Cause if some people had their way, you won’t. It hurts and saddens me that we’ve had this effect on people, and that some folk percieve mountain bike usage in this way, but here are some conversations that have been floating around since the event. And I admit, the trails that so many people rode through on Sunday weren’t perfect, weren’t designed for mountain bike usage, and perhaps encroached on sensitive wild areas. But we need a place to play. And to that end, I urge you,
Write a short letter to:
jared.blumenfeld@sfgov.org (thanks reader, for pointing out the incorrect email. It’s all better now)
lisa_wayne@sfgov.org
Expressing your attendance or non-attendance at the event, your love for mountain biking, your residence in San Francisco, and the overwhelming need for more accessible mountain biking areas in San Francisco.
Express how our goals are one and the same: To preserve and treasure the trails that they hike on, that we soil saloon on. Express how we can share, how the trails can serve all users, and how the damage that mountain bikes cause on natural terrain is a myth.
PLEASE WRITE A QUICK EMAIL. SF TRAILS, AND THE FUTURE OF EVENTS BOTH LEGITIMATE AND ILLEGITIMATE ARE AT STAKE.
FYI, here are some of the conversations going around.
From: Mr. Stan Kaufman, hater
To: Jared Blumenfeld, director of SF Rec and Parks
…On Sunday 11/16, over 400 bike riders participated in “SF_FLOW”, a 30 mile ride through all of the most important SNRAs — Mt Davidson, Glen Canyon, Twin Peaks, Mt Sutro, and McLaren Park. The riders rode — skidded and dug would be more appropriate verbs — over steep trails, many of which are eroded, “informal” trails that Natural Areas Program staff have been trying to close. Riders also rode off trail whenever they fancied…
…Unfortunately, this event is only the latest and largest example of destructive activities by the mountain bike community. These people have built humps, jumps, moguls, and other “course features” in McLaren Park and Glen Canyon and on SFPUC land at Laguna Honda — of course without permits or permission. (More information is here: http://sfnaturalareas.org/entries/105)…
The Significant Natural Resource Areas are valuable, irreplaceable assets to which hundreds of volunteers contribute tens of thousands of hours each year. It is completely unacceptable for one small special interest group to expropriate and ruin the value of these public lands for their own destructive personal entertainment.
Current Rec&Park Department policy prohibits bikes in all parks except on paved sidewalks or roads. This prohibition of biking in the SNRAs should be clearly signed and enforced by the Park Patrol and SFPD. The City Attorney’s Office should prosecute the responsible parties for the destruction done to date and send cease and desist notices to all biking organizations.
——and this guy is just an angry citizen. The worrisome letter comes next.——-
from: Lisa Wayne, head of the Natural Areas Program of the SF RPD and the land manager responsible for Mt Davidson, Twin Peaks, Glen Canyon, McLaren Park.
to: a bunch of folk.
Hi Folks,
I wanted to alert you to a recent event that occurred in natural areas
throughout San Francisco on Sunday. This unsanctioned, un-permitted and
destructive bike “race” was attended by over 400 people. As you will see
from this video, bikers tore up the trails, created new trails and
destroyed habitat. Most of the footage shows Glen Canyon, but the race
went through endangered species habitat at Twin Peaks, McLaren Park and San
Bruno Mountain, through rich grasslands at Bernal and Mt. Davidson, and the
list goes on.
Some people have stepped up to help out in the immediate future by alerting
the media, contacting the city attorney and coordinating with enforcement
agencies. Thanks so much.
We really need your help to get the word out that this activity is
destructive to our natural areas and that the destruction must be stopped.
Please feel free to forward this message along to other interested
individuals.
In addition, I am also interested identifying individuals who can join us
in a dialogue with the bike community about mountain bike use and
conservation in San Francisco natural areas. If you are interested, please
let me know.
Thanks, Lisa
Lisa Wayne
San Francisco Recreation and Park Department
Natural Areas Program
831-6326
If anyone can make the positive change happen, these guys can.
This just in: If you’d like to make life easier, and a little less personal, just copy and paste the following letter in your email:
SAMPLE RESPONSE LETTER - COPY AND PASTE
Dear SF Rec & Park
As a proud cyclist and a citizen of San Francisco I am concerned with the fact that there is Not One Acre of SF RPD land that is dedicated to recreational cycling. In comparison there are Six Municipal Golf Courses using more than 500 Acres and another 125 Acres dedicated to Off Leash Dog Parks.
Recreational Cycling and access to Open Space Trails also both ranked extremely high in the 2004 SFRPD Recreational Assesment Report ( Pages 17-18).
With the inflamed allegations of off road cycling being destructive, illegal, and unworthy of inclusion into our Open Space Planning I feel the need to say I SUPPORT ALL TYPES OF BICYCLES IN OUR PARKS.
We look forward to an Open Discussion about these issues
(Your Name Here)
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~ by Lonesome Hank on November 21, 2008.
Posted in Uncategorized
You’ve made the splash! Now it’s time to act. An underground event that gather “400″ riders shows there is a clear need for trails in SF parks. So far there is NOTHING available.
Opening trails is a long and painful process.
Everything starts by ANTI BIKES good citizens crying about the destruction of natural habitat – which is bullshit: mountain bikes staying on trails are less disruptive than pedestrians and are not a more significant erosion factor (see http://www.imba.com/resources/science/index.html).
It’s important to keep the pressure up to make the parks’ administration realize they’ve better manage mountain bike riding than ban it.
The solution is to pitch for a network of new bike specific trails – like Tamarancho.
The process may take 2 to 4 years from initial talks to completion.
Associating the project with IMBA is key.
Getting all the SF community behind the project will help – there is thousands of MTBikers in this city. Certainly as much as regular tennis players: every major parks have tennis courts but no bike trails!
julien said this on November 21, 2008 at 8:11 pm |
400 riders! Where’d Mr. Kaufman get that stat?
Damian said this on November 21, 2008 at 10:23 pm |
I hope this post is followed up with another that suggests ways in which the next soil saloon could avoid trails not meant for bikes and sensitive wild areas. We all need a place to play – but even playgrounds have some rules. I bike myself and I’m happy to support recreational biking in our parks – but I am also sensitive to those who invest their time in habitat restoration and their dismay at seeing off-trail riding in the areas they work to protect.
kipp said this on November 21, 2008 at 11:26 pm |
WRONG EMAIL ADDRESS FOR JARED BLUMENFELD
Head of parks and rec is Jared.Blumenfeld@sfgov.org
He is head of the DOE, an active bike supporter (spoke at Golden Wheel Awards this year) so yes Write him, know that he is empathetic to cyclists but also has to cowtow to a lot of people.
Mo Devlin said this on November 22, 2008 at 12:53 am |
Is there a place we can see these other letters? It would be useful in addressing some of the bad information being presented against us.
Jim said this on November 22, 2008 at 2:32 am |
are there other video of the race to watch? the links on this post don’t work.
colette said this on November 22, 2008 at 3:40 am |
what a sad turn of events. I sent my own personally worded letter…this is pretty ridiculous in a certain sense because the mountain bikers that I know go out of their way to preserve outdoor spaces! not to mention, can anyone point out the “destruction” from last weekend to me? and…400 people or more? really? ugh.
leah said this on November 22, 2008 at 4:19 am |
Yep, you had some bad apples in the crowd that did some damage– but more importantly they damaged the good will and respect of trail and resource managers usually on your side. You’re right there are not dedicated mountain bike trails for you, it’s pretty damn selfish to believe that is possible in the limited resources of San Francisco. But now you’ve angered the people that advocated bikes being part of the shared trails (and all of San Francisco’s roads) So the rotten apples blew it for a few people. Since this was organized in a way that avoided accountability, then all the participants are accountable for the bad ones. Advocating that people should be cut slack for riding in areas that they shouldn’t because they don’t have their own trail is like me handing a beer to a guy playing golf in your back yard because there are no private country clubs in San Francisco. A lot of goodwill for the biking community was foolishly and ignorantly burned that weekend. Because of the way it was organized and no one was really counting heads, the “bad information being presented against us” is all the info you get. Next time engage the community who manages the resource rather than pissing and moaning when you get publicly slapped for being ignorant while having good intentions. Pat yourself on the back for organizing people in a surprising and amazing way, but also have what it takes to see where it went really wrong and put the hard effort into repairing bridges burned. So using the bad press to spin into a leter campaign on your behalf kinda misses the point that there are some serious and legitimate complaints that will continue to undo a lot of the hard one alliances if not squarely addressed with some additional humility along with the earnestness to advocate for the great life bikes create.
Joe said this on November 22, 2008 at 6:11 am |
Next time tell the skidiots to stay at home and make sure that the riders that do attend stay on the friggin trail. If you can’t ride a tame set of stairs then you should walk your bike.
Highlighting a bunch of hacks bypassing those steps, skidding, and even crashing does not cast legitimate mountain bikers in a positive light.
just a rider said this on November 22, 2008 at 5:46 pm |
There will always be beginner cyclists and people who ride the brakes and skid. There are other bike legal trails where you can skid all you want and not get in trouble. The point is that most parks design, groom and maintain the trails with bikers in mind. The skidding I saw was mostly because the trails aren’t maintained for bikers (off camber, loose, etc.). Even some hikers could get hurt on some sections of those trails. I hiked most of the trails and I noticed tons of old broken glass on the trails too. I think it is a good idea to work with IMBA, SF Urban riders and SF Recreation and Park Department to work on a bike and hiker friendly trail network like every other county in California has. IMBA and SF Urban riders would increase trail maintenance volunteers by the hundreds and lighten the load for SF Rec and Park. Just by bringing IMBA’s knowledge and experience into the mix would be priceless for SF Rec and Parks Dep and SF Urban riders. They would both learn so much. Hopefully SF Rec and park Dep. and SF Urban riders are up to the task.
Damian said this on November 23, 2008 at 1:14 am |
I’m not a “hater” but I am chair of the Friends of Mt Davidson, the volunteer group that has worked one day a month for the past seven years pulling weeds, replacing plants, and otherwise preserving and protecting the threatened plant communities in the officially-designated Significant Natural Resource Areas that you guys ripped through last Sunday.
You bikers are lucky that there are a few like “Joe” and “Just a Rider” to give you a little credibility. It’s amazing to hear the ad hominem attacks made against us park volunteers (the writer of this blog calling me a “hater” is the crowning touch) and the entitled demands you’re making — all without bothering to learn what is going on in these precious public spaces right now.
It may very well be that your well-organized noise will convince the Rec&Parks Commission to toss the many years of investment made to date in protecting these environmental spaces; human society tends to work that way. It will be a sad day when that happens, though.
Stan Kaufman said this on November 23, 2008 at 1:22 am |
To answer the question at the top of the page, no I don’t want to see another Soil Saloon if it means that no one can ride anything in the city. It’s pretty simple really; if you want to ride the trails in the city, ride by yourself or with a few friends, ride early in the morning during the week or get a light and ride at night, and certainly don’t videotape your Sunday afternoon ride with 200 people and post it on youtube. We all must make concessions to enjoy what we have here. I don’t think those few stipulations are so horrible to have to endure. especially if it means future access to the trails that other people have obviously worked hard to create and maintain. I am not a hater either, just someone who understands what riding on public land and private land that is not mine entails. thanks.
city rider said this on November 23, 2008 at 2:24 am |
I personally have had it with the kids leaving comments with run on sentences. It’s akin to skidding around corners and associating a phony organization with a real one. The SF Urban Riders are doing real work around town for the people and this so called “Soil Saloon” is just a buzz-word. They’re not even real.
Clandestine Spaceman said this on November 23, 2008 at 7:31 am |
GRRRRR…….You vermits are starting to chap my hide! I”ll be damned to Perdition if I would ever let any sidewinding, backsliding, hornytoed, cricker-croker, chase me off my land! I got an idea: Why dont you go push up daisies on Boot Hill?
willy nilly and lonesom hank said this on November 23, 2008 at 6:35 pm |
Just wanted to show everyone here the latest post from SF Natural Areas on their website. It seems as upset as they initially were, they are reluctantly willing to work with bikers to take care and maintain these trails in question:
” 2008-11-23 08:23:51 -0800, Tinman said:
There’s a very simple way that mountain bikers can prove that they are as reasonable, conscientious, and committed to “working together” as they claim: they can show up at Natural Areas Program workparties and help out preserving the areas through which they want to ride.
There is abundant information at this web site about select projects, and the entire schedule is here. MTBers can contribute every single weekend of every single month — if they’re not just blowing smoke.
If you’re serious, then Suzanna — the volunteer coordinator at (415) 831-6328 or suzanna.buehl@sfgov.org — should be hearing from you ASAP.
We shall soon see exactly how serious you are.”
Check out the full thread at http://sfnaturalareas.org/
Read the full thread before posting or responding to any posts.
Also see http://www.sfgov.org/site/recpark_index.asp?id=1448
for more info, meeting schedules and events, like Jared Blumenfeld’s 364 mile bike tour through SF parks.
Damian said this on November 23, 2008 at 11:40 pm |
alright, let’s do it then! pick a date and we’ll show up with our “400 riders”.
andrew said this on November 24, 2008 at 7:29 pm |
many dog owners in my neighborhood let their dogs poop in front of my house on the sidewalk and don’t clean it up. hence, i think dogs should be outlawed in san francisco!
a concerned citizen said this on November 26, 2008 at 7:04 am |
Now a word from SF URBAN RIDERS…. ‘Time for Trail Work’
Since everyone agrees we can and should be Good Stewards – Lets Do It!
LOCATION- Mount Sutro Trail System above UCSF
DATE- Saturday December 6th
TIME- 9am – 1pm Pizza & Beer served at 12:30!!!!!
MORE INFO- http://www.natureinthecity.org/mtsutro.php
Gloves and Tools Provided
Join The Mount Sutro Stewards and Nature in the City as we RE-ROUTE a sweet Connector Trail and begin expanding the trail system. Work includes building TWO New Switchbacks which will improve the grade and drainage.
SF Urban Riders would appreciate your help in sharing goodwill and making San Francisco better for off road cycling
Loam Gnome
Loam Gnome said this on November 26, 2008 at 3:38 pm |
Pizza and beer? See you there! I’ll bring the video camera.
Damian said this on December 3, 2008 at 6:27 pm |
I am an avid free rider in sf,i love to urban,dh,dj,etc.i missed the last race and am wondering when the next one is or how i can get be involved.
thanks
josueespana@gmail.com
josue said this on January 9, 2009 at 2:51 am |
Sorry if I haven’t been paying attention. Is this Stanley E. Kaufman who owns the sfnaturalareas,org domain that posts the Tinman rants, the same Stan Kaufman who wrote above saying he was not a hater? Is he Tinman?
Why do these guys always want us to prove ourselves by working with them to expand “natural areas” so we can’t play there anymore?
smurf said this on February 10, 2009 at 7:56 am |