Montebello and Russian Ridge

Bill Bushnell — Saturday, December 5, 1992

Jude and I meet at my house at 9:00 shortly before setting off for the starting point at Gunn High School in Palo Alto. When we get to Gunn (five minutes late), we meet a new rider, Paul Liu a graduate student in economics at Stanford. After waiting five minutes or so, we start south on Foothill Expressway, riding slowly at first. The air is cold, and we are still warming up. At Homestead Rd., we meet up with another rider. This other rider manages to keep pace with us all the way to the picnic area at Stevens Creek Park. When we stop we learn his name: Rich Feldman. Rich might join us on some future rides.

After filling our water bottles, we start up Montebello Rd. This is a long climb; by the time we reached the gate, it is cold. At the gate we meet up with Brent Silver and the four of us continue up to the top of Black Mountain. We stop briefly at the top and then start down the Indian Creek Trail. Even with my 35mm tires, the washboard surface of the road so thoroughly shakes me that I have trouble seeing clearly at times. When we reach the bottom of the Indian Creek Trail, I discover that I have left open one of the side pockets on my rack pack, the side pocket containing my wallet, keys, and spare change. I check the pocket, and my wallet is still there. Whew! But, the keys and quite a bit of spare change are missing. Jude decides to wait at the bottom, while Paul, Brent, and I reluctantly begin riding back up the steep trail searching for my keys. Sprinkled along the way, we find several quarters and a couple of dimes. Paul finds my pencil, but the keys are nowhere. At the top, Brent decides to return home, so Paul and I get to ride down the rough trail twice.

When we reach the bottom, Jude is gone. The storm clouds are gathering more thickly, and the temperature has dropped to 48F. Jude is riding home to Felton, so he must have decided not to wait any longer. Paul and I continue up the Stevens Canyon Trail. Looking carefully, we see two fresh, tracks from a bicycle equipped with narrow slick tires. This must have been Jude’s bike.

When we reach Page Mill Rd., we continue to Skyline and then head up the trail to Borel Hill. Paul and I stop and eat a snack just over the brow of the summit, out of the wind. After about 10 minutes we continue down the trail and turned left, down the backside of Borel Hill. This is a scenic road that winds its way from meadow to forest and eventually reaches the Mindego Hill Rd. To the right the road continues to Mindego Hill, and to the left the road leaves the Open Space Preserve and joins Alpine Rd. about 3/4-mile up a fairly steep hill.

“Do you want to risk riding up to Alpine Rd.? It’s not very far, but there’s always a small chance someone will come along and shoo us back.”, I asked Paul.

“Yeah, I don’t mind.”, he replied.

On group rides, I wouldn’t do a short cut like this unless everyone on the ride agreed to the risk.

The risk, of course, is that the owner of the land will happen along during the 10 or 15 minutes we’re on his road. Well, luck must have been with us because as we were about halfway up the road, a Toyota Tercel comes slowly down in front of us. The driver pulls alongside us.

“Did you see a sign back there?!”, he yells indignantly.

“Well ...”, I begin.

“This is a private road. You’ll have to turn around. Now go on, turn around.”, he orders us.

“Can’t we just ride up to Alpine Rd? It’s only a quarter mile from here.”, I ask as politely as possible.

“No. We’ve had too much trouble with people leaving the gate open, and we’ve got cattle here that can get out, and if I let you go through, there’ll be hordes of bicyclists riding through here. You’ll have to go back and around the way you came.”, he answers.

He seems to think that we bicyclists are scum of the Earth. It’s too bad the road isn’t open to Alpine as this would make a nice loop. A cattle grate and/or a sprung gate would meet the owner’s stated complaints, unless of course he just doesn’t like bicyclists.

So, we turn around and ride back down to the trail that goes to Borel Hill. As the owner drives around a corner out of sight, we are tempted to retrace our tracks back up the road. It’s only 2/3 of a mile to Alpine. And, since there are no houses or other developments nearby, it seems petty of him to close it off to passers-through.

“But, what if he comes back to check up on us?”, we wonder.

“I’ll bet he’d be pretty pissed if he caught us on his road again.”, I say.

So, not wanting further trouble, we ride out the way we came in. The hill is tougher riding up than it looked when we rode down.

When we reach Skyline we continue back to Page Mill Rd. and then head down Page Mill Rd. to Alpine Rd. The last dirt road of the day is before us. We start down the reasonably smooth surface. The last time I rode Alpine Rd., the surface was so washboarded that my wrists and hands were sore by the time I reached the bottom. It looks as if the road has been improved somewhat since my last trip on it.

About a third of the way down, we pass a tall, wiry fellow digging a drainage ditch in the roadway. What’s this guy up to? He doesn’t look like a county road maintenance crew. We pass, but then I remember something.

“Paul. I think I know who that might be. Let’s turn around and find out.”, I say.

So we ride back up to the guy just as he finishes digging the ditch.

“Ahem. Excuse me. Would you happen to be Jobst Brandt?”, I venture.

“Yes. And who might you be?”, Jobst answers.

So we chat about why he is working on the road, about rides in Pescadero Creek County Park, and about the recent net flame war on anodized wheel rims. After looking over my bike, Jobst warns me to beware of getting sticks caught in the front wheel as they could catch the fender stay, and bending it jam the front fender into the tire, flipping me over the handlebars faster than I could think.

I appreciate that Jobst has taken upon himself the task of keeping east Alpine Rd. fit for bicycle passage. Thanks, Jobst.

Time is getting on, and Paul is a bit underdressed for the cool weather, so we say goodbye and continue down the hill. When we reach the bottom, we have to ride up a short steep trail that bypasses the gate. I’m not brave enough yet to ride it on my bike with slick tires, but Paul decides to take the risk, and he almost slips off into the ditch some five feet below.

When we get to Joaquin, we think about riding it up and then zipping down Los Trancos Woods Rd., but we decide to head straight down Alpine. After coming to a complete stop at the stop sign marking the intersection of Alpine and Portola Rds, we quickly continue down Alpine toward Stanford University, averaging about 25 mph. And, after stopping briefly at Paul’s apartment, I continue home.

Ride stats:

distance: 47.2 miles

climbing: 4540 feet

total time: 7:13

riding time: 4:22

average speed: 10.8 mph

maximum speed: 30.5 mph

index: 65

irp: 9

mirp: 15

An article on indexing can be found here.

©2004, Bill Bushnell

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