Ride Like A Girl - Santa Cruz

The Bicycle Trails Council (BTC) hosts a women-only mtn bike ride on the first Saturday of the month. The intent of the ride is to have fun! and to meet other women who love to mtn bike.

************** Ellen won't be here. **************
****** We need an advanced rider to lead that group. *******

Santa Cruz!!

We're planning on Emma McCrary and U-Conn up to the area above UCSC, play in the maze a bit, then return on U-Conn and Emma McCrary.
The advanced group will do more miles. Probably into Wilder for some descending and climbing back up.

We'll start out riding up the Emma McCrary trail to an area where there's a maze of swoopy trails. Emma McCrary is a nice steady not-too steep climb with a few roots so it’s not very technical. The maze is a little more technical with sharp turns and a few logs. There is no map for the maze trails so patience may be required if we need to occasionally stop to check our GPS and look for mapped fire-roads. After playing around in the maze for a while, we'll head back down the way we came up, which can be fast and flowy. This basic route is about 1300' of climbing and 10 miles of riding. If there are enough riders who want more technical riding with some more flow trails, and more miles, we can head over to Wilder Park. This will add a loop to the basic route with about 900' additional climbing and 8 additional miles (don't quote me on the exact elevation gain or miles!). Most of the route is under tree canopy which makes for a nice ride through the woods. This ride is for experienced beginners and above. Pace will be moderate.

There are no restrooms or water sources at the meeting spot nor are there any along the route. Plan ahead and give yourself extra time. Starbucks is downtown a bit further away.

Please arrive by 9:00 am so you have time to unload your bike, sign in, and meet other riders. Wheels rolling at 9:15

The meeting spot is a parking lot with some spaces designated for bike parking (yay!). If these fill up, there is street parking. Carpooling is strongly suggested.

BRING Supplies in case of a FLAT: a SPARE TUBE & Tire Levers or whatever you might need if you run tubeless. As always, bring water and whatever snacks you want for the trail. Bring a mtn bike in good working condition (I'm not a mechanic).

The ride home can take a bit longer than the way there. You may not want to need to be someplace critical in the early or mid afternoon.

I will bring some post-ride snacks but we may not want to linger too long as traffic going back can be ugly.

If it is insanely hot or something else comes up, if you have RSVPd, you will receive an email with ride updates the day before the ride by 3pm.