Planet Ultra’s 2025 Solvang Spring Double Century

The day started just a hair on the chilly side. Just cool enough to warrant donning both arm and leg warmers, but no rain like last year.

Kant and I rolled out of the start with a newbie, to us, guy named Pete and Kevin. Pete seemed to want to really get things started fast and there was no way I was going to keep up with him long term. Thankfully Kant dialed things back, but it was too late for Kevin who couldn’t keep up with the two of us.

Kant and I would stay together for most of the ride. We really started getting into a rhythm where I would pull on the descents, he would pace me up the climbs, and we’d share duties on the flats. The first stop was only for a quick bathroom break. The second stop was a little longer on account of me needing to strip off my arm and leg warmers. Lunch, the third stop, was a little longer while Kant and I scarfed down some lunch before hitting the road again. Our goal was to minimize off bike time as much as possible and we were certainly doing a great job so far.

After lunch we made the short trip north to Tank Farm Rd to ride west to parallel US-101. As we were making the turn a group of five cyclists came around us and Kant recognized Mark Christopherson as well as a few others. He then tells me, “Hey those are the wheels to jump onto.” At first I was hesitant to jump onto some random wheels and potentially blow up trying to hang on. My spirited side got the best of me and I did a little dig to catch back up pulling Kant along with me. We made quick time, but as we approached Higuera disaster struck.

Coming to the Higuera light the entire group hit something in succession. It passed through the entire train. Then I heard Kant call out that he got a flat. I pulled out of line to allow Mark to get back with the group and check in on Kant. We stopped to take a look and couldn’t figure out why his tubeless setup failed. Examining the tire we eventually found a full screen through the tire AND wheel. The look on Kant’s face as he said, “Dude I’m done, DNF.” was heartbreaking. After arguing about me waiting around for him to get picked up, I begrudgingly mounted up and rode on.

Kant’s incident happened at almost exactly the half-way point leaving me to ride the remainder of the double solo. Not really a big deal, although not ideal either. One thing that stuck with me for the rest of the ride was when Kant told me, just before I left, to “Go out there and finish with a good time.” That ended up being the driving factor for the remainder of my ride.

The ride to Guadalupe went really well; however, just outside town the winds really started picking up and were nearly a perfect crosswind. I felt like I was riding leaned over into the wind for quite a while. I was certainly looking forward to the quick break at the next stop in Guadalupe before the course turned inland and the crosswind would become a tailwind.

As I came into Le Roy Park, and the next stop, I spotted the group that Kant and I had originally started to roll with along Tank Farm Rd. Mark and his friend were rolling out just as I came in. I grabbed a quick Coke and snack before leaving just behind the couple who had also been in that group.

I would keep with that man and woman couple for the remainder of the ride. I would ultimately overtake them when they pulled off to, I assume, use the restroom. They caught up to me in Los Alamos at the final rest stop. While I would leave that stop ahead of them they both caught up to me before heading up Alisos Canyon road. I would keep them in sight though and as we made the turn onto Foxen Canyon road just were just ahead of me. I put my head down for the final big climb of the ride and was surprised when I went by both of them before the top. I kept in front of them for most of the descent down to CA-154, but they’d eventually come around when we got to the flat rough section.

As we stopped at CA-154, they both made an immediate right turn. I called out letting them know they were making a wrong turn. The course calls for crossing CA-154 and then making an immediate right. I think this is a common occurrence at this intersection because it nearly caught Dave Burns last year during our ride. Having heard me, they corrected their route and as well all prepared to cross the highway I pushed down on the pedal to go and BAM dropped chain. I unclipped and walked back a few paces to get it squared away. By the time I was ready to go the couple were long gone.

The remainder of the ride was uneventful. A nice steady descent back into Buellton along some gnarly roads.

Overall, the ride was good. The winds could have been a lot worse on the first half of the ride, and thankfully other than the brief heavy crosswind section they were okay on the second half. Really bummed about Kant and his wheel/tire. It is the damndest thing that I’ve only ever seen pictures of online, never in person. Thankfully he didn’t go down or have something worse happen and was able to get back to the hotel without issue.

New bike fund: $92.29 (+$0.26), €1.52 (+€0.00), ₱10.00 (+₱0.00), ֏10.00 (+֏0.00)
‍0.33 new miles — From Wandrer.earth
1526 total shifts, 96 front, 1430 rear. 79.8% of the ride in the big ring, 20.2% in the small ring. Most time spent in 52×17, 17.7% — by di2stats.com
652 vehicles @ 3.4 per mile, 1 per minute, Speeds: 42.0 mph (avg), 84.4 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Mostly clear-Mostly cloudy, 46°F-58°F, Feels like 43°F-56°F, Humidity 76%-56%, Wind NNW 7mph-W 8mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock.com Report —
Weather Impact™: 1.3%
Headwind: 53% @ 16 – 30.1 mph
Longest Headwind: 02h 22m 0s
Air Speed: 16.9 mph
Temp: 57.6-57.7 °F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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