I did Solvang as my first century in 2006 (with TNT, a great experience). The climbing is not bad-- mostly rollers and long rollers/short hills, and there are sustained sections that are fairly flat. The section that overlaps the TOC TT course is a fairly short climb and not particularly steep (it's beautiful and fun to ride and see the rider names painted on the course). There is one steeper hill, but again, the climb is not very long, at least by northern california/bay area climb standards, and everyone in my group of beginners just pedaled on through it. A bigger factor for my ride was the wind-- we had about 4o miles of significant head or cross wind. Riding with friends helped a lot. Have fun if you give it a shot!