Barbara Meeks of Solvang's Bulldog Café recalls the first day Lance Armstrong and his cycling team came in for coffee. "He ordered a single shot," she said. "I was so nervous that I dropped the cake plate I was holding."

Despite the shattered cake plate, many of the crew began showing up every morning for a round of cappuccinos and crumb cake. It wasn't long before a core group of cyclists, bike mechanics and masseuses were considered regulars in the Bulldog, clamoring for the strong coffee and freshly baked scones.

When asked if she could make a birthday cake for a team member on one night's notice, Meeks didn't hesitate to cut a deal.

"They said, 'We know you can make this for us, right?' and I told them they could have it for free if they got me Lance's autograph," laughed Meeks.

Going for his sixth-straight championship win of the Tour de France in July, Armstrong and his 25-man starting team opened 2004 race season with a two-week training camp in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Clusters of bicycle riders in blue Postal Team jerseys suddenly appeared as daily fixtures on the Valley's roadways. Blurs of bicycle wheels and blue whizzed along busy Highways 246 and 154, through quiet neighborhoods, picturesque canyons and vast acreage of vineyards and open cattle range.

A typical morning for the world's fittest cyclists could be a hundred-mile jaunt to Jalama Beach and back to Solvang for lunch &emdash; through Los Olivos, Los Alamos, the outskirts of Lompoc, along Highway 1, up winding Jalama Ranch Road to Tarantula Point and an inspiring view of the Pacific.

Probably best known as the cancer survivor who made an almost impossible come-back to become the world's greatest cyclist, 31-year old Lance Armstrong astonished everyone but himself in 2003 when he became the first American to capture five championship wins of the grueling 23-day Tour de France.

In 1996, Armstrong was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer that had already spread to his lungs and brain. After surgery and aggressive chemotherapy he was declared cancer free in 1997, and has remained so since. "If you ever get a second chance at life, you've got to go all the way,' he said at the time, and he immediately returned to professional cycling.

Armstrong's "second chance at life" involved more than winning the Tour de France. He established a cancer research foundation while he was still receiving chemotherapy, and today the father of three not only heads up the Lance Armstrong Foundation, (which helps cancer patients during diagnosis and treatment), but a number of other foundations aimed at benefitting America's youth.

"After going through the cancer treatments and winning that battle, people really look up to him," remarked Anne Dalley of the Solvang Post Office, enthusiastic that the team was back for a second training season. "Its absolutely wonderful to have them here," she said. "They're really approachable, down-to-earth guys. Some of them would come over here to mail stuff off, and end up chatting to the staff and signing pictures. They were a lot of fun, and having them here shows the community off to the rest of the world."

Its unusual for Armstrong's cycling team to train in the same location twice, but he said during his world press conference at the Royal Scandinavian Inn that he particularly enjoys the Santa Ynez Valley.

"It's the first time we've gone two-on- two for our training camp," he explained. "I like the people here, the way they act." Though it might be safe to say the larger draw of the Valley is our mild January weather and distinct local geography.

A French Alpine-like roadway that serpentines up Figueroa Mountain in an incredibly sharp altitude rise &emdash; from 1,000 to 4500 feet, provides a model of the treacherous terrain and steep inclines the cyclists will soon face in Europe, minus the snowfall.

The grueling two-week training period in January comes right before an intense racing season in Europe, in which the team will need to dominate to qualify for July's Tour de France. Though the cyclists and crew were working under pressure, they took time to interact with the community.

Solvang School principal Jesse Levya gathered his fourth grade class for a field trip to the Royal Scandinavian Inn the day the team arrived.

"David Zabriskie came right up to the kids and started autographing shirts and books and stuff," he said, adding that last year Lance Armstrong took a moment to sign a T-shirt and pose for a picture with his daughter.

This year, Levya was approached by Joseph Porporino, the Event Marketing Director for the team, who arranged to have some 4,000 memorabilia items &emdash; calculators, stopwatches and posters &emdash; sent to Solvang School as a thank-you to the community.

In the end, the Bulldog Cafe's pineapple-carrot birthday cake was a hit with the team. On their final morning the crew showed up at the coffeehouse to present a parting gift for Meeks: a wall-size poster of Armstrong, arms raised in a "V" for victory, and wearing the highly-coveted "yellow shirt" awarded only to the Tour de France winner; coincidentally, the yellow hue of Armstrong's shirt perfectly matches the walls of the Bulldog Café. Scrawled in the center of the poster, from the fastest cyclist in the world, is: "To the Bulldog &endash; Lance Armstrong."

Today the poster hangs to the right of the café's baked good's case, and though Meeks has been offered more than two thousand dollars, she isn't letting go of it anytime soon. "Its bolted down," she says with a smile to anyone who asks.

As for the Solvang Post Office, employees there were gifted with a large banner &emdash; signed by the entire team. "There are only 250 of these banners in the country," said Dalley. "It gives us a very proud feeling."

Ever the Postmaster, Dalley brags about the 100 special cancellation envelopes issued at Solvang Post Office, (a "2004 Procycling Team Station"), on January 23 during the team's visit; "they went like crazy" and sold-out to lucky locals on the first day.

A month after the team left the Valley the Bulldog Café received a postcard from Prague. "The guys wrote from their favorite café in the city, thanking us for being their 'home away from home,'" said Meeks, who keeps the postcard pinned to the refrigerator. Dalley and the post office staff feel a connection to team members too, after seeing them every morning in the back parking lot, eating breakfast and tuning up their bikes."It's been so fun to have them here," she says.

"The best part is watching the Tour de France on television and saying 'hey, I know those guys.'"