2013 Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival – The End of an Era

This past weekend was the 4th annual Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival in infamous Aptos, California. It was presented by Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz and the title sponsor this year was Fox Racing Shox.

At the center of the action is the expo. This year there were nearly 40 exhibitors and 15 companies demoing bikes. There were also a number of gourmet food vendors including a beer garden featuring brews from local breweries. Shuttle Smith Adventures was also on hand to shuttle riders to the top of Soquel Demonstration Forest for only $25!
Pro Short Track winner Alex Wild

No festival is complete without riding! The Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival holds some awesome races including a pump track race, short track XC race, and a dirt jump contest. The pump track outside Epicenter Cycling was completely rebuilt this year and was riding awesome! The short track course was running fast this year with top lap times coming in at a blazing 1:20. I raced in the junior short track race and went all out for 15 minutes. I ended up finishing in 2nd place.

Ryan Simonovich

The pro jump jam was a bittersweet way to end the 2013 festival. The jump jam is held at the famous Aptos Post Office jumps. It is a known fact that these jumps will be leveled later this year to expand the aptos village. These jumps are iconic. Bikers from all over the world flock to Aptos to try their luck at the jump park. The jumps helped start the professional mountain bike careers of locals
such a Jack Fogelquist, Cam McCaul, and Greg Watts.

Ray George

The Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival will have to find a new home next year. Where will we celebrate riding next? Huge thanks you to Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz for putting on a home run event year after year.

Photos by Richard Masoner of Cyclelicio.us

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AdrianLong