I was curious about the current status of the Easter Morning Ride. For years, Mean Marshall Elhers was the very unofficial ride leader and reluctantly made arrangements with the Park Service to open up the gates early.
Marshall passed on these duties to others at some point ... and of course to honor him, RIP Mean Marshall. I will never forget you!
I know organizing duties changed hands ... lost track as I haven't been up there since late 90's. So who is doing it now? And what is the current gate fee?
Bit of History ... as I remember it ...
Got a bit crowded in the hey day, with 300 to 400 riders showing up.
Usually a fair number of non local Noobs falling off in the Fog and on slick wet roads. Quite a spectacle. Many riders tried to ride from their favorite bar up to the top on Mt. Tam, still half in the bag!
Also, many very new riders who had never much ridden a "real" twisty road would crash or run off the road on the way up.
In the early days Marshall always pushed more for a Vintage Brit bike sort of affair, but was open to Vintage Euro bikes as well. (if you ever saw Mean's Mercedes collection you'd understand his love for all things teutonic) Lots of "Vintage" BMW's, DKW's, NSU, Urals and a few other obscure marks would show up.
Then, sometime in the late 80's, the ride went wide open, with even the Sunday Morning Ride showing up. In a few years it was mostly all Japanese bikes with maybe 25% Vintage bikes (and beaters) remaining.
I Also remember some serious collectors would ride their precious bikes for their once a year (or so) outing. Saw (and heard) some very rare bikes, mostly British of course. Some true show stoppers. Ariel Square Four, Nimbus, Ancient BSA singles, AJS, Triumphs .. all rode up there. (bring tools)
I haven't been in years ... what's it like now?
arty
