Point Reyes Cafe Racers Society

THE Point Reyes Cafe Racers Society was formed some five years ago by a group in the San Francisco area for the sole purpose of riding 35 miles each Sunday morning to Point Reyes to eat breakfast.

The founder of the feast is Englishman Pete Adams who plies his trade of cycle dealer at Marin Motorcycles in Sausalito across the bay from San Francisco, and it is greatly to his credit that this weekly excursion has taken place, rain or shine, almost without exception for the last five years.

The society acquired its name, after careful deliberation, because of its tendency to ride over to Point Reyes at a fair clip and then sit around in the cafe and discuss cycle racing. But it is definitely not named because of any tendency towards seeing who could place the first order for ham and eggs at the Point Reyes cafe, although I have seen money change hands over this particular point.

After meeting at 8 o’clock at Marin Motorcycles and making due allowance for late arrivals, a stop is made at a nearby gas station and then the first stage of the journey begins. This is the crossing of Mount Tamalpais. Mount “Tam” is the peak of a steep range of hills covered in pine trees which are sometimes shrouded in mist and permit some superb views with the North Pacific in the background.

The road ascends steeply through a number of hairpin turns and involves a lot of second gear riding with occasional bursts in third. This is followed by a few fast miles along the top of the mountains which includes some tricky ascents and descents but allows some high gear riding from time to time. The next step is the steep descent to sea level at Stinson Beach which consists of a long series of hairpins with short straight sections in between.

Very little traffic is encountered because, although this area is a tourist attraction, it is too early in the morning for anyone to be about. The same can be said for Stinson Beach where it is customary to stop at the Stop Sign. Once clear of the small community of Stinson Beach, one enters perhaps the finest part of the ride because the road stays at sea level and follows the shoreline of the Bolinas Lagoon in a series of fast sweeping curves which can be taken in third or high depending on the circumstances. From there on, the road goes inland and traverses some superb pastoral country which is reminiscent of New England and seems quite out of place in California.

Along this stretch the road undulates in a completely undeveloped manner and there are a number of bends which could probably be taken in excess of the California speed limit of 65 mph. The road continues for some ten miles until the rider enters the small town of Point Reyes Station which is of no importance except for its proximity to Drake’s Bay where Sir Francis Drake beached and caulked his ship, the Golden Hind in 1578.

Breakfast is eaten at a small cafe and three or four tables are usually put together so that the twelve or fifteen riders present can all eat together. The ride is a surprisingly good way of working up an appetite and the ham and eggs and toast are usually supplemented by a jar of Keiller’s Dundee Marmalade, an English breakfast delicacy which is considered more palatable by most of the riders than Smucker’s Grape Jelly. Fortunately, supplies are readily available at the better stores in San Francisco and the jar is usually entrusted to a rider more noted for his reliability than his speed.

The Sunday morning ride is by no means exclusive, in fact it is open to anyone who cares to come along. However, it has always attracted a preponderance of riders who favor a road racing position, a sparsely equipped machine, the correct line through a turn, and prefer to use the throttle and the brakes to their maximum. To enjoy it, one does not have to maintain any great average speed, but rather to be in sympathy with this type of riding and the kind of machine which goes with it, and there is certainly no stigma attached to being last man at the breakfast table.

A certain amount of etiquette is involved if one wishes to become an accepted member of the club. For instance, it is considered extremely bad form to run out of gas, suffer a mechanical failure, or get on your head before breakfast because the resulting delay is irritating to the other riders who are usually extremely hungry. On the other hand, behavior of this nature will be met with the appropriate amount of sympathy on the return journey.

As far as men and machines are concerned, the ride has always been popular with a small group of Englishmen living in the San Francisco area and most of the machines are of the sporting type. From time to time, someone arrives with something fairly exotic and even Manx Nortons in Isle of Man trim, except for a plug in the megaphone, have been ridden to Point Reyes although all attempts at legality are very much encouraged.

Surprisingly enough, the local inhabitants seem quite unconcerned and even wave to the riders as they pass, and no enemies have been made in the five years that the run has taken place. For a small group of enthusiasts who live in the San Francisco area, the Sunday morning ride is a godsend because it provides them with an opportunity to get out and ride on fast machinery in company with others who are in sympathy, and it has provided valuable training in the correct operation of motorcycles to people who have acquired machines without previous experience and are not familiar with the fundamentals of the sport. Others who have benefited, are those whose wives think they should get up and fix breakfast for them on Sunday and, of course, it is essential to remember that the Sunday morning breakfast run to Point Reyes is the only certain cure for that minor, but nevertheless disabling, sickness which sometimes tends to obscure one’s enjoyment of Sunday — the hangover. •

Point Reyes Cafe Racers Society

TONY HOGG