Fifty years ago this Wednesday, about ten riders and a dog named Junior gathered on a ridge just west of Fairfax.

It was the first mountain bike race. The winner was someone nobody expected. And then years later he revealed a secret.

It was mid-morning Thursday, October 21, 1976. They sat on 50-pound bikes at the top of a fire road christened Repack.

The road drops 1,300 feet in two miles. The coaster brakes got so hot the grease smoked out of the hubs. After a run, you had to repack them with fresh grease. So they just started calling the route Repack.

They used two synced digital timers, one at the top and one at the bottom. Riders started two minutes apart, each holding an index card with a start time on it. At the bottom, someone wrote down the finish time and calculated the difference.

You’d think the first semi-official race would include the top riders, but Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, and Otis Guy weren’t there. Instead, an airbrush artist who customized old bikes won: Alan Bonds.

And he didn’t tell his friends how until years later.

About two-thirds of the way down was a fire gate: a steel pipe, chained to a post. That morning it was locked. Every rider braked hard, jumped off and scrambled around the post on a loose downslope. By one estimate, it cost 20 seconds.

Bonds had once watched a rider charge straight at a closed gate on Mt. Tam, slide under the pipe with his bike and keep going. “I thought that was pretty phenomenal, so I practiced doing the same thing,” Bonds recalled decades later.

On race day, he slid under, stayed with his bike and pushed off. I imagine it was something like James Bond:

No rule said you had to get off. Everyone faced the same gate. He just had a gutsy trick nobody else did. Even so, his 5:12 time would soon look slow.

Soon after, two of the riders found a lost ring of keys on a trail at Point Reyes. One was a master key for the water district’s gates. After that, the Repack gate stayed open on race days.

They held a rematch five days later and Bob Burrowes beat Bonds by 22 seconds.

Then the fast guys arrived. Breeze won the third race, the first of his record 10 Repack wins. That December, Fisher ran 4:22, Breeze 4:24 and Guy 4:25. Three riders, three seconds apart. Fisher’s time has never been beaten.

There were 24 races in all, and only about 200 people ever raced. The last one was in 1984.

But those riders built the bikes we ride now. Breeze made the first purpose-built mountain bike in 1977, and it’s now in the Smithsonian. Fisher and Charlie Kelly started a company in 1979 called MountainBikes, and the name stuck. By 1996, mountain biking was in the Olympics.

Today you can still ride Repack. You just can’t race it. Both agencies that own the road cap bikes at 15 mph. Fisher averaged about 29 mph. A legal run takes more than eight minutes.

Fisher’s 4:22 still stands and it probably always will.

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Baseball’s wildest show comes to Oracle Park for the first time on July 30-31, 2027. It’s the Party Animals, the Bananas’ original rivals, taking on the Indianapolis Clowns. The ticket lottery is the only way to get face-value seats, from $35. Enter by Saturday 10/31 at 8:59pm.

The Scottish DJ’s first North American arena tour has only 18 dates. Only one in the Bay Area: Oakland Arena on Friday, May 7, 2027. The Live Nation presale starts Wednesday 10/21 at noon and general on-sale is Thursday 10/22 at noon.

Because leaving Marin might take more planning. Look for our Marin events in the Wednesday email.

Wharf restaurants battle for San Francisco’s best clam chowder and you can vote for People’s Choice. Noon-5pm, Saturday, October 24. Entry is free, tasting passes are $50 ($70 with drinks).

The California Academy of Sciences’ family Halloween party in Golden Gate Park brings trick-or-treat stations, live animal demos, face painting, and a silent disco in the aquarium. Costumes encouraged, and adults must bring a kid. 6:30-9pm, Saturday, October 24, $60 adults, $45 ages 3-17.

Teams build giant sand sculptures alongside local students at the 44th annual contest, with food trucks and live music. Saturday, October 24, free.

Corazón Healdsburg’s 10th annual celebration fills the plaza with music, food, art, and remembrance. Noon-6pm, Sunday, October 25.

Please note that this property isn’t associated with the banner sponsor above or Marin Buzz in any way. It is just a unique home you might be interested in seeing, for entertainment purposes only!

300 Road to Ranches, Nicasio, CA 94946

This property is 445 acres, but I only want to talk about the 0.01 acre pool.

The heated saltwater infinity pool overlooks Nicasio Reservoir below. The listing says the views stretch from Mt. Tam to Tomales Bay.

The main house, built in 2006, has walls of glass, tigerwood floors, and skylights over the primary suite for stargazing. The original mid-century guest house has five bedrooms, wood paneling, and a double-sided stone fireplace.

There’s also a 3,000-square-foot barn with lodging and more up the private road. Plus it just got $2M cheaper (it was listed in May for $10M).

Would you spend more time in the infinity pool or under the stargazing skylights?

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Thanks for reading. We will be back with the regular events and activities email Wednesday morning!

— Allison + Brian