a Ride to Benefit
 

November 15, 2008

Far and away, the very best routes in Southern California's most scenic and most popular cycling region!
NO crowds! Great support! T-Shirt, water bottle and post-ride buffet lunch included!

SPECIAL REGISTRATION POLICY: Because this is a benefit ride, rollover ride credits from other events and/or volunteer ride credits may not be used; and there will be no rollover ride credits given for cancellations.

To avoid paying active.com fees, click here for the mail-in form and pay by check.

General Information and Ride Rules - Please Read!

Click here to view the 2007 Roster and Ride Report

Click here to view the Rosters and Ride Reports from previous years

Solvang's Finest Century (and Finest Metric Century) is dedicated to raising money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation.
The challenge of riding a century, or participating in any endurance sport, is a lot of fun; but people with disabilities sometimes don’t have access to the special equipment and training it takes for them to pursue this type of lifestyle. Through the Challenged Athletes Foundation, you can provide funding for hand cycles, sports chairs, training and competition needs that will allow athletes with disabilities the freedom to enjoy a fit lifestyle. Since 1994, CAF has raised over $16 million and provided funds to over 3,300 athletes across the United States and around the world.

There are three easy things that you can do to help: First, simply register for this event! A portion of your entry fee goes directly to the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Second, send in a tax-deductible donation with your entry. As an incentive, with your minimum donation, you will receive CAF Headsweats baseball cap, a Solvang's Finest Century event jersey or wind vest, or all three! Finally, if you want to do more (and we hope you do), we'll help get you started with your own fundraising! We’ll show you how to get dialed into the Challenged Athletes Foundation Race For A Reason program and set up a fundraising web page to track your progress. The Challenged Athletes Foundation will provide you with postcards, newsletters, videos – all the tools you need to make your fundraising a success. You’ll also receive some great incentive prizes from CAF when you reach your fundraising goal. Just think, you can challenge yourself on this beautiful Solvang ride and also help someone else overcome their challenge as well. It's a win win situation!!!

Fundraising Incentive Prizes: When you join the Race For a Reason program, the more you raise, the more incentive prize choices you'll have. The 2007 Race For A Reason fundraising incentive prize list is awesome! Raise just $250 and win a CAF Polar Fleece Jacket. The more you raise, the more choices you have: Polar Heart Rate Monitors, Rudy Project Heritage Sunglasses, Specialized Pro Carbon Road Shoes, Apple iPod Nano, HED Alps or Stinger Race Wheels, Garmin GPS Street Pilot, Star Trac Spinner Pro Bike, Pro 3D CompuTrainer, Specialized Allez Comp Road Bike, and more! In addition, the highest fundraiser who raises more than $7,500 will also win a 2009 pass to all Planet Ultra single day events.

Basic Entry Fee of $80 includes: Event t-shirt (guaranteed only for riders who register before October 20th), Planet Ultra water bottle, a delicious post-ride meal*, route sheet, four fully stocked checkpoints along the course, and plenty of roving SAG. A portion of every basic entry fee goes directly to the Challenged Athletes Foundation.  (*Additional meals may be purchased at the time of registration for $15 per person.)

Interested in sponsoring this event? Click here to contact us!

Start/Finish Host Hotel
•  Our host hotel is the Royal Scandinavian Inn, 400 Alisal Road, Solvang, CA 93464; 800-624-5572: $139 per night for 2 queens or 1 king. If our host hotel is sold out, please try the Royal Copenhagen Inn, 1579 Mission Dr.; 805-688-5561. It's only a few short blocks away - and a good bargain at $105 per night. We used to host all of our Solvang events at the Royal Copenhagen Inn, and we really like it; but we've out grown the meeting room space, so we simply had to move. Be sure to mention "Planet Ultra" when making your reservations at either hotel, to ensure that you receive our group rate.

Check-In
All riders must check in Friday evening from 6:30pm to 9:00pm or Saturday morning between 6:00am and 8:00am in the Stockholm Room at the Royal Scandinavian Inn (in the Meadows Restaurant building, to the left of the hotel as you're facing the hotel from the street).

Solvang Open Start System
As requested by the City of Solvang (and locals who don't like the huge pelotons), we will have an open starting window beginning at 7:00am for Century riders. We'll have a staging area in the parking lot where riders will gather to be sent off. Come with your friends that you want to ride with, and hit the road together. If you're riding the metric century, or plan on finishing the full century course in under 6 hours, you'll start beginning at 8:30am. We greatly appreciate your cooperation in making this run smoothly. 

Time Limit
Regardless of start time, the course closes at 4:30pm. No exceptions. If you're not sure if you can complete a moderately difficult century in under ten hours, we recommend the metric century option. The metric covers much of the same route as the century (minus the first 35 miles) - and is a nice challenge with lots of climbing. Please note: Riders must reach Checkpoint 2 at mile 57.9 by 12:30pm. All riders who miss this cut-off are required to take an alternate, shorter route back to the finish.

Twilight
Twilight begins at 6:05; Twilight ends at 17:24. Sunrise is at 6:32; Sunset is at 16:58.

Support Provided
We will have checkpoints along the way to provide you with a wide variety of food choices including bananas, PB&J sandwiches, granola/fruit/energy bars, Hammer Gel, Sustained Energy, Endurolytes, and Gatorade, plus other wholesome edibles. A buffet lunch will be served at the finish line in Solvang from approximately 1pm to 5pm.

Route Description - NOTE: Route sheets are not available prior to rider check-in; so please, please don't ask us to send you one.
The event starts and finishes in its namesake, Solvang, a quaint, Danish village with excellent hotels, awesome restaurants, window shopping, real shopping, horse-drawn carriages, parks, people in costume, wine-tasting, vineyards, and lots of fun things for the whole family to see and do. Bring your family and make a weekend of it. We promise they'll all have a great time while you ride your bike!

Century Route: We've put together a wonderful and unique century route, unlike any other organized ride in the area. Riders will experience the very best of the Santa Ynez valley and then head out to points beyond. This figure eight style course starts with a tour of Solvang, Los Olivos, Ballard and Santa Ynez, and then heads up the well-known Foxen Canyon. The route then loops back around towards Solvang via Zaca Station, Hwy 154 and beautiful Ballard Canyon. Then riders head South towards Buellton and veer off on the famous Avenue of the Flags which becomes Santa Rosa Road. Taking the back roads of Lompoc, riders will head up and over Harris Grade and drop back down to Hwy 135 towards the great little western antique haven of Los Alamos. From Los Alamos, riders encounter the last big climb of the day, up and over Drum Canyon, a quiet, twisty, 800 foot, 3.4 mile ascent. Drum Canyon has a steep, technical downhill, so please pay close attention to your speed. Once you reach the bottom, you'll hop onto Hwy 246 back to Solvang, with a big shoulder all the way to town! 100 miles with 4,900 feet of climbing. Four SAG stops along the course.

Metric century ride: Riders will cover the last 65 miles of the fantastic century route. Leaving Solvang southbound towards Buellton, riders veer off on the famous Avenue of the Flags which becomes Santa Rosa Road, and the first climbs of the day. After a blast down Hwy 1, riders take the back roads of Lompoc, heading up and over Harris Grade and dropping back down to Hwy 135 towards the great little western antique haven of Los Alamos. From Los Alamos, riders encounter the last big climb of the day, up and over Drum Canyon, a quiet, twisty, 800 foot, 3.4 mile ascent. Drum Canyon has a steep, technical downhill, so please pay close attention to your speed. Once you reach the bottom, you'll hop onto Hwy 246 back to Solvang, with a big shoulder all the way to town! 62 miles with 3,100 feet of climbing. Three SAG stops along the course.

Towns/regions visited: Solvang, Ballard, Los Olivos, Santa Ynez, Foxen Canyon, Buellton, Lompoc, Los Alamos, and back to Solvang.

Breakfast
Paula's Pancake House, just a few doors down from the Royal Copenhagen, opens at 6am. If you like a meal before you ride, their food is delicious!

Coffee
The very best coffee, chai and hot chocolate in town is at the Bulldog Cafe, 1680 Mission Drive - across the street and a couple of blocks up the main drag from the Royal Copenhagen. Their pastries and brownies are amazing too! They open at 6:00am. Wireless internet also available.

Parking
If you are staying at a hotel in Solvang, please park there and leave your car there during the event. If you are driving into Solvang on Saturday morning for the event, please be very careful how and where you park. Also, allow more than enough time to find proper parking. Do not park at the Royal Scandinavian, or any other hotel, unless you are staying there. Solvang is a tourist and shopping town. The merchants get justifiably upset if cyclists, who are gone on their bikes all day, use commercial district parking. Click here for a map of Solvang that shows the location of the start/finish. Click here for a map of public parking lots and public restrooms in town.

Directions
Use Hwy 101 to get to Solvang from either north or south. If coming from the south, you can save a few miles and get some great views by taking Hwy 154 over the San Marcos Pass and past Lake Cachuma.  If coming from the north, exit the 101 in Buellton and go south on Hwy 246 four miles to Solvang. (This is the way the ride will finish.) The Scandinavian Inn is located just off the main drag, Hwy 246 or Mission Drive, on Alisal Road.

Volunteers
We always need help at our events! We can only put these events on with the help of loyal, trustworthy, motivated individuals running the checkpoints along the way. To provide a little incentive, we offer one free entry into any Planet Ultra event in the following twelve months for each time you volunteer at a Planet Ultra event. It's a simple formula: "work one, ride one free!" So please contact us to let us know when and where you'd like to help. (Please note that riders are specifically encouraged to work an event. Friends and family of riders are encouraged to lend a hand, too, but don't count towards the "work one, ride one free!" formula.)

Sunday Staff Ride
Everyone who volunteers to work the main event may ride the Century Staff Ride on Sunday, November 16th for FREE. The Staff Ride will likely be unsupported - but there are plenty of places to refuel and re-hydrate along the route.

Local Weather
Click here for the weather in and around Solvang.