Here's the deal with the wind and maybe why Beanz has never experience it... it comes up in the afternoon. If you start early (around 7) and can do a sub 6 hr century, you probably won't notice the wind much. If you are still out there around 2 - 5p, you will feel it.

I don't want to scare anyone away saying there are hills... but hills are relative to folks. For someone like Beanz who does GMZ as a giggle, climbs are no problem. To people doing their first century and struggling with distance, elements and just the head trip of trying to finish, every grind is a problem. Most of the hills are slight elevation gains, long and grindy, nothing short and steep. Basically the first part of the ride you climb a bit and then there is a long, absolutely glorious downhill for miles - when you are a Clyde, this downhill is built for you! And then for awhile, you are in the desert and the route is flat (and like Beanz says, alittle boring). Eventually you have to climb back out of the desert and there are a series of long grinds. Again they start around 80 miles so may seem like they are tougher than normal.

This is a fun century. If you do some training and have it in your head, you are just going out to enjoy the experience without trying to worry about time and performance, you will get through it no problems. I think some people fail their first century because they have some expectation of how they should perform and when it doesn't turn out that way, they start defeating themselves. Every tough ride is 20% effort, 20% training and 60% mental. You just have to know at some point the ride will get tough. Get past that moment and keep going.

For your training, work on distance, work on consistancy, work on nutrition. Nutrition is probably the key more than anything. 2 weeks before the century you should be able to complete a metric (62 miles) without too much struggle. After that tamper off and keep to short, but intense rides and nothing at least 3 days before the Event. Just eat right and get excited. It's that excitment that will get you through the ride. There is something really cool about completing a century... most people are amaze cyclists can do 100+ miles on a bike and you can join that club.

After you finish that ride, plan on doing the Cool Breeze in August. From Ventura to Goleta and back. Beautiful ride. My favorite!

PS good move on passing on Solvang... lots of climbs and tough winds. It's a difficult ride especially a first century.