SLO Wildfower
 

Any other teams doing the SLO Wildflower this weekend? We think it is one of the best tandem centuries here in California in terms of scenery and support. Hope to see you there.

Unnnnfortunately we will be at the OTHER Wildflower this weekend, in Chico! Have down south. Have not done the SLO one, maybe next year, although we are becoming addicted to the baked goods on the Chico ride.

Chico Wildflower is another excellent ride both scenery and support. I think both of these rides bring alot of what century rides should and have been about. The local club showing off their local roads and hospitality.

Unfortunaley as people get into this to make a buck I have been on some rides that are not so good.
Solvang which ran out of food and water twice
The recent Sea Otter Classic on which many riders got lost, the rest stop food was marginal and (drum roll) they ran out of water at the top of the biggest hill climb. They also changed the route at the end of the ride removing the toughest hill at the very end of the ride. While I am on a rant this ride was my first GandFondo so what! with the start poorly organised, people getting lost , the timed portion of hill climb unmarked I failed to see what the excitemnt is about.

With SLO Wildflower, don't you have to register within like hours of its opening?

We will be at the Great Western Bicycle Rally Memorial Day Weekend, which looks like a lot of fun for tandems as well.

SLO Wildflower does indeed fill up within hours.

I started doing the Chico Wildflower in 89 - stopped in 2005 after a couple of years in a row of no water at the top of table mountain and limited food at the lunch stop. It's simply a victim of it's own success. Great ride though - but the end through the orchards is just tedious.

Did the SLO once - and thoroughly enjoyed it. I live in SLO for 3 years and loved riding in the area.

Missed sign-up for the SLO Wildflower despite using an overly complicated spreadsheet to keep track of everything. We're doing the Chico Wildflower. Don't know if we'll to the 100 or 65. From a tandem perspective what sort of grades would I find on the Table Mountain climb?

Since it's in my neighborhood I'll be there! I usually volunteer with the SLOB's but I didn't get around to it so I'll just ride it unsupported. It looks like I'll be on my single though unless someone wants to be my stoker. :-)

The Great Western Bike Rally is also an awesome event! I'd recommend it to anyone, especially family's. I'll be here for that as well.

[QUOTE=joe@vwvortex;10713431]I started doing the Chico Wildflower in 89 - stopped in 2005 after a couple of years in a row of no water at the top of table mountain and limited food at the lunch stop. It's simply a victim of it's own success. Great ride though - but the end through the orchards is just tedious.
QUOTE]

Last year's was flawless. Plenty of water, food... and gee, I kinda liked the orchard. But hey, see you at the SLO someday!

It will be our 19th in a row, the Wildflower. Poison Ivy Co-Motion Supremo. We stay @ Best Western Sat. nite. We like the orchard section also, tests your metal, and your legs. We do the 100 miles unless it's raining.

Well? how was your ride? The weather was perfect and lots of flowers this year! I left at 8:00 and finished at 1:15. I was lots of tandems out there, wish I was on mine. :(

Are the SLO Wildflower and Chico Velo Wildflower always on the same weekend or is this year just a coincidence? We definitely want to to the SLO version next year.

I don't check it every year but, it sure seems like it they always are.

SLO WIldflower was once again a fantastic ride. No problems parking, Sign in a breeze, fog hung around a little to long but it did mean that afternoon temps also were reasonable. Course markings, SAG support people working the rest stops are as good as it gets. Scenery in central California is fantastic this time of year. The ride is billed as 6500 feet of climbing we registered 5500 feet. None of the climbs are very steep and I am always suprised by the amount of climbing registerd relative to how we feel. Unfortunatley the beginning of the ride was changed this year because theere have been too many crashes along the original route*. The accidents have continued to occur it spite of excellent signage and course marshalls stationed to warn riders, at some point I guess even the friendly folks at SLO have to give up.

Can you suggest which part of the course would be good for a 50-60 mile ride?
We may be going up there soon and have never been on those roads.
We have ridden more around Solvang. Did do a ride in the Edna valley near SLO and that was really nice.

PM me, I live in the area and can suggest some really nice rides with whatever terrain you are looking for. Are you staying in Paso robles?

I didn't see a single crash this year! :) I did see an ambulance but I don't remember exactly where I was at when I saw it. Must be my Olditmers acting up. ;) I liked the cows they posted at all the cattle guards. They were pretty cool. I don't know how you can keep some people from crashing? You can only dummy proof a route so much.

What were these, borrowed Chick-Fil-A's cut outs?

http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/chick-fil-a-job-cow.jpg

Registration is in January? Maybe for 2011 someone can start a thread to alert the tandem forum when registration is coming up, and improve the tandem turnout.

Actually they weren't too far off from that except they were pink cows. :)


For some reason or another I always miss the registration. Sometimes I help out on the staff ride. This year I missed both and just rode it unsupported. You don't want to do that if you're not prepared because the route is pretty remote. There is food/water available in Shandon and Pozo (if you know where to look) but that's about it. It's definitley a ride worth doing. Lots of fun.

My daughter goes to Cal Poly but we usually stay in Cambria.
Will get in touch when/if we come up that way.

Cal Poly is a great school, I don't say that just because I went there. ;) There are a ton of great rides out of Cambria (well at least a dozen or so), Just let me know what you want to do when you get there.

I was looking at the SLOBC web site where they list rides. I am suprised to see how many of them actualy route you onto hwy101, are there alternate rodes to avoid 101?

Looks like the ride avoided 229 this year which is unfortunate because it is about the best 7 miles of road I have found in California.

On Hwy 101? You sure that wasn't Hwy 1? There are a few places on 101 you are allowed to ride your bike but not a whole lot. I haven't looked at their website but I'd be surprised if there were a lot of routes actually on 101. In some places you have no choice like between SLO and santa Margerita. There are a couple spots up in the north county where you have to take 101 for short distacnes if you don't want to take a a long detour but that's about it. I very rarely ride on 101 so the answer to your question is yes, there are lots of alternatives it just depends on where you want to go.

It a bummer they eliminated 229, it's a great road. The only problem with it is the narrow, often dirty and twisty descent down to Hwy 58. It's easy for people with poor bike handling skills to dump it on that road.

We have ridden through Big Sur a number of times and that is always nice but with some challenging ups and downs.
One time we rode out Santa Rosa Creek road and it was very nice until it got steeper and steeper and we finally hit a wall that was too steep for the tandem.
I revisited that ride later on my single and rode through to Hwy 46 and took that back, it was a good amount of climbing.
Last year we discovered Edna valley and took Orcutt Rd to Lake Lopez and then back through Arroyo Grande and then back on Corbett Canyon.
I would have to say I like the roads between Solvang and Lompoc. Its hard to beat that, but I am sure SLO has some good roads we have to ride on.

You tried to ride up Santa Rosa Creek Rd on your tandem? ;) There are three sections of 20% grade in about 5 miles of pure ugliness! :) That's one of my training routes. :-) If you had crossed Hwy 46 you would have been on Old Creek rd which is a little more tandem friendly (I rode up it a couple weeks ago). It's only five miles of 8% average grade and will take you back to Cayucus. If you're in for a challenge that's a nice loop (in reverse). If you want to ride out of Cambria on the tandem I'd ride north up to Ragged Point or beyond. It's got some climbing but it's very tandem friendly for the most part. If you want more variety and less cars you'll want to head east towards Paso Robles. There the options multiply. There are also a ton of wineries to take your wife to. ;)