The Aptos Post Office And It’s Legacy

Chances are if you pay any attention to mountain bike media, you have seen the Aptos Post Office Jumps. This jump park is seen everywhere in video parts, photos, and advertisements. The park has shaped what the Santa Cruz freeride scene is today. The jumps built in 2003 by a tight knit community of riders are famous for sending, names such as Cam McCaul, Greg Watts, and Jack Fogelquist into professional mountain bike stardom.

A rider enjoying the large sized dirt jumps

It has been recently announced that the jump park, as well as the adjacent pump track, will be getting bulldozed in 2015. The decision does not come as a surprise as the park has always been a temporary project with builders knowing that the land will eventually be developed.

Although a sad fact to accept, the park has brought to fruition many positives. The park was an area that any level of rider could enjoy. Whether a beginner at the pump track, to a big name pro at the dirt jumps, there is something for everyone.

A rider enjoying some of the other sized jumps the park has to offer

Despite the death of one bike park, looking ahead is an even brighter light. There is a great movement in the county to build public bike parks. The Aptos Polo Grounds has a good sized set of dirt jumps , and there are recently built pump tracks in the communities of Live Oak, The Westside, and Scotts Valley. Even bigger news is that construction is set to start within the next year on the Velocity Bike Park in Felton. The park will offer pump tracks, a skills area including an airbag jump, and flow trails accessed by a magic carpet uplift system. The park that is currently in planning will be built by Alpine Bike Parks of British Columbia.

One of my favorite videos that perfectly paints the story of the Aptos Post Office is the segment from Anthill Films’ “Strength in Numbers”:

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