Zayante Road a Hidden Gem in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Zayante store has everything a rider needs to fuel the ride home.

My introduction to Zayante Road came on a particularly frenetic ride led by Jobst Brandt back in 1900 and 80. A fit bunch of riders they were, mostly racers and at the top of their game.

We made our way from Palo Alto over the Santa Cruz Mountains, taking a dirt road (not government approved) that tested our steel and sew-ups like no other. I for one was hammered by the time we reached Santa Cruz, but there was more to come.

Jobst took us up a steep, winding, narrow road that would become one of my favorite routes in the years ahead. But this was no fun ride as attack after attack ensued on the gnarliest climbs of 14 percent. There is one particularly nasty stretch, the last of the steep stuff, topping out at 17 percent. But don’t let that dissuade you.

By the time we reached Skyline about half of us were fried and strung out to find our way home at a manageable pace. I’ll never forget Marc Brandt begging me for a Fig Newton, totally bonked. Jobst had gone on ahead, unfazed by the long ride that clicked in at around 120 miles. Those were the days.

Zayante Road is so remote it sees little traffic, and the view — inspiring as you embrace the redwoods and the deep narrow canyons with creeks below.

On this day I rode down Zayante after climbing Hwy 9, temps in the upper 30s, low 40s. Plentiful sunshine didn’t help much until the return up 9.

Zayante Road will test your riding skills on the twisty, bumpy descent. There’s only one brief gentle climb on the way into the town of Zayante, which has but one store. I stopped for a cup of coffee, a first for me, but it hit the spot and made the ride up 9 go a little faster.

On the easy climb of Quail Hollow Road I spotted a dead pine tree riddled with woodpecker holes. Acorn woodpeckers and others spend hours drilling holes and pushing acorns into dead trees, which is no doubt why this tree was cut. They’re in there tight and, yes, sometimes even woodpeckers can’t get them out.

On the ride up 9 the sun budged the thermometer to the low 50s, but nearing Skyline it dropped back to 44. Not bad for the last weekend ride in January.

Woody had a field day with this tree on Quail Hollow Road.

Ancient bridges reveal roads of yore

This bridge shows the location of Uvas Road from the early days when cars were new.

On the climb south up Uvas Road past Oak Glen Avenue look to your right and you’ll see an ancient bridge over Cañada Garcia Creek. On a 1917 topographic map the road followed the creek. Sometime after that — I’m guessing the 1930s — the road was realigned to follow its present course straight up the hill.

I’ve noticed early roads followed creeks, for a lot of reasons. It was easier on the horses and they had water to drink.

Once cars came on the scene, roads straightened out and hills were no longer as much of an issue. In return, creek-flooding worries evaporated.

After a couple of frigid weekends (for the South Bay that’s low temps in the 30s), the day warmed up nicely, although it was still cold early on.

Oak Glen Avenue gives cyclists something to enjoy in the South Bay. Click on image for large size.

Reach 4 of San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail moving ahead?

This could be Reach 4 work on San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail at Cabrillo Avenue.

UPDATE 1-20-2013: Trees are falling left and right as work progresses. Reach 4 from Monroe is officially closed and sealed off.

I couldn’t help but notice there’s something happening at San Tomas Expressway and Cabrillo Avenue in Santa Clara. Could it be Reach 4 of San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail moving ahead?

I’ve looked all over the City of Santa Clara website and elsewhere but found nothing. I wish our city governments would be a little more transparent about what’s happening. I only found a single entry for the Santa Clara Bicycle Committee from June 2012. It says:

Spur Trail Update
“PWD/CE Rajeev updated members about the current status and schedule for planned San Tomas Aquino Creek Spur Trail along the west side of San Tomas Expressway from Cabrillo Avenue to El
Camino Real.” The plan, by the way, is to extend a “bike lane” to Pruneridge Avenue, which is where the city of Santa Clara ends and San Jose begins.

Based on that notation, it would be reasonable to assume that this is what’s happening. However, I wonder exactly what they’re going to do? Will expanding the expressway require removing dozens of trees? Not that I’d be opposed to that, in some respects. Those trees drop tons of debris, enough that I’ve had to request street sweeping by the County of Santa Clara.

I’d really like to see the plan for this stretch of expressway. The last thing we want is something that on the surface is supposed to increase bike traffic but in practice dissuades bike traffic. San Tomas and El Camino is a busy intersection at rush hour and a cyclist has to mix with cars turning right onto El Camino. But even worse would be a walled path all the way to El Camino and the ensuing need to stop for traffic turning right. The loss of lane space would consign cyclists to the walled path.

We have that situation at the San Tomas Aquino bike trail and Cabrillo, and I consider it an accident in the making for bikes as cars exit right onto Cabrillo. Bikes give up the right-of-way here.

If the plan is to widen the shoulder and put up some bike lane signs, that’s fine. Do you know exactly what the “bike lane” will look like? Let me know or provide a link.

San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail will be closed during construction hours near Cabrillo until May 13.

Share the Road signs sow confusion

Share the Road signs can be found on Hwy 9.

In 2012 the state of California authorized a new sign to replace the one that apparently causes considerable confusion for motorists — Share the Road. I see them everywhere in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Their intent is to allow cyclists to take up the lane or at least ride to the left of the solid white line. A notion held by many motorists, including some law enforcement, is that cyclists should ride to the RIGHT of the white line. Nothing could be more wrong. Nowhere does it say that in the vehicle code.

One time I was riding with a friend in the town of Sonora on a two-lane road and we were accosted by an off-duty cop for “taking up the lane.”

We were just riding left of a vertical drop with no guard rail. Riding to the right of the white line would have led to certain death. Nevertheless, the cop stopped us and read the riot act. Fortunately a younger on-duty officer arrived and diffused the situation.

The new sign reads “Bikes May Use Full Lane.” Now that removes all ambiguity. The first place to replace the Share the Road signs with the new ones is on steep descents. I can’t imagine a situation where I would take up a full lane on a climb.

Martin Delson writes about the sign situation on the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition website.

P.S. Still no chanterelles. We live in a world out of whack. This is mushroom weather, but chanterelles are finicky fungi. They have their reasons for hiding.

Mt. Hamilton History Reboot

A Northrop A-17 crashed into Lick Observatory in May 1939.

I found a rather embarrassing error in my Mt. Hamilton by Bike publication, so I wanted to set the record straight regarding a fatal plane crash at the Lick Observatory.

I said the plane that crashed was a jet, which would have been impossible on May 21, 1939, when the accident happened. I was also off by a day on the accident. The first jet flight did not take place until August 27, 1939 — the Heinkel He 178.

Someone told me it was a jet and when I did the search online I found the account but did not follow through to identify the plane, which was a Northrop A-17 single-engine Army attack bomber, built around 1935-7. It could also be called a Douglas brand aircraft.

A thorough account of the tragedy was written in The Scientific Monthly, July 1939, and is now available online.

Any Light is Better than None

Blackburn Click is easy to install and shines brightly.

When I say any light is better than none, I mean it. Recently I have seen (barely) cyclists pedaling along at night with NO lights and NO reflectors, wearing dark clothing. These people will not contribute to the gene pool, if they keep that up.

So when my aging tail light’s on/off button became non-functional, I had to buy a new one. I purchased two lights for two bikes, both Blackburn brand lights – the Click and the Mars 3.0.

Blackburn has a reputation from making bike racks since 1977 and has since expanded to everything under the sun.

I initially wanted to use the Mars on my daily road bike, but it proved to be a complicated affair. You can orient the light vertically or horizontally. Horizontal mounting is easy, but vertical mounting is a chore.

You have to disassemble parts and reinstall. Then I discovered the light wasn’t vertical but at an angle and I didn’t like that. The screw clamp also seemed over-complicated.

In contrast, the Click has a rubberband-style clamp. It’s oh-so easy to mount. It’s also easy to turn on and off. Just press on the light face and it’s on. One click gives a solid light and two clicks a blinking light.

I settled on the Click. It’s plenty bright and battery life matches the Mars.

Click costs about $15 and the Mars 3.0 about $17.

One final note. I’m not a fan of the blindingly bright flashing front white lights. Some are so bright they distract drivers, based on personal experience.

While I don’t know of flashing bike lights being tested in court, flashing lights are supposed to be used only on emergency vehicles. I don’t think a flashing red light on a bike is a problem, but I do believe flashing front lights should not be used.

Flashing lights, by the way, double battery life.

Blackburn Mars works well, but mounting can be a chore.

Meet Me Under the Kissing Tree

A rider approaches the Mt. Hamilton summit on Dec. 31, 2012. Happy New Year.

If you’re the sort of person who follows tradition and you’re looking for a kiss under the mistletoe, make your way to Mt. Hamilton where there’s an abundance of the parasite.

You’ll receive one, two, three kisses, all the smooching you could ever ask for under some trees.

There is some debate about whether or not mistletoe is good for the forest. NPR radio delves into the esoteric subject.

I think it depends on who you ask. The host may not think so, but the neighbors could see things differently — birds, insects, etc. It’s kind of like putting up your in-laws for an extended stay.

But I digress. Mt. Hamilton today had plenty of sunshine, but the temperature hovered around 38 degrees all day long. I decided to ride today rather than January 1, a tradition for some.

It will be a mad dash to the top for 10,000 chain links celebrating the occasion.

Mistletoe takes up residence in an oak tree on Mt. Hamilton. Unwanted guest or beneficial resident?

Mud, More Mud, and Steam

Pescadero Road near Hwy 84 puts out steam following heavy rain.

My apologies for not posting a Sunday ride photo. I’m not a duck.

Today the sun came out after 48 hours of Nature balling its eyes out. We were left with saturated hillsides and muddy roads. A mudslide closed Alpine Road west, but county road crews quickly cleared it. Cyclists rode by as they worked, but it would have been a long ride back the way I came, which was the only option other than continuing up Alpine Road.

No mushrooms once again. This time I think it’s from too much rain.

Technabob Puts the Babble Into Bikes

Technabob has a section on bicycle innovations.

I stumbled across Technabob.com when I saw a tubeless bicycle tire that looks promising. If you want to see the latest bicycle innovations, this is one place to go.

Tubeless tires already exist, and have for eons, but this one is designed after a new car tire that also eliminates the tube. These tubeless tires have holes in them (think honeycomb) that make the tire light and pliable.

I have no idea if the ERW airless tire will ever catch on, but I think the tube/tire combination is going away, eventually. Nobody likes flat tires. The big hurdle has been rolling resistance, weight and ease of mounting. Of course today’s rims probably won’t be compatible with any new tire technology, so there’s another hurdle.

Tom Ritchey of Ritchey USA has spoken about the challenges of overcoming inertia in the bike industry. He has an interesting seat and post design that eliminates the rails, but it’s incompatible with today’s seat posts. When a new disruptive technology comes along, it needs to be so compelling that people are willing to change the status quo. It’s not easy.

Technabob points out some other interesting inventions, like the folding helmet and a simple dynohub that charges cell phones. Most of these inventions will go nowhere because they’re not really doing a better job of solving a problem than what’s here, but with so many new building materials coming our way, a few will go mainstream.

I can’t wait.

Catch of the Day

Steelhead found in San Tomas Aquino Creek. Dinner is served.

Found today in San Tomas Aquino Creek: one dead Steelhead trout, or salmon. The California gull doesn’t quite know what to do.

At least that’s what it looks like. I’m no ichthyologist. Here’s what Wikipedia said about the creek and Steelhead:

“A 1985 California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) survey of Saratoga Creek noted ‘a major steelhead and king salmon spawning area’ on San Tomas Aquino Creek located approximately 200 yards downstream of the Saratoga and San Tomas Aquino creeks confluence.” That’s exactly where I found this fish.

Just north of here there’s an artificial waterfall about three feet high. I can’t imagine this fish jumping up, but maybe it did so when we had the heavy rains.

On the way back I enjoyed Coyote Creek Trail and then took the newly paved stretch of path along the mighty Guadalupe River. Why oh why didn’t they leave the ramp from Trimble Road onto the trail? Maintenance trucks also use these ramps. There’s a driveway a short distance away but you have to ride the sidewalk.

Note that at low points under bridges there is minor path flooding in this area.