SF:SD Santa Maria to Solvang

This is the penultimate day of the San Francisco to Santa Barbara tour but the weather gods didn’t let us off the hook.  We started with dense fog. I estimated visibility at 0.25 miles. Then it went to 0.1. Or was that because of the moisture on my glasses? It was also a cool 60 degrees.

But things can change quickly. (Look at the Middle East.) Within two hours the temperature is 85 degrees and we have full sun.  We ride almost 30 miles on Foxen Canyon Road.  It is a great cycling road. On this Saturday morning there are far more cyclists than cars on the road. We passed several pelotons going in the opposite direction. The road is smooth, at least on the Santa Maria side.

We start with many, many large farms with dozens or maybe hundreds of workers in the fields. This gradually changes to cattle ranches and wineries.  As you can see, there are many wineries on Foxen Canyon Road, including Fess Parker’s great tasting room.

We have a gradual climb for the first 30 miles then three short but fairly steep climbs of from 200 to 300 feet.  From Foxen Canyon we enter the top of Ballard Canyon Road.  We ridden this many times when staying in Solvang. In fact I taken this picture more than once.

There are 22 riders on this tour: 6 from California, 7 from Colorado, 4 from (Dallas) Texas, 3 from Canada and 1 each from Mass. and Indiana.  Only 7 of us are continuing on to San Diego.  But we are being joined by 10 new riders. The second section begins on Tuesday. Tomorrow we ride to Santa Barbara and Monday is a much needed rest day.

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Solvang, “the Danish Capital of America”was established in 1911 by a group of Danish educators from the Midwest as the site of a Danish folk school.  Today is is a popular tourist destination.