Trek Tours Solvang Camp: Has Anyone Done This?

[pjmsj21]

My wife and I are looking for a warmer weather mid-winter or early season cycling camp. We like the idea of not going from location to location and being based in one location and the ride lengths look very reasonable for late winter riding. Being from Oregon we are spoiled with a lot of our riding on very lightly travelled roads, so that is one of our most important criteria. Any thoughts?

[eddief]

stayed with friends in Los Olivos. We seemed to mostly manage to do rides on lightly traveled roads. Almost no cars up the Fig the day I did it...it was gorgeous. I looked at the website for your tour and that all seems like a pretty damn good deal too.

[Ken Robb]

I think the Hampsten Brothers have riding camps in that area too. You KNOW the food will be great too.

[cnighbor1]

A bike friend and my club has spend a week cycling that area. Lots of great rides with little traffic. go to Google maps and zoom in on that area. One ride going back up into the hills goes past Michel Jackson's ranch. now closed but that ride is all most traffic free in the back parts Solvang is a tourist trap but that mines nice places to eat dinner
One century ride goes north to south down to highway one and north busy road but views of the pacific ocean . rain is the only weather concern Mornings will be mid 30's afternoons at least mid 60's
enjoy

[cnighbor1]

stay a week. I show you and if needed ride with you on some great bay area rides. some traffic but can avoid a lot if you know the area
Charles

[Louis]

stayed with friends in Los Olivos.

Speaking of Los Olivos, a while back Christian posted that it would be his favorite "place to retire and ride" location. A few weeks after that I happened to be on Zillow so I figured I would check out the area. I found one place in town on a tiny lot, that looked to me like a dump, dump, dump, something that around St Louis would be well below $75k. In Los Olivos it was about $350k (I don't remember the exact price).

Someone's going to have to pay a huge premium to live near Christian's future neighborhood...

[eddief]

It is more a wine tasting tour along the main street. But this is southern/middle CA with fine vineyards, great weather, close to the ocean, and Michael Jackson's X house. It does not come without having to pay the price.

Speaking of Los Olivos, a while back Christian posted that it would be his favorite "place to retire and ride" location. A few weeks after that I happened to be on Zillow so I figured I would check out the area. I found one place in town on a tiny lot, that looked to me like a dump, dump, dump, something that around St Louis would be well below $75k. In Los Olivos it was about $350k (I don't remember the exact price).

Someone's going to have to pay a huge premium to live near Christian's future neighborhood...

[bloody sunday]

I have a friend who did it. Said it was a lot of fun, with good company and food. He keeps trying to get me to do it, but I'm not anywhere close to as wealthy as he is. He said that he was only one of a few that did it that weekend. $1300 is a drop in the bucket for him...

[slidey]

Its a part of Santa Barbara County, so the prices will be inflated and will likely never come down. The place is pretty good, although weather is a bit extreme - temp differences of 40F within the same day is quite common place, and no ready beach access*.

* since we're building sand castles anyway

Speaking of Los Olivos, a while back Christian posted that it would be his favorite "place to retire and ride" location. A few weeks after that I happened to be on Zillow so I figured I would check out the area. I found one place in town on a tiny lot, that looked to me like a dump, dump, dump, something that around St Louis would be well below $75k. In Los Olivos it was about $350k (I don't remember the exact price).

Someone's going to have to pay a huge premium to live near Christian's future neighborhood...

[christian]

Someone's going to have to pay a huge premium to live near Christian's future neighborhood...I think I've revised my retirement plan to Orcutt, CA. If I were single, I'd prefer Pine Mountain Club, CA but I don't think I can sell my wife on that as a full-time retirement location.

Btw, given I live in (a tiny house in) Chappaqua now, I think most people are already paying a premium to live in my neighborhood. Upsides: disposable income means good bike shops.

[Steve in SLO]

If you are looking for a warmer climate for a midwinter cycling vacation, you may want to consider either Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo over the Santa Ynez Valley, which typically runs 20+ degrees cooler in the mornings than either SB or SLO. Both are near the ocean, which gives them a more temperate climate.
in general, choose Santa Barbara if you wish epic climbs with beautiful views and tough rollers, and San Luis Obispo if you prefer less hilly rides in vineyards and along the coast.

[JasonF]

Beautiful area. In fact, my wife and I have the Santa Ynez Valley along with SLO at the top of our list for places to move to in the next 5-7 years.

She owns horses so either place would be great for year 'round riding and you can't beat the cycling.

The X-factor for us is our autistic son who will be coming with us: there's great programs in Santa Barbara and we're just beginning to explore the other two areas. Since I'm morphing my business to a "do anywhere" format, we're pretty open.

As Christian noted, the greater NYC area is ridiculously expensive (although Santa Barbara is a different animal altogether). In fact, 20 acre properties in the Santa Ynez Valley are less expensive than the area we live in currently. Since NYC & Philly are commutable from where we live, that creates upward pressure on housing.

[pjmsj21]

Thanks for all of the great feedback. One of the attractions of the Trek tour, is that they handle pretty much all of the logisitics and provide support. In addition they do not charge extra for bike rental (Domane's) and you avoid the hassle of shipping a bike for a relatively short 3/4 day break.

[cnighbor1]

All,

I have heard from a couple of people about the Solvang Cycling Week this
Spring. Below is the plan in a hard to read format. The reason for
this email is that I have decided to stay on through the Paso Robles
portion, and booked the Paso Robles in at a reasonable price. Last year
I attempted to book much later and prices were much higher. So start to
make your plans, it will be a great week; and let me know if you will be
attending.


3/28/14 Friday Drive to Solvang Solvang Time Trial Loop Royal
Copenhagen 1000 15
3/29/14 Saturday Five Canyons Loop Royal Copenhagen
4000 60
3/30/14 Sunday Figueroa Mountain Loop Royal Copenhagen
4900 50
3/31/14 Monday Santa Rosa Road Royal Copenhagen 1700
42
4/1/14 Tuesday Jalama Beach Loop (various) Royal Copenhagen
5400 58
4/2/14 Wednesday Tepusquet Canyon Loop Paso Robles Inn
3000 46
4/3/14 Thursday Santa Rosa Creek, Old Creek Loop
Paso Robles Inn 4000 40
4/4/14 Friday Drive home late Peachy Canyon Loop home 3000
35

Thanks,

Brian Aldrich

[Ken Robb]

Upsides: disposable income means good bike shops.

Not to mention good restaurants and food markets. :banana:

[fkelly]

"If you are looking for a warmer climate for a midwinter cycling vacation, you may want to consider either Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo over the Santa Ynez Valley, which typically runs 20+ degrees cooler in the mornings than either SB or SLO. Both are near the ocean, which gives them a more temperate climate.
in general, choose Santa Barbara if you wish epic climbs with beautiful views and tough rollers, and San Luis Obispo if you prefer less hilly rides in vineyards and along the coast. "

I've stayed and ridden a bit in Santa Barbara. I tried once to ride up to Solvang but the San Marcos Pass Road, which was the only way I could see to get East of Santa Barbara was a beast. The climb is not that bad but it's narrow, very narrow and there is a never ending stream or rented RV's as well as SUV's brushing by you. I'm not a traffic averse rider but there are certain roads I'd never do twice and that's one of them. Maybe locals know other roads to use to get East out into "open" roads but I found it pretty confining to by just riding around the seashore areas by Santa Barbara.

The Paso Robles area does have great open roads, rolling to very hilly and pleasant weather in Winter. Solvang too. For a cycling vacation I'd go up there in January and February and just start a bit later in the day if it's cold.

[Steve in SLO]

I've stayed and ridden a bit in Santa Barbara. I tried once to ride up to Solvang but the San Marcos Pass Road, which was the only way I could see to get East of Santa Barbara was a beast. The climb is not that bad but it's narrow, very narrow and there is a never ending stream or rented RV's as well as SUV's brushing by you. I'm not a traffic averse rider but there are certain roads I'd never do twice and that's one of them. Maybe locals know other roads to use to get East out into "open" roads but I found it pretty confining to by just riding around the seashore areas by Santa Barbara.



You are lucky to be alive to tell about your ride up San Marcos Pass Road (154). It is really dngerous.
Instead, try Old San Marcos Road. It takes off from Cathedral Oaks Road and intersects SM Pass Road near the top. It is a lovely, tough 3+ mile climb with little traffic except for residents and other cyclists. If you are trying to get to Solvang, you do have to then ride along 154 from the pass, which I wouldn't recommend except for certain off-hours.
If you want a real challenge from the top of Old SM Road, cross SM Pass Road to Painted Caves Road, which will leave you weeping of you ride it hard. It goes to Camino Cielo, which runs along the ridgetop to LaCumbre Peak at 3500'. You can then descend Gibraltar Road and back Cathedral Oaks to make a loop.
Even better is Gibraltar-->Camino Cielo-->Painted Caves-->Old SM Road--> Tacos then pub of your choice.
The ride out to Lake Casitas and Ojai is a great, hard ride as well.

[torquer]

I attended a cycling camp in Solvang Steve Hampsten put on in 2008, coinciding with the ToC (when it was still run in February). I had a great time, but it rained at least a bit almost every day, (that was the year of the stage won by D. Rollin after a long solo in an epic downpour) and I'd bring more arm/leg warmers, tights, etc.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat, though, even without the ToC connection. Just that it changed this Easterner's image of warm, sunny California.

[jimcav]

My wife and I are looking for a warmer weather mid-winter or early season cycling camp. We like the idea of not going from location to location and being based in one location and the ride lengths look very reasonable for late winter riding. Being from Oregon we are spoiled with a lot of our riding on very lightly travelled roads, so that is one of our most important criteria. Any thoughts?

same area, very affordable, good group of riders, great, scenic routes. We got to see the Tour of Cali at Solvang and Paso Robles. February and it was great riding.
http://chezschnitz.com/