Wisely we chose to do another multiday bike tour in California to kick off the year of riding. We did a fully supported tour in Sonoma County and the Pacific Coast just north of San Francisco the Fall of 2011 and loved it. If you want to avoid cool temperatures and rain in the spring, California is generally a good place to do it.
Like 2011 we did our bike tour with Undiscovered Country Tours. Not only did we have the very excellent Scott bikes to use, but this year we both ended up with new Scott 2013 CR1 Pro. I ride a Scott 2005 CR1 Pro, with Campagnolo Chorus groupset and I love it. I don’t know of another bike tour company that uses the quality of bikes UDC does and it is one of the things that attracted us to them in the first place.
Our tour this time was a small group, just 6 participants and 1 guide. Like our other UDC Tour half of our group was from Canada, another plus for us we love Canada and Canadians. I liked the small group; it allowed us to get to know each other better including having a few interesting political discussions at dinner. It isn’t too often Mark and I meet people who have similar thoughts on political and social issues given where we live and we both enjoyed it.
Now for the riding. Our group met in the lobby of the hotel in San Jose then we proceeded to the Amtrak station to take a train to Paso Robles where our tour officially began.
Day One: Paso Robles (4/21/13)
Today’s ride was a 23 mile loop around Paso Robles, We had the hottest weather (the only hot weather) of the entire tour. There were a few miles on a busy highway but otherwise we were on backroads with fairly light traffic.
One thing I was quickly reminded of was that not everyone defines rolling hills the same. To me rolling hills are rollers, up and down – no long ascents. To people on the west coast rolling hills are hills that go up up up, and eventually go down. Case in point: we have a local route we do with approximately the same amount of ascent and descent as this Paso Robles loop but it is up and down up and down. None of our local ascents are a mile long. On the PR loop most of the 1873 feet of ascent was on one fairly long climb so there are fewer downhills in which to recover. The climbs are longer here but then so are the descents which are fun because they are usually not straight – whee!
*Clicking on the Garmin Connect Images will provide you with more data and detail.
Day Two: Paso Robles to Avila Beach (4/22/13)
We rode to Morro Bay for lunch and beautiful views then to the lovely Avila Beach where we would spend the night. It was our longest day of riding but very doable, 54 miles.
If you look at the profile you’ll see there was a long climb of about 6 miles with the last 2 miles being fairly steep. To make up for that we had a long descent. One section of the descent was fairly steep and I definitely worked the brakes. I’m not used to climbs or descents like these.
Much of the ride though had that lovely bucolic scenery we saw on our 2011 trip along the northern coast and Sonoma county.
Although I take most of my pictures while pedaling along, occasionally I do stop as in this case to get a shot of the beautiful field of California poppies.
As is the norm on bike tours, we had a great dinner on the boardwalk of Avila Beach and stayed in very nice digs at Avila Beach Lighthouse Suites. We slept to the sounds of the ocean.
Day Three: Avila Beach to Santa Maria (4/23/13)
Today’s route took us along mostly rural roads through vineyards and farms as we made our way from Avila Beach to Santa Maria. The ride was similar in mileage and in ascent to our previous day, but vastly different in experience. We had far less traffic along today’s route and far more farmland and lovely scenery. Always a winner for me.
On a fair amount of our route today we had marked bike lanes or separated bike lanes. Another winner.
48.3 miles/3:41 time
Other scenes from today’s ride
Day Four: Santa Maria to Santa Ynez (4/24/13)
Today was one of those days on the bike that captured what I love about riding a bike.
Before taking off in the morning, stable of bikes.
The ride started in a light drizzle and fog. Temperatures stayed cool even after the sun chased the fog and dampness away. We rode from Santa Maria thru the cycling town of Solvang before taking us to Santa Ynez, our home for the next two nights.
Typing on my android tablet is too tedious to write much but a few thoughts and memories:
Riding alongside field after field of beautiful crops of lettuce, cauliflower and bright red strawberries.
The speed of the farm workers working in the fields, literally running to pick.
The strong aroma of strawberries, cilantro, licorice.
The remoteness and quiet beauty of Foxen Canyon road.
Lunch at Zaca Mesa winery
The steep little climb right after lunch/wine tasting
Climbing “the wall”, a very steep little climb and recognizing I can climb even when the grade is steep, I just have to be willing to suffer.
The thrill of the twisty descent into Ballard Canyon.
Great conversation and coffee with our fellow tour riders and guide at the infamous Bulldog Cafe in Solvang where the Postal/Discovery teams used to hang out back in the day. Interestingly, every single picture of Lance Armstrong has been removed.
And finally the luxurious Santa Ynez Inn – our home for the next two nights.
Day Five: Santa Ynez Loop (4/25/13)
Day 5 started out great. Our ride was a loop around Santa Ynez through Happy Canyon and an optional climb of “The Figâ€. The Fig is Mount Figueroa, a legendary climb in Santa Barbara county. I hadn’t decided whether I was going to do the climb or not, I would decide at the base, depending on how I felt. I didn’t feel great and made the very wise decision to not attempt it. I did ride 1 1/2 miles of the road that takes you to the base of the climb and even it was steep (see the elevation profile on the Garmin details).
Beautiful too.
The plan today was to ride back through Happy Canyon (love that name) and Santa Ynez and Los Olivos past Neverland Ranch (yep) and to wait for the two riders and support van to come down the descent of The Fig.
As the rest of us made our way through Los Olivos I started feeling dizzy and nauseous. I thought I needed food so I had a gel and a pack of shot blocks. I continued to feel worse, but kept pedaling. Mark joined up with me and we waited under the shade of a tree for the others.
Once they arrived and it was time to head back I did something I’ve actually never done. I got into the support van and quit. I’ve never quit a ride, but I couldn’t go on. I was so dizzy I could hardly stand. Once I got back to the Santa Ynez Inn it went downhill from there. If you have ever had food poisoning, you know. If you haven’t you don’t want to know!
Day Six: Santa Ynez-Topanga (4/26/13)
I decided to give it a go the next morning. It was bad enough missing yesterday afternoon’s ride (downhill!) and the last (and best from what I heard) dinner with the group, I wasn’t going to miss the final ride too.
It was an out and back route from the Santa Ynez Inn to Topanga State Park. It was a fairly easy 21 miles, but it took all I had to do it. I’m so glad I did.
