This Sunday, 5.16.2010, we’ll be leading a group ride from the inner sunset where we’ll be able to fuel up on the most delicious pastries in SF.

Bring a few dollars for some delicious Arizmendi Bakery goods at 9am, and we’ll be riding via Sutro and Twin Peaks to McLaren Park, where SF Urban Riders will be hosting bike repair and children’s skills clinics down on the path by the soccer fields.  The skills clinics and bicycle repair will be from 11am – 3pm.

Wanna wrench? email mo@sfurbanriders.org

And if starting the ride with snack’s wasn’t good enough, well then howabout SF Urban Riders provides some good eatin’ once we arrive at McLaren?  Sound good? Thought so. We’ll see y’all there.

Of course, if it’s easier for you to meet us out in McLaren without all that bicycle riding aforehand, then just come and join us for chow and camaraderie here.

Meet us at 5pm at our usual group ride meeting spot in front of McLaren Lodge in Golden Gate Park.

]]> http://sfurbanriders.org/wordpress/news/ride-with-us-to-the-movies/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

We all love riding in the currently green, often golden hills of Marin, and we now have a chance to show up and improve some multi use trails in Marin.   May the multi use trails prosper and flourish among those beautiful yet prohibited hills.  Come out and lend a hand if you can.

Trail Work and Habitat Restoration near Muir Beach

MCBC and Share the Trail will be partnering with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy on two upcoming trail work projects:

Trail Work and Stone Wall Construction – Saturday, February 20, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm.
Native Planting and Weed Pulling – Saturday, March 20, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm.

On Saturday, February 20th we are looking for volunteers to help do tread work and stonewall construction on the Dias Ridge Trail. This is a great opportunity to get a sneak peek at the new multi-use trail, while helping make sure it’s ready for its official May opening.

On Saturday, March 20th , we’ll be planting natives and pulling weeds along Redwood Creek. The work will help restore a healthy creek ecosystem, one that can better support the coho salmon and steelhead trout that swim up the creek to spawn in the Muir Woods.

We’ll meet for both projects at the Muir Beach parking lot and walk back across Highway 1 to the area in front of the barn at the Golden Gate Dairy Stables. For those who want to ride their bicycles out to Muir Beach, you can lock your bike to the backside of the mailbox row along the highway.

We’ll provide tools, snacks and water. Come dressed in a long sleeve shirt, long pants, boots, and, if the forecast calls for it, rain gear. Heavy rain cancels.

Please contact Tom Boss to RSVP at 415-272-2756 or tom@marinbike.org

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.

The good news is that the open space supervisors seem to acknowledge that to exclude mountain bike use from the open space discussion is a unwise endeavor, and the question is how will MTB use be incorporated?

The Marin IJ has an interesting article you can read here. (beware the annoying popups)

Please vote, and show how many people are open to MTB use on trails through our parks.  It works elsewhere, why not here? Separate but equal, a bike park, or some such consolation has to be given to the half of the populace that strives for access.

But if you ride a bicycle, an inanimate, and non-furry creature (with exceptions of burning man and durham bikes) then you are told you can’t ride anywhere but the widest roads.  You cause less damage, ride in plenty of control, and contribute to volunteer trail workdays.  Lets change all this, shall we? Please spread the word and help change the awful trail access situation in Marin.

So many shoes, so many shoes, that our kids will soon have beautiful trails to ride and glorious bike parks to explore…  Nike, the same powers that brought Union Square visitors the giant, gaunt, and intense poster of Lance Armstrong’s race face are now running a 650,000 dollar grant to support community and school groups which aim to unlock the potential of young people through programs that focus on sport.   Well, as you can see in the current lead story – SF Urban riders is all about getting the young’ns out on the trail.

We need your help to secure funding from this unique opportunity. Please follow this link to vote for our group and spread the word via facebook!

With your help we can secure funding to organize regular youth rides and skills camps.  If anyone remembers our skills clinics at the local Pilarcitos race series last fall, those type of programs are exactly what we will expand upon and bring to more places, with more quality features, challenges and lessons to engage and exhilarate children who stop by, no matter what their age.  If you don’t remember the events, perhaps the images and video below might stir your imagination.

Thank you for helping us in this unique community based fundraiser.

Maybe it will never be that easy. It probably shouldn’t ever be that easy. However, the easiest thing you can do to enhance and expand your riding experiences when you venture to the land of Tam, Repack, Headlands, and Tamarancho is to visit IMBA’s site and write comments into the local government. There are miles of sustainable, beautiful trail, that we are not allowed to use solely because of our choice of vehicle. Let’s take one more step towards a beautiful future where cyclists, hikers, dog walkers and runners can all share miles and miles of beautiful trails.  Please take a moment to write in and indicate your support for more mountain bike access to our local trails.

Click HERE to take action and help open up one more trail to mountain bikers.  And be sure to use this whole interweb to tell a few people about us and about this opportunity for new singletrack access in Marin.