Nowhere is the air bigger than Aptos

Back to Santa Cruz for a tour of Forest of Nisene Marks, billed as the leading host of lyme-disease carrying ticks in the state (1 in 5)! Well, that one won’t make the tourist promos, but anyone with their share of run-ins with ticks knows that proper precautions avert a lot of trouble. Stay on the trails, don’t lie down in the grass, and keep an eye out for the little devils and you’ll be fine. (Also read up on the latest regarding how to handle ticks and avoid Lyme Disease.)

Nisene has lots of lower-level trails with berms, a few structures and lots of rollers. But you can also ride up the long fire road to access the Soquel Demo Forest, a great technical area. And if you go over to the Aptos Post Office, you’ll find one of the leading jump parks in the country, where homie Cam McCaul plays host to some of the world’s leading mountain bikers, guys like Andreu Lecondeguy, Jamie Goldman, Greg Watts and others.

The other thing about hanging with the locals is finding out about new undocumented trails. There’s lots to choose from in Santa Cruz!