It’s a pretty big deal that we’re getting new trails opened up here, new trails to existing open space, where cyclists and hikers can coexist.  Feel free to spread the word to everyone, particularly your fat tire brothers and sisters in Marin… tell them the legal singletrack is growing in the big city.

Saturday, 9am – 1pm, Mt Sutro: Where the trails are extensive, the climates varied,  and the views exceptional – Come help us dig and break the new trail down to Stanyan. Full story to be found here.

Sunday, 9am-12:30pm, McLaren, that other huge park in the city, where southern SF appears below you in waves of green and gold grasses, majestic trees and pastel houses.  Fun place, good trails, challenging topography.  When’s the last time you visited SF’s 2nd biggest open space?.   We’ll be conducting SFUR’s third annual Take a Kid Mountain Biking day, intended for kids 6-12.

We’ll meet at the Intersection of Visitacion and Mansell.  LOTS of different stuff going on, ck out the full line up and details here.

There will also be a clean up on Athens/Avalon and a potluck at Peru and Burrows….so far!  Come on out to ride, encourage the next generation of trail riders, and just enjoy the beautiful parks of San Francisco.

We’ll see you there.

Maybe we saw you on Saturday at Ales & Trails?  We were already pretty buzzed from a week of teaching kids to ride trails, and then we had a blast mixing it up with mountain bikers from all over the region, and beers from all over the bay.  We are feeling the love for IMBA, our national partner that helps us build and ride trails all over,  from the City of New York to our fair burg of San Francisco.  Without them, well, we can’t imagine what trail riding would be like without IMBA.  And without trail riding, where would we be?

Fortunately, we are feeling like SF Urban Riders is getting some respect that moves us toward better trail riding in SF.  Our big short term objective has been and still is establishing a Bike Park in McLaren.  We have proven the cycling community and the local community both want and support it (thanks to the 443 people who have signed our petition), and SF Rec and Park are working with our bike park proposal while they draft an overall plan for McLaren Park.  At the moment, that is all we know, but we will keep you posted.

Another objective of SFUR is to improve off-road riding in SF Rec & Park lands, with the development of a favorable department policy towards this type of use.  Recognition of our sport is key, and we have had 2 very favorable events this week.  At the annual Neighborhood Parks Council meeting with the Mayor and SFRPD, Phil Ginsburg, General Manager of Rec & Park,  stated that he believes that mountain biking – if done properly -will be good for our parks.  He even joked about taking an “illegal” off-road ride with our Dan Schneider, that of course was legal upon further review. We take this as a positive response to our community, and evidence that we all have shown ourselves to be responsible, active members of the community, we have legitimized ourselves and our sport.  Go ahead, pat yourself on the back.

Phil  has also voiced his support for a 1 day kids’ mountain-bike course, as part of Sunday Streets in August.  SFUR, along with the Presidio Y plans to set up a small off-road course in Golden Gate Park on the main Sunday Streets route.  While this may not seem that big a deal, it is.  Park managers have been reluctant to approve off-road cycling events in GGP, with the annual Pilarcitos cyclocross race being the only exception, and even that has been challenged recently.  This will also be our first event with Sunday Streets.  Finally, the location is a maze of little trails that the kids are going to love!

Off-road cycling , although currently not prohibited in most areas, remains an issue in Golden Gate Park. Some SFRPD land managers are concerned that bicycles will hasten degradation of the trails, increasing the maintenance required.  We share this concern and  want to protect the park, so don’t ride in areas where signs prohibit cycling.  SFUR would like to bring a  trail enhancement program to GGP which would  create better a trail  way finding  system for recreational users, and resurface more of the trails for sustainability.

In the meantime, SF Urban Riders wants you to ride on, and ride sustainably.  Remember the rules of the trail.  Remember you are part of a greater community, and you can be a bike ambassador every time you interact with someone on the trail.  Remember you can join us on Mount Sutro the first Saturday of every month to build and maintain  sustainable multi use trails.  Remember that none of us are perfect, we learn and grow at individual paces, and  we all slide out in a corner sometimes and need to put a foot down.  However, if we keep practicing it the right way over and over again, we all eventually ride the whole trail and leave nothing but  a positive  trace behind.

They built a small army of bikes,

smiled in the sun, wearing beautiful, matching tshirts,

All so moments of beauty and raditude could happen.

]]> http://sfurbanriders.org/wordpress/past-run/bike-build-thank-you/feed/ 0 http://sfurbanriders.org/wordpress/news/summer-camp/ http://sfurbanriders.org/wordpress/news/summer-camp/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:44:14 +0000 Mo http://sfurbanriders.org/wordpress/?p=1521 It’s summer!!!!

Ok, it’s only March, but between the switch to Daylight Savings Time and wonderfully sunny days, we are already thinking about not coming home after work until we are totally tired and dusty or chain-ringed and mom calls us home for dinner.  And we are adults.

What about the kids?  You gotta figure they are thinking the same thing, but it’s a little tougher them to get out so easily.  Not to  worry,  we’ve got plans for our junior brethren to help them create their own 2-wheeled adventures,  so that  they, too, can spend the rest of their lives dreaming on 2 wheels.

Yes,  SF Urban Riders are doing summer camp.  Similar to last year, but more, bigger, and better.  Like last year, we are working with the Presidio YMCA folks, who have the expertise and the good camp cred already in place.   But bigger and better because the SF Urban Riders are adding more dirt to the Y’s camp offerings, by helping them with 5 camps that will be focused on mountain bike riding.   That’s right, five (5!) weeks of opportunities for a kid you know to go play in the dirt, NO PARENTS, to  learn some new skills, to become a better rider.   if you think we are excited about summer, we are PSYCHED!!!! about creating the next generation of cross-country riders, teaching them both how to ride well and how to enjoy, respect and preserve the lands they travel through.

You got to be an official kid to go to these camps.   See the YMCA flyer for age groups, dates, etc. (Click for a hi-rez pdf).  We have a little more pedal-to pedal info on our Youth page.  Click over to it for more info on the how each day of the camp week turns as well as some big smiles from last year’s happy campers.

For the over-15 set, click over to the calendar our monthly ride schedule, or send us an email at info@sfurbanriders. org, we’ll hook you up with some places to go, and we won’t tell your mom where you are.

Wilderness First Aid Training

16 hour certification course

**Class Size Limited to 24 participants

For those of us that enjoy excursions in the outdoors, knowing what to do in case of emergency is the most valuable tool you can ever have with you.  With that in mind, SFUR has worked with Foster Calm to bring a Wilderness First Aid class to San Francisco this March.  Details below.

REGISTER: via email at info@sfurbanriders.org
COST: $120 per person, check payable to SF Urban Riders
DUE: ASAP – first come first served

This is a four part course:

DATES:
Monday – March 8th   from 6pm – 10pm
Tuesday – March 9th  from 6pm – 10pm
Monday – March 15th  from 6pm – 10pm
Tuesday – March 16th  from 6pm – 10pm

LOCATION: UCSF Parnassus Campus, Millberry Union, 500 Parnassus.
INSTRUCTOR: Foster Calm: www.fostercalm.com

If you didn’t make it, and have never been there to help, click over to our Volunteer page to get all the details of this monthly event.  Friend us on Facebook, and we will keep you updated, invite you even, to the monthly par-tee that is trail building.

The below is the now dated original post:

For tomorrow,  we might get cancelled as weather people say rain, but they are wrong a lot.   We’ll Tweet and FB a status in the morning.  Remember this is Sutro, it’s not dry ever, really.

Tomorrow specifics – After meeting in Wood’s lot at 9, we’ll be here:

Trail building 2.6.10 - Where the action will be

this is what we are up to:

lets get rid of this

and this

It’s gonna be a great morning of maintaining our trails and making them a little less slippery,

“winterized” as our leader, Dan Schneider, calls it.

Then we are going to kick it, eat some pizza, drink some beer, and scheme up our next bike ride.

Hope to see you,

SF Urban Riders

]]> http://sfurbanriders.org/wordpress/resources/sf-urban-riders-take-on-old-man-winter-you-in/feed/ 2 http://sfurbanriders.org/wordpress/blog/as-requested-a-cookie-recipe-for-the-sf-urban-riders-faithful/ http://sfurbanriders.org/wordpress/blog/as-requested-a-cookie-recipe-for-the-sf-urban-riders-faithful/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:42:22 +0000 Mo http://sfurbanriders.org/wordpress/?p=1234 I been making cookies for Trailbuilding for the last few months, and I have been everything from politely asked to hounded to share the recipe.

This is what I always say the recipe is:

the starting point

It’s the above or it’s the version from Joy of Cooking.

That’s how the cookies were made, that’s how it was done where I grew up, kinda.

But then I realized,

they aren’t in charge of my cookies anymore.  I’m an adult!

I get to make cookies like I like ‘em.

And I like my chocolate-y chunks.  In fact, I like pretty much any sugary-chunk, and I want more, in my cookies.

And since I like oatmeal, a bunch of that goes in, too, and a lot of it.

I think there are others like me, so I make enough to share.   If people don’t like , well, it’s pretty clear what the “win-win” solution is to THAT problem, isn’t it?

But now this isn’t my recipe any more, it’s yours.

you can see the chunk madness, and see inspiration;

you can see the healthy additions and see rationalization;

or you can just freak out at the amount of processed sugar I am putting in them.

My dentist is Dr. Carmine Vicino.  415-563-1070.  totally great guy.  Just for the record.

SF Urban Riders wants to be sure you know all the opportunities out there, whether it is to make/maintain trails or check out the meetings, and help you understand better the big old machine that is the San Francisco planning process.

So much going on, we don’t want you to get overwhelmed, we know you have busy lives, but we want you to know as much as we do about upcoming events, and why we think its important to go participate.

and with that (drum roll please)

We would like you to know about a Public Meeting about a space that is near and dear to our single-track lovin’ hearts -  Mt. Sutro.    The SF Rec & Park is proposing to reopen the section of the Interior Greenbelt that connects Sutro to the Stanyan St. Trailhead.   See the official flyer for a little more information.

Stanyan St. Trailhead -Interior Greenbelt Mtg – Public Notice 2-8-10

Why we think this is important – > This is about opening up an old trail and its entrance at Stanyan.  It is a route that anyone coming over from the Haight and East would be interested in and Rec & Park has said it would be multi-use.  This could be a beautiful new trailhead, with direct connection to our Mt. Sutro trails

And of course, its plain-ole important that we cyclists make a special effort to attend any meeting that is about trails in SF.

Grab a burrito on your way over, and enjoy the civic process.  If you can, think through why this trail is or would be important to you and yours, and speak up.  We always have to work to improve the public perception of who mountain cyclists are, so remember, you are helping represent, and we all appreciate it.

So there you go.  This Monday night, Feb 8, 2010.  from  6 to 8pm at Grattan Elementary.