Day 21: Solvang to Oxnard

Today’s Highlights:

Our 82-mile ride from Solvang to Oxnard was filled with many different experiences.  We started the day under skies of multi layered cloud that created pleasant patterns of light.  The scenery was mediocre and we traveled on a highway with fast traffic, so I didn’t take many pictures for a while.  We traversed a huge lake, Cachuma Lake, for miles, but from the south side of the road it was hard to find a view of it.

After seventeen miles, we left the busy highway and got on Stagecoach Road.  This was a real treat.  It is a narrow winding road up a canyon, and it was very quite and very scenic.  It was also our big climb for the day, but not too difficult.  We rode in a small group and took some pictures along the way.  About half way up, we came upon Cold Spring Tavern, which has been on that road since real stagecoaches traveled it.  The rustic buildings have not changed much since those early days.  It was very interesting – a one of a kind.

We also rode under a huge arched bridge.  See the picture.  We were far below it, and then surprisingly higher than it a little while later as we neared the top of our climb.  After the climb, we took a one-lane back road, Kinevan Rd, for the first part of our descent.  It required some care going down it.  The descent continued a few miles on a highway, then onto San Marcos road for the most thrilling part of the ride.  From the top of San Marcos Road, we could see miles down a canyon, into the valley and to the ocean.  It was quite an amazing site, although a little hazy to capture well in a photograph.  On this part of the descent there were four corners marked “5 mph”, and they really meant it!  It was a great ride down, dropping 2000 feet in seven miles.

We rolled into Santa Barbara around 11:00, first riding through an area with nice houses and streets lined with palm trees and a large variety of plants and trees.  When we reached the beach, it was very foggy and visibility was only a few hundred yards. However, we could tell it was quite a nice place.  We rode passed Santa Barbara Harbor, but it was too foggy to bother stopping for photos.  Chris and I did take a side trip down a long pier, and stopped to stick his feet in the ocean when it was very near the road.  We also stopped at a polo grounds and watched part of a match.

We rode several miles along the shoreline and there were occasional great views where it was not foggy.  At one point, for five miles, we had to ride on the interstate.  There was actually a bike lane on it!  Now we can say that we rode bikes on a California freeway.  Even though it was already sixty miles into the ride, Chris and I found some extra energy to sprint the whole way so we could get out of there as quickly as possible.  Somehow, I managed to snap a few pictures while doing so.  My neighbor would say I failed an IQ test with that behavior.

Once off the freeway, we wandered through Ventura and then into Oxnard through quite neighborhoods and on local business roads.  We passed an interesting harbor or channel where there were hundreds of boats, but even more interesting were the houses that lined the water’s edge.

My body is glad that this was the last long ride of the tour.  The next two days will be less than 55 miles each.  I am looking forward to the easy finish.

Zoom Zoom Splash
Another great ride with a little of everything (and I’m not sick anymore). Here are the best parts:

The ride up Stagecoach Road had wonderful views into the canyon. And we were going slow enough to enjoy them. A few times I thought that it would be nice if a horse would pull me up the mountain, just like in the old days. The Cold Spring Tavern was an amazing place. I’ll have to come back to patronize some day.

The ride down San Marcos was wicked! Zoom zoom, eeeerrrrrrrrt zoom, don’t fly off the cliff. We flew by some suckers trying to go up this thing. What are they thinking?? I bet they’re thinking about zooming back down.

We stopped to watch a polo match. I don’t know anything about polo, but it looked like Under 6s soccer… on horses. There’s a goal at each end of the field with no goalie; someone hits the ball towards the goal; everyone rushes after it as though he/she is the only one on the field; if they get lucky, someone hits it through the goal. The horses seem to get a good workout.

The two mile stretch of RVs and campers lined bumper-to-bumper was an odd sight. They were packed so close that we couldn’t see the ocean for 2 miles even though we were 20 feet from the beach, and it wasn’t foggy yet.

Santa Barbra was super foggy and not much to see. But I did get to go in the ocean!! It was the first time I touched the water in California. That’s kind of sad; there should be more time to play.

We had a Pizza Party tonight. It was really just eating pizza, hold the party. The festivities are actually tomorrow night, our last night together as a group, awwwwwww. Oh, my goodness, we’re almost done!

Chris

Pictures Of The Day:

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Statistics:
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Chris: