Easter ride in Marin County, CA for the sunrise

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #1

Here in the Bay Area, more specifically, here in Marin County, we have a ride every Easter morning to the top of Mt. Tamalpais. I think Mt. Tam is 2900 feet or so, with a road all the way to the top. It's a wonderful ride; the road is twisty and the view from the top is magnificent.

It's a pre-dawn event, so folks start to gather at an Arco station on Hwy. 1 at about 5am. On some unknown signal, everybody puts their helmet on and it's a brisk ride to the top, about 10 or 15 miles of very, very twisty roads.

I've been going pretty regularly for the last 6 years, through pouring rain (last year) and fog and the like. This year, the weather was pretty nice and we had a regular crowd.

At the ARCO station, bikes began arriving in earnest a bit after 5.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #2

This may look like a standard GS, but it's littered with HPN parts. Check the forks. The guy that owns it, R-Dubb, has gone through the motor. It's pretty well hotrodded and is making just over 70hp at the rear wheel. Balanced crank, rods, pistons. Venolia HiComp pistons. Sport cam. Lightened flywheel and crank.

Oh yeah.

I shot these using available light, so the blurs you see are the result of people walking by while the camera was open.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #3

Bikes kept coming, sometimes in ones and twos, sometimes in larger groups. It's pretty common for folks to meet somewhere in SF or Oakland and ride up together. The SF Motorcycle Club (over 100 years old now) showed up with a group of about 15 or 20. Same with the East Bay Rats and other Bay Area groups.

We may be our own tribes the rest of the year, but this day, we're all brothers and sisters on a ride together.

Surprisingly, there aren't many HDs on this ride.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #4

Run what ya brung, brotha.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #5

Out here, we've got tons of BMWs. GSs seem to rule the roost and R12GSs are very common. Old airheads? Check. Old Kbikes with Rhinocoated tanks? Check. HP2s? Check.

But I still don't see all that many R11Ss. I spotted these two waiting to head up.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #6

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #7

And they just kept coming. All kinds of bikes, all kinds of riders. Japanese bikes. Italian bikes. American bikes.

German bikes.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #8

And then, folks started putting their helmets on. Clusters of people started to break up and head back to their bikes. It's time.

Get your game on. It's time to ride.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #9

A bit later, we were at the top. It was foggy on the west side of the mountain, still. Cool air from the ocean gets pushed up the side of the mountain and condenses into fog at the top.

Our parking lot was partially covered and spectral riders poured into the lot from the ride up.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #10

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #11

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #12

 

MANDYPANTS

New member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #13

These are some really cool pictures, KBasa...me likes!
I'm not sure I'm hard core enough to be getting up that early to go ride, though. You have my respect!

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #14

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #15

mandypants said:

These are some really cool pictures, KBasa...me likes!
I'm not sure I'm hard core enough to be getting up that early to go ride, though. You have my respect!

Click to expand...

Thanks, Mandy. By any conventional measurement, they're out of focus, the subject isn't plain and details are lost. But I think they capture the moment.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #16

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #17

Modern bikes. Old bikes. Everything in between was there.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #18

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #19

And then we waited. From Mt. Tam, you have an unobstructed view east and south. Actually, you pretty much have an unobstructed view in all directions.

So we waited. Across the bay, over on the Oakland side, low clouds and fog held on. Directly underneath us, Corte Madera and San Quentin prison lit up like sparks.

 

kbasa

Well-known member

• Apr 18, 2007

• #20

Some brought thermoses of coffee. And we stood in the breeze, waiting.