MBOSC’s First Ever “Old Growth Classic” Mixed Terrain Race, Part 1: Getting There • 8/24/18
When Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz announced their first mixed-terrain race/ride back in the spring I was intrigued. It would include a weekend of camping in Little Basin State Park. (Little Basin recently became a state park, after being privately owned by Hewlett Packard for use by its employees for years.) There would be food, music, post-ride festival, Hakka MX demo bikes from Ibis, coffee by Verve Coffee Roasters, campfires...holy cow! I signed up immediately and then set about getting some partners in crime. I got Dan and Paul hooked pretty quickly. :-)
Conveniently, Paul offered up to take us in his Sprinter Van o’Adventure. He’d sleep in the Sprinter, and Dan and I would share a tent. We were off to the races! (Literally.)
Driving into Little Basin we felt we were in a world apart. Cell reception ceases almost as you drive in. We were truly off the grid for the weekend! We found our campsite, site 38, in the “Stargazers” area and got situated. Then I headed up to the expo area to get fitted for my Ibis Hakka MX demo bike. Pretty sweet! Felt very light, and was equipped with SRAM 1x with hydraulic disc brakes:
We were the first in the camp site, conveniently, since Paul’s van needed to be parked first in the tandem parking. Mari & Chris showed up a bit later in their tent-topped pickup truck. Deepa, Eric, and Quincy showed up pretty late and pitched their tents in the dark.