Far and away, the very best routes in Southern California’s most scenic and most popular cycling region!
NO crowds! Great support!
And most importantly, a portion of every entry fee will be donated to Life Sports Foundation!
2021 Entry Fees*:
$115 includes: Chip timing, finisher souvenir, 4 fully stocked checkpoints along the full century course and 2 for the metric century, roving SAG support; post-ride meal at Habit Burger in Buellton. A portion of every basic entry fee goes directly to the Life Sports Foundation. Event tech tees are available for sale with online registration. Sale proceeds will be donated to LSF.
After October 9th the late entry fee is $125.
* If you’re able to recruit an event volunteer, please email us before signing up and we’ll give you a coupon code to use during registration for an instant 50% off. For helping, the volunteer receives a credit for 50% off a future Planet Ultra single-day event. If the volunteer is a non-rider then YOU may use that credit. So you get two nice deals: An instant discount for promising to bring a volunteer, and 50% discount on your next event.
Use the SignUp bottom to register online and pay by credit card (which includes a small service fee). Please read our event cancellation policy before registering.
Click here for 2019 results.
Click here for results from other years.
Solvang’s Finest Century is dedicated to fundraising for Life Sports 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 lifestyle.
Life Sports Foundation is dedicated to helping people of all abilities who are facing physical, situational, or medical challenges to enrich their lives through sports. They provide opportunities for enhanced athletic lifestyles through endurance events, specialized equipment, training, competition expenses, and education.
There are three easy things that you can do to help: First, register for this event! A portion of your entry fee goes directly to Life Sports Foundation. Second, make a tax-deductible donation with your entry. Third, donate directly or create your own fundraiser.
Start/Finish Host Hotel
Our host hotel is the Santa Ynez Valley Marriott located at 555 McMurray Road in Buellton, 800-638-8882. The Marriott has a Planet Ultra rate of $199 per night, which expires September 15th. Call 888-236-2427 and ask for the Planet Ultra Group Block Room Rate.
Our overflow hotel is Pea Soup Anderson’s Inn in Buellton, (805) 688-3216 with a Planet Ultra group rate of $119.10.
We realize hotels in this area are very expensive; so try AirBnB as well.
Rider Check-In:
Friday from 7-9pm or Saturday from 6-8 am in the designated meeting room at the Marriott (there will be signs posted around the hotel with the name of the room). Please do your best to check in Friday evening, especially if you want to start early.
Parking:
If you’re staying somewhere other than the Marriott, please leave your car and ride to the start. If you’re driving to Buellton Saturday morning, please be respectful about where you park. Allow enough time to find proper parking; and please don’t park in the Marriott lot.
How To Get There:
Use Hwy 101 to get to Buellton from either north or south. Click here for a map.
Chip Timed Event!
Solvang’s Finest Century will be timed. At packet pickup you’ll receive a number plate with a timing chip on the back. Please hang the number from your handlebars, facing forward. You must pass through the timing chute both when you start and when you finish in order to get a time. The chute will be at the back of the hotel.
Start Times
The ride starts and finishes in the parking lot at the rear of the hotel.
Century: Open starting window from 7am to 7:30am. If you plan on finishing the century in under 6 hours, please start closer to 7:30am.
Metric century: Group start at 8:30am.
If you start early, or start from a location other than the back of the Marriott, you will not be listed in the results. Please no early starts, or you’ll get to the checkpoints before they’re open. 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. We greatly appreciate your cooperation in making this run smoothly.
Time Limit
Regardless of start time, the course closes at 4:30pm. 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.
On Course Support Provided
We will have checkpoints along the way to provide you with a wide variety of food choices including bananas, PB&J sandwiches, Clif bars, granola/fruit/energy bars, Fluid electrolyte drink (or equivalent), Caplytes (electrolyte pills), plus other snacks and goodies.
Route Description
PLEASE NOTE: The road surfaces in and around the Santa Ynez Valley can be, and often are, pretty lousy. Expect cracks and bumps and potholes on Foxen Canyon, Santa Rosa Road and Drum Canyon, for sure. Please bring appropriate, wider, more cushy tires.
The event starts and finishes just down the road from its namesake, Solvang, a quaint, Danish village with excellent 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 Buellton, with a big shoulder all the way to town! 100 miles with 4,900 feet of climbing. Four SAG stops along the course. You may view a map of the route, the elevation profile and download GPS files here. (Please note that RideWithGPS.com exaggerates the accumulated elevation gain by quite a bit.)
Metric century ride: Riders will cover the last 60 miles of the fantastic century route. Leaving 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 Buellton, with a big shoulder all the way to town! 62 miles with 3,100 feet of climbing. Three SAG stops along the course. You may view a map of the route, the elevation profile and download GPS files here. (Again, pleases note that RideWithGPS.com exaggerates the climbing a bit.)
Towns/regions visited: Solvang, Ballard, Los Olivos, Santa Ynez, Foxen Canyon, Buellton, Lompoc, Los Alamos, and back to Buellton.
Routing and Navigation
Planet Ultra route sheets include lots of useful information to help riders navigate the course. For example, we’ll let you know if a turn is at a stop sign (SS), traffic light (TL) or T-intersection (T-int). We know that riders like to have the course marked. However, many of the towns/cities/counties specifically request that no markings are placed in the road. Our permits are contingent on NOT doing this.
Most importantly, the Solvang area is host to many, many events, and there are road markings all over the place – most of which will NOT be for our ride. If you don’t pay attention to your route sheet, you’re likely to follow some random arrow which puts you off course. So please, ALWAYS HAVE YOUR ROUTE SHEET WITH YOU and be aware of where you are on the route.
This is the type of route where a GPS with turn-by-turn capabilities will come in handy. Please understand and take responsibility for navigation.
Personal SAG Vehicles
Not allowed! If you bring one, you’ll be disqualified from the event without a warning. The definition of a personal SAG is any vehicle (motor or otherwise), anywhere on the route, operated by someone other than Planet Ultra staff, that is providing any type of aid, assistance, or motivation, or taking photographs, or simply out cheering. Please understand that our permits simply don’t allow dozens of extra vehicles on the roads or at the checkpoint locations. Imagine the traffic from all those cars! If you’re bringing someone with you who wants to be out on the course, please have them contact us and join our volunteer staff.
Volunteers
We always need volunteers! Click here for info about available positions.