The Quail Motorcycle Gathering 2022

Story and Photos by Brandes Elitch

The 12th Annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering was held at the Quail Lodge resort in Carmel Valley, California on May 14, 2022. Because of the pandemic, it could not be held for the two previous years. It was good to be back. This is a world-class motorcycle event, likely THE world-class motorcycle event.

Yes, there are literally thousands of motorcycle events in the U.S. every year: shows, rallies, tours, charity and benefit events, swap meets, track events, and even Bike Weeks, but this show is in a class by itself. There are a few reasons for this. Since most of our readers do not live in California, and many live outside the U.S., I will try to explain why this is so.

Location

First, the Carmel-Monterey area is one of the major tourist destinations in the country. It regularly appears on Top Ten Travel lists, and so does the drive along the Pacific Ocean coast from there to Los Angeles. At last count, it hosts over four million visitors annually.

Actually, Carmel Valley is quite distinct from the towns of Carmel and Monterey. It is a pastoral river valley, part of the towering Santa Lucia mountain range. It is also rural, with working horse ranches and multiple vineyards and wineries (this area has 175 vineyards, 60 wineries, and 42 varietals). There is even an excellent motorcycle museum there, the Talbott museum, which I profiled here a few years ago. And just over the hill, if you turn left at Los Laureles Grade road, is the Laguna Seca raceway (it has had numerous names over the years but I will stick with that). It is the home of the famous Monterey Historics, started by Steve Earle way back in 1974. It’s hard to believe that this was almost fifty years ago!

Weather

The second reason is the weather. No, I don’t mean for the spectators, I mean for the bikes themselves. It doesn’t snow here so the roads are not salted, which means no rust, and it hardly ever rains, which means no corrosion. Cars and bikes living in the Northeast and Midwest inevitably succumbed to all of that, but not in California and the adjoining areas. As a corollary, most of the European cars and bikes imported in the fifties and sixties went to both coasts, but not so much in the middle of the country. And if you are reading this, I don’t think I need to remind you that “the stuff is still out there,” which gives many of us a reason to go on.

Organization

Third is the extraordinary effort that Gordon McCall has put into the planning and organization of the show itself. There are 10 highly qualified people on the organizing committee, and 44 people on the judging committee. There are 11 classes and 11 best-in-class awards. There were somewhere around 350 bikes, carefully arranged by category on the field. This is quite impressive when you first walk in, and I might mention that there is a whole ‘nother bike show on the road adjacent to the show field, where spectators park their bikes, and you could certainly spend some time there too.

I should mention that, for those lucky few, the day before the show there is a ride for 100 participants, called the Quail Run. It covers 112 miles through the Monterey peninsula in and around Carmel Valley, with the highlight being lapping the Laguna Seca racetrack! There are CHP officers riding along just to make sure that everyone returns home safely.
Finally, we should acknowledge that since inception, Gordon McCall has focused on supporting four local charities: the Monterey Youth Museum, the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation, the California Cadet Corps, and Junior ROTC.

Next week: Classes and more Italians!