2retro4u
Marin County, Cali

Since 1974 riders have gathered on the American Thanksgiving hiliday for the ”Appetite Seminar.”

Today I started the ride with Gary Fisher and Jacquie Phelan, along with Maurice Tierney, publisher of Dirt Rag magazine. Caught Joe Breeze halfway through, riding in the jersey for the school team his son rides for, Sir Francis Drake High School.

Even though the ride has no organization or leader, about 1000 riders have been showing up for it for decades. Sponsors show up also, uninvited. Before the ride the Java Hut gives away coffee and pastry by the hundredweight. We had Clif Bars handed out at the top of the last big climb, and the mechanic from the LBS was selling coffee, pancakes, or whiskey just before we got to the Repack downhill.

Back in Fairfax the Broken Drum Brewery had put up a tent where they handed out beer until it ran out, then riders moved to the local pub where the supply was adequate.

The only hard part about getting 1000 riders and sponsors to show up without an announcement, organization or leader is getting the first ride off, which we did 35 years ago. After that, it just grew.

awesome 😀
loads of riders for a midweek thing.

nonk, it’s a national holiday.

Sounds like a good day.

ah ok hold on till i find my numpty hat.
does sound great.

oh i see now i started reading at the today i started bit.

2retro4u
Marin County, Cali

After several days of rain, the day of the ride dawned very clear and very cold, hovering just around freezing when I rode out just before eight, but the first 500 metres of the day’s 1000-plus of climbing warmed me right up.

Here are a couple of photos.

Riders gather at the top of Pine Mountain for one of the best downhills in Marin County, 1000 vertical feet of brake smoking, ear-popping descent. Today there was ice in some of the shaded spots of the trail. The price you pay for the descent is the climb back out of the canyon on the other side.

The ride finishes with a run down Repack, the most legendary MTB hill in the county.

After the free beer ran out across the street, bikes piled up in front of the Gestalt Haus, a mountain biker pub with indoor bike parking, which today was overwhelmed. As clear as the day was, the word for the weather was CRISP, not much above freezing all day.

GPS track of the route, which is around 30 km. The ride follows the route clockwise.

Brilliant.

2retro4u
Marin County, Cali

I had a conversation with a ranger who was monitoring the ride, and he told me that if it there was an organization or a leader for the event, it would not be permitted. Since everyone out there is just riding with a few friends and all 1000 or so happened to choose the same route and day, there was no one to pin the blame on and no way to prevent it.

Striking a blow for cycling anarchy, 1000 riders at a time!

Great stuff. 😀

What an amazing event!

😀

2retro4u
Marin County, Cali

We hit the perfect weather window for the ride. It rained two days before and two days after, but clear and cold on the day of.

Here’s a flickr collection from this year’s ride. I show up a couple of times, in the classic “Velo Club Tamalpais” jersey.

The guy who took the photos says his first Appetite Seminar was 1983.

Bumping my own thread.

One of the participants in the event just posted a video that gives a pretty good look at it. He sped up the downhills, “Repack” is about 6:40 to 7:50.

Keep in mind as you see the various sponsors that this is not organized, there is no leader or direction from anyone for 1000 mountain bikers to show up for the same route on the same day. If the ride were anything but leaderless, it would not be permitted.

Can’t seem to embed, so here’s the link. Definitely worth a look. http://vimeo.com/17439848