[ad3] The Fest Series made it to Santa Cruz for the second year in a row for their first event of their season. CruzFest has become a fan favorite event for obvious reasons. Held on private property deep in the woods, it may seem to have a bit of an exclusionary vibe but it’s really just a bunch of the world’s best freeriders having a grand old time. We were there to catch all of the action a few days back so here is what we saw…
No dig, no ride…everyone digs.This busted shitter is still around and loving the abuse…Swanpound master Arik Swan and Jordie Lunn head up for the first laps with an excited canine.Brendan Howey got an invite this year…he was eager to get started.Jeff Herb is still on the mend from a freak accident at Rampage. He held it down with organizational efforts as well as making sure there was no excess beer.Nitro Circus nutter Dusty Wygle hates goggles but was sending it like a champ.Kyle Strait made the trek up from down SouthThe dirt was really dark, has a great deal of clay and is pretty easy to work with. R-Dog getting his hands dirty.Real dirty.Not an uncommon sight…MTB/Moto trains. Kyle Jameson pulls Tyler Bereman in.The moto guys were loving it.Local Ray George was stoked to get an invite and threw down accordingly.Feisty little dude.Sorge, Aggy and Sam Reynolds.Makken was the first to start riding but came up short on the first double. He’s healing up fine…Next year.Moto miniflips.R-Dog mega whipsRandy Spangler made it down again this year. Classic….Not bad for pushing 50.It isn’t all rosy. Spangler had a pretty nasty shoulder injury from coming up short on the first double.Sam Reynolds was loving California.Kyle Jameson was steezing hard. After all, he knows his way around here…Ethan Nell came over from Utah and impressed everyone big time.Andreu Lacondaguy – One hand superman seat grab. Savage.Swanpound stanky leg.Ray George, Adolf Silva, Sam Reynolds.Hillsack went off all week.Jordie Lunn loving the big hip.Damon Iwanaga came down from Tahoe…prior to this event, most people hadn’t heard of him.Damon proved his mettle and absolutely sent it on everything. We were all super impressed.T-Mac whipping and tearing.Nico Vink with his classic steeze toboggan.Kyle Jameson with a massive whip on a 60 foot booter that’s shrouded by trees.Aggy was just way too steezed out during the entire event. Brandon Semenuk made the trek down to melt some faces.Tyler Bereman packs some of his tracks back in.R-Dog turnups.R-Dog hiccups.Aggy scoring some nice light.Arik Swan nosebonking the shitter car while everyone looks on.THREE X THREE. R-dog, Brandon Semenuk, Ethan Nell.Ankle braces are basically a must.Top of the courseOur essentials for the weekDog steeze.Damon Iwanaga catching the last night.Cam Zink came down to keep an eye on everyone but was a bit bummed tha the couldn’t ride. Makken gave his shoulder a solid taping.Video game stuff. Brandon Semenuk, Aggy, Adolf Silva.Kurt Sorge – Huge superman.Course builder extraordinare Dustin Gilding was mashing out lap after lap.Andreu Lacondaguy. On a moto. Just think about that.Arik SwanJordie Lunn, Tyler McCaul and Kurt Sorge.Andreu with a huge superman in the woods.Sam Reynolds spinning the big one.Huge whip from the “best whip” winner – Aggy.Questionable behavior.But everyone survived.
A huge thanks to THE FEST SERIES for inviting us out. We had such a blast.