 130db thanks to being mounted to a hardtail XC bike. It's funny how on my trail bike it barely jingles in comparison.

I got to the gate at the bottom and set out looking for the intersection of Soquel Dr, so I could make the loop back to Corralitos.

Yup, should be coming up on it any time now.

Oh, I see, there's some more parking areas. Well, it should be soon now.

Hmm, ok, there's the park entrance too. So the intersection should be next, right?

Ok seriously I'm going to run out of continent soon if I keep heading this direction, where the hell is Soquel Road?

So yeah, apparently I had gotten my cues a bit mixed up when I planned out my route, and didn't realize that the gate on Aptos is only about half way between the benches and the end.

Oh well, can't really get lost when there's only one direction to ride in, and eventually the twilight zone of the endless-lower-aptos released me into the coastal suburbia of Soquel Road.

I took a left and then remembered that I had removed my rear light at the top of the hill so I could lower my dropper, so I pulled over to put it back on. A pair of cyclists passed and both asked if I was alright, and I gave them a friendly thumbs-up.

This moment in the ride was also notable for being the last moment where my legs had any energy left in them at all. I'd been popping chews throughout the ride, but it wasn't enough (it never is). By the time I lined up at the stop light at Freedom Blvd, I was feeling mighty cooked. It was a long, annoying car-filled slog to make it to make it to Hames, and then a few steep but mercifully short climbs until I finally arrived back at my van.

I enjoyed a clif bar and a little fresh air there before packing up and heading home.