Solvang Ride Camp – Day 2

Post author: Chris Dugan

When you show up to Trek Ride Camp, you are surrounded by bike geeks. Young bike geeks. Cool bike geeks. The kind who ride their commuter bike to work every day, then race cyclocross after work, and do a century on the weekend. They are lean, skinny, tattooed people who think about frame stiffness and gear ratios and all that other crap I don’t really understand. They aren’t obnoxious about it-but they know, and you know, that they could bury you on the road or trail. So as we gathered in the courtyard of the Corque Hotel in Solvang, CA to get our ride brief, I was thinking “I’m going to get my ass kicked. My job today is not to wind up in the SAG wagon”.

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Solvang Ride Camp – Day 1

Solvang definitely lives up to its reputation as one of the “Ten Most Beautiful Small Towns in the Western United States.” Set in scenic Santa Barbara County on the Central Coast of California, this thriving Danish community attracts over a million visitors annually with its unique shopping, distinctive architecture, award-winning bakeries and regional wines.

But we’re here for the cycling, and Solvang certainly doesn’t disappoint in that regard. The temperate climate and surrounding Santa Ynez mountains make Solvang a favorite training locale for several professional cycling teams, and the village has hosted a stage of the Amgen Tour of California for the past few years in addition to numerous amateur cycling events.