Central California Coast

Unspoiled Paradise, Premium Wines

The section of southern California that lies along the coast between Santa Barbara and Big Sur takes you back to the unspoiled paradise Spanish missionaries found 200 years ago.  Enormous oak trees spread over rolling green and gold hillsides.  White sand dunes shimmer in the sun beside the blue Pacific Ocean. 

Early spring and late fall are the best times to visit.  In spring the green hillsides are covered with wildflowers, and in the fall the weather is just right for harvest time in the vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley.  The area is becoming famous as a producer of premium wines; Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties are home to more than 100 wineries.

Quiet Country Roads of Almond Groves, Horse Ranches, and Vineyards

We meet in San Luis Obispo on a Sunday morning and shuttle to a nearby park where we start cycling.  We ride over scenic, quiet country roads past horse farms, vineyards, and almond groves to lunch.  The afternoon’s cycling options include a short ride to another winery, or a longer ride through a beautiful, back-country canyon to our lodging for two nights on the coast in Cambria.  You’ll enjoy visiting the shops and art galleries of this resort community.

Monday morning we visit Hearst Castle in San Simeon and take you on a guided tour of journalism baron William Randolph Hearst’s opulent home.  Then we travel north up the coast to the southern end of Big Sur and cycle south.  This section of the coast is quite rugged, with the road carved into the seaside cliffs.  It’s virtually uninhabited, and in the spring and fall has very little traffic.  We enjoy the stunning seascapes as we cycle down to the coastal plain, passing beaches covered with hundreds of huge elephant seals.

Tour Hearst Castle, Treat Yourself to Luscious Danish Pastry

On Tuesday we shuttle south past a developed area and start cycling at one of our favorite wineries in the farmland east of Santa Maria.  We follow Foxen Canyon Road, a quiet farm road, past fields of row crops, ranchland, and vineyards, through canyons and past wineries as we enter the Santa Ynez Valley.  The Editor-in-Chief of Bicycling magazine described a bicycle ride through this area as: “The perfect ride.  It happened on March 2, 2005 in California’s Santa Ynez Valley while testing road bikes for our annual Editor’s Choice Awards story.  We rode down Foxen Canyon Road.  The bikes were amazing, the scenery idyllic.  The winter’s epic rainfalls had left the hills and vineyards an almost tropical green.  At one point, riding five-up on a road with no traffic, I dared to bring it up.  ‘Is this really happening?’  I asked the group.  ‘This is almost like another world.’ ” 

We spend the next three nights at the delightful Hadsten House Inn & Spa in Solvang, a town settled by the Danes and famous for its mouth-watering bakeries. You’ll enjoy Solvang's European-style architecture, and boutiques offering everything from Danish specialties to wine tasting. And you'll savor the gourmet dining this area is known for.

Pedal Where Lance Armstrong Trained, Enjoy a Massage

Wednesday is a layover day.  We offer a great hike in the morning to a vantage point overlooking a lake and the whole valley.  You’ll also want to explore the side roads winding along thoroughbred horse farms, vineyards, and farmland in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley.  A local newspaper, The Southern California Bicyclist, proclaims the area around Solvang as “our very favorite riding area.”  Lance Armstrong and his team trained here for part of the winter, and it’s home to the Solvang Century each March — the most popular century ride in southern California.  The movie “Sideways” features many of the wineries and winding roads you’ll see.  We return to the inn in time to enjoy its full service spa before dinner.

Secret Road to the Beach and the Santa Ynez Valley

On Thursday we offer a scenic, one-way ride west from our inn to the Pacific Ocean.  We cycle along a lightly traveled country road past fields of vineyards and some wineries, then experience a spectacular ride as we follow another gorgeous road for 14 miles before it dead ends at the beach.  Along the way we cross ranchland that is largely untouched by man, cycle through canopies of huge California live oak trees, and climb two hills that offer majestic views up and down the coast.  The road that we are on is the only paved road to the ocean for 20 miles in either direction. At the end of the road, a park on the beach boasts views of sandstone cliffs and breaking surf as far as the eye can see.  After enjoying the beach, we cycle or shuttle in the van back to our inn.

On Friday we cycle east through vineyards and pastures in Santa Ynez Valley, then turn south leaving Solvang and the wine country, following a road beside towering oak trees to a park.  We'll have lunch at Gainey Winery in Santa Ynez, then load up the van and shuttle back to San Luis Obispo.

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