Recent rains brought me out to look for mushrooms.

With wet weather in the forecast, I decided to search for chanterelles. Friends have been finding them under leaves even in this dry weather.

I headed up Old La Honda Road and then south on Skyline. One bonus of rain riding is the lack of traffic. I found a fair number of chanterelles, and they’re the firm, small ones that I prefer. Even with the rain, the ground is still dry.

Dish Hill around 1980. One of Jobst Brandt's many excellent photos taken with a Rollei pocket camera. This photo was used in a Palo Alto Bicycles mail order catalog.

(Back in the day, cyclists could ride on the paved roads around the radio telescope located behind Stanford University. That all ended around 1987; today we see hundreds of hikers using the roads.)

Date: November 30, 1980
Riders: Jobst Brandt, Olaf Brandt, Keith Vierra, Rick Humphreys, Ray Hosler, Jim Westby, Tom Ritchey, Bill Robertson
Weather: Cloudy, cool, rain
Route: Alpine Road, up Stanford Dish Road, back on Alpine Road, Portola Valley
Tire/Mechanical Failure: Ray- flat; Olaf – flat; Keith – flat

At 8 a.m. the scent of rain in the air was about as strong as a skunk in heat, but rain would not stop the Jobst Riders. We rolled into a mist and two hours later made it home in a soppy rain.

Tom’s encouraging words spurred us on. “Come on you guys, it’s clear up on Skyline.” Yeah, right.

With young Olaf along, Jobst’s son, the ride assumed more humane levels. Nobody was dropped and we had normal conversations. The chatter died down as we started the climb up Dish Hill Road behind Stanford University.

Jobst led the way up the winding road through majestic oaks (free of cars), young Olaf spinning madly to keep up.

Things turned nasty on Dish Hill. Even the cattle looked like they weren’t having any fun munching on soggy grass. The road went from pavement to dirt with a top layer of dust that quickly got muddy. Then Keith flatted and the fun began.

As we were talking about the previous night’s premier of Breaking Away, Olaf discovered he too had a flat (we were riding sewups). Olaf’s clincher flat occurred on a wheel without a quick release. Not to worry: Jobst removed part of the tire, located the flat, then patched it.

Meanwhile, Keith was covered in mud from changing his flat. When he caught up to the group, he said, “I know this is a nightmare and I didn’t wake up this morning.”

Our dreams took a turn for the worse. We rode through the Interstate 280 cattle underpass on the dirt road and then passed Felt Lake before arriving at a gate. Behind the gate was a rancher’s barn and corral.

Inside the corral Rancher Bob looked like the ornery type, and he was. He took one look at us and bellowed, “I don’t want any bike riders on this property!” Seeing there was no use stopping us as we rolled to Alpine Road, the rancher repeated his demand.

Jobst replied in an equally loud voice, “That’s right, bikes start fires!” A war of words ensued, but there was no reasoning with Rancher Bob. Just then a trio of runners passed our way, but Rancher Bob had nothing to say to them.

With the rain coming down hard, we headed around the Portola Valley loop and called it a day.

Quite by accident, I found a group photo that was the start of the Dish Hill ride shown above. It was not the ride described in the story.

Car grease and oil get the job done for bicycle maintenance.

I have a can of Valvoline grease I bought 30 years ago and it kept my Campagnolo hubs running smoothly all that time. Cost about $3. Those hubs are still as good as new. I repacked them only once a year.

So what is grease, anyway? It’s oil that’s held in a thickening agent, or emulsifier, usually soap. Now that’s weird. When shear forces come into play, the grease breaks down and releases its oil.

As you might have guessed, I use car oil to lubricate my chain. I haven’t bought bike oil forever. Even if you don’t change your car oil, just go to a jiffy lube shop and ask for some empty containers, which always have a dab of oil inside.

Car oil may not be the best lubricant for delicate gears, such as a Sturmey-Archer hub, but other than that, it works as well as any specialty bike oil. I would not use WD-40. It contains solvents, kerosene and liquified petroleum gas that break down oil. It’s great for loosening rusty parts though.

A dodgy section of trail from Zanker Road to Coyote Creek next to Hwy 237 is being paved in 2012. The sheep stay.

The bad news is the trail will be closed for up to a year.

On another bright note, the notoriously bad section of trail (0.6 miles) paralleling the north side of Hwy 237 from Zanker Road to Coyote Creek will be paved in 2012. It’s actually not bad if you like a funky mix of old pavement and firm gravel. I will miss it in a way.

Now if only we could see the Coyote Creek Trail opened under Hwy 237. That one has always been a mystery to me.

Finally, it took millions of dollars to buy the land from Union Pacific, but we now have the land needed to build a trail linking Los Gatos Creek Trail with Guadalupe River Trail. It’s called the 3 Creeks Trail extension.

I didn’t see any projected opening dates, so I imagine it will be a few more years before we have a place to ride.

Many sections of Niles Canyon Road (Hwy 84) have good shoulder, but not here. (Google Maps photo)

There’s a three-year $60 million plan by Caltrans to widen the road, but that doesn’t include widening the bridges, which is too bad. The bridges are no fun crossing because they’re so narrow.

However, the plan is in jeopardy because a lot of people — mostly people living in the area — oppose the project: they don’t want to see hundreds of trees cut down and possibly upset fish habitats in Alameda Creek.

East Bay Bicycle Coalition supports the road improvements, although opponents argue (rightly so in my mind) it won’t make things safer. More people will use the road and they’ll just drive faster.

I’ve ridden through Niles Canyon dozens of times and never had any issues, unless you consider the many close calls that are part of the cyclist’s life. I would welcome shoulders, but not rumble strips, which are already in place down the middle of the road. All in all, I think the plan is a mixed bag, same as the canyon road. Some parts are nice with good shoulder, but other parts have no shoulder. The only thing that’s clear-cut is the trees.

Smug cyclist sends a clear message.

Cyclelicious posted this funny video and it sends an interesting message. “We are the cyclists, the intermediate stage between humans and pure energy.” Right.

I like the part about cycling being so natural, although they’re riding carbon-fiber tungsten bikes that required 14,000 metric tons of C02 to build.

Greg LeMond and George Mount win the district Madison in 1979 at the Hellyer Park Velodrome. (Jobst Brandt photo)

Thanks to Tracy Delphia, we have a fairly good history of track racing. Tracy wrote about the sport for her master’s degree as San Jose State. It’s our good fortune to have this excellent paper available online.

It’s no surprise Tracy talked to Clyde Arbuckle, a walking encyclopedia about San Jose history in his day. He’s no longer with us, nor is his son. It’s too bad because they were both cycling authorities.

Most of her paper focuses on the short-lived but popular Garden City Velodrome (1936-1940) located at Wabash and Olive avenues, next to present-day Abraham Lincoln High School and the Rose Garden.

I’ve watched a few races at the Hellyer track. It’s a blast to see the riders speed around the concrete oval but the location in south San Jose doesn’t lend itself to drawing a crowd. I wish it were closer.

A 2012 calendar with Northern California cycling pics is available on Magcloud.

This calendar sure beats looking at the freebie you get in the mail from xyz corporation. I’ve included January 2013, although if you’re following the Mayan calendar, it won’t do you much good, 2012 being the last year of life as we know it and all.

Listed are dates for some bike tours and races in Northern California, as well as international classics, but I can’t vouch for their accuracy beyond what I read on other websites.

The calendar is accurate though, and you can enjoy the pics. If you want a hard copy, Magcloud will print one for you and send it direct to your address for a fee. Here’s a PDF for anyone who wants it. Happy New Year.

Mt. Hamilton summit was a zoo on New Year's day as the Porsche crowd showed up along with cyclists to enjoy the sun and 60 degree temperatures.

Mike Jacoubowsky, right, and his son Kevin were joined by three other riders for a traditional New Year's day ride up Mt. Hamilton. Mike, who owns Chain Reaction Bicycles in Redwood City, remembered another ride several years ago where the weather was not nearly so nice. Mike is looking forward to finishing the store remodel by mid-January.

I’m a fair-weather rider when it comes to riding on Mt. Hamilton, which means I don’t ride up it too often in January. Today was an exception. I’ve been to the top on New Year’s day before, but this ranks as the warmest I can remember.

Dozens and dozens of cyclists climbed to the top as part of their New Year’s resolution, or just to enjoy the sun. More than 30 Porsches joined us.

I figured I’d see Mike Jacoubowsky on the ride up because he does it every year. Sure enough, with about two miles to the summit he passed me, along with his son and three other riders. Mike rides nearly daily from his shop and writes about the experience in his blog. You’ve got to read about the New Year’s day 2006 ride where they were nearly blown off the mountain.

A book written by Thomas Stevens about his around-the-world ride is available online for free.

Thomas Stevens has to be the ultimate adventure rider and one of the most interesting characters in cycling. Since I’ve been on my share of adventure rides, I can relate. He rode his 50-inch highwheeler around the world starting April 22, 1884, in San Francisco. His journey took him across the U.S. to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, China, and Japan.

Now you can read his two-volume book — Around the World on a Bicycle — and it won’t cost you a penny-farthing. Here’s how. Just download a Kindle application for the PC, available online. Then download volume 1 and volume 2 online, no charge.

I advise doing this sooner than later because who knows how long it will be before Amazon starts charging.

Tom was British so the language of the time was a bit stilted, but it gets better as you read along. It’s a fascinating read. I was disappointed he didn’t offer much detail on the U.S. leg as compared to the European tour a year later. You can probably piece together a fairly close approximation of the roads he traveled just by reading.

Tom rode through Wyoming along what is today Interstate 80. It must have been a lonely ride. What’s amazing though is to read about how many people he did meet back then in the Wild West. The West had pretty much been settled with the railroad going through. He spent a lot of nights at housing used by the railroad workers.

Reading about the adventures of Thomas Stevens is a great way to enjoy the holidays.