Surf City Cyclocross, the longest-running cyclocross series in the U.S., returns for its 46th season with 50% more racing and 100% more venues than last season.
A lot is in store for this season, including continuing a Cyclocross Magazine initiative to offer three opportunities for brand new cyclocross racers to race their first-ever cyclocross race for free.
The first race, on Sunday, October 6, marks a homecoming, as the series brings cyclocross back the the University of California Santa Cruz campus, forty years after it hosted the UCSC Cyclocross National Championships, won by Steve Tilford in a whopping 1 hour, 21 minutes and 36 seconds.
The 1984 USCF Cyclocross Nationals was held on the UCSC campus in Santa Cruz and won by Steve Tilford.
Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster Cycles fame, describes this momentous return:
And they said it couldn’t be done—and some said that it shouldn’t be done—those were the people who kept it from being done!
Now after nearly 30 years it will be done—the first cyclocross race on the UCSC campus since the mid-90s. UCSC has a place in NorCal cyclocross history, even hosting the 1984 Nationals, although not many people would remember. Legendary riders such as Lawrence Malone, Steven Tilford, Roy Knickman, Dan Nall and Clark Natwick rode in races on the campus. Those races happened when cyclocross was a largely unknown and obscure sport. In the early days, only a handful of racers would show up and even fewer spectators. In the ’70s, cyclocross was a hard sell but now nearly three decades later the sport has a sizable and faithful community.
This upcoming October 6th event is likely to draw several hundred racers and just as many spectators. There might be a brass band—there might be spontaneous combustion—there will be a lot of gopher holes and bone-jarring dry conditions, along with the nastiest run-up in NorCal. It will be the latest chapter in the history of NorCal cyclocross that you should not miss.
Those familiar with the infamous Surf City run-ups at Crest Tree Ranch are likely shaking in their boots, and shaking their head, at Sadoff’s “nastiest run-up in NorCal” comment, but cyclocross in Santa Cruz has a long history of tough, jungle cross run-ups:
The 1984 USCF Cyclocross Nationals was held on the UCSC campus in Santa Cruz and won by Steve Tilford. Photo from Feb 1985 Velonews.
Surf City CX promoter Brendan Lehman describes the expansion to UCSC and three days of racing:
We’ve been hosting Surf City as a one-weekend race since taking over in 2018 and the vision has always been to bring back a multi-race series. However, after hosting the
Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships last year, we thought this would be a good time to take a break. Well…sometimes things don’t work out that way. I’d been talking with the University since early 2023 and there has been widespread support in hosting Surf City on campus. We all got together this spring and decided it needed to happen, so here we are. Yes, after nearly three decades, cyclocross is returning to the University of California, Santa Cruz campus.
In the ’80s and ’90s, most cyclocross races were held at the base of campus near what is now the farm and the lower bike path area. This area has become a lot more developed, and would not be feasible with the larger crowd sizes that we have these days. So we’re holding the race up at the main athletic fields complex. The course is going to feature sweeping views of the Monterey Bay, with both wide open sections and forested singletrack. We’ve got a few surprises on this course that will surely be talked about for years to come. The views from the race course are insane. You’re looking down at the town of Santa Cruz and can see clear across the bay to Monterey and Big Sur. It’s easy to get to, with plenty of parking, and we’ll have food trucks and all the usual good stuff you’ve come to expect from a Rock Lobster team production.
Pre-registration ends on Friday at 3pm via BikeReg. First-time racers looking for a try-before-you-buy experience can contact the promoters via the race’s contact page.
Surf City also continues with the annual two-day campout festival at Crest Ranch in Bonny Doon on October 26-27th, featuring the world-famous Haloween race, pixie bike world championships, live music, food, bonfires, nighttime movies, and more.
More info: cyclo-x.com
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