6 January 2007

Eureka Canyon

Highland Way It was another cold morning when I got started, but at least it was warm in the sun. The club ride was at 9 from Capitola. There was a pretty big turnout, including a tandem and a young guy on a mountain bike. I started out in the middle of the pack at a relaxed pace, heading down through downtown Capitola, then up to Park. On Park, I saw that the fast guys were way ahead, so I picked up my pace. One stoplight held me up, but then, another stoplight let me make up more ground. Finally, a little after turning right on Soquel, I caught up and settled in behind them.

At Aptos, we headed up Trout Gulch and Valencia, Cox and Day Valley, then down Freedom to the former Five Mile House, now known as the Pony Espresso for a long regroup. More riders, living in the Corralitos and Watsonville areas, joined the ride. We headed up to Corralitos and started up Eureka Canyon at a pretty easy pace. From Corralitos, another guy, training for races in Arizona, rode up, exchanged greetings, then went off ahead. After a minute or so, two of the fast guys and I went off after him, eventually catching up, as his training schedule had him taking it relatively easy. After a chat, we continued up at a pretty good pace, arriving at the top of Eureka Canyon with a time less than 30 seconds off my best, and stopped for a regroup. Also, the prospect of continuing down Highland, where it was shaded and cold while still sweaty from the climb, was not inviting.

As it was, the Highland descent was pretty cold anyhow. On the subsequent climb in the sun, I stopped a little before the site of the slide that closed the road last winter to take a picture, and fell way behind the two fast guys. I then rode hard to try to catch back up, but one of them was gone. I didn't see him again. The other one had slowed, since he didn't know the roads. We then hammered the remaining descent of Highland and pulled into the Summit Market for the lunch stop. There was also a group of mountain bikers there having an after-ride beer.

After lunch, I rode alone back to downtown Santa Cruz to the bike shop to test ride some bikes. I really liked the Look 585, and rode it about 14 miles, but it was out of my price range. I then tried an Ibis Silk Carbon, which was also very nice, though it didn't accelerate like the Look. It was in my price range, so I decided to get an Ibis frame built up with SRAM Rival components and Easton wheels. It should be ready within a couple of weeks. Finally, I rode back home.