Our July BA-MARC
meeting experienced a new wrinkle (well several,
actually, in the abdominal areas) when it was decided by
the membership to abandon plans for a regular meeting so
that we could all take a ride to the Gizdich Ranch near
Watsonville. This ride was intended as an experiment that
was to replace the normal business meeting during times
of good riding. Did it ever.
Billed
as the "Great Pie Race," unwary but hungry
participants gathered like humble eagles outside the 
normal meeting place, the Omega Restaurant
in Milpitas. Roger Rines (W1RDR), Max Malzkuhn (K6MAX),
David Sawyer (K1DRS), Larry McDonald (K6ACE), and Sam
Borland (AD6MZ) diddled a bit waiting for Warren (K6PHW)
to show up. Rumors began to have it that Warren
Birmingham (K6PHW) left directly for the ranch as it had
similarly been rumored that David had been camped out at
the ranch a day earlier, consuming all the pies. Warren's
delay was actually a result of him being at the Harley
dealer getting parts and paying his weekly tithe (what
else do you do at a Harley dealer?). All must have been
well with his mount as he arrived without it being on his
trailer.
Sandra
Pacheco (KG6HHP) and J.P. Rouland (NQ6T) had the
foresight to stay home. J.P. made up for it by sponsoring
a barbeque at his 
place shortly thereafter and
was successful in consuming calories at least equal to a
Gizdich pie. Sandra, being professional about the entire
matter, declined any post-mortem comment. Very wise
Sandra.
The
60-mile ride to the ranch was through some colorful back
road country, including the pastoral Uvas, and up and
over Hecker Pass. These roads twist and turn through some
great scenery and are just a delight to ride on a
motorcycle as they wind their way over the Santa Cruz
Mountains and down the other side into the Monterey Bay
coastal plains. We rode at a relaxed pace that quickened
as we got closer to the pies. On the way over, the only
incident was a piece of lumber in the roadway that David
warned everyone about. 
Good call David. Walking the
plank on a motorcycle can create its own excitement.
The
pie ranch itself is nestled in fruit groves about one
mile off of State Highway 152. Gizdich is a working
orchard and farm that has been serving the folks of this
region for years and all the while has maintained an
unusually high reputation for outstanding quality and
good tastes.
Approaching
the ranch, we had a rather intense exercise in follow the
leader when just before the last turn to the ranch, most
of the riders went the wrong way. Seems no one had really
been there before. But thankfully, all is well that ends
well and we found ourselves all parked in front of two
large barns that house the bakery and the produce
counters. Is this place real, or what?
After
a really good ride and being hungry men when we started,
we got one huge apple pie and one mountain-looking
strawberry pie for the six of us. Do the math and you'll
see this is about 1/3 pie for each person in the group,
each of whom had become somewhat belligerent over who was
going to be the most polite in seeing everyone else
served first. Nice group we have here, really.
Sundays
have always been a problem for the pie ranch. Being such
a popular place, baked goods leave the premises in high
volume, faster in fact, than the staff can bake and
replace them. David's APRS beacon showed him firmly
entrenched at the ranch ever since we did the MS-100
"Back to the Beach" tour two weeks earlier.
Rumored reports from the ranch showed a higher than
normal amount of pies were being consumed and ranch
personnel were beginning to get concerned. And, concerned
they should have been. Once we sat down to eat and
decided who would go first, a fast hand from David
quickly had the Apple Pie held hostage and it took a
considerable amount of growling to get it set free. Not
one to leave any buried bones behind; it didn't take
David too long to get his trunk as full as his tummy as
his trunk picture shows.
With tummies and trunks full
and wallets emptied, it was time to head back over the
mountains from this great coastal area and face the
realities of yet another approaching workweek.
Filling
our trunks was important, as Max's daughter had already
had a hefty sampling of Gizdich pies - because Warren
came calling with some samples a week earlier. So Max was
now obligated (at virtual gunpoint) to bring more goods
home. Warren provided armed courier service just to
ensure Max's personal safety although Warren nearly
created a problem by planning to throw the pie at a
persistently tailgating motorist.
While
Gizdich has pies that melts in your mouth, it can also
melt your figure if you eat too many of them. As the
photographic evidence proves, Gizdich has some really
great eating stuff and it's a wonderful place to target a
ride.
It
can safely be said that not many had dinner that night.
We had a safe ride back and plans are now underway to do
this again. Those of you who missed out, really missed
out. There were no leftovers. We leave it to your
conjecture to imagine whether there might have been some
pie fights somewhere, using only the finest.
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