June 25-26, 2011 Weekend Rides

Hard Luck Award, Mark Jacobs’ band, Bikes on the Bay posted July 2, 2011 by Brian Davis

The hard luck award for the June 25-26 weekend goes to... Jeff Beam! Saturday morning, Jeff, Clay Hudson, Clay’s brother Al, Mario DiDalvo and Brian Davis were planning to meet Kevin Sinclair at the Main Street Coffee House in Redwood City to hear club member Mark Jacobs and his band play some music. Jeff had a rear tire blow-out on the freeway at 55-60 mph. Al was following in a pickup truck and said it looked like a pretty wild ride, but Jeff was able to bring it to a safe stop on the shoulder. After we loaded Jeff’s bike in the truck, we discovered Clay was having an electrical issue that was eventually traced to his ignition switch. Once we got his bike going again we continued on our way to Redwood City.

The Main Street Coffee House is just two or three blocks from Harry’s Hoffbrau, where we’ve had our Christmas/End of Year banquet the last couple of years. Main Street serves excellent breakfasts, has great coffee, and once a month, on the last Saturday, they have great music on the patio in back. Mark’s band, The Mile, plays a mix of mostly 60’s R&B that really hits the spot. Mark’s vocals and harp playing are definitely worth the price of admission. For a band that “refuses to practice” they come off pretty tight. Highly recommended, and rumor has it they will be playing at the Yerba Buena National Road Run in September!  Oh, yeah. Be sure to ask Mark about his idea for bacon flavored Lipitor.

Later that afternoon Jeff decided to take his TR6 (car, not the motorcycle) out for a ride and had a starter issue that prevented him from returning home without assistance.

Sunday six riders met up at Jeff’s house to check out the Bikes on the Bay event in Capitola. Jeff, Kevin, Mario, Clay, Manny Fernandez and Brian Davis left Jeff’s house at about 10:00. Jeff brought out his ‘34 Chief for the Sunday ride, and Clay’s brother Al was again following in a pickup. It wasn’t too long before Jeff realized he was having clutch issues and he had to turn back. So, in case you’ve lost track, that adds up to three breakdowns in two days. Jeff gets the award hands down.

Bikes on the Bay was great this year. The weather couldn’t have been better. Clear skies, mild temperatures, and lots of bikes. Actually, it appeared the number of bikes entered in the show may have been down, but the crowd was definitely up. Clay decided he needed to bolster the number of show entries, so he entered his newly rebuilt ‘53 Chief. This bike has recently undergone a total transformation and it will knock your socks off. The judges agreed, awarding Clay’s bike 1st place in the 1941-1984 Restored American class. Mario and Kevin had to depart early, and Clay was committed to keeping his bike on display until the show was over at 4:00. Manny and I decided to head down to the Capitola Village and provide some economic support to one of the restaurants on the beach. On a quest for oysters on the half-shell, we ended up at the Paradise Beach Grille, where we were treated to excellent food and an awesome view of the beach, volley ball players, and the Capitola Wharf. Our route home took us through Santa Cruz and up Hwy 9, with an important stopover at Henfling’s. The traffic on Hwy 9 from Santa Cruz to Henfling’s was on the heavy side, but from that point on we seemed to have the road to ourselves. The weather remained perfect as we wound our way to the top of Saratoga Gap. At that point Manny headed North on Skyline for his return trip to Pacifica and I continued down 9 through Saratoga and Los Gatos on my way home in San Jose.

Everything about these two days’ rides was impromptu - we made it up as we went - and they were two of the nicest rides I recall. Well, maybe it’s just because this was the first really great weather we’ve had this year. But the impromptu rides, often coordinated just a day or two beforehand via the club’s email list, are frequently some of the most enjoyable and memorable. Glad I went this weekend!

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