Second Ever: Santa Cruz Off-Road Metric Century

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeUkFZ369wjn6POd8vKDC7Q2j0pIQ1RzJopbfC3SsDb6AeMefZfHjkL8gMkP8eKLm37XdfyTkY5aU5H6NabJFnE6zhpgbP0oUiG5s7XJfXAZClWDXMvwgc_G1HiYwA1YN_Ctygmw/s288/starters.jpgThe second ever Santa Cruz Off-Road Metric Century was a huge success! Nicole, Alex, Bob and Dave started off around 8:10AM and 10 miles later we had already spit Nicole out of the back. She broke her 7 year old frame with a clean break on the seat tube. Luckily it had a lifetime warranty, sadly the new front triangle they're putting on will need a new shock :(
The rest of the ride was frickin' sweet.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizMLclEtTRqe055afxNz8kAh_UNgM96cvVLDIUU8FRMUJlIz7PKFfyHx9ewgcWz9mX2F3GCMj_f0QDMvFE6MGUjZnEBNzdwg_gaiBy3nnTT-5xTcB8FWJm0xJAvh7KpuRDTMs0NA/s288/post-crash2.jpgBob crashed on the trail that everyone seems to crash on. Bob's been on some night rides with us in the past and ridden Cream Puff and Leadville 100 and all sorts of stuff so this ride was cake for him. He was patient waiting for me on some of the climbs and as I walked up the fire road towards twin oaks. It's worth noting that after the crash he kept on riding and didn't cry or anything! Great to have you with us Bob! Jun had just crashed on the same trail 2 days before and so was unable to do the ride with us. Quite a few others were also unable to come because they were off being awesome at the Downieville Classic.

We lost David in Wilder but found him again when we headed out for loop 3 and in a heroic effort he turned around and came with us to ride over to Bear Mountain.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHwMqRc5TqhtdK4yGl1W4tJFjk8fJy2L_pA_HSnaZSfCDeiXqFy-YJYgA2GXGpDN-3lYVQz19h6sRIuEvmjLDaZMk6TXLmteRzUk29crBbuTZ5JdvOZxowkiP2DYdKzKVpvfl6A/s288/finishers.jpgIn the end by 9PM we did 72 miles and almost 10,000ft climbing. That's over 115Km for those keeping count which means, again, we got 15% extra free on our Metric Century! Having Jun and Char's as a base was as awesome as last year and they were great hosts with a nice spread of food and beer and sausages afterwords! Erin met us after an awesome hike and showed off her impressive blister (should'a ridden bikes!).

A highlight for me was bumping into Karen on one of the back trails at 5:30PM around mile 55, she yelled at us, "I thought you only rode at 7:40AM", I yelled back, "I've been riding SINCE 7:40AM!"

After the ride we all hung out, ate BBQ and since Jun and Char were moving, they had a lot of junk to get rid of, so that instantly became our traditional post ride raffle!

More pictures in the Photo Gallery.