Our fearless ride leader was Tony Leap, who greeted us with extended parking permits to put on our windshields so that our vehicles would still be there when we returned on the train Sunday evening. Sylvia had her van ready and cheerfully helped us to load our luggage aboard.

After a brief flurry of picture taking, we mounted up and proceeded to Broad Street, which becomes 227. As I had a flag mounted at the rear of my multi-pedal bike and was more visible than Lynda, I was determined to stay behind her for the duration of the ride.

At Tank Farm road, Ben Patrick joined us and we became a group of 9. We proceeded out 227 and then made a left onto Corbett Canyon and sailed down into AG.

We headed back down Highway 1 until we came to Highway 135, which after about 20 miles, took us into Los Alamos, where we stopped for lunch at the Quackenbush Cafe, which is a very congenial place, located adjacent to an art studio. The staff was courteous and helpful, providing needed libations as well as ice for our water bottles and Camel Backs.

After our refueling stop, Tony’s route planning indicated that we had two alternatives to get to Buellton. One way is a serious climb up Drum Canyon to the summit of the ridgeline, which is then followed by a fairly steep and rocky descent for a mile or so, after which the road turns into a somewhat rough downward ride to Buellton. The other alternative was to take Highway 101 south directly to Buellton. Tony indicated that the latter route has several miles of gradual hills to climb, but these are followed by predominantly downhill cruising into Buellton.

Tony led a couple of fellow masochists up Drum Canyon, and Lynda and I led the remaining clear-thinking individuals down 101 south, headed for Buellton.

Up to this point, the weather had been cooperating very well. As can be seen in the preceding photos, people were still wearing jackets until after the lunch stop at Los Alamos. Up to this point, the wind hadn’t been a significant factor.

We took The Avenue of the Flags off-ramp north of Buellton, then proceeded to our Motel-6 accommodations, located next to Baker’s Square. Our arrival was at 240pm, after riding a distance of approximately 70 miles, with an average speed of 14.4 mph.

After getting our bikes settled and our luggage out of Sylvia’s van, Lynda was quick to take a shower and change into dry clothes. We then snoozed and watched news on the TV until it was time to join the group at a dinner hosted by Leonard Marks and others at the RV Park located down the street. )

I should point out that there is a group of North County SLOB’s that makes an annual trek to Buellton with their RV’s to party and get away from their otherwise miserable existence up north. Fortunately for us, they were over-stocked with victuals and booze and camaraderie, so they invited us to join them for pasta and pizza and whatever bottles of wine we had managed, at great effort and cost, to get to Buellton.

Several photos (Bike Party 1&2) The dinner was followed by coffee and deserts at Leonard & Darlene Marks commodious RV, where we were presented with some of the tastiest treats imaginable that were baked by ladies of the RV group. I don’t know who did what, but I know that in particular, the chocolate chip cookies had more chocolate chips in them than cookie dough. Yum! And the rum cake was to die for!

While we were still able to comprehend things, we were instructed by our now fearless ride leader to assemble for breakfast at Baker’s Square at 0800.

In his route plan for the morning ride to Santa Barbara, Tony cautioned us about the narrow conditions, which exist at 3 or more bridges along the route. He especially warned us about the chokepoint just immediately prior to the Gaviota rest-stop, where the northbound tunnels are located.

Our ride out of Buellton was without incident, following the old highway (Santa Rosa Rd.) for a mile or so before coming back onto 101. A gradual climb began at Nojoqui Park and became more pronounced, continuing for a little over a mile before reaching the summit. The push over the top was followed by an adrenaline- producing downhill that left me reaching for brakes when I hit speeds in the upper-40’s, still trailing behind Lynda. Dam, that girl likes to go downhill!

We re-grouped at the rest-stop, then pushed on to Refugio and then El Capitain.

Upon meeting the Hollister Avenue off-ramp, we exited 101 as required by CalTrans regulations and proceeded down Hollister until we reached Stork Rd. a mile or so north of Goleta. Turning right onto Stork Rd. took us to Isla Vista, a college community that has grown up alongside UCSB. We were fortunate to find a well-signed (COAST ROUTE) bike path through the UCSB campus, and which continued for 3 or 4 miles south to Modoc Rd. paralleling 101. Having lived in this area in the recent past, Ernest led us down urban streets more or less directly to the Santa Barbara railway station where we met up with Sylvia in the parking lot. The distance logged from Buellton to the railway station was approximately 46 miles. Our group averaged approximately 14.3 mph.

After retrieving our luggage from Sylvia’s van, some of us had a late lunch at the café next to the rail station.

The train station has a baggage check room where one can leave a bike/luggage for a nominal fee of $1.50, which some people did while they walked around town.

At 515pm, 8 of us prepared to board the Amtrak train to San Luis Obispo. We were advised that at one end of each coach car there was a space for 3 bicycles to hang. When the train arrived in the station, I headed to the front, along with Ernest and Kathleen and Lynda, all of us pushing our bikes. I climbed aboard to see where the bike hooks were, finally finding the front end of the coach where a combined baggage space and the 3 hooks were located. I dragged Lynda’s recumbent aboard, then my own much longer bike. I was able to hang Lynda’s bike from the rear wheel diagonally across the baggage space. It was necessary to remove my rear wheel to get my own multi-ped bike on the hook. It was necessary to lash the two bikes together in order to keep the exits clear.

The ride back to SLO was typical of my past experiences with Amtrak. We departed only 5 minutes late, but about an hour out of Santa Barbara, the train came to a complete stop. We remained stopped for just over an hour; we were eventually advised that a cable had fallen off the train and the train was going to back up and try to find the missing piece. After backing up for 10 or 15 minutes, we then stopped briefly. Finally we resumed progress in the correct direction, arriving in SLO a little over an hour late.

As a retrospective analysis of our trip, I have the following observations: Tony’s performance as ride leader was excellent. The distances between stops were selected to minimize the stress on the group as a whole, without being tedious for the more aggressive riders. The stops themselves were above average, with adequate restrooms available and food selections to fit our needs. However, there were only 4 coach cars on the train back to SLO, which means that a maximum of 12 bikes, 3 to a car, would have been accommodated. If we our original group of 18 riders had returned on the train, we would have had a real challenge (However, I think that with a little imagination, we could probably fit more than 3 bikes in the baggage spot on each coach, especially if the conductor was a reasonable type).

What’s the next Bike-train combo? How about taking the train to Santa Cruz, visit the area for a day, then and ride our bikes down the Big Sur coast, with over-night stops in Monterey or Carmel and Ragged Point?