Santa Cruz, CA: Free cycling adventure kit

Even though summer is almost over, it’s not too late for a quick vacation or weekend getaway up the coast to Santa Cruz. And if back-to-school and work commutes are driving you crazy, you can cycle your way around the beaches and redwood forests up there, instead of driving everywhere. You’ll fit right in with the locals, who balance everything from surfboards to sacks of organic groceries on their beach cruisers as they pedal around town.

Deal: The Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council has the perfect thing to help you plan two-wheeled touring. Its Bicyclist’s Adventure Kit is stuffed full of helpful information, including bike rental brochures, safety tips for road cycling and mountain biking, a free newsletter listing upcoming events sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Cycling Club, and a surprisingly informative glossy travel magazine. The most valuable components of this kit, however, are trail maps of nearby beaches and state parks, plus a full-color topographic map of cycling roads across the county.

Where’s your favorite place to cycle along the Central Coast? Share your tips by posting in the Comments section below.

Caveat: The kit is free only if you pick it up in person during normal daily business hours at the visitors center located at 1211 Ocean St. in Santa Cruz. To have it mailed to you ahead of time, you’ll have to pay $6 to cover shipping and handling (Visa and MasterCard accepted).

When: It took less than five business days for the kit, which I ordered online, to arrive at my house.

Contact: Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council, (800) 833-3494

Related Los Angeles Times links:
Santa Barbara: Discounts for car-free visits
Visiting Santa Barbara without a car
In Las Vegas, park your car, take a tram

– Sara Benson, L.A. Times Travel Deal Detective

[Photo credit: Courtesy of Santa Cruz County Cycling Club]

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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 26, 2007 at 1:53 am by Sara Benson and is filed under California, Eco-Travel, Family & Kids, Islands & Beaches, Outdoors & Adventure, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.