Santa Cruz is known as being the Bay Area hot spot when it comes to dirt jumps and bike parks, best known for the infamous Aptos Post Office Jumps. Unfortunately, the legendary jump spot has been threatened with imminent destruction for some time now, and locals have been scrambling to get replacement spots created before then. Among the replacement spots is in a park called the Polo Grounds. When we heard about the spot, we decided it was time to make a spur of the moment trip down to check it out.
The Polo Grounds dirt jumps were fairly easy to find, and it was cool driving by and seeing the nicely shaped mounds of dirt on the way to the parking lot.
Although there isn’t a ton of real estate, the space is used well. The main bummer was the the spacing and shaping of the pump track rollers. They are much better suited for smaller 20″ wheels. It didn’t quite flow for 26″ wheeled mountain bikes due to closely spaced rollers, and the beginner table top jumps are actually pretty technical for beginners. The short transitions don’t play well with 26″ wheels, and it’s clear the guys doing the digging are riding things and doing their flow check on 20″.
You won’t find any table tops or warm up jumps here, so if you’re looking for a dirt jump spot that encourages progression, you’ll need to keep looking. Even the mini table top jumps in the pump line are technical with short landings, built for the short wheelbase of a 20″ BMX bike.
How to get there:
The Polo Grounds Park is located at: 2255 Huntington Drive, Aptos, CA 95003
Directions
From Santa Cruz take Hwy 1 to the Rio Del Mar exit. Go left over the freeway and turn right on Monroe Ave, your 2nd stop light. After Monroe turns into Wallace Ave look for Huntington Dr on your left. Continue on Huntington until you see the park entrance on your left.
Working through the basic jump line at the Polo Grounds Jumps in Aptos, CA.
