First Dual Sport Adventure in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Posted on October 31, 2021  •  2 minutes  • 296 words

Since getting a new street bike I had been itching to get back on the dirt. It’s been many years since I last rode dirt and I had never ridden any sort of dual sport before, so I was rather excited when a friend invited me out on one of his bikes to head up into the Santa Cruz mountains near where I live.

It was an early start to the day, and I headed over to his place. We gassed up the bikes and headed out while it was still nice and cool. My weapon for the day was a 2019 Husqvarna FE 450, and it’s a beast. The power was a little choppy, especially for someone who hadn’t ridden a light and torquey bike in a while, but after a few miles I had it down and was ready to bid the nice smooth road goodbye.

We left the road and hit the dirt somewhere near the Uvas Reservoir, and climbed a whole bunch of feet pretty quickly up some moderate dirt roads. It was pretty fast paced and I was loving it! After 8 or so miles we reached the top of the first mountain and started getting a look at some of the incredible views looking back into the south San Francisco bay area.

The views at the top were absolutely incredible!

You could see the entire south end of the valley.

On the other side was Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean!

Heading down into the redwoods forest.

Some of the steep hillclimbs we did in the woods.

It’s a completely different world in there.

We finally made it back home just before sunset, and I was most certainly hooked… Time to look for a dirt bike or a dual sport!