Index: includes/cache.inc
===================================================================
--- includes/cache.inc	(revision 4347)
+++ includes/cache.inc	(working copy)
@@ -110,6 +110,8 @@
         if (isset($data->data) && is_object($data->data)) {
           $cache[$view_name] = $data->data;
         }
+        // @todo: account for the case where an individual view is a cache
+        // miss, for example a manual clear or memcache eviction.
       }
     }
     // If missing index, rebuild the cache
@@ -139,14 +141,16 @@
       // Allow modules to modify default views before they are cached.
       drupal_alter('views_default_views', $cache);
 
+      // Cache each view. This must be done before the index is set to avoid
+      // a race condition when a proess gets a cache hit for the index, but a
+      // cache miss for the views themselves.
+      foreach ($cache as $name => $view) {
+        views_cache_set('views_default:' . $name, $view, TRUE);
+      }
       // Cache the index
       $index = array_keys($cache);
       views_cache_set('views_default_views_index', $index, TRUE);
 
-      // Cache each view
-      foreach ($cache as $name => $view) {
-        views_cache_set('views_default:' . $name, $view, TRUE);
-      }
     }
   }