merider1

Solvang ride report: Well, I won’t go on and on and on, like normal, but this won’t be that brief either.

Bill met me at the Encino Park and Ride lot at 5:10 a.m. and off we headed on the 101N. Within 20 minutes, we were stopped at McDonalds for breakfast (yes, I stuffed a big, fat, yummy EMM in my mouth!), and then it was just some d*mn good conversation (thank you, Bill) for the next 2 hours.

We arrived at Solvang and met up with Karen and Tony. Karen has her new Madone! (My mouth was watering all day, but I liked her way too much to kill her, bury her body and take off with the bike. Tony wouldn’t have allowed that anyway!). That Madone is gorgeous and fits Karen perfectly. It’s pink and I hope she posts a pic of it in the bike pic thread.

We were about to head out, when Scvroadie, Lee, called. He was changing a flat and waiting for more people in his group, so we made the decision to head out without him (sorry, Lee, I was the beatch who wanted to get going as I had buffalo to attend to). Once we got out on the road, we also decided to do the 50 miles first before coming back and hitting the first 12 mile out-and-back section.

As the pictures I’ve posted show, it was as usual, spell-bindingly beautiful in Solvang. I’m so in love with that area and little town, I never tire of riding there. Of course, it helped that I had such wonderful company, and I mean that sincerely. Karen and Tony are lovely and Bill is “so my people.” We all meshed quite well and I think, although I shouldn’t speak for them, really enjoyed the ride. No drama, just fun, although I did run into the Colavita guys who were riding as well, something I didn’t know since I haven’t been checking their message board. I was a little embarrassed as I’ve not ridden with them since Cool Breeze, and I felt guilty (they teased me of course, but all in jest). They are such a great group of guys and skilled cyclists, but they are fast, fast, fast! Bill, Karen, Tony and I kept a great, comfortable pace today (no hammering) and that was how I liked it. Although, I have to get out with the Oilers, or they are going to kick me off the team (which I keep lamenting about, but, no, really, they are!).

The rest stops were nice. The cut-up fruit fresh, the cookies…well, cookies…and trail mix. I missed the pb&j’s they normally provide, but the volunteers were friendly and I personally liked that some of them told us to get our spandexed a**es out of the middle of the road so that cars could get by (although, they didn’t quite word it like that). Safety and courtesy are always important in my view, so I was quick to follow their commands.

Also, I’ve included a picture of a woman who from behind looked as if she was riding topless (she wasn’t, as she had on a halter top and she had a great sense of humor when I passed her and commented on her perceived nudity). She was the only saucy thing for the day, as I kept my antics to a minimum. Also, I rode fully clothed and exposed nothing as I would have hated to have scared the buffalo and cows!

Which leads me to…I only tried petting cows on this outing (I didn’t even see any buffalo, but there were the cutest little Shetland ponies that I squealed over but didn’t stop to harass). The cows I went after ran away with a look of utter fear in their eyes. Perhaps I looked as if I craved roast beef?

After the ride, we had Mexican food and some libations at which Lee and his buddy, John, joined us. I think we all enjoyed ourselves, and Bill and I headed out around 4:00 p.m. Again, great conversation on the way back (any of you want a companion on a road trip, Bill is the man!).

I’m now home drinking another glass of wine (hee hee hee) and eatin’ some chicken. Great day!!!! I love Solvang…

Bill having a blast:

tprevost

Wonderful pics, M.E.!!! Isn't Karen totally adorable! She and Tony are the best I'm so happy for her w/her new madone... from what I can see, it is beautiful

I'm glad to hear you had such a good time... but bummed at the same time 'cause I missed it!

herbm

Wow great pix ME...and great ride report...
The weather looked perfect...
Glad you all had a great ride and a great time....

tprevost

oh, and you're right... that woman did look nekid!

Tiffanie

Yeah, pics!!! Thanks for sharing, m.e.

merider1

Yes, Karen is a doll and Tony is funny! I look forward to riding with them again. You were missed but that just means, you have to be on the next one...which is JT, right? So, you're good.

Dubbayoo

cool, looks like a good time.

Brandy

Great report and pics m.e. It's just gorgeous up there!

jsigone

looked like a GREAT RIDE!!!!!! I wish I could have made it up there. Both for the ride and all the wine tasting that goes on up there.

VanceMac

Great pics. Thanks... we need more ride pics like that!

thomson

Great ride report. I agree, it is a swell place to ride.

LA Baby

m.e......great pics of the ride yesterday. Nice meeting you at the mexi restaurant!

Oleanshoebox

looks like it was a good time! nice photos, too.

roadfix

Hey nice pics M.E.! It's been a long while since I've ridden Solvang. I miss that place. Perhaps I'll do the ride in March.
Glad to hear Bill kept you company going and coming. I'm not talkative at all so don't expect much from me on the ride back from JT next week...

NuBiker

I have no idea if the Launching happened, very very thick fog, couldn't see past my hood.
The weather was cold and foggy in the morning low 50s and than became sunny mid 80s. But very nice ride and well organized, anybody else want to share their experience.
And thanks for the pics guys and gals, I do remind seeing you couple of times at SAGs, I wish I new who you were to introduce myself. Are you ready for the Century???

Scootcore

she'll take care of alot of the talking dude!!!!!

scvroadie

Nice pics M.E. Yesterday was a great ride, made up for the weather last March. Sorry my group didn't have it together in the morning. Its just as well that you took off, yesterday was my hell day for tubes.

As you know I had to replace a tube before the ride, about 15 miles into the ride, got a flat, replaced the tube, CO2 pump broke, started to use mini pump and the stem on the replacement tube fell apart. Then we pulled out my last tube, had a problem with that one, short valve stem, even though the box it came out of said long stem. Was finally able to get enough air in it to make it to the first rest stop and fill the tire with a floor pump. Just barely enough stem for the pump to hook onto. The whole tube saga probably cost me about 45 minutes.

After that the rest of the day was great. The crew I was riding in was constantly challenging each other, it was until today's ride that realized how much of my leg muscles I used up yesterday.

It was great having a beer and chatting with you and Tony, Karen & Bill.

By the way, welcome LA Baby. Have fun at PIR.

merider1

Likewise, John. That was fun!

Thank you all who have made nice comments. I just bought that new camera and I love it! I took over 300 pics, some of which are hysterical, because they are of my armpit, a blank patch of road, one of Bill's nostrils (but nothing else of him)...etc. I have to work on taking better action shots! But I definitely dig taking pics and am glad some of you enjoy seeing them. I know I always look at the pics in threads. If I'm not on the bike, I like looking at others on them and the scenery they are enjoying as well.

Dana 60 Axles

were there route slips available for the prelude? ima noob, i got confused by a couple of turns during the ride, didnt know which group of riders to follow...ended up riding 58 miles instead of 50. shoulda just stuck to the metric century arrows heheh

Scootcore

yup! route slips were handed out during the am sign up! the turns did get a bit confusing though...lots of doubling back and whatnot...ill post the satellitr/google earth image soon and youll se what i mean!!!

merider1

Hi Sal. You should have called me yesterday! (assuming you didn't have your own group to ride with, which is probably the case... ). Yes, there were route slips, and, yes, a couple of the out-n-backs are confusing. To be honest, I've probably done the prelude enough now. As thomson has suggested, we should just all go up and ride up there on our own considering it is pretty easy to get around those back roads, and we wouldn't have to do any out-n-backs, just design a full loop of 75 to 100 miles with stops at markets along the way. I hope you had fun yesterday!

herbm

Oh I like that idea!!Especially since i cant make the March event...

Dana 60 Axles

Scootcore i'd like to see the sat. image of the ride, thx
when i got home I tried to google earth the ride, and got confused all over again

Hi M.E. sorry didnt call, I wasnt even sure i was going to do the prelude until I woke up at 3am on sat. morning,

I origlnally was going to leave friday night and stay at my cousin's house up in Santa Maria... but I had a long day at work, didnt punch out until 8:45pm

Did you guys see the rickety bike racks fall over at the post ride BBQ lunch area? my Gios got tangled up in a pile with other helpless bikes, sounds of tumbling lumber and carbon onto the asphalt

merider1

Sorry to hear, Sal! We skipped the bbq and went for mexican instead, so our bikes were locked up in Bill's Nissan. I've had that happen to me on a ride before, and I'VE also knocked over a whole row of bikes that were balanced against each other! Let's just say, no amount of eyelash batting and demure smiles took the angry looks off the faces of the owners of those bikes (yes, as luck would have it, they were all gorgeous males with very expensive bikes).

Scootcore

this should do for a start...more pics to follow!!!