Steve and I booked our bike tour vacation to Santa Barbara late last year. This was a Butterfield & Robinson “Moderate to Challenging” tour that included staying at some wonderful hotels, eating great food, drinking and tasting all types of wine, and riding 25-30 miles/day for 4 straight days. While I didn’t set any speed records, I did managed to finish all the rides without hopping a ride in the sag van or walking my bike (except for one really nasty steep hill). Wahoo! Not bad considering the 50-60 work weeks, a year old infant, and being 5 pounds over my ideal weight. ๐
We arrived in Santa Barbara just in time to check in to the Upham hotel – one of the oldest hotels in Santa Barbara. We walked around the corner to Carlitas, a wonderful Mexican restaurant with killer margaritas (Steve). After stuffing ourselves, we wandered leisurely down State Street to the pier and back in time to watch Alias. Perhaps one of the funniest (not ha ha) moments was realizing that Steve’s luggage had gone to Honolulu and wouldn’t arrive to our hotel until late the next morning. Poor Steve ended up riding the next day in borrowed shorts from our guide and Merrills.
Day 1 wasn’t too bad. We biked 14 miles in the morning with a great downhill ride, stopped by a winery for tasting and ended up in Los Olivos for lunch. After a nice lunch with our group members, Steve and I headed off out of town, up a very steep hill and then along rolling hills back to our first hotel. Another 14 miles later, we arrived at the Santa Ynez Inn – a 2 year old Victorian inn with a pretty amazing suite. We unpacked and prepared for a wine tasting at the hotel – which was very informative – and then a phenomenal dinner at the Inn. Steve managed to restrain himself during this whole day, only purchasing a handful of bottles at the first winery and at the tasting event. Besides Steve’s biking apparel, the toughest aspect of day 1 riding was the seat of our hybrid, upright bikes. I guess it would be an understatement to say that we were not used to the …uh…pressure points on the seat. Our bottoms were very, very sore on day 1 and day 2, and partially day 3. By day 4, we were just numb. I think it’s worth describing the dinner on day 1; it was a wonderful blend of wines matched perfectly to each course, starting with a fennel/dill salad and ending with a veal (like butter) and fig tart. After the dinner, we went upstairs and got our first real night of uninterrupted sleep in 11 months.
Day 2 started from the hotel. We rode thru wine country and past some very nice wineries, stopping at Fess Parker and a couple other places for snacks from the sag van and pictures. We then continued a low grade climb that culminated in a killer downhill and then a flat run on new asphalt to our winery for lunch and then a van ride back to the hotel. This was more of a challenging ride than day 2. Between the long, low grade climb and tasting wine and our sore bottoms, getting to lunch was a welcome event. Again, Steve purchased more wine and then decided to make the unprecedented B&R ride back to our hotel – for a total of 52 miles. With his newly arrived bike shoes and gear, he made it back in about 2 hours. This wasn’t too bad considering that the asphalt was very warm and apparently the bike tires were sinking not riding over the surface. One humorous event occurred about 5 miles into the ride after a nice steep hill. We arrived at the top and Steve said, “I think I lost a shoe.” Yes, Steve had strapped his Merrills to the back of his bike with a bungee cord, and one disappeared never to be found again. I also gave in and finally started to draft Steve on the new asphalt as we rode against a brisk wind for 8-9 miles. At one point, I said “we could go faster” and Steve pulled aside to give me an idea of why we were going so slow. Anyway, this was a very picturesque ride. We felt like we were in the Bay Area with brown hills, trees and scrub. We also saw all sorts of veggies being grown, from red peppers to squash to zucchini. For dinner, we wandered into Los Olivos (very small town) for dinner at a Cajun/Californian restaurant. Steve was dragging from his ride, and I was watching all the babies in the restaurant thinking about Katherine. At one point, I was gazing at a child (maybe 7-10 mos) old and realized that I recognized his dad. Noah Wiley and David Crosby were sitting right behind Steve eating dinner. That was our big brush with fame on this trip. ๐
For Day 3, we hopped in the van and rode to the “Coastal Bike Trail” perhaps 2000-3000 feet above sea level. We cruised down a hair-raising hill that lasted a good 10-15 minutes; it was so steep that my right hand hurt from pumping my brake down the hill! I also remember hearing one tour member screaming “I need a tranquilizer.” The fun continued along the Coastal Bike Trail where we saw a coyote and solar powered bike trail lights. We rode near Hope Ranch where we saw beautiful, million dollar homes and found ourselves ascending another fun, steep hill. Funny enough, we ran into a resident walking her dog who informed us “Sorry, the hill keeps going. you know, there’s nothing wrong with getting off your bike and walking.” ๐ I didn’t give into the temptation, but went into my granny gear and swore all the way up the hill. At the top, we cruised down a gorgeous, palm-lined road with expensive homes and then dove down another hill to arroyo beach. Here we stopped, as advertised in our trip notes we could use bathrooms there. What they didn’t say was that this beach had a very picturesque cafรฉ nestled next to the beach that served hot mochas and clam chowder. We stayed 20 minutes there, confounding our guides who realized that they had “lost” 8 members of the tour somehow. Thankfully, our guide who was riding that day found us, and all was well. We hopped back on our bikes, rode along the beach to Santa Barbara and lunch on State Street. After a huge lunch with more wine (surprise, surprise!), we took a walking tour of Santa Barbara, which was extremely informative and enjoyable – what I didn’t realize is that Santa Barbara has a very rich history with diverse architecture that dates many, many years back. On a more practical front, we bought Steve new shoes and indulged our parental guilt at a children’s store on State Street. Steve selected two dresses for Katherine, one that she’s going to wear to a wedding and then her birthday and one pink velvet dress for the holidays. I test drove and then selected the smaller of two Silver Cross rocking horses for Katherine’s birthday (more to come on how she reacted to this!) and a Rody which is a plastic inflatable rocking horse more appropriate for Katherine’s age. Our shopping extravaganza was cut short as we realized that we had to ride up more hill to our final hotel – the San Ysidro Ranch. I huffed and puffed up more low grade, and then higher grade hill the remaining 6-7 miles. This Ranch is chock full of history, where very famous people have stayed, married and honeymooned. The Ranch dates back to 1920s when it was really a ranch and then it was converted to a resort with a spa and gorgeous restaurant, where we had a very tasty dinner that evening.
Day 4 had the hardest ride yet. We started at the ranch and went straight up the Santa Barbara hills. Going up a double digit grade (or so it felt), I finally hopped off my bike and walked up 40 or 60 feet. I got back on and managed to get up the rest of the climb – perhaps a couple thousand feet. We then headed downhill and after a little backtracking we arrived in a small beach town – Carpenteria. We headed along the beach and ate a beach cafe, and relaxed before going to the Santa Barbara Polo Club to watch a club match. We learned that polo is indeed a very expensive sport- each match requires over 50 ponies. And the only way to end up with a modest fortune is to start with a large one. ๐
After wandering around and admiring the ponies, we headed back to the ranch – uphill again of course. What was encouraging is that we did the ride back to the ranch more quickly than the day before; however, it was still a relief to get back. We went into town and had a nice meal with the guides and group on our last night.
It’s a Musical Life
When Katherine was just an infant, I purchased Tiny Tot subscription concert tickets. They are essentially short (less than 1 hour) performances geared to babies and toddlers. The kids are free to talk, cry, move around during the concert. The first concert included children of the Symphony players and conductor as well as two women who told a funny story that incorporated the four seasons and a story about a musical family.
Katherine was entranced by the show. She stood on my and Steve’s laps throughout and stared at the women. During the singing, she started wobbling one leg (which is her Elvis-like version of dancing) and getting pretty excited. Her friend Sid also attended and she played with his shoe a bit. I can’t wait until the next performance!
