Why SF Urban Riders? Why bother? Because of the pure enjoyment that comes from gathering good people together, and enjoying the experience of a bicycle adventure together.  Laughing, looking, and leaning through turns and berms, one after another.   That’s why we lead group rides.  That’s why we’re working to create more off road opportunities in SF Parkland.

Cyclocrossers, Singlespeeders, Frankenbikers, Trailbikers, and Dirt Jumpers united this last Sunday under the banner of a SF Urban Riders group ride.  One accomplice even came down from the land of Sonoma for, “something different”.  Seems that even though you can have the endless miles of singletrack of Annandel and West County out your back door, there’s always that allure of park/pavement/burger/beer combination that our fair city serves up so very well.

We met up around 9ish.  I say ‘ish’ because in proper mountain biker style, no one had a watch on or was really worried about exact times.  While we waited for a friend to arrive, we practiced wheelies and bunnyhops to bide the time. I also took pictures of us not practicing. Easier photo subjects, if somewhat less interesting.

Our route went out through some fun trails in Golden Gate Park, carefully plotting our route around and through the Nike Women’s Marathon – though we did get some free chips out of the deal.   They were worth the price, and that’s about all I can say for popchips.  A new spot to me, who has been riding in GGP for the last five years, was the dump yard out near the beach, and talk about a potential bike park area, there’s already a ton of material there, and no use other than allowing RPD to dump materials.  That and ride down hills,

Past Graffitti walls,

And through puddles, as boys on bikes must do.

From there, we went up to Mt. Sutro, which was beautifully moist from the fog and recent rain.  Per typical, it felt like a wonderful escape from the city, from San Francisco, and everything urban.

From there, we went out to Twin Peaks, Whiz Burger, and Zeitgeist.  There aren’t much for trails in the latter two spots, but there are certain other attractions beyond bicycles and trails after one has spent a few hours on bicycles on trails…

Hope to see some more folk, or just more of the same next month, or simply crossing paths on our fine SF trails.  We’ve got a lot of room to get better, but it’s pretty damn nice as is.  Now go out and ride your bikes.