Surf Trippin

Apologies for the delay in posts my friends.  It has been a busy couple weeks and sadly they have been rideless for the most part...not to say I haven't been on my fair share of adventures during the time spent away from my two wheeled oasis.  From running around in the desert within a temporary city of 60,000, cruisin the wineries of Sonoma and surfing the California coast I've managed to keep myself occupied.  Now, however, I finally have time to recount my most recent endeavor: Surf Trip.

Four people, two surfboards, a dog, a Subaru, a full cup of trucker coffee and way too much camping gear.  We set out from Reno, NV at 8:30 on a Sunday night with our sights set on Half Moon Bay, CA.  Thoughts of foggy mornings and the salty air floated in and out of conversation on the ride down.  Living in the land locked state of Nevada the Sierras present a barrier that keep the desert folk on the eastern edge of the mountains.  It is easy to forget how close the Pacific lies to the West.

Any camping areas along the California coast are going to be inundated with middle aged weekend warriors stretching the limits of their RVs and satellite T.V. connections.  It is something I always forget until I arrive.  Nevadans get spoiled with wide open landscapes devoid of people.  There are places you can go and not see another soul for the duration of your stay.  However, being amongst the RVs is the name of the game when everyone is bottlenecked into these isolated campsites along the coast.  With that being said, there is nothing better than being a stones throw from some awesome surf spots.  Not to mention, Mavericks, the mother of all big balled surfing can be seen from the beach.

Half Moon Bay State Beach

Monday morning we marked a couple beaches on the map we wanted to hit up.  Since the tide was going to be good later in the day, we went to a good skimboard beach first.  Let the dog stretch her legs. 

Chasing ALL the Birds! 

After thoroughly blowing out my legs sprinting up and down the beach for a couple hours it was time to head south a few miles to check out Montara. The beach is super long and has plenty of breaks to spread out on and have a section to yourself.  Unfortunately, I don't own any surf equipment anymore but my buddy let me use a sweet spring suit. I like to try to blend in wherever I go, so, the spring suit coupled with the Bic (yes, the pen/lighter company) longboard allowed me to camouflage in amongst the California surfer locs. 

Sick Brah

Shore breaks can be a double edged sword.  On one hand there are usually way more waves to be had by all, however,the waves tend to break faster, close out more and thoroughly thrash you if you're not on point.  Long story short, caught a couple and got worked for a few sets. Montara was fun, but the quest for the perfect wave never ends.  

Searching for the Perfect Wave

Stupid Epic Sunset Always Getting in the Way 

(Mavericks breaks out by that point)

After a night of whiskey, wine, raucous retirees and rouge Chinese children that kept turning up by our campfire we were off to Santa Cruz.  Turns out the swell wasn't hitting our area of Santa Cruz we wanted to surf. The waves were small, but one of the points would send off a nice long right handers.  We were neck deep in kelp and ever watchful of Great Whites beyond the break as the seals barked at us from the rocks. We had the break to ourselves for a while. Then, all of the sudden emerging from out past the break our worst fear materialized upon the surface of the water. School was out and the little Santa Cruz groms were swarming the waters around us snaking every available wave. 

Chris Going Head to Head With the Oceans Deadliest Predator 

After attaining said mission and some burritos, we were Reno bound once again. Sad to leave the ocean, but glad to be back in the mountains.  You can feel winter starting to creep in. Old timers say it's going to be a good one. 

I'll be putting the wheels back to the dirt soon with my buddy Quincy.  We have a new development, "Shred with Friends," in the works along the mountain bike lines. The dude is a video and editing wizard. When I see what he does compared to my 1990's esque gopro videos I can't wait to see what we come up with when we put our brains together. As Quincy puts it, "Our goal is simple, there is no goal. We aren't out there to try and be the fastest person on a bike, nor are we inventing tricks and trying to push the sport where it has never been before. We are just riding our bikes and having fun, plain and simple. That is the reason we all started riding bikes in the first place and it's still what keeps us coming back." A little preview can be seen here.  Gonna be working on filming for the next couple months searching for that perfect trail, so hopefully I'll have some progress to put up here soon. 

Cheers, 

Brian