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Spring Solvang Double Century


az_cyclist

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When I got up Saturday morning Weatherchannel.com said it was 50 in Solvang, which sounded good.  An hour later it was still 50, but showing fog.  We met outside the hotel at 4:20 to ride the ½ mile to the start.  You could see water drops from the fog pass in front of our lights.  I was glad I decided to wear my wool arm warmers, along with bib shorts, jersey , sleeveless base layer, and vest.  I carried a jacket, which proved to be a good idea.

The ride started right at 4:30, and the fog was heavy enough but not terrible .  The worst thing was the water that got on my glasses. 

About 10 miles in there was a mixup at a roundabout.  Some riders went straight rather than turning.  One in our group didn’t see a curb, and fell.  He said he was up and ok so we continued.  A few miles later we turned onto Foxen Canyon Rd (which was on one of the stages of the T of C last year).  The rider who fell was not with us.  We waited and called him.  I rolled the dice and put on my jacket.  We still had 2 climbs before a long downhill into a canyon, but, I kept it unzipped and didn’t overhead.  The rider joined us and we continued.  I was a bit chilly by the time we rolled into the first check point, but not too bad, and the fog was breaking up and the sun was out. 

The next leg went thru farms, the town of Santa Maria, and thru some ranch land to San Luis Obispo.  At the second check point I took my arm warmers off.  It was really turning into a nice sunny day ( I am guessing the temps were in the mid 60’s at that point). 

We rode north toward Morro Bay, rolling for 15 miles or so into a headwind, turning before we got there. We route took us thru some hills and more ranch land before the lunch break back in San Luis Obispo.

After lunch we rode toward the coast and thru Pismo Beach before turning a bit inland.  We had a nice hill to climb, then rode toward the town of Guadalupe for the first check point after lunch. There it started to get cloudy and more windy, so we put on vests and arm warmers, jackets, etc.  Of course 15 or 20 minutes later the sun came out and we got warm..  It was 26 miles to the last check point in Los Alamos.  I felt good when we got there, but felt flat a few times getting there.  I had a cup o noodles, a coke, and some cookies.  We rested a while, then got ready to climb Aliosis Canyon, Foxen Canyon, and Ballard Canyon in the last 27 miles. We regrouped at the top of the Foxen Canyon climb, and enjoyed a nice downhill while it was still light (we did turn on our headlights and tail lights at the top though). 

We climbed Ballard Canyon Rd in the dark, and took it really easy going down because of the turns and it was dark.  Other than my headlight battery went dead ( I had a spare, but I also had  another headlight on my bars and we only had a couple of miles to go.  I just got behind 2 other riders.

We got to the finish feeling good, then met for a meal at Micky Dees.

It was a great ride and a great day, and, I had some GoPro videos from the entire ride.  I found I could make the battery last if I turned it on and off all the time.

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