[Francis Cebedo]

On Saturday May 6, about dozen hapless souls met up at Casa de Cooper to get a tour of the finest cycling Santa Cruz had to offer. Well we got that and much, much more!

We put in a bunch of miles through beachfront roads, grassy meadows, redwood forest and mountain descents. There were a few breakaways and a flurry of attacks. The group was evenly matched and stayed together. The frequent reqroups were merely a reason for us to see the great Cooper heckle some locals. Amazing riding and a ROFL good time.

I have no ride pics but others will fill in. I do however have photos of the post-ride madness!

This is our host... turkish-cooper:

We kicked off the afternoon with some FIRE!

Don't worry about running out of fire. We got lots of propane.

Cooper also uses handcrafted, fillet-brazed materials made of the lightest alloys.

Is there a ride today? Which bike to use? Cooper smoked us using this trike.

francois

 

[Francis Cebedo]

We proceeded on to the backyard and continued on with the fire theme. Here's propane powered torch made with railroad spikes.
"

Some brew is in order, served by Mrs. Cooper. Burgers too.

And just for the occasion, we had a special tequila blended by RWBadley. It was a blend of 4 tequilas, constituted of a base and finisher. With a few pleasant memories in the middle.

Here's our hosts Mrs. Cooper and daughter Cooper. They were happy pops had an audience finally.

Here's some other rhoadiesss:

Visiting from team Cilo Aufina is Paola Pezzo aka Felicia

Next door neighbor I am Spike who got a guatamalan special rhea.

Here's Mickey Mac" from Paso Robles




Here's brewmaster RWBadley from Reno, most aggressive rider Rensho and just in from Ireland, the legendary climber Fr Ted Crilly

The great Mohair Chair finally explained the madness behind his handle

The afternoon got hectic as these folks scrambled to avoid the scorching Santa Cruz sun.

More lactic threshold training to be found.

Our host says thank you, come again. There will be a lot more Roadbikereview rides but this one will be hard to beat.

fc

 

[Francis Cebedo]

Here's a couple of videos:

FIRE!!
fire instruction

fire demo


Tricycle Demo
HERE

fc

 

[thinkcooper]

Nice! Everyone here at Casa de Cooper has been laughing at what a silly fool big Cooper can be, given an audience, beer, some fuel, playa wear and a 4000 calorie deficit. Looking forwad to the next ride!

 

[mohair_chair]

More Cooper's Big Santa Cruz Adventure

Mickey-Mac readying for battle...

 

[mohair_chair]

rwbadley, not wearing a tie on casual Saturday

 

[mohair_chair]

Cooper, giving back to the community

 

[mohair_chair]

The only one on the ride with a pierced naval.

As far as I know.

 

[mohair_chair]

Who reads signs anyway?

 

[mohair_chair]

Just a minor problem with the road

 

[mohair_chair]

Just a minor problem with the cleats

 

[mohair_chair]

The logo still visible, despite the mud

 

[mohair_chair]

A LOT warmer than it looks. Must have been the previous eight miles of 40 mph downhill.

 

[mohair_chair]

Heeding the lesson of Paris-Roubaix, we did not go around the gates of this level crossing

 

[mohair_chair]

Cooper is stunned by what the ladies in the car offered to do...

 

[mohair_chair]

Back to the ocean on a spectacular day

 

[Fr Ted Crilly]

Back to the ocean on a spectacular day

Just to add to what others have said before, big thanks to Steve for organising and leading this ride and then for the hospitality shown by himself and family afterwards. And a a big thanks to all you guys, (& gal) for a very enjoyable fun ride.
Here's looking forward to the next RBR Nor Cal ride.

1. Half the group, (& half of Mickey-Mac)
2. Coop warning everyone what was to come.
3. Pit stop.
4. Start of the day's big climb.
5. The obligatory atempt at an arty shot.
6. Felicia flying up the hill.
7. Coop & Rensho.
8. A bit of cyclo-cross.
9. Getting ready for the big descent on Soquel-San Jose, (very fun!)
10. Francois trimming the neighbour's foliage

 

[jasmina]

That was fun!

You boys are so cool to hang with.
The ride was beautiful.
The post ride party was a blast.

Thank you so much - I'm still high from it.

- Felicia

 

[rensho]

Coop, you're too good to us man! Thanks for sharing the roads, entertainment and great grub.

Thanks for capturing the day in pix guys, nice ones at that.

Fire, socks, awesome ride, grub, open valleys, great company, cheap dance rates, landslide, summertime sun in SC...what more could you ask for?

 

[thinkcooper]

rensho et all, here's the ride profile on Saturday. I have no clue where the 175 rpm cadence came from, trying to catch you guys on that mega descent maybe?