Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Marin, California

Hello, Friends. I’m going to try to blow through this post quickly. After leaving Downieville, I made for Santa Cruz, the same place the Lost Boys was filmed and home to all things Jimerica! loves. Good people, good riding, and good beer. I had a little snafu on my first ride here, which landed my bike in the bicycle ER. Fortunately, I found Sarah, who has been working on bikes for 20 years and figured out how to get me back on the road in less than a day.

Sarah at Epicenter Cycling.

Since my ride had been cut short, I had a bit of time on my hands. So, I hit the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. I get the feeling they keep this place intentionally mildly creepy, in a cool way, as a subtle “hello” to Lost Boys fans. I didn’t anticipate all the sea lions sunning themselves under the pier. Here’s one that was branded for some reasong. If anybody knows somebody that was born on 8/6/73, I found their sea lion.

8/6/73

On my second day, I got to do the full ride I’d intended on doing the first day. It was at “Wilder Ranch”. The ride was good, though not as good as what I’ve done so far. If you ever do hit the Wilder trail system, don’t miss the “Enchanted Loop”. It’s by far the best here. I don’t mean to be negative about the riding here, it’s just that you can’t ask Santa Cruz for the same sort of riding you get in Downieville, or Sedona. There are some other trail systems, but they are mostly on the campus of University of California, Santa Cruz, and are technically illegal to ride. Though, every single person I passed told me to go. Did Jimerica! ride these illegal systems? The world shall never know. Here are some shots from Wilder:

The Enchanted Loop

Fabio McHorsehead. Making Jimerica! sexy again like it always was.

The Enchanted Loop

What is undeniably great here are the beaches, food, and people. It’s the sort of chill that only California can claim. Here are some random shots:

Yeah, it's just a menu. But it's a good one. Do not miss this place if you ever find yourself in Santa Cruz.

And if you are not yet convinced, they have whiskey on tap.

4 Mile Beach. Santa Cruz. Wilder Ranch State Beach.

After Santa Cruz, I headed to San Francisco for the first time in my life. My cousin Hughy, who has lived here since 1984, met me with his bike at Land’s End Park. He was the first familiar face I've seen in nearly a month. We spent the next 5 hours pedaling around the city. This is by far the most bike friendly place I’ve ever seen. We easily navigated the city from end to end and back (with many big climbs and long downhills). Here are some shots from the day:

You will never meet a more unique person than this guy, my cousin Hughy.

Jimerica! trusts that you know what this is.

Lindy in the Park!

Haight Ashbury.

Yup.

My tour guide and cousin, Hughy Ferry. San Fran native since 1984.

Ocean Beach. San Francisco.

I crashed on Hughy’s couch last night and then headed to Marin, California, the birthplace of mountain biking, this morning. I was wiped out from riding three days straight, so I just got my car reorganized and worked on this incredible blog post. I’m currently sitting at the Marin Brewing Company (excellent, excellent, put it on the list). They've been brewing beer here since 1989, including one of the better saison beers I've had in a long time. They also have a nice menu.

Anthony from Marin Brewing Company

In a bit, I will leave to go reunite with two of my Peace Corps friends, Pam and Nathan, who both live in the bay area. I'm VERY excited to see these guys. I haven't seen either of them since I left Namibia over 3 years ago. I’ll crash at Nathan’s tonight and then head to a place called “Camp Tamarancho” early in the morning, which offers top-notch riding. After that ride, I will head to my new home for two nights, which will require a 5 mile hike from my car to my ocean side campsite. I’ll update all of you on that next time. Thanks for reading. Happy Memorial Day!