Solvang

Well, it wasn't the longest or hardest ride I've done, but the Solvang half Century Joey and I (and my brother Dane) did this weekend was definitely my fastest long ride. Spurred on by Joey, who cannot ride slowly, I averaged 16.7 mph for the 50 miles. Joey averaged 17.2, and would have been faster if he hadn't spent a few miles dawdling along waiting for us.

The Solvang 50 is an interesting ride. It attracts thousands of people, many of whom look like they don't know what they've gotten into, presumably having been talked into the ride by bike-crazy family members. There were people walking up slopes that barely qualify as a hill to us northern CA hill-crazy types. But it was cool to see so many people trying it--people who wouldn't have made it to the 20-mile rest stop on the Marin Century.

Most of the hardcore cyclists seem to have opted for the 100, but we thought that was a bit much for Joey, who'd only ridden a couple of fast 40-milers before (and I hadn't ridden farther than 50 since the Marin metric century a couple years ago). Considering Joey finished off the last 3 miles of the ride by hammering at about 23 mph (and dropping absolutely everyone in sight--including a couple of tri-geeks who'd passed us earlier on a long downhill), I think he probably could have gone a bit farther, but not 100. Next year.