Live To Ride BMX: Wilder Ranch Solo Ride

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Wilder Ranch Solo Ride

Given that my trails are closed here from the rain, I decided to get down to my home of Santa Cruz, Ca. and cruise up Wilder. I was also able to see my nephews which is always a treat, and give one of them his birthday present a little early.

Route was: Parent's house > Wilder Loop > to the Bottom > Up Long Meadow > Twin Gates > UCSC > *singletrack fun and jumps* > Through UC > Down Bay St. > cruise the neighborhoods > West Cliff > Parent's House

Somewhere in there I think I hit Zane Grey and some other stuff. I think since I went up, back down and up again, I climbed somewhere near 2200' feet of so.

The ground was soft and I felt like I was going nowhere fast. No matter how hard I pedalled, I could not get any momentum behind me to keep rolling. Literally, it was drudging through the mud. Count it as a 100,000 leg presses, I guess.

Here are the pics with commentary:

First stop on Wilder Loop Trail. These exposed rocks were SO slippery, I slid right off of them.

Quick stop at the Kilns. Totally reminds me of Ireland.

Obligatory water tank pic.

I stopped at my old high school, Santa Cruz High, to reminisce a little. This graffiti piece is awesome.

This is the front steps where we used to have "Free Speech". I think it was on every Thursday at lunch so the students could talk/debate about current topics. I remember we would talk about things like the 1st. Gulf War, gang violence, education, etc. Sadly... nothing has f*ckin' changed, and it's been nearly 20 years. I wonder if they still have this...

Why the pic of the stage in the quad? This slab of concrete gave me the best times in my life. As you can see, it is well worn of years and years of skaters and BMX'ers grindin' it away. I used to feeble (peg) grind this, sprocket grind it, 360 off it, 180 off it, abubaca it, footplant it, bunnyhop up it... etc. In fact, the right of passage to manhood was the ability to bunnyhop up it - I remember the first time I did it. I think they re-paved the quad, because the stage was actually much higher than it is now.

I thought they would've painted over this by now, but down at the ceramics room is a very faded graffiti mural I did in 1992. The kids have gotten so good at murals, I thought somebody would've gone over it with a much better piece. A part of my wishful thinking is that they haven't painted over it as a sign of respect for such an old piece - since it is actually older than the seniors that are graduating from there. But, one can only wish.

And finally, the sun-over-the-ocean shot. So pretty... just the right amount of fog produces sights like this. People wonder why I like the fall and winter so much.