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We were meeting a newcomer, Annett, at the Vista Point on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge, so we motored right along up 280. In order to avoid the 19th Avenue traffic, we went the “back” way to the bridge, which is really a great little stretch. Skyline to the Great Highway where you travel along the water’s edge for a short distance, through Lincoln Park and the Legion of Honor, past the pretty houses where the rich people live and finally past the Presidio and over the bridge. There we had no trouble finding Annett…she and her Honda sport bike were patiently waiting for us. And it was beautiful there…a warm clear morning that fools tourists in to thinking that SF is the perfect vacation destination :o) We made introductions, took a few pics, donned our gear and we were on our way…I could hear the roads calling.
We cruised up Hwy 101 and exited on Lucas Valley Road to start our journey inland. Now back at the vista point as we were getting ready, I heard Todd say “So Bill, are you up for some spirited riding?” which was answered with “Sure, lead the way”…so once we hit Lucas Valley Todd, Wendy and Bill bolted to get their groove on while Cheryl, Annett and I chose to actually notice the scenery we were passing by :o) We lucked out too…for a beautiful Saturday morning, there really wasn’t a lot of traffic. So on we went over the gentle twisties of Lucas Valley Road, through the cool redwoods on Nicasio Valley Road, down Sir Francis Drake to Platform Bridge Rd. Now this road has the potential to be fun, but it is pretty torn up and there was a lot of traffic…but it’s really beautiful. Then we hopped on Petaluma-Pt. Reyes Rd and made our way to the Marin French Cheese Company, where of course the speed demons were already waiting for us. We debated whether to eat there or wait another hour until we hit Tony’s Seafood on Hwy 1, but we were making really good time and decided to wait. Besides that, there was a Porsche club there and there must have been at least 20 cars. Now I don’t know if you’ve even been to the cheese place, but it’s fairly small…it was packed inside. Plus it was fairly warm…OK, it was really hot :o) We figured it would be a little cooler on the coast. So we snacked on some apples Cheryl had brought along, watered up, and we were off.
We made our way to the coast via a few roads that went through desolate farmland…they weren’t overly twisty, but were rather isolated and well suited for speed. Was kind of funny…there are several points where you come over a rise and seems like you can see for at least a couple of miles. So every time I crested one of these points, I expected to see at least a sign of Todd, Bill & Wendy, but wow…they were outta there! But they were waiting for us at Tony’s Seafood, a restaurant in the middle of nowhere on Hwy 1. The food is delicious, but the place if fairly small and is popular with bikers…of both the motorized and non-motorized varieties. But we found a cozy round table and settled down to eat. After we ordered the conversation started to flow. Annett asked everyone around the table how we supported our riding habit, to which Todd said “Wow, I don’t think we’ve ever talked about work on a ride.” Now that kind of left an unanswered question hanging until Todd blurted out…”We usually talk about sex, riding and wine!!” Wendy, Cheryl and I started cracking up because, well, that’s kind of true. So after lunch we hung out on the porch for a while…everyone was full and it was nice sitting in the shade getting to know each other a little better. Even on the coast it was pretty hot and no one was eager to don gear. Oh yeah, and Todd suggested organizing e a week long multi-state tour of the north west for next fall…I replied with “Wow, that’s a great idea…why don’t you just whip it out for us”…I was of course referring to the route, but nonetheless it started another round of laughter. Don’t think for a minute we’re going to let you out of it now Todd! But eventually we decided to saddle up and move on…we were avoiding the inevitable. So off we go down a great stretch of Hwy 1 to Pt. Reyes. We gassed up there and then I gave Todd explicit instructions on where the next road was as it was fairly hard to see. As it turns out we got stuck behind cars so we all stuck together, though Todd, Bill and Wendy were ahead of me. And past the road they went, despite all my warnings :o) But luckily Todd quickly figured out that he missed it and they were back in no time. The road we were going up is the west side of Fairfax-Bolinas Road. If you’ve never been on it, it’s a doozy. It’s really beautiful, but is also fairly difficult…is basically a lane and a half, two directions, with steep switchback turns around every corner…and a lot of potholes and gravel. Luckily it was only a 4 mile stretch…that is, until we got to the top and found out the road we had planned to take was closed due to fires. Our options at that point were limited…we either went down the front side or back the way we came…we decided to venture forth and conquer. The front side is a little bit easier in some respects as it’s in a little bit better shape, but it was warmer as well and more populated. We finally emerged out of the park and while I had a pretty good idea where we were, I decided it would be best to consult the trusty map. So here we are, a bunch of motorcycles, and I had two options as to where to pull over…a gravel parking lot or a nice shaded ritzy golf course parking lot…I of course don’t need to say which one I decided on. At this point we decided that rather than finding an alternate scenic route, we’d all start heading for home as a couple of people had plans and it was already going on 4 o’clock. We also said goodbye to Wendy and our new friend Annett as we wouldn’t be seeing them again at the last gas stop. So we suited up and were off once again to wind our way through San Rafael in search of the freeway, where we were in for a bit of a surprise. We didn’t know it as we had been cruising around more inland, but a crazy wind and fog were rolling in off the coast around Marin. The wind was blowing so hard you almost had to lean in to just to keep the bike going straight…was really an odd feeling. And the fog was so thick that when we were on the bridge, we couldn’t actually see either the top of the bridge or the water below. It was like someone draped a big white tent over the top and the light was filtering through…was very bizarre and a little eerie. But we made it across without incident only to run in to some crazy traffic along the route back. We never did figure out where everyone was coming from…maybe a mad dash off the beaches since the fog was so thick. But we decided that we’d use the bike lane…we were bikes after all…and we were able to get through it fairly quickly. Annett left us at that point, and Todd, Bill, Cheryl and I continued along the coast to Skyline Blvd where the fog became even denser. At one point Todd rode ahead a little bit and he was swallowed up in it. Cheryl said she was having a hard time seeing the stoplights until we were right under them. And then we jumped on 280 and there was not a trace of fog…oh yeah, and the temperature jumped about 20 degrees as well. It was a great day overall…beautiful weather, fun roads, old friends, new friends and oh yeah, we were riding. What more could you ask for?? Cheers,
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Wow,
what a day! I was out at 7:00am and it was one of those mornings that
indicated the day was going to be a scorcher. As usual, we met at Starbuck’s
at 8:00 to kick off the ride. There was Todd and Wendy on their Beemers,
Cheryl on her Suzuki cruiser, Bill on his Ducati, and me on my Honda
cruiser…a small but diverse group! We shared hugs, coffee and a
few laughs, then donned our gear and hit the road.