Aaron Bradford

Last week I ended up logging in some serious miles on the bike. A weather system has been off the coast for the past week resulting in plenty of wet weather with strong winds and even some thunder and lightning. Seems I was either dodging rain clouds or riding through them day after day; though temperatures have been more then tolerable with 50-55 degrees consistently. The woods have been too wet ride with mud of the consistency of peanut butter so Demo, Nisene and Wilder have been out of the question. Despite the unsystematic weather, I managed to get in around 26 hours of riding last week on the Tricross with slicks. The road riding in the Santa Cruz hills proved to be just as unpredictable as the weather with plenty mud slides and down power lines from the rains and winds. I am beginning to find my way around the roads up in the hills and there is plenty of variety from my front door. If climbing is in order, Felton-Empire grade is a good one with steady to steep climbing on quiet roads. For the stupid, insane or both, just to the north of Ben Lomond you can "cruise" up the climb Alba. With an average grade of at least 10% with a gain of 2,000 vertical feet in 4 miles, Alba is one of the hardest climbs I have ridden. After the grunt up Felton-Empire or Alba grade, you are rewarded with a high speed decent down Empire grade past UCSC campus into Santa Cruz, or, you can plunge down the 5 mile 1600 foot decent of Bonny Doon to Hwy 1. Needless to say, the riding is good here.

On Saturday, I planned to meet up for the Santa Cruz group ride @ 8 a.m. Sipping my coffee, I stood close to my laptop with my finger on the refresh button updating NOAA doppler radar weather maps. The weather looked solid with a 20% chance of rain early morning, then warming up to 58 by the afternoon. I showed up 5 minutes before and was the sole cyclist in the parking lot, figuring the light rain may have influenced everyone's motivation to ride. By 5 after, people started rolling in as we started heading south towards Watsonville. Building in numbers as we roll south, the group topped out at 25-30 people. Local rockstar Ben Jacques-Maynes joined the group as we rolled into Watsonville resulting at a pace faster than the previous miles. The group soon reached the point in the ride where you either turn around or continue on. I had plenty of calories, 2 bottles and decent legs so I decided to continue on with Ben and Portland local Sean. At or a little below tempo pace, the three of us cruised the coast line paralleling Hwy 1 towards Seaside. We soon turned off Del Ray Oaks onto 68 headed towards Salinas followed by climbing and descending the Salinas grade (here I cracked and ate every Clif Bar in my jersey) and continued into San Jan Batista. From S J B it was over the Anzars towards Hwy 129 back into Watsonville. With Ben doing the pace making, which was relatively causal as I was sitting in his draft, I bonked again. I thanked him for the 65 mile tow as I continued at my own pace to the nearest convenience store. On my road bike I carry a seat pack with 2 tubes, a patch kit, a multi tool, one tire lever, one Clif Shot along with a ten dollar bill for emergencies. With that $10, I bought a bag of peanuts, chicken salad sandwich, king sized twix and a large Gatorade at the gas station at the base of Hecker Pass. When the clerk asked if I needed a bag I laughed and told him "give me five minutes and I guarantee this will all be gone." Staying true to my word, I was quickly back on the road Santa Cruz bound. I got back to the house 7 1/2 hours after I started and figure I got in 120+ miles; it was a good day on the bike.

Sunday I got to take out my newly acquired 2010 Specialized S-works Stumpjumper on the buffed out flowy Laguna Seca (Sea Otter Classic trails) and Ft. Ord trails. Full FACT carbon frame, Futureshock and Brain rear shock, Command Seat post, Roval control SL wheels and a full Sram drive train result in a 23.5 lbs 5.5" travel trail slaying machine. Wild Bill, local trail advocate and all-around good guy helped dial in the suspension on the Stumpy for its maiden voyage. We logged in nearly 3 hours hitting old and some new trails as I put the bike through its paces. The bike climbs with ease with the Brain suspension reacting seamlessly as it cancels out rider induced bobbing yet remains incredibly active and ready to soak up the terrain. As the trail points down, the playful character of the Stumpjumper comes out in a precise yet light and flickable ride that makes you smile ear to ear. Instead of looking for the smoothest most direct line on the trail I found myself looking for lines on the side of the trail to air. I can't wait for better weather to dry up the trails because I want to get back out on this ride. Thanks again to all the guys at Specialized!