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This was my first organized ride of 2001, and I did it with my father, Barry, my sister, Emily, and my brother, Corey. I drove down and picked up my sister, Emily, at her place in San Luis Obispo, and we headed south towards Solvang. Since our folks were coming down from Auburn, CA (a 5+ hr drive), we were a long ways ahead of them. We didn't really want to wait in front of our hotel for hours, so we continued south past Solvang to Santa Barbara and had a really good lunch at an Italian/Spanish place.

We checked in for the hotel and the ride after everybody had arrived. Solvang is a really trippy town, in a scandanavian style with (mostly faux) windmills everywhere. We woke up on Saturday morning and promptly hit the road. The course was overall pretty good, though the 50mi route was an out-and-back - not my favorite style of route at all! Nonetheless, it was very green and pretty. The support was fine (how much support does one need on a 50mi ride anyways? ;-), and the weather cooperated nicely. While we were riding, my mother went shopping in Solvang. After the ride, we had the post-ride meal and went back to the hotel. Overall it was a fun ride, mainly since I'd never ridden with so much of my family at once. If I do this ride next year, it'll be the full century option for sure, as I was barely warmed up when we finished!

Ride Stats:

Distance:	47.5mi
Total Time:	4h 39m
On-bike Time:	3h 27m
Average Speed:	13.7mph
Total Climbing:	~2,000 ft

Ride Rating:

Difficulty:	1
Support:	4
Food:	3
Route:	2 - pretty, but entirely out 'n back :(
Overall:	2.5

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