Dino ride…

Last weekend was an interesting one. Saturday morning we were treated to a nice thunder and lightning storm with a bit of rain. Point Reyes Station was also on the route for the MS150 Waves to Wine ride that brought, by some estimates, a couple thousand riders through town on a two-day trip from San Francisco to Healdsburg. They passed through town when the roads were wet and for a three hour period, I had a rotating mass of bikes through the stand: sliced tires, shredded tires, simple flats, broken shift cables, wobbly wheels, broken cranks… I got every one back on the road except one who had a left pedal back out of a left side Ultegra triple crank. I didn’t have a left crankarm for him, but I could have replaced the whole crank and bb. However, after a call to Andy at Sunshine Bikes, who confirmed they had the proper left arm, he was able to get to Fairfax with one of the ride’s support vehicles and get back on the road.

I opened Sunday to the threat of rain and soon after opening was also met at the door by a big group of cyclists. As one of the riders came in with his bike, I noticed that the group of riders was not the typical Sunday fare using Point Reyes as the turnaround spot on their weekend loop. Nope, there was an abnormally high steel bike, wool jersey, hairnet helmet quotient. This was the Dino Ride – a group of guys who raced together in the 70’s and 80’s and who still to this day are obviously very fit and fond of pulling their vintage steeds out for a fun ride.

To a verified bike kook like me, only the task at hand (replacing a spoke in the rear wheel of an older Sachs frame) kept me from rushing out to check out all the bikes. Out in the parking lot there were more bikes from Della Santa, Masi, Sachs, DeRosa, Colnago… Inside, Joe Breeze was checking out his one and only Panorama tandem that was in for repairs. Otis Guy was checking out the OG mountain bike that I had on display. Both were riding frames with their names on the down tube.

When I think of what it means to ride for the sake of loving to ride, it’s guys like these and rides like this. Lots of smiles, riding to keep the group together, nothing to prove because of the simple fact that some of these guys have been riding and racing for multiple decades. However, I’m sure there was some spirited climbing, riding in that “I’m trying to make it look like I’m not suffering by keeping my upper body still and maintaining a conversation” mode.

After replacing the spoke (I almost didn’t have a spoke long enough to fit an older box section rim, small flange hub wheel, but using the longest spoke I have and a longer nipple, I got Tom back on the road within about 15 minutes), I stepped out in the parking lot to check out the bikes and riders as they remounted to race the rain back to Fairfax. One of the riders was the Breezer rider I rode with the week prior. And another rider was my buddy Gary B out on his Gaansari road bike (good to see you, Gary).

Thanks go to Tom Hardy for permission to link to his photo gallery (check out the full gallery of photos from the ride here) and for these photos. And thanks also to Tom for keeping me posted of future rides. I’m looking forward to taking a day off to ride with you guys.

(What’s playing: John Doe & The Sadies Are The Good Times Really Over For Good? Obviously, by virtue of these guys out on their old bikes, the good times haven’t even gotten going.)