Tales from the Damp Side: A Whole Lotta Awesome (or, Chris and Ellen go to California)

The last few winters we stayed in Portland during the Christmas - New Year week. This year we decided to hit the road. Cycling club websites can provide good clues about riding routes and winter riding conditions. After some searching I found a cycling club in San Luis Obispo, CA.

What and where is San Luis Obispo? "Set 200 miles north of Los Angeles and 220 miles south of San Francisco, San Luis Obispo is at the heart of California’s magnificent Central Coast. The city is sheltered by volcanic peaks a few miles from the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by abundant protected open space, beyond which stretch vineyards, agricultural country and ranch land. A perfect Mediterranean marine climate keeps San Luis Obispo sunny and warm year-round, with cool nights. The temperature, which averages 70oF, rarely creeps above the 80s or below the 40s. The city receives about 22 inches of rain annually, meaning that the typical year sees 315 sunny days. San Luis Obispo occupies about 10 square miles at the foot of the southern Santa Lucia mountain range. With 80 miles of Pacific coastline, San Luis Obispo County spreads across more than 3,300 square miles east and west of the mountains. The landscape is one of pristine seas, wide beaches, pine-studded bluffs, oak forests, open grassland and chaparral-covered hills. Wildlife as diverse as sea otters and elephant seals, great blue herons and peregrine falcons, monarch butterflies and black-tailed deer make their home around SLO."

The SLO cycling club website lists dozens of rides with comprehensive route details and descriptions. After checking (and re-checking; and then checking again) the weather history for December, and then waiting literally until the week before our trip to commit to making lodging reservations (because one must never leave a rainy climate to go to another rainy climate) it looked like we had a winner: San Luis Obispo, here we come.

Or, rather, Paso Robles. Paso Robles is just on the other side of the Santa Lucia mountain range. It's a major winery hub. I'm guessing that about 100 wineries operate there. After much searching (our delay in making reservations to assure ourselves good weather meant fewer options), we reserved 5 nights at the Wild Coyote Winery in the hills above Paso Robles.

Ironically, the Wild Coyote has a New Mexico flare to it. The owner, Gianni Manucci, has a thing for the Southwest, and he put much effort into replicating the look and feel of Taos for his home, the wine tasting room, and the five "casitas" he built for guests. So it felt more like visiting mom and dad in Santa Fe than being in California wine country. But that's okay because I like the Southwest too.

Wild Coyote Winery, back patio for the casitas

Wild Coyote Winery, entrance to tasting room

The setting was stunning. And very peaceful, except for the piped music that Gianni played over a speaker system inside and outside his tasting room during business hours. Luckily, we were gone every day during this time, so we were subjected to his music for only a few minutes during our entire stay.

Last May when we stayed on a vineyard in Sonoma we had the company of a local vineyard cat (VC) whom we nicknamed Chortles for the odd sounds that she made. Chortles liked cheese. A day after settling into the Wild Coyote, we met the resident VC when she bounded in our patio door. We nicknamed her Stubbs, for obvious reasons:

Wild Coyote's VC, aka Stubbs

Stubbs didn't settle just for cheese. She liked everything. Including french toast:

Stubbs, enjoying french toast

And sausage. Which she went at with abandon. We would have gotten a picture of it, but came to our senses and realized we ought to get that really large sausage out of her mouth before she hurt herself.

It only took a few days for Stubbs to really make herself at home in our casita. Katie, the owner's wife, brought our breakfast by every morning at the ungodly hour of 8:30, and Stubbs would accompany her and dash in the door each morning to pick things over. I was usually still in bed at the time and Chris would have to fight off the cat for control of the poached pear or cream cheese and bagel. Then, later, I'd get to pick over whatever was left after the two of them were done.

Stubbs, sleeping off breakfast

But I digress. We were there for the biking. Here is a summary of the Daily Riding Conditions:
* cold mornings/evenings
* peaking at 60-70 degrees
* sunny (mostly)
* rolling hills
* vineyards
* more vineyards
* tasting rooms
* cows/horses
* country roads
* repeat

The Rides:
* Vineyards / Peachy Canyon
* Coastal Hwy 1 / up Old Creek Rd. / down Santa Rosa Creek
* Husana Rd
* Vineyards / Chimney Rock / Peachy Canyon
* Hwy 46 / Coastal Hwy 1 / up Santa Rosa Creek Rd (Chris)
* Nacimiento-Fergusson Road out of Big Sur (Chris)

Ride Summary:
* Ellen: 4 rides, 163.6 miles, 12,239 feet of climbing
* Chris: 6 rides, 227.1 miles, 19,947 feet of climbing

Pictures: