Antelope  MTB Crash: HERE

Cyclocross Barrier Crash: HERE

Danny Hart’s 2011 Championship Downhill Run: HERE

Danny MacAskill Freestyle MTB: HERE

Single Speed Cyclo Cross World Championship in Golden Gate Park: HERE

This will be the THIRD Year in a row that SF Urban Riders has stepped up to the plate to assist our partners SF Rec & Park and V-O-CAL with trail construction and maintenance in McLaren Park, and anybody that rides the trails of McLaren has made note of the improvements. When this process first started it spooked the local cycling community to hear of change in one of our beloved and secret training areas. The SFUR headquarters took many concerned phone calls from friends, neighbors, and urban cyclists. Now the vision of a better trail system and what it can bring to the future of off-road cycling in San Francisco is sweeping away the cynicism and reigning in optimism for a better future. When a large open space like McLaren Park improves its trail infrastructure, it also opens up new possibilities for hosting better, and more awesome trail events that can contine to benefit the park…… Can anyone say Cyclocross or Short Track Series venue?

Constructing the Deeley Falls Switchback in McLaren Park- November 2010

When you add the McLaren Bike Park project to the equation, you begin to see an infrastructure that could host world class cycling events right here in San Francisco! Sure it may take another five years to host a large scale, permitted event, but when it does it will have been worth every swing of the pick, and volunteer hour. As part of the process, SFUR Trail Specialists have been working closely with SF Rec & Park on both the trail alignments and the closing off of selected ‘social trails’.

Check out the details of the McLaren Park trail project on the map below, and take notice of how the new trails will bring a big increase in trail connectivity. That alone makes it a project worthy of the cycling communities focus and effort. The other tremendous benefit of this event is CAMPING! Camping and a camp fire will be happening Saturday Night to all volunteers interested. Bring some friends and party in McLaren Park with SF Urban Riders!

Every Hour SFUR Volunteers Contribute Will Be Credited Toward a McLaren Bike Park Community Grant!

Information & Registration On-Line: Click Here

Map of Overall Project Scope Showing Improved Trail Connectivity.

McLaren Trail Work Flyer

Dan Schneider and Chris Ruedy inspect the Interior Greenbelt Trail Corridor.

Its been rumored about for quite some time, there have been community meetings, and there was even an emotional vote of approval from the SFRPD Commission, but nothing tells the story like a photo.

The long awaited Interior Greenbelt Trail project, or better known as the Stanyan Street trailhead, finally breaks ground on Saturday October 2nd, 2010. The project is a partnership with UCSF and SF Rec & Park since the trail corridor shares property lines. Visit the SF Urban Riders Volunteer Page for more details on getting involved in this exciting and historic project.

The Interior Greenbelt trail was originally established in the 1880′s when Adolph Sutro owned the land and planted the trees that would become the infamous Sutro Forest. At that time Cole Valley was farm land, UCSF had not been constructed, and the newest train stop was at Stanyan Street to bring visitors close to Golden Gate Park. In order for Adolph Sutro to get weekly laborers to his Nursery at Clarendon and 7th Avenue he needed a connecting trail, so he constructed it and made it into an official route. It went on to become another of Sutro’s amazing recreational gifts to the city he loved, only to be improperly managed and lost to the public in the 1950′s.

This project will take 6-9 months to complete, and thousands of hours of volunteer work. It will add approximately 1/2 mile to the current Mount Sutro trail system, and more importantly direct access to Mount Sutro from Stanyan Street and Cole Valley. This trail project also signifies the beginning of a dream to build a trail that will continue from the Stanyan Street trailhead all the way around Mount Sutro, continuing over to Twin Peaks, and then  down into Glen Canyon. Its a big dream shared by many open space organizations, and just One Big Reason why the cycling community needs SF Urban Riders to be at the big table and advocate to keep this dream accessible to bikes!

Please be excited for this NEW Trail Project, but be RESPECTFUL. Please do not try to use the trail during construction, as it has NO EXIT.  Local neighbors thank you in advance for your courtesy!

The best way to check it out is to VOLUNTEER at the monthly trail building party.

The best way to stay informed of all things Mount Sutro and Trails is the Sutro Stewards website:

This section the Interior Greenbelt trail has been closed to the public for 50 years

Chris Ruedy, Craig Dawson, and Bandit at one of the hidden Chert Rock outcrops that are waiting to become cool trailside features.

Participating in trail work events at your favorite riding areas is always a good idea. It not only helps with the trail maintenance, but also continues to emphasize to land managers and other user groups that cyclists are a valuable part of maintaining open space. The best benefit of all is a chance to continue to learn the fine art of trail building. Good riding starts with good trails. When you think of it that way, it puts the power right into your very hand… or trail tool.

The Next Trail work days are:

Saturday August 7th  Starting at 9am on Mount Sutro.

Saturday September 4th  Starting at 9am on Mount Sutro.

Visit The SF Urban Riders Volunteer Page for m ore details.

Ergon Grips.  Ergon Grips work.  I can’t exactly make any claims about the grips making me a faster or stronger rider.  I’m sure there are lighter grips out there.  But the feel of riding on those grips for any length of time, from a short commute within the city to an endurance race across a mountain range is superior to just about anything else I’ve tried.

The experience recently came when my body decided to raise a complaint against mountain biking.  The complaint came in the form of sore tendons running across my hand.  After a weekend of mountain biking, it hurt to grip drawer handles, use a pencil or pen, and a myriad of other minor daily tasks.  That was on traditional grips.

I’ve recently put Ergon’s on all my bikes, and haven’t had a day of pain since.

Now lets talk about more things that work.  Like bar ends.  My first mountain bike, back in ’99 was an old schwinn homegrown with some generic bullhorn barends.  I loved those things.  Every time I tried to race my friends up a hill in Wilder Ranch, my hands would go straight to that vertical position, pumping away and allowing me to motor on up the hill.

Then I got riser bars, and my senior colleagues at Sprockets Bicycle Shop told me, ” Oh, dude, you can’t POSSIBLY run bar ends and riser bars.  That’s totally lame.” I didn’t know enough then to question, as I was still learning how to adjust a rear deraileur.  So off they came.  Only with Ergons have they come back, and since, I’ve sat waiting at the top of Miwok trail, waiting for my bar-end-less friends, wondering why I waited so long to put them back on.

Let function create the fashion. I challenge anyone who likes to ride a bike distances, and occasionally feels the need to beat their friend to the top of the hill to try out bar ends again.  Ergons are likely some of the best looking.  I think the old fellas already know what I’m talking about, but its us silly young bucks that have wandered astray.  Barends+Riser Bars – somebody might laugh at you – but just get rad, fly your ergons high, and laugh right back.  Here’s to antlers, or any other goofy arangement, just so long as it works for you.

Unless it gets you mentioned in a certain reputable blog.

Here’s what you’ll need:

-Bottle of Stans or similar sealant: 25$ (this quantity should keep you in sealant for at least 3 sets of wheels…)

-2 20″ presta valve tubes (or schrader, if your rim is drilled for schrader valves): 10 – 15$

-Scissors: free, if you dig around your desk and drawers of random stuff.

Here’s how you set up ghetto tubeless:

Fillet the tube open, cutting along the seam opposite of the valve core, so that you have a flat, circular rubber strip.

Lay it into the rim.  You can lay it in with the rim naked, with electrical tape covering up spoke holes, or with your original rim strip in place.  I’ve seen success with all methods, but I’d recommend leaving the rim strip in place.

Make sure the strip is centered on the rim, with equal amounts flapping up and over the edge of the rim.

Mount one bead of your tire (you don’t have to use a UST tubeless tire, but their larger beads do make life easier once you need to seal the tire up.)

Pour the appropriate amount of sealant (see bottle’s instructions) into the open tire, and mount the other bead onto the rim, being careful not to drag the tube back into the rim.

Once the tire is fully mounted, ensure the tube is hanging out of the rim on all sides. If the tube strip has pulled back inside the tire anywhere, simply pull up the tire w/ a tire iron and fish the tube out until it is again draping over the sidewall of the rim.

Pull up on the tire, pulling the bead into the hooks of the rim.  Pull up the rubber up and away from the hub to help it seat into the bead hooks.  Doing this evenly around the entire wheel will help the whole tire seal when you finally pump it up.

Now pump like hell or fill up with a compressor.  Floor pumps that push more volume than high pressure (big, thick diameter pumps) are better here.

It’s likely that you will have leakage, and you just have to rotate the tire around to swish the sealant over the small leaks. Put your ear to the intersection of rim and tire to hear where air is escaping. .   Once you get the leaks stopped, and it may take a couple tries – you have a tubeless wheel, all for the cost of a couple tubes and a couple minutes.  Some tires work better than others, and you may have to repeat the pumping, sealing, swishing process a couple times to get it right.  But the cost and the benefit of never getting a pinch flat again are so, so worth it.

Now go get tubeless and get rad.

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.

But no one, yet (emphasis on yet) has made a movie to mountain biking what this film promises to be to skateboarding.  Now if I could only figure out where to see it.

I awoke this morning, to a storm quite dreary

Rain and wind and cold there were a plenty.

My home was warm as was the office, but the space between filled with rain and wind.

I thought of the bus, somewhere I could sit and read a book comfortably within.

Umbrella overhead, I pushed out to the stop.

Then the bus pulled up, passengers bursting out the top.

I saw the stinky and sweaty san franciscans all piled high in the wheeled box,

I lifted my hands to the heavens and felt the cool raindrops.

Back to the garage, out came the slicker,

Tires and basket and rear facing fender.

From head to toe I was covered in gear,

keeping out the wet, the warm in here.

Off I strode through the city a mess,

everyone with faces bundled and wind blown dress.

I was invincible, a tower of comfort, cool rain running down my walls

I observe the cold, the soaked cotton garb, listen to their wailing calls.

My observatory is pleasant in this city upset,

Of missing the bus I have no regret.

Take heed good scholars and buy some duds

That can keep out the rain, let you dry your buds.

I don’t know what that last line means to say

But I do know I’ve written a poem at lunchtime today.

dc