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Recommend me some good Santa Cruz road bike rides
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Recommend me some good Santa Cruz road bike rides! Will be there from Wed-Sat, plan on going outdoors (gasp!) and doing some outdoor riding. Staying at the downtown oceanfront, and have a car so I can drive, but I'd prefer to keep total ride+travel time under 3.5 hrs if possible since it's a family trip, not a bike camp for me!

I've already eyeballed the Bonny Doon-Empire Grade loop which looks perfect - any tips on that route would also be welcome. (I read online a suggestion to ride it clockwise starting from the base of Bonny Doon, down Empire and back via Smith)
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Re: Recommend me some good Santa Cruz road bike rides [lightheir] [ In reply to ]
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If you want flat / rolling hills (i.e. not much climbing), the views along highway 1 are decent - lots of ocean visibility. About 35 miles out from Santa Cruz drops you into a little town called Pescadero which has a cool coffee shop called Downtown Local. This route is basically the IM 70.3 + a bit more distance:

https://www.google.com/...511!2d37.2522925!3e1

If you want climbs, and away from the highway, I'd drive up to Pescadero and start / end there. There's tons of climbing around that area. Probably in Santa Cruz too but I don't know any specifics there.
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Re: Recommend me some good Santa Cruz road bike rides [David Swafford] [ In reply to ]
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Both options above are good ones. The possibilities are endless. You can do a slight variant of the Pescadero suggestion by turning right on Swanton road, which will drop you back on Hwy 1, where you can keep going right towards Pescadero. Or you can make a left and head back towards Santa Cruz and make a left turn onto Bonny Doon on your way back, then a right onto Smith road then get back to Santa Cruz coming down Empire Grade.
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Re: Recommend me some good Santa Cruz road bike rides [lightheir] [ In reply to ]
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I'd head to South County: Corralitos area has the best loops. Check out Hazel Dell and for sure Eureka Canyon (long climb). Careful on your way down San Jose Soquel if you head up Eureka Canyon. I also suggest riding your road bike as the surfaces suck and there are lots of wet spots and shade. Enjoy!
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