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~ the BBQ and the raffle ~ ~ the sing-a-long crew ~ ~ view the ride back to West Sac ~ ~ viewing the Raz report ~ |
following pictures submitted by RuslH; click on pictures to enlarge...
The Raz Report: Mid-Cal Cycle's
10th Annual Run-for-the-coast
August 18 & 19, 2012
Prepared for publication in the
Thunder Roads Magazine NorCal
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Mid-Cal Cycle is a mellow laid-back motorcycle shop born out of necessity. Let me explain... Bruce and Robert started D.Y.L., a truck tractor and trailer service company, in 1994. Bruce and Robert also rode. Bruce and Robert worked on their own motorcycles. As time went by, their friends would come by and ask them to work on their motorcycles too. Now Bruce and Robert are working on their own motorcycles, and, on the motorcycles of their friends. Their friends told their friends and soon their friends' friends would come by and ask them to work on their motorcycles too, and soon the work on motorcycles was significantly cutting into the truck repair business, so, the only thing to do was start a motorcycle business, and thus Mid-Cal Cycle was born. |
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One day as the end of summer of 2003 approached Robert said "Fuck it all, I want to go for a ride" and he and about five of his friends rode some neat roads to the coast and back over a weekend. This became an annual "Run for the Coast" which Mid-Cal Cycle puts on for their customers. Each year the number of riders grew; this year was about 100. The cost, $25/person, includes Saturday night dinner and raffle - save your numbered ticket stub. Bruce leaves for the coast Friday in a pickup with a trailer loaded with the BBQ, ice chests of grub, and some folks' gear; Saturday morning Robert leads riders to the coast followed by another pickup with a trailer loaded with kegs of beer, fire wood, and some more folks' gear. |
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Riders left the shop in West Sacramento around 9:30am and went north on I-5 to Granzella's in Williams for breakfast; then highway 20 west through the recently blackened fire areas to The Barn in Clearlake Oaks for brunch; then continued west and took 101 south to highway 253, the Boonville exit, and west to a water break at the intersection of highway 128, and then, west on 128 to Mountain View Road... an outstanding 25 mile long roller coaster ride to highway 1 on the coast. |
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Riders set up their campsites, some hard core riders with just a fly cover from their bike to the ground, a lot of dome tents, and a few canvas Taj Mahals, then accumulated around the fire pit to get raffle tickets and dinner... smoked and peppered just right tender tri-tip sandwich, potato salad, macaroni salad, cowboy beans, some-mores, and, there's plenty... if you go hungry then it's your own fault! This year there were three drawings: 1) raffle prizes by the run ticket stubs, 2) raffle prizes by additionally purchased RED raffle tickets, and 3) a 50/50 by additionally purchased BLUE 50/50 tickets. Raffle prizes included Snap-On gear, battery tenders, oil change kit, motorcycle cover, $100 Harley-Davidson gift cards (yes that's plural), run shirts, etc., and, a liter bottle of JD, with caveat, the JD was for everyone to share, winner only gets the first tug. The 50/50 was just for the customers... there was a drawing for BOTH halves of the money collected from 50/50 ticket sales and that turned out to be about $125 for each of two lucky riders! The rest of the evening was spent mostly around the fire pit talking to old friends and making new friends. |
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Sunday morning it was south on highway 1 to Bones Roadhouse in Gualala for breakfast then on down the coast to catch Stewarts Point Skaggs Springs Road east - 35 miles of roller coaster ride that starts out really narrow, windy, and slow and the further east you go the wider and faster it goes - what a GREAT ROAD!!! There are a couple of water breaks along this road which gives time for the pickups and everyone to re-group. At highway 101 we went north to catch highway 20 east and re-traced Saturday's path with a lunch/dinner stop at Fosters Freeze in Lucerne or The Barn in Clearlake Oaks, then I -5 back to West Sacramento... by about 9:30pm. |
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If you were not part of the happy crowd on the Mid-Cal Cycle's Run for the Coast then you missed two days of great roads, great friends, great food, and great time, but all is not lost, Bruce and Robert are already talking about next year's run-for-the-coast, so, you put it on your to-do list to go by Mid-Cal Cycle Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm and see Bruce and Robert. Article and Photos contributed by Russell "Raz" Holder KNUCKLEHEADS FOREVER! Additional pictures on Mid-Cal Cycles website, www.mid-calcycle.com (click on photos). |
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~ view the ride to Manchester ~
~ view the BBQ and the raffle ~
~ view the sing-a-long crew ~
~ view the ride back to West Sac ~
~ viewing the Raz report ~
click on pictures to enlarge...
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