Our Sideways Adventure

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Word of warning to anyone who plans to sip ‘n’ cycle their way through the Santa Ynez Valley: Don’t start off with eight wine tastings at your first stop.

We’d no sooner taken our last gulp of cabernet when I was on my last gasp of air trying to get up a small hill on a mountain bike in a radically wrong gear. I slowed. I stopped. I went sideways.

Fortunately, I quickly learned how to pace myself on both the bike and the booze as did my friends Sue, Sarah and Tracy, traveling companions I’ve written about previously on Run DMZ.

This trip they all flew west and we drove from San Diego to Santa Barbara for several days of R&R in “America’s Riviera,” and that included a day of cycling among the vineyards located along the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail. It’s located in Los Olivos, in the heart of wine country that received a huge publicity boost with the movie Sideways. That’s also the source of the background music in this video. Enjoy.

There are plenty of ways to see California wine country, but the one we prefer involves some peddle power. Highlights from a September 2010 bike tour of select vineyards along the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail in Los Olivos.

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