It’s Monday and we’re leaving Wednesday, so at this point we really better have our stuff together.
We practiced packing up all our stuff and loaded it onto our bikes. Somehow we still have room to spare?
With our equipment weighing in between 30 and 35 lbs. each, including bags, tent, sleeping bags, etc., we’re feeling pretty good about that. Now we have 2 days to figure out what we forgot to pack….
About 40 miles North of Santa Barbara is a strange little Danish town called Solvang. It’s up in the Santa Ynez Valley, home to a ton of Southern California wineries, and long winding roads perfect for a training ride! So we headed up there bright and early in perfect weather for a 50 mile loop through wine country.
At the first stop, Kalyra Winery, 6 miles in
There were a whole lot of steep hills on this ride, 3200 feet in all:
Madeleine climbing up and up
Stopping for some oranges 26 miles out
We each rode with 20 lbs of Coors Light and Bud Light to weigh us down:
When it’s too gross to drink…
It sure was pretty:
More of them hills
And at the end of it all we got some Danish pastries back in Solvang:
Moments before this we were approached by missionaries, but we were on a mission for pastries
And popped into a couple stores in town:
A store full of singing clocks. Seriously.
Sometimes going on a 5 hour bike ride can be boring. There’s a lot of under-stimulation that makes room for thinking. Fortunately my friend Rosie sent this over today, so our brains will stay entertained today.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/kaylayandoli/39-catchphrases-real-friends-fans-use-on-a-regul-cqn5
A couple other favorites:
We decided to make a big day of Sunday!
We rode to the gym to mix it up a bit:
Kanye’s workout plan
At the gym
Then we headed to the farmer’s market to get everything we need in life:
Bare necessities
That powered us enough for a nearly 50 mile ride that took up most of the day.
Mid-ride snac
By the evening we were dead tired, so after 2 episodes of House of Cards we wilted on the couch some more:
Mad stretching out
And devoured some cheesy popovers made by Concerned Mother #1.
Recovery food
Today I feel like a bag of crap that’s been driven over a few times, so we didn’t do any biking.
We did some bike mechanic work:
Possibly fixing something
Stetson working his medicinal magic
I had a Google Talk session with Steve, my old boss the Executive Director of STOKED:
Brainstorming to make the site better