“No road is too long when you have good company."
—Author Unknown
Bill Rothenberg and I picked up James (Jimi) Hunter at his home off Highway 9. He’s so famous they named
a street after him called Hunter Lane (photo). To call him a veteran biking enthusiast would be an understatement.
In ancient times he used to race bikes in the over 30 groups. He is also my good friend who got me back into biking. It was Jimi who organized the Santa Cruz Beach bike ride along the coast. With Bill, a long-time friend being a recent addition to our group, I officially dubbed our name: “The Three Amigos Bike Squad. Of course, I haven’t told Bill and Jimi yet:-)
When one thinks of Santa Cruz, it is of surfers, pot-smoking hippies, redwood trees, and the Boardwalk. However, Santa Cruz County, it turns out is a cyclist’s paradise. There are miles of pristine coastline and bucolic stretches of berry and vegetable farms like artichoke and Brussel sprouts. In fact, Agriculture remains the top industry, surpassing even tourism. Miles of coastline given to the state for public use that includes beaches north of Santa Cruz were provided by a nonprofit trust.
We began our ride on West Cliff Drive's 3-mile long Bicycle Path with its stunning backdrop of ocean waves and dramatic cliffs, just 25 minutes over the Santa Cruz Mountains from where we live. We reached the Lighthouse Field State Beach which is the home to the surfing museum and the historic lighthouse. Along the way, we were intrigued by a woman riding her bike with her dog riding alongside her with some sort of a harness. Jimi, who struck up a congenial conversation with her, asked if she wouldn’t mind us taking photos of her and her part pit bull. She told me her name was LeeAnn Sherwood, a child of a pastor whose life strayed from her Christian roots. She became addicted to cocaine, danced in strip clubs to make ends meet, and raised a child as a single mother on a 'G-string' budget. Hence, the name of her new book: “Around the World on a G-String available on Amazon.
It turns out that Jimi, once an avid surfer knew her boyfriend, surf icon Keven Reed who according to my research landed the cover of a 1975 issue of Surfing Magazine, having been the first person to do eye-popping aerials. In 2017 it was reported in the San Jose Mercury that Reed was homeless and embroiled in a murder, charges were dropped but he still remained a person of interest. The 60-year-old now goes by the name of Keven Callahan.
After bidding farewell to LeeAnn, we continued on to what would become a 17-mile journey. The trail ends at Natural Bridges State Park, where we used to take the kids when they were young to see the annual migration of monarch butterflies,
We then stopped at the Blue Whale Skeleton exhibit with 18-foot jawbones on the ocean bluff at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center on McAllister Way, at the end of the road of the UC Santa Cruz Marine Campus entrance. and the Wilder Ranch State Park which has 4,505 acres, with 34 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails winding through breathtaking coastal terraces and valleys.
Most of the trails we traversed were over uneven sand and gravel terrain that challenged us. My Sondor’s electric-assist bike with the fat tires was made for this environment. We decided to head back just short of Bonny Doon Beach, a clothing-optional Nude Beach where I used to hang glide back in the day. We took a short cut along the railroad tracks.
When we got back into town we visited Santa Cruz bikes. One of the bikes we saw was priced at $8000. They allow anyone to take their bikes for a test drive. One of those riders turned out to be one of Bill’s former co-workers who retired to Santa Cruz.
We had three choices of where to eat and by executive order by Jimi (because he was treating) we ended up at Santa Cruz Taqueria Santa Cruz #1 and ordered a veggie burrito and a chicken burrito and it was good.
