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I slept in late and didn't hit the road until after 1:00pm but still managed to get a decent ride in and a lot of new (to me) roads.
The first new road was to cut off of Old Santa Cruz highway and climb through Redwood Estates. There's a whole little community tucked away up there that I never really new about. Also the roads are really steep! I eventually hit Summit Rd (which was my plan) not because the signs made it obvious how to get there but because I just kept pointing the bike uphill.
Then I took Summit southbound and turned right on Morrell cutoff which is a shortcut to Soquel San Jose Rd. It may be a shorter distance but I think it is slower. The pavement quickly turns from bad to horrible and I was on the brakes the whole way down. The road eventually bottomed out at a stream crossing and then climbed back up a couple hundred feet.
The next new road was N. Rodeo Gulch. This was kind of boring at first but the northern half was really nice. It passes through a hidden little valley with a few farms/ranches before climbing out and up to the top of a ridge and then dropping back down again.
Then Branciforte Rd, past the Mystery Spot, and Glen Canyon Rd to Scotts Valley where I stopped at a gas station for chips and a cold drink. Up until this point I had been drinking a concentrated bottle of Hammer perpetuem and following that up with plain water. I do believe that Perpetuem is good stuff but I just can't handle the concentrated "multi-hour" bottles when it's 80 degrees outside. Completely unpalatable so I'll have to figure out another solution for the future.
Next I headed over to Felton and tried in vain to take a shortcut up to Empire Grade. My plan was to do a loop of Smith Grade, Bonny Doon, and Ice Cream Grade roads but my shortcut didn't pan out. It seems that Felton Quarry Rd is private complete with gate and scary signs.
So with that plan shot down I had to come up with an alternate and I decided to visit Loch Lomond. So I headed the short distance to the base of E. Zayante and started heading up it. Since this was a "shake everything up" ride I got super daring and even crossed over the creek to West Zayante for a couple miles before making the left turn on Lompico Rd.
Lompico Rd is in a deep canyon yet relatively flat. Today it was very cool which was nice and relaxing. As you go deeper into the canyon there become more and more rustic houses built into the hillsides. It's pretty but I can't imagine wanting to live there since it seems so far out in the boonies. I went all the way to the end of Lompico Rd and turned around before taking the cutoff road to Loch Lomond.
In order to get to the lake you have to climb about 500' up out of the canyon, cross a saddle point, and then drop 400' down the other side. The initial climb was super steep but luckily the road on the lake side seemed to have been graded more conservatively.
I got another cold drink and some almonds at the store at the lake. Then I did a big no-no. I walked down to the lake surface and TOUCHED THE WATER! I splashed some on my face and arms which felt superb. But then I heard some rangers talking to each other and it took my tired brain a few seconds to realize they were talking about me.
Ranger 1: What's he doing (aghast sounding voice)
Ranger 2: He just rode his bike here, he doesn't know
Well ranger 1 walked very quickly in my direction and explained that touching the water was Strictly Forbidden as it is part of the drinking water supply. I found it a bit odd that they rent pedal boats there and people were taking those out on top of the water. Just no touching of the water is allowed.
So I apologized and went on my way. I had just climbed E. Zayante fairly recently so I didn't want to repeat that just on general principle and decided to take Bear Creek instead. I got to the base of Bear Creek via Quail Hollow and Glen Arbor roads, both new to me. On Glen Arbor a pack of thugs on motorcycles passed me and one of them blipped the throttle in my ear. How mature. I saw them just dismounting their bikes at a bar a couple miles up the road and glared.
The Bear Creek climb was a slog because I was pretty tired. Once I got near the top the views of Monterey Bay were amazing though. Screaming descent down the other side of Bear Creek and then the dirt trail home.
Stats were around 92 miles, 8000' and about 6:25 moving time and 7:00 total time. This was a Terrible Two prep ride and I learned some valuable stuff. First, I need one more long hard ride like this. Second, no more "multi-hour" bottles of Perpetuem. I will bring pre-measured baggies in the future and use those to create normal strength bottles (hopefully with cold water!)