After taking last year off from any serious training (only completed a century ride around Tahoe and a marathon) I’ve started to get back at it again and kicked off the year with a century ride.
My wife, Kerry, had been training with Team in Training (TNT) for the Solvang Century and I decided I’d join her for the ride.
This was the 30th Annual Solvang Century ride and our first time. Solvang is the “Danish Capital of America”, a 9000+ acre enclave in the verdant Santa Ynez Valley just 125 miles north of Los Angeles. It’s a pretty unique tourist destination and really does look like something straight out of Holland.
The ride is a 100 miles through Santa Ynez Valley with 4000 ft of elevation gain. For us it was just a fun ride and I was fortunate to join in with one of the TNT teams and tag along for the day. The photo is from the top of one of the last climbs at around mile 85.
Even though the day started out frigid at 5:30am with thick fog, finally about 3 hours in the weather started to clear and as you can see ended up a beautiful spring day with blue skies…definitely stripped off a few layers as the day wore on. The ride took over eight hours to complete, although only about six and a half of that was riding. You’ve got to make use of the food stops along the way and riding with a team means waiting sometimes for people to catch up.
All-in-all a fun day and a great kickoff to my 2012 season. As I’ve done since 2010 I’m fundraising for the Challenged Athletes Foundation again throughout this year. So far, I’ve got the following events lined up:
- Rhodes Race, a fun 5k run lined up in April
- Wildflower Olympic Triathlon in May
- AMBBR century ride around Tahoe in June
- Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in June
So why not help me out and make a donation…
By making a donation you will directly help a challenged athlete in need.
Help me raise $1,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation