Santa Cruz: DJ & Skatepark mission
posted 1/2/06

The neighborhood jumps we sessioned was a great warm up, as all the trails in the Bay Area are still to wet to ride. The second pack in the set was a bit shorter than all the other ones, adding a level of technical difficulty. It gave me a bit of trouble, but after a few attempts, I made it through the set. I'm glad I had the warm up, as the set of quads we sessioned next at Aptos weren't small. They weren't as big as I thought they were going to be either. But they were all fun.

We loaded our bikes back up in the Fronj's truck and headed down to Aptos.

The jumps are located across the street from the local post office they are named after. A large puddle between the first set and the second set in the main large pack rendered it unridable, so we warmed up a bit more on this double that was set up as a make shift table.

that big puddle in the main pack was a bit of a bummer.

Drew started sessioning the set of quads on the right and gave me a bad time until I agreed to hit them. Peer pressure- can be a good thing. I reluctantly agreed to follow Drew through the set without bothering to take a look at the gap first- probably not the best idea. I didn't realize how big the gap was until I was about halfway through. Whoa.

Drew made it his mission to see how high he could boost this jump.. (pretty high. )

It took me a few tries to make it through the second set. A couple of run ups and a case later, I was feeling pretty good. Unfortunately, when I handed the camera to someone, I started riding like crap...

yeah, that is exactly what I was thinking here: aw crap- i'm about to case it. I suck.

There were a few other riders present- Chris here happened to be from Oregon as well. We were all tripping out on the1 degree of separation: Montana hails from Salem and rides with a lot of the riders I rode with when I lived in Eugene. Not only that, Drew also happens to be friends with his roommate. The riding scene really isn't that big..

Oregon represent..

how high? pretty high.

Fronj, with another tire grab..

As the sun went down, Tyler got it in his head to rail this berm as fast as he could -and then he went faster. We knew it was a bad sign when he asked me, "is the dirt soft right there?"

not that soft. the Fronj got busted up.

the crew: Drew, Fronj, & JV (the author/ photog)

It was dark and the crew was tired when we loaded up and headed home. A full day of riding, and a full day of fun times.