Video: Trail Ninja - NorCal's Santa Cruz Ride Guide

Sep 22, 2013 at 15:57
by Dan Milner  

Grumpier than ever, Dan Milner heads off to Northern California to the mountain bike mecca of Santa Cruz to see what this legendary bike riding destination has to offer us in his latest Trail Ninja ride-guide.

The result is a tale of surf, sweat, singletrack and beer-swigging.

So does Santa Cruz really have anything to offer a true mountain biking aficionado? Find out in this video.

Producer: Dan Milner
Athletes: Dan Milner, Aaron Bradford & Manuel Beastley

Author Info:
DanMilner avatar

Member since Feb 11, 2011
55 articles

26 Comments
  • 5 0
 god I love Santa Cruz, I sometimes forget how many spots there are to ride here, its so easy to get stuck on one side of the mountain haha
  • 2 0
 haha, one side of the mountain, i got your joke. But yeah man we got it pretty good here
  • 8 1
 glad they didnt show any of the real trails!
  • 1 0
 That was part of the deal.. I had a couple of great guides and there's tons of stuff up there.. and much more than I could possibly feature or want to feature or be allowed to feature if you get the drift.
  • 3 0
 That's my local hill.... I'm down at school in SoCal but I can't wait to go back and shred.
  • 1 0
 That was poo unless it was supposed to be some sort of anti-vid. I was excited to watch and was left feeln totally bummed. I've like previous vids. Looks like Ill need to call a wambulance.
  • 2 0
 It's just my lame Brit sarcasm. Thought I'd try a different approach to this episode. Sorry. Go ride Santa Cruz in the demo forest and your bummed-ness will evaporate immediately. I promise. And I'm not being sarcastic now.
  • 1 0
 Wow thanks Dan, sorry if I came off like a drag. I dig your sarcasm, I was just hoping to get more trail action/info (Marin County was great). SC is sort of close to me but I'm totally intimidated to ride there (legal/illegal, locals only, super pedal/crazy downhill with giant jump gaps). I understand it's tough to profile a trail but keep doing it and I'll keep watching. Thanks man!
  • 2 0
 I hear ya. We rode plenty of legal fun trails at both locations the ranch and Demo/Soquel Forest. Check the video again. There is a website with a good trail map for the first (bikemapdude.com) and you can get a legal trail map for the second from Epicenter cycles in Aptos. There's still plenty of fast and/or tech stuff up there to ride legally. I just wanted to give a feel of the kind of riding there. Hook up with a local to show you the "extra" stuff. Some of that blew my mind, and I'm no gap-jump dude. Give it another go. :-)
  • 1 0
 Big thanks for all the time and support. I definitely will. I'll leave the wambulance at home too. Thanks again, you rock!
  • 2 1
 I went to the bike fest in April. Paid $20 for a "raffle" only to be told it was an online raffle (ie no winner) and I paid $20 for a DirtRag subscription that never came.
  • 2 0
 Send them to the Iron Maiden! Excellent!! Execute them! Bogus!! Wink
  • 2 0
 ..forgot to mention if you crash in those woods you get poison oak all over you. another advantage of canadian trails.
  • 3 0
 Pffff Northern California thats MIddle California :-)
  • 3 0
 More Northern than Southern
  • 1 0
 True true :-) but after that stop keep driving and ride the tippy top of NorCal super fun up here :-)
  • 1 0
 Glad to see some Redding shredders! Agreed there are some good trails up there!
  • 1 0
 Looks real good but, Not sure who told him it was the best in the world? Research next time!!!
  • 1 0
 He didn't say the best in the world, he said some of the best.
  • 12 0
 He showed all the legal singletrack in the area. The good stuff isn't legal, and I am very thankful he didn't show it in this video.
  • 7 0
 Some of the greatest trails in the world are the ones that he can't film.
  • 2 0
 Well I guess in 30 years of riding trails anywhere from the Alps, South America, India, Morocco, Nepal, USA and recently Afghanistan, I can truly say that the trails I was shown in Santa Cruz are among the best I've ever ridden. Or maybe I was just having a fun day. Or maybe it was the beer.
  • 1 0
 You cant beat SC loam.
  • 2 0
 Callin' it like it is.
  • 1 0
 it would be a nice part a of holiday .
  • 1 0
 great as always







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