Jobst Brandt -- Ride Bike!

[Olaf Brandt]

As folks may know Jobst Brandt (1935-2015) was was both a cyclist and engineer and was a regular here on rec.bicycles.* for years. He was prolific in his posts here to the point that when he would step away from the keyboard for a few weeks to ride the Alps each summer the group would speculate to his whereabouts. Sheldon Brown has archived a number of his posts and the rec.bicycles FAQ here: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/

Launching this week will be a kickstarter campaign for Jobst Brandt Ride Bike!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/isolapress/jobst-brandt-ride-bike-book
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Jobst Brandt (1935-2015) was a cyclist and engineer whose passion and
intellect changed the way we ride bikes today. Years before the evolution
of mountain bikes and gravel bikes, his legendary ‘Jobst rides’ took Bay
Area racers including Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher and Eric Heiden over dirt
roads and landslides in the Santa Cruz mountains and the Sierras. He
also maintained a love affair with the Alps, touring 2,000 miles across
Europe’s mountain passes nearly every year for almost half a century.

Using his astonishing archive of unseen photos and documents, as well as interviews with friends and associates in the cycling industry
JOBST BRANDT RIDE BIKE! will introduce him to a wider audience and
establish his place in cycling history.
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For a preview of some images:
https://www.instagram.com/jobstbrandt.ridebike/
https://www.facebook.com/jobstbrandt.ridebike

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- Olaf Brandt (son)

[Earls61]

Ok, so you are going to publish a book about your father’s cycling exploits?

[Olaf Brandt]

Yes, exactly. A beautiful collection of photos, documents, and stories from his life in cycling.

[Frank Krygowski]

Great idea! I'll buy one. I really enjoyed his posts, and I enjoyed a
bit of correspondence with him.

For many years, I had a beautiful poster in my office at work showing a
cyclist in the Swiss Alps. Years after I bought it and put it up, I
realized it was a photo of, and probably by, Jobst.

--
- Frank Krygowski

[pH]

That sounds like a great idea, Olaf.

I fondly recall one of Jobst's posts in rec.bicycles.rides wherein he
described his trip on the now-closed coast road from Arroyo Seco out to the
coast, over landslides and the like.

That road remains closed today but will be reopened soon after I become
dictator (along with lots of rail lines).

I saw your Dad biking along Highway 9 in the Boulder Creek area one time,
recognized who it must be the the yellow bike, lack of helmet, etc. from the
threads at the time. Pulled over, flagged him down and had a very nice
chat with him. He was very gracious and I have his bicycle wheel book to
complement the Robert Wright tome.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up.

pH in Aptos

[Olaf Brandt]

pH,

Jobst was pretty unmistakable on the bike for all those reasons. 6ft. 6in. rider on a big yellow bike, no water bottle, no helmet, riding on any terrain.
His rode a few different steel framed bikes made for him by either Tom Ritchey and later Peter Johnson. His first road bikes were Cinelli's also made to his specifications.

Kickstarter is now live. Check the video:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/isolapress/jobst-brandt-ride-bike-book

Olaf

[Axel Reichert]

Hello Olaf,

thanks for this great project!

> He also maintained a love affair with the Alps, touring 2,000 miles
> across Europe’s mountain passes nearly every year for almost half a
> century.

It was his reports that got me started with a small-scale copy of his
endeavours: similar packing list, stored in a Carradice saddle bag,
roadbike, pass after pass in the Alps for 3 to 4 weeks. Small-scale
because of my much shorter stages and more days of rest. Started in
2005, so far 9 vacations "Jobst-style". He shaped my way of traveling in
a way that cannot be overestimated.

Your father was inspiring, and the inspired trips inspiring beyond
description!

"Travel light, travel far, see a lot" was also coined by him, correct?

Greetings from Munich!

Axel

[Mike A Schwab]

On Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 6:05:13 PM UTC-5, olaf....@gmail.com wrote:
> As folks may know Jobst Brandt (1935-2015) was was both a cyclist and engineer and was a regular here on rec.bicycles.* for years. He was prolific in his posts here to the point that when he would step away from the keyboard for a few weeks to ride the Alps each summer the group would speculate to his whereabouts. Sheldon Brown has archived a number of his posts and the rec.bicycles FAQ here: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/
>
> Launching this week will be a kickstarter campaign for Jobst Brandt Ride Bike!
> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/isolapress/jobst-brandt-ride-bike-book
> -------

They have added a limited printing of The Bicycle Wheel as an option.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/isolapress/jobst-brandt-ride-bike-book/

[Tom Kunich]

I was a fan of Jobst and had his "The Bicycle Wheela" until he got unset with me for telling him that he was endangering the newcomers that would come out on his rides with stars in their eyes thinking he was the second coming.

He got extremely angry with me and thinking that it was my home published the address of my mother's house. Those same Jobst fans came by and threw all sorts of crap in her front yard and on the porch. At that time I was married and living in Fremont and not San Leandro.

I couldn't make out what made Jobst so angry about that. He DID what I said he did because I used to ride with that group. Jobst would be coming down a hill at 35 or 40 and cross to the opposite side of the road and jump the curb onto a off-camber trail! I was one of the few people that could do that and knew to expect him to do crazy shit like that with a string of newbies behind him. He was a good rider, but he rode too large a bike for my tastes (if memory serves it was a 66 cm that made him look like a giant) and he would lead rides without thinking about the capabilities of all of the riders behind him and not just the initial experts he rode with. He was only an inch taller than me and I ride 60 cm bikes now then it was a 62.

[William Crowell]

I was a fan of your Dad's, too. What a corker. I loved the story about how he got his job at Porsche, and the picture of him cornering in the ad for Avocet road slicks. I, too, tried to emulate him by going on several long European tours and I am still riding a yellow bike. There's no way I could have kept up with him on one of his rides, though. I only disagreed with him once, concerning punctures due to thorns, because we have a great variety of different kinds of thorns where I live, and I thought I knew more about how to avoid thorn punctures than he did (when you see thorns on the road, get off and carry your bike until you don't see any more; otherwise you're going to be repairing your tires until you run out of patches). On every other bicycle-related subject I deferred to his greater expertise.

[Tom Kunich]

On Thursday, November 24, 2022 at 3:07:59 AM UTC-8, William Crowell wrote:
> I was a fan of your Dad's, too. What a corker. I loved the story about how he got his job at Porsche, and the picture of him cornering in the ad for Avocet road slicks. I, too, tried to emulate him by going on several long European tours and I am still riding a yellow bike. There's no way I could have kept up with him on one of his rides, though. I only disagreed with him once, concerning punctures due to thorns, because we have a great variety of different kinds of thorns where I live, and I thought I knew more about how to avoid thorn punctures than he did (when you see thorns on the road, get off and carry your bike until you don't see any more; otherwise you're going to be repairing your tires until you run out of patches). On every other bicycle-related subject I deferred to his greater expertise.

He was an engineer that worked for Hewlitt Packard when I knew him. Obviously quite talented. He was a fast rider but a chance taker rather thoughtless of the people with him. I soon grew tired of that because it would have been only a matter of time before I stacked it up at speed trying to keep up with him. Our disagreement was AFTER I stopped riding with him.

The only problem I had with him was the publishing of my mother's address and saying it was mine. I wouldn't have minded if he published the address of my yacht club when I was living aboard because if anyone pulled in the parking lot and threw crap around one of the members would have pulled them out of their car and kicked their ass if I were there to do it.

If they did that in Fremont when I was married the police would have locked them up and charged them. At that time the police in Fremont were very active. But the San Leandro police were never known as very active at anything but giving parking tickets in the downtown area.