Bob At BAC Solvang 2012

There was a slight change in the weather this morning. It was warmer. But it still wasn't warm enough to go without arm warmers, leg warmers and a light jacket. After our buffet breakfast, we left the parking lot in a group on the ride director's route. We rode past vineyards, wineries and horse ranches out Ballard Canyon Road and Foxen Canyon Road until we turned onto Alisos Canyon Road toward Los Alamos through the Los Alamos Valley. At the last turn, I had to take off my jacket because it was warming up. When we reached US 101, we turned onto a frontage road that was posted as "No Trespassing". This worried me until we passed a tractor driver going the opposite direction and he waved at us. The pavement on most of the road was terrible.

We stopped on the outskirts of Los Alamos at a Subway. After eating lunch, we lingered outside of the restaurant to help change a flat and to take of the rest of our cold weather gear. For me, this included my arm warmers, leg warmers, toe warmers and my under shirt. This was the first time this year where I could ride in shorts and a short sleeve jersey. I had to rub on sun screen. The temperature must have been in the low 80s.

We retraced our route back to Foxen Canyon. At this point the group broke up going at different speeds and taking different routes back to Solvang. I chose to go back the same route that I came out on.

Our final group dinner was after Happy Hour at The Vineyard House in Santa Ynez. The restaurant is owned by Jim Sobell who is an avid cyclist and a strong supporter of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. He serves excellent food too. I had my annual steak. It was tasty, tender and cooked perfectly. Our group was in a separate room and got pretty noisy especially after getting into the wine that was left over from our Happy Hours.

As I had done every other night when I got back to my room, I lit a fire in my wood-burning stove and read for a while until I got sleepy and went to bed.

Here is today's route: