Story: The Tour of Marin Road Race

The Tour of Marin was a two day event consisting of a road race on a Saturday followed by a criterium on Sunday. I had the honor of being its chief referee for the last eleven of its nineteen years. Each year, the event was realized by the remarkable organizational effort of Chris Lang of Fairfax, California. Chris had the help of his lovely wife Jeanie, some of his friends like Steve Thomas, and scads of nameless volunteers on race day, but what he did himself was remarkable. Sadly, there had been difficulties with the authorities, and few bike racers actually gave him thanks. I had a strong bond to the race and wrote its race announcement for its last few years; one of the few things that the otherwise very literate Chris could not do very well. Chris was a product of the 1970s era of cycling, and it was said by some that he had not kept up with the times.

The Tour of Marin has had a colorful past, some of which has been overshadowed by the area's role in shaping what we now know as the mountain bike. An early Tour of Marin was illegally stopped by a police officer who got his car sideways in the middle of the pack, and then arrested several of the participants. The overzealous officer also claimed that the vehicle code required bicyclists to put their foot down at a stop sign. Most of the participants knew this to be untrue, but complied with the bizarre request in order to avoid further harassment. A photographer captured this oddity, and the picture made it onto the cover of a nationally prominent cycling publication. In the early 1990s, two junior riders missed the right turn off of Highway 1 at Marshall, resulting in a large scale search while their worried parents waited for hours. After the skies got dark, the two showed up very tired and hungry after having ridden about 120 miles ... in the rain.

A sister event, the Marin Road Race, started and finished every year at the Cheese Factory, a wonderful stop on the road from Petaluma to Point Reyes Station. This arrangement ended when Chris Lang's dog ate the Cheese Factory owner's favorite prized chicken. The race was moved to another course in Northern Marin and southern Sonoma County. The potholes on one portion of the course were so large that I broke my hand riding through one of them on what was to be the race's last hurrah. Minutes later, I watched in disbelief from the back of the pack as some riders crossed the centerline on the feed hill, despite the presence of an oncoming car. The driver of the car pulled over to the right as far as possible and stopped, but one guy rode into the car anyway, bringing down another rider in the process. Subsequent investigation revealed that the promoter of that event (not Chris) had failed to get the usage permits for the roads, and he was treated to free room and board at taxpayer expense in a wonderful building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (the Marin County Civic Center).

And speaking of potholes, one should see the badly cambered downhill section of the Sausalito Criterium. In 1985, Leonard Ke was the announcer of the Masters' event which included the cycling legend known as the "Bike Barb" a.k.a. Nick Farats. Leonard was playing music on the public address system while telling stories, the best of which was how some of the guys secretly put a little Musclor #3 (way, way, hotter than Ben Gay) on the inside of the Barb's shorts while traveling to a race. The subsequent fireworks must have been as amusing as the song that Leonard was playing while telling the story: "Great Balls of Fire." The racing season ends every year with a short event known simply as the Mount Tamalpias Hill Climb. It goes north from Stinson Beach for five miles, and then climbs 2000 feet in nine miles to finish at the Pan Toll Station, a true test of aerobic horsepower.

Bicycle racing in Marin County has not been the same since Chris moved on to other venues such as mountain biking. Let us hope that the vacuum will someday be filled by someone with his dedication, diligence, and stubborness.