Solvang Prelude
Sue Butler

  		   

November 2, 2002 -- What can I say about the Solvang Prelude other than it’s one of the prettiest places to ride in Southern California! We awoke on Saturday to cold temperatures, but beautiful sunshine. Because of the sun, it warmed up to a decent temperature fairly quickly. I think the hills also did a good job of warming us up!

This ride would be a different experience with me as I was riding with my husband, Don, rather than with my regular cycling buddies. Don is a much stronger rider that I am, but he was content to cruise along with me so that we could ride together. Despite his comments to me to ride at my own pace and he would follow suit, I tried to impress him. After passing people on several hills, I stopped to remove my jacket. When I did, I got really nauseous and had to go sit with my head between my knees for a few minutes. Don explained that I had over-exerted myself so when I stopped, all the blood went to my stomach and made me sick. Luckily, the nausea finally passed and I was able to ride again.

The scenery was just lovely. Even after a dry summer, this area was pretty green. The ride waswell marked and well organized. There was only one scheduled sag stop on our 50-mile ride and it was about the half way mark. I was very

 

surprised when we reached it so quickly, just after an hour and a half of riding. What we didn’t realize until after we had our fruit and cookies is that we were supposed to turn left before stopping at the sag, ride up hill for 7 miles and then turn around and ride down that hill back to the sag. We just saw the sag with a bunch of people and stopped. I thought it was odd that my bike computer only said 17 miles, but I wanted a cookie!

Everyone on the ride seemed in high spirits despite the hills. Solvang doesn’t have many flat areas - - either you’re heading up or you’re heading down for most of the ride. I definitely had an opportunity to use all 27 gears on my bike!

After the ride, it’s fun to stroll through Solvang and visit all of the wonderful shops and restaurants. Only 3-hours from Orange County, Solvang is a lovely weekend get-away.

If you missed the Prelude, you have a couple more opportunities to ride in Solvang. The Solvang Century (with a half century option) will be held on March 8 (get your hotel reservations now) and the BCI club ride in Solvang will be held on May 16 & 17 (check the BCI website for further details).
 
Updated on Sunday, 08-Jan-2006 17:27:53 EST