Cool Breeze Bike Ride

Great ride out and back up the coast from Ventura to Montecito (just before Santa Barbara) with fantastic food stops. This is not a race, so you can pretty much go at your own pace and take in the views of the beach and hills as you ride along. Most in the club do the metric century - 62 miles but actaully 59.6 - in about 5 to 6 hours. With the 3 to 4 rest and food stops along the way, it is very do able. Weather has been typically cool with a marine layer on the way out, sunny and a tail wind on the way back. A road or triathlon bike is really suggested if you do the metric century, but if you only have a mountain or combo bike, consider the half metric century unless you know you can do the distance.

Plan on leaving home at 5AM so you can get there before 6:30 AM. The parking lot at the Mission fills up fast after 6:30 and the gang leaves before 7:00 AM. You will need time to pick up your route sheet and get set up to ride. If you are late, you can try to catch up before we leave the 1st stop. The weather has always been cool but bring 1 or 2 bottles on your bike. Check your repair kit that you have a spare tube of the right size and tools to make the change. We stay pretty much together but if you get a flat, the group may not know so it is best to stay in contact with a FRS walkie talkie set to channel 6.0 if you need help, etc.

The first segment is 14.8 miles long all along the beach paralleling Pacific Coast Highway (PCH or Hwy 101). Yes, you will ride 2.8 miles on PCH from La Conchita to the first stop with trucks zooming by but the bike lane is actually plenty wide. Food and rest stop #1 off Bates Rd at Rincon Point Park is a neat little park on a bluff overlooking the ocean and channel islands. This is also the turn around for the half metric century. Lots of food to tempt you to just hang out, eat and let the others pick you up on the way back. But then you would miss the great back country as the course goes inland among the rolling hills, ranches and flower farms before winding back toward PCH in Summerland. Here you have Ortega Hill at mile 25 and then up Ortega Ridge with a 400 ft climb for 1.3 miles - this is the one they talk about but pedel when you can and walk what you can't.. For every up hill there is a down so take it easy flying back down and watch for your turns. Some will zoom right past a route turn or take half a block braking and turning back. At mile 32.8 you come to the metric century turn around and food & rest stop #2 at Manning Park. You can have your bike weighed here if you wondered if it was made of lead when you pumped up Ortega Ridge.

After the the turn around you zoom down to parallel PCH before climbing .3 mile up Ortega Hill and back down into Summerland. You then take a different route and through the beach town of Carpenteria. Here we have an informal club regroup at Giovanni's Pizza on the right after the main intersection (Linden) in Carpenteria for a soft drink or cold beer. There is a bike shop across the street if you need anything, however the ride sag waggon is fairly well equipped. Then we cross over PCH and come back along the beach side of the highway to the first food stop at Bates Rd. but after 44.9 miles this time it is called #3.

Stop #3 has ice cold popsickles on the way back that really hit the spot. Take some time to look for dolphins just out side the surf line. From here you retrace the first 14.8 miles to the start. As if you have not eaten enough on this ride, a big BBQ tri-tip lunch is waiting for you. This is defineately a positive calorie event.