Another great day on the bike! Today started in Los Alamos and wound up into the winerys in the hills to the east of town. Before leaving town, I stopped at a place highly recommended by my air-bnb host, a bakery called Bob’s “Well Bread.” The owner apprenticed in France and REALLY knows bread and pastry ;-). YUM. Unofrtunately, for the second time, I managed to misjudge just how unwieldy the bike is when fully loaded, and executed a slow-motion 3-point landing when my front wheel dropped off the sidewalk into soft gravel. Mostly embarrassing, no injuries other than pride ;-)
In 2007, Norma and I visited the same area, and I recognized at least one of the wineries we tasted at during that trip- Zaca Mesa! It’s classic California wine country- rolling hills with mixed vineyards and cattle grazing range, with ancient live oaks dotting the hillsides, and groves of California Sycamores in the arroyos. After a beautiful loop out in the vineyards, I began making my way to the coast via Los Olivos and Solvang. Between the two towns I made my roadside “find” of the trip: a pewter candlestick holder sitting on the shoulder! How’d it get there? Who knows?! So... I stopped in Solvang for coffee, and then headed out on the old road to the coast south of town. This one also wandered up a deep arroyo of live oak and sycamore, and even though the grade topped out at 11%, since it was only about 10:30 am, and still in the shade, it wasn’t a bad climb at all. This road eventually “t’d” into the good ol’ US 101, which is the only road through the coast range and along the next 15 miles of coast, so bikes are allowed, even though it’s pretty much a standard freeway- just with signs saying “look out for bikes” and “share the road” every couple of miles ;-). Still, I can’t really complain that much- the traffic was relatively light, the road surface fantastically smooth and clean, and the should was 10-12’ wide, so the cars were typically farther away than on most roads that I ride. California also has a 3’+ bicycle passing law (motorists MUST leave at least 3’ between their car and the cyclist when passing a bike), so that may tend to keep most folks fairly cautious when passing. So far I can’t say I’ve had any close calls, so CA drivers get a big “thumbs up” from me!
The next 30 miles were all along the coast, mostly on the shoulder of 101. It’s not the most picturesque bit of coastline, particularly after the sections near Big Sur, but it was smooth sailing with a nice tailwind once again. While I wasn’t really trying to go fast, I still pulled into Santa Barbara before 2:00 pm, a bit earlier than planned. As I couldn’t get into my air-bnb until 4:00, I was forced to find a spot for lunch that I could just hang out at till then... as luck would have it, that’s not terribly difficult in Santa Barbara ;-). So... Here I sit, at the Santa Barbara Wine Collective in the old industrial neighborhood near the railroad along the beach having lunch & blogging. I just finished a great turkey & avocado sandwich, followed by a nice cold rose from the Santa Rita Hills that I rode past this morning. Not many better ways to end the day!
Tonight I’m planning to have dinner out with my old “roomate” Pam Galvin, and then tomorrow is my last day on the tour— seems like I only started yesterday! So... I’ll update everyone with a final edition tomorrow evening on the last big leg into LA, +/-100 miles to my brother Clay’s house in Manhattan Beach.
But first, todays pics!!:
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| Downtown Los Alamos & the Casa Dumetz Winery (and restaurant) where I had lunch on Thursday, July 18. Had a pork belly & goat cheese taco that was to die for! |
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| Up into the hills! |
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| Top of the hill! ...at least this one ;-) |
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| Fess Parker Winery (remember Disney’s Davey Crockett?) |
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| Downtown Solvang- which is somehow transplanted from Denmark (sans the weather coming in off the Baltic, obviously!) |
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| Top of the last big climb of the day up Alisal Canyon, south of Solvang |
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| Finally, a great lunch to end the day, with a nice Fess Parker Rose, here at the Santa Barbara Wine Collective. This place gets max points from me for the uber convenient bike parking too! |
AND... here's today's Relive video from the Garmin file:
https://www.relive.cc/view/1720823003
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