2014 5-Chapter Ride - Redwoods & Twisties from Moss Landing to Half Moon Bay

by Paul Thomas

 

You might say there was a full turnout at this years 5 chapter run.  Yes, everything was well done: from custom Five Chapter T-shirts illustrated by Tom Clark to the filet mignon dinner.  For me the best thing was the two ride routes. They were prepared by a most dedicated group of riders, all familiar with the Santa Cruz Mountains. I have never had the thrill of riding these one-lane mountain roads at a good pace before. Thanks to the road captains Mario and Brian I finally was able to.  Good paving, “twisties” and elevation changes made riding these backcountry roads a real pleasure. Mario and Brian and the route committee did an amazing job of the route design. The weather, typical of the Santa Cruz Mountains’ Redwood forest in September was like nowhere else on earth. The cool, misty, gray sky folded in around the deep green redwood trees, the tallest over 100 feet.  Our vintage iron seemed to take a shine to this cool mountain air.  It was satisfying to push the old “big twins” around all these backcountry mountain roads for two days of exhilarating riding.   

 

Five of us met at Vince’s house Thursday morning at 11:00 am.  Somehow it all came together, with Ricky driving the van and Danny, Tony, Vince and me on our Harleys. We rode to a meet up in Woodside, a quick 20-minute trip up Hwy 280.  Roger and Dave were waiting for us by the coffee and pastry shops.  Of course we ate some, then headed out, up onto Hwy 35 and over to Hwy 9 south to the Redwoods of the San Lorenzo Valley. We stopped for a lunch break in Ben Lomond and started to get familiar with the mountain folk that live around these parts.  Then, we went on to the Cotillion Gardens Campground in Felton.  It was something like a KOA, only privately owned. Manny and Danny shared a cabin with me. That night’s dinner was at Don Quixote’s in Felton: a Mexican restaurant that served up hot authentic food with nice servers. It was very good, much better than I expected.

 

Friday morning was the typical misty morning weather. We had coffee and rolls and visited until we left in two small groups at 9:30 am. We rode through narrow mountain roads with switchbacks and twisties toward Lexington reservoir near Los Gatos, where we found the sun. Then, we turned south riding toward Soquel. There we stopped at the Windjammer for a rest and fuel.  We left as a group heading south toward Moss Landing for lunch.  We rode the back roads between sandy fields of strawberries and greenhouses.  Several 90 degree turns marked the corner property lines of the farmer’s fields. We made our way near Elkhorn Slough National Estuary where I saw a great blue heron taking flight, no doubt scared up by the sound of our motorcycle parade. We hit a couple spots of bumps and dips and I was glad to be hanging on well enough. With a little help from the harbor patrol we found the lunch stop: Phil’s Fish Market and Eatery.  The lobster sandwich was recommended, I had that and it was great.  The other seafood looked good too.  When we left the lunch spot it was in one big group heading back toward Santa Cruz through farm fields on the ocean side of Hwy 1.   

 

Strong wind was blowing into our faces and it was followed by a giant black cloud that opened up on us and started its drenching.  Mario pulled into the Vallero Gas Station for the shelter of the pump island canopies. The rain hadn’t let up, but we moved on with a revised route to just to get back to the campground.  Soon the cloud passed and the sun came back to dry us out as we headed up the Felton grade back to Cotillion Gardens campground.  That evening Brian Sterns and his assistants cooked us all up a delicious BBQ steak dinner. After, we sat around the warm campfire and told stories.

 

When I first stepped out of my cabin on Saturday, a little sleepy, I could have mistaken the scene for Christmas morning. The misty air and the ninety-foot tall redwood trees surrounding the parking lot made our forty or so Harleys and Indians look like toys under the Christmas tree.  Only better, they were the real things. We decided to gather all the bikes and line them up for a group photo.  After many photos were taken, we headed out in one large group (my favorite way to ride).  We rode the twisties and one-lane roads until we came to the first stop at Apple Jacks, an old roadhouse that dates back to the 1870’s when it was a blacksmith’s shop.  This is mighty old by west coast standards. It was from before the old logging days when trees were chopped down to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire. This building somehow survived the fog and storms and decades of revelers, to serve us up our choice of morning coffees and cocktails. We stayed for a good while and I found the time to look at the tires of the other vintage cycles. Ricky had a nice set of Harley Dunlop’s he recommended wholeheartedly. I would be replacing mine after the weekend was over. You see, wet, winding, mountain roads are not as fun on balding restoration type tires, period. So we left Apple Jacks together heading for the coast again, finding all the twisties the Santa Cruz Mountains had to offer. A little later we found a major bicycle race overlapping our route. Well, bikes and cycles can share the road at the Tour de France so that is what we did. I was glad to have the big twin to power up those mountain roads. The 40 plus antique motorcycle riders passed one or two hundred bicycles on the same one lane twisties for the next hour or so without incident. We finally made it to Cameron’s Restaurant and Pub in Half Moon Bay and it was just how we like it: no chain store and lots to look at on the walls.  Manny made sure I saw his artist aunt’s statue there called “Bubble Girl.” It looked cute standing there in the garden by the front door.

 

After lunch we left as a group back to the campground. When we arrived it was just about dinnertime. Thankfully Brian Sterns again prepared a most delicious filet mignon BBQ feast. I could get used to this maybe, the start of a steak dinner tradition. Later that night, the crowd started to thin out as some of the riders made their way home. But still the campfire was warm and the stories were fun. Many called it an early night after a long day. By Sunday morning all the bikes were packed, some on trucks and some with gear. We said our good byes and headed home for the last leg of the almost 500-mile weekend, looking forward to the next antique run.

Picture Gallery

5-Chapter 2014 Gallery