Stephen White turned us onto this ride that had been used by Lance Armstrong and his Discovery Team as a winter pre-season training ride. Starting from Solvang the team would climb over the mountain and then complete a 100 mile loop.
Katie and I planned to do just part of the ride ... the 5,500' mountain.
We started from Solvang after laying around all morning waiting for the marine layer to burn off so we could ride in the sun.
We went to the only bike shop in town - dr j's - www.drjbikeshop.com - and got some great directions, lube and air.
The loop started on Highway 246 heading south out of Solvang, then on Armour Ranch Road, Baseline, then onto Happy Canyon Road where this picture was taken of Katie riding through the valley of cattle and horse farms.
Happy Canyon turned into Fiqueroa Mountain Road as it kicked up. The ride was tough since both of us have not done any real climbing this year on the road. The total ride was around 50 miles and took us 3.5 hours. The total vertical was around 5,000 feet for the complete ride. Most of the climb near the top I was out of the saddle standing which I normally HATE to do! Another strange stat was that I had to ride around two rattle snakes in the road on the way up. 
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