March Cycling – By popular demand, the Santa Ynez Valley.

Date and time: Saturday, March 18, meet at 10 AM.

Meet at Jonata Street in Los Olivos. Directions: Route 154 to Los Olivos, left on Grand Ave, left on Jonata. Park by the porta potties, across from R Country Market. Plan on 45 minutes from SB to get out there on Highway 154.  There is a part A and a part B to this ride, part B being optional.

Bike route: Part A - Depart 10:15 AM through town to the start of Ballard Canyon Road.  There is one serious hill at the beginning of Ballard. Photo stop at the top, then all downhill to Solvang. Great coffee/pastry stop in Solvang at Mortensen’s bakery!  This is a VERY scenic ride, passing Rusack Winery on Ballard Canyon going out and passing several wineries on Alamo Pintado coming back to Los Olivos.  This ride is ideal for road bikes, and hybrids should be OK. You’ll be using your gears, and plan to pump your tires up.  Distance: 12 miles round trip.

Lunch: Bring lunch and drinks or pre-order for pick up from R Country Market in Los Olivos (great sandwiches) 805-688-6750. Specialty: Tri-tip.  If you are not going on part B, have lunch in town or get some food and drive out to the Fess Parker Winery and join us for lunch.

Part B - Optional extension: For those interested, bring your lunch and drinks and we’ll ride out from Los Olivos across Highway 154 and north on Foxen Canyon Rd to the Fess Parker Winery for R&R in a beautiful spot – vineyard and mountain views.  (FP has no food, which is why we need to bring our lunch and drinks).  On Foxen, we will have one big hill to get over (in both directions). Round trip from Los Olivos, this will be 11 miles.  So, all told, bikers can do 12 miles or 23 miles today.

Overall: It is very green and quite beautiful out in this wine growing area, well worthwhile to make the 45 minute drive to get out to Los Olivos. Suggestion: Bring your significant others and let them spend time in Los Olivos while waiting for you to return at around 11:45. They can order some lunch and then drive out to meet us at Fess Parker Winery.

Helmets required.  Have water with you. Rain postpones. Questions: Bill Kyle 818-983-6227 or bill@kyleassociates.com.