Riding around Solvang?

"Ron Wallenfang" wrote in
:

I hate to be the dumb one, but what State is this in, assuming it's in
the US at all, and what city is it near?


As you might guess from my moniker, I moved here a little over a year
ago. It's in California (as others have noted.) Solvang is in the Santa
Ynez Valley. Together with Santa Ynez, Buellton and Los Olivos, it's been
made famous by the movie "Sideways" and "infamous" as the former home of
Michael Jackson. The whole area has a population of about 10,000. *GREAT*
place to ride. Lots of scenic country roads and enough hills that Lance
brought the US Postal team here for winter training some years back and
now more and more pro teams show up each year for their training camps.
Solvang will also be hosting the time trial for next year's Tour of
California.

If anyone is coming to visit, I highly recommend avoiding the touristly
"smorgasbord" restaurants in town - remember you're in California, we
have wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables, there's no reason to settle
for over-cooked, bland food. There are a few reasonable places to eat and
I'll be happy to provide recommendations.

But getting back on topic, there are great riding routes of anywhere from
10 to more than 100 miles. I can certainly suggest a few. (I didn't jump
in for the OP because it appears he's looking for the more "technical"
end of the scale - which is currently slightly beyond my level since I'm
just getting back to the point where I'm doing hilly metric centuries at
a moderate pace.)

Cheers,
David