8 December 2007

Eureka Canyon

It was a cold morning and it was cloudy. Since it had rained during the week, I figured it would be muddy on Highland, so I took my old bike and headed to Capitola and signed in. It was a smaller group, probably due to the cold.

We headed through Capitola, then out on Park and McGregor. Since the route sheet said to turn right at Mar Vista, I turned right, but everyone else went straight. So I was riding solo for a while, and headed through Aptos Village, up Trout Gulch, Valencia, Cox, Day Valley, Hames, and Corralitos to the stop at 5 Mile Market. About 5 minutes later, the trailing part of the group rolled in via Freedom. After a short break, we decided to head up to Corralitos Market and stop there instead.

Apparently, the leading part of the group had turned left up Eureka Canyon from Hames instead of heading down to 5 Mile. After a short break, I headed up Eureka Canyon solo, chasing the riders ahead. About 6 miles in, I overtook the slower bunch. I joined the lead group of 5 as they were waiting in the sun at the end of Buzzard Lagoon. After a break, we headed down the cold, bumpy descent of Highland. Then, Highland became a sunny climb. Around the spot where the half the road had collapsed, the road was closed for real now. There were concrete barriers on both sides. It was muddy, but passable by bicycle. On the other side, lots of cars were parked. The mountain bikers going to the Soquel Demonstration Forest had to ride from here, instead of being able to drive all the way to Camp Loma, as they normally do.

We continued all the way to the Summit Market. I got a sandwich and a 7up. It was partly sunny. When the sun was out, it felt warm, but it was mostly partly clouded over. There were also periodic gusts of wind that were cold. After lunch, we headed down Soquel-San Jose, then up Laurel Glen, down Mountain View, then Branciforte into town. On Market St, we split up to head home. I headed over to Beach Hill for a couple of times around 3rd St, then went home. It was sunny, but still a little cold.