For those individuals that want a bike park, this is the chance to show your support. Maybe you haven’t made all the meetings. Or, maybe you haven’t been out to all of our events. Well, now there’s a great way to show your support and let everyone know that “Cyclists in San Francisco want McLaren Bike Park!”. Become an MBP Founder!!!

Bike Industry folks… Show the community how much you support off-road cycling in San Francisco by becoming an MBP Founder, and lay claim to getting San Francisco’s first bike rolling. Here are the details:

Individual Founders

What you give: Tax deductible donation of $100 or more.

What you get:

• Thanks and bragging rights! You helped get the bike park started.
• An MBP Founders facebook badge.
• Your name on the MBP website.
• Ultimately have your logo/name visibly ackowledged at McLaren Bike Park.
• Did we mention you get a free t-shirt?

Bike Shop Founders

What you give: Tax deductible donation of $300 or more.

What you get:

• Thanks and bragging rights! You helped get the bike park started.
• An MBP Founders badge for your website and facebook page.
• Your shop name on the MBP website.
• Ultimately have your shop name visibly ackowledged at McLaren Bike Park.
• 2 MBP T-shirts.

Industry Founders

What you give : Tax deductible donation of $1000 or more.

What you get:

• Thanks and bragging rights! You helped get the bike park started.
• An MBP Founders badge for your website and facebook page.
• Your company name and logo placed on the MBP website.
• Ultimately have your company name physically acknowledged at McLaren Bike Park.
• 5 MBP t-shirts.

Here’s the fine print:

Click here to make your tax deductible donation.

Shortly thereafter, you’ll be added to the founders list here.

If you want to pay by check, please make them out to SF Parks Alliance, and note SF Urban Riders / McLaren Bike Park Founders Club. Mail to: SF Urban Riders c/o Dustin Smith, 221 Warren Dr., San Francisco, CA 94131. Or if you’re in the bay area, email me, and I’ll come pick ‘em up! Click here for the form to donate by check.

75% goes directly to McLaren Bike Park Design and Development. 20% to the SF Urban Riders general fund for operating costs and youth programs. 5% to SF Parks Alliance, SFUR’s non-profit fiscal host.

For more info contact dustin@sfurbanriders.org.

Thanks for your support!!!

In conjunction with National Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, locally organized by SF Urban Riders, we’ll be holding the third and final Community Design Meeting. In the first two meetings we gathered community input and created a Conceptual Plan to take to the SF Recreation and Parks Commission in October. The third meeting will be a final chance for cyclists and the community the view the plan, make suggestions and rally around the cause. If you want a bike park, WE NEED YOU to come support it in this meeting.

There’ll be refreshments on hand, a raffle for T-shirts and some big sur-prizes.

Location:

Multi Purpose Room – HERZ PLAYGROUND
1700 Visitacion Ave @ Hahn St
San Francisco  CA, 94134

Click here for a map

Time:

2:00 – 3:30 pm

If you have kids and want them to experience mountain biking in McLaren Park, come out to Take a Kid Mountain biking Day from 9am – 2pm. Meet in the Eastern Parking Lot at intersection of Mansell St and Visitacion Ave. Click here for more details.

If you attend Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, We’ll head over to Herz Playground together for the meeting just before 2pm.

Check back soon for more details…

After introductions from Alex Randolph, SFRPD, and a brief description of where were are in the process from SFUR’s Dan Schneider and Dustin Smith, Alpine Bike Parks’ Judd de Vall took attendees through photos of various bike park features that were suggested in Design Meeting #1 as well as a few thoughts on how to effectively integrate BMX features into a predominately dirt park. After much productive discussion, we moved into comparison/contrast of the three conceptual bike park layouts that Alpine had created.

Concepts A and B had a similar overall layout with a secondary start hill dividing a L/XL slopestyle section of the park from a more intermediate and beginner section. Concept C eliminated that separation and unified the entire slopestyle area. There was much discussion around this main structure of the park, but the consensus was to keep the two areas separate for a few reasons: 1. It’s safer to keep levels of experience a bit separate from one another. 2. Two slopestyle sections will allow for variety and more berms and turns vs. a few long trails all the way down the hill.

Most attendees preferred the option of a single slalom course and short track DH option in option B,  to more Freeride trails in option A. How many pumptracks, placement and level of difficulty was another primary discussion. Almost unanimously, a small kid pumptrack and/or roller area was preferred to a flat space for kids to learn how to ride. All felt that could be done in a parking lot or tennis court. Rolling features may be incorporated into a youth pumptrack toward the bottom of the park in the revised design. A more expert level pumptrack may be incorporated into the XL Slopestyle course. There was a lot of discussion around this as everyone wants at least 2 pumptracks, but doesn’t want to give up too much space in the plan to get them. We all look forward to Alpine’s proposed solution in the next meeting.

Everyone attending the meeting was given a few minutes to talk about their personal style of riding and what each would want in the park. That’s a big perk of showing up. You will be heard. And you will play a real and tangible role in the design of this park.

Sharon Hewitt from the Sunndyale neighborhood, and project manager for CLAER (Community Leadership Academy Emergency Response) stopped by to talk to the group for a few minutes as well. She told some heartening stories about past gang violence in the neighborhood and offered her help with the park in whatever ways are needed. Her request was that we all work together to further the development of this great city and help stop the violence that plagues the Sunnydale neighborhood. SFUR feels that a bike park will help to more integrate all demographics of the city. Two wheels can unite any two people.

The next step is for Alpine to incorporate feedback from Meeting #2 and comments on the design options into one conceptual park design. In the next round we will see more actual features incorporated into the open sections of the current concept plans which focus on the flow and layout of the park.

Look for details on MBP Design Meeting #3 to come. The tentative date is September 1st from 6:30 to 8pm. Location may be the same, but please check back for details. Thanks so so so so much to everyone that came and played a part in the meeting.

1. A kids skills area. Caution against making the park a kiddie playground.
2. A perimeter loop for all skill levels. Allow it to flow, not stop and start.
3. Progressive jumps and table top lines catering to 3 levels of riders, but stacked with flow, berms and turns. The expert lines should be set up to encourage tricks. Don’t just line table tops up in a row.
4. Slopestyle features including drops, wallrides and berms. Integrate them into the hillside, rocks and through the trees.
5. Grind rails and bike park elements, but integrated into the dirt features.
6. Skills features for all ages and skill levels like logs and skinnies, rollers and pumptracks.
7. The ability to have competitions to raise money for park maintenance, etc. A competitive jump line (amateur and pro), Highly technical Short track DH run, Dual and/or single timed slalom, Trials area, Cyclocross elements…
8. Take all entry points and trails/paths from all neighborhoods into consideration when designing the park.
9. Build awareness of hikers and other usergroups so that safety and etiquette are top of mind.
10. Create a space for bike maintenance, and bike loan program. Educate neighborhood youth on how to keep up their bikes as well as how to ride them safely.
11. Take all natural areas, plants and terrain into consideration when designing and building the park. Restore and plant native species where possible.

All who attended the meeting filled out comment forms. Click here to see a consolidated list.

Throughout the course of the meeting, notes from the discussion were written on easel cards. Those notes unedited are as follows:

• Progression (for all skill levels)
• Rainwater catchment (to water trails and irrigate)
• Natural water feature – rain garden – using stormwater
• 3 categories: Beginners Loop, Intermediate Pump Track/Terrain, Advanced – For broad appeal
• Will require on-site water recycling (SFPUC)
• Incorporate green elements
• Trail surfacing – clayey consistency for durability
• Expense of asphalt removal? Needs testing and review of alternatives. $80k!
• Clarify 3 design meetings:
• 1. Gather input
• 2. Present 3 alternative concepts
• 3. present draft concept plan
• 3 neighborhoods involved…
• Is the proposed location the best? How was location decided? Some folks want community garden here.
• Look at Brazil Street site
• Put comments form on R+P website
• Dust control – try to minimize water needed by using tackifiers.
• Love the contained park.  How to avoid conflicts w/ hikers elsewhere in park?
• Educate riders.
• Good signage for trail etiquette
• 3 lines of dirt jumps: Tabletops, gaps
• Starting hill
• A local’s park
• 1st priority for young kids , then go to more extreme
• Even where kids can learn to ride
• Pump track good for wide age range
• Opportunity to borrow bikes (SFUR is trying for grants to buy bikes) SFRPD can provide programming.
• Storage for bikes, repair shop
• Bathroom
• Repair skills classes
• Step on step off
• shade structure
• Hang out / gathering area
• bleachers up at top of hill
• adequate parking
• facilities for kids to just ride around
• Challenging = fun tot track
• skills course
• cyclocross course/features
• Need safe routes to bike to park
• kids area at bottom where flatter
• Kid area: Fenced play area, part paved/part dirt, clubhouse for parents, buffer from older kids (doubles as rain garden)
• Fencing/buffer to keep kids safe. Not needed throughout.
• Fencing along road to prevent night use. Aesthetically pleasing/soft. And to keep people off fast trails.
• Tree plantings for wind block.
• Integration between Cr-Am. + Sunnydale.
• Crosswalks/traffic calming.
• Needs transportation plan.
• Typical route: from persia bike lanes on S.D. separated from road
• Current sidewalk is bad.
• Complete streets
• Landscaping around features
• Family route should be long and continuous
• overpass
• Don’t make it exclusive kids park. Something for everybody.
• Picnic/rest area – nook out of wind
• “Filer features” at top of trails.
• Buffers so bikes don’t fly onto another trail
• Safety checks, maintained properly
• Younger riders talk with older to learn.
• Shop can be social space to blur the user groups
• Security/Theft concerns
• Sunnydale slated for redevelopment – 4x more people – review architect’s plan.
• Program events for revenue
• Donor Recognition Program
• Rideable artwork
• Ramps will get tagged
• Maybe invite artists to do good art
• Give them time to do pro graffiti art. Give them a place in the bike culture

Before we go over what happens next, here’s a recap of what happened at the first meeting for those that couldn’t make it.

After everyone had assembled at the community center and picked up maps, bike park enthusiasts headed over to the potential park site to assess the space in person.

Grouping at the community center before heading to the potential park site

We had a slight delay in getting started, as there was a golf advertisement filming when the group arrived. Our group waiting patiently until they finished their final takes; then it was time to walk around and explore the space we would be working with.

The space is larger than it appears at a first glance.

While a number of us have been to the prospective site, walking through the entire space really demonstrated that the space feels larger that one’s first impression, especially if the space in the trees becomes available.

Matt and Jesse, designing their dream bike park.

A number of ideas were batted around by those present, and splitting up, we wandered through the site to get a feel for the site, and began to work on envisioning our dream bike park. After some time, the group headed back to the community center for the official meeting. Alex Randolph from SFRPD welcomed everyone. Dan Schneider, SFUR Executive Director talked about the mission of SF Urban Riders. Dustin Smith, MBP Project Manager explained the goals of meeting #1. Judd from Alpine Bike Parks gave a presentation about some of the possible features we could have incorporated into the park — pump tracks, flow trails, dirt jumps, wall rides and more were discussed. Getting a bike park built is a much bigger discussion than what kind of features we’ll want to ride though. Parking, bathrooms, windbreaks, and landscaping are just some of the additional details that need to be addressed in the design. Some of the local residents brought up a number of additional concerns regarding the space in general as well.

Now - just an empty wasted space... hopefully not for long.

Judd from Alpine Bike Parks discusses the possibilities.

Riders in attendance included freestyle BMX concrete park enthusiasts, cross country mountain bikers, and gravity oriented mountain bikers.

It is exciting stuff- to quote SFUR Executive Director, Dan Schneider, “We are entering the exciting territory of real bike park design input…. and needless to say we all want the best 2 acre bike bark in the world!”

McLaren Bike Park Community Design Meeting #2

Thursday July 28th  from 6pm-8pm
Location:  John McLaren Elementary School   – Cafeteria
2055 Sunnydale Ave  SF, CA  94112

map link:   http://maps.google.com

Big School complex across from MBP Site ( Google marker is not accurate)

The Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, CO.

We realize that a new bike park located in Colorado may not excite everyone, as a trip to Boulder is quite a journey that many of us in the Bay Area may not get to make in the near future. However, hopefully this gets us all thinking of the possibilities of what we could build in our own backyard.

While the above photo highlights some of the larger and camera friendly features of the Valmont Park, the park consists of more than just big jumps for aspiring stuntmen.

Alpine designs and builds MTB skills features for kids of all ages. Photo courtesy of Alpine Bike Parks.

Alpine Bike Parks comes to us fresh off the construction of Valmont, which is the most progressive and ambitious public bike park outside of a ski area/ resort to date. Their park design resume consists of building features for all levels of riding, as well as riding styles. In addition to the media friendly slopestyle course, there are multiple pump and jump tracks that cater to beginner and intermediate skill levels as well as “flow trails.” There are also beginner and intermediate single track loops with challenge sections designed to foster technical skills.

A challenge section on the trails at Valmont.

There is even a cyclocross course.

One of the more progressive areas of park design they have been driving is the use of more sustainable building materials like wood and steel. Making park features from dirt results in an intensive maintenance schedule, and comes with the need for constant watering and reshaping of lips. By spending a bit more initially, our park will be around much longer for years to come.

Construction of one of the wood jump features of the Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, CO.

Of course, our park won’t just be made from wood and steel. We love riding dirt just as much as you, and variety is one of the reasons the SFUR McLaren Bike Park committee chose Alpine to help us during the design process. Most of the park will feature natural materials like earth and rock.

Beautifully shaped piles of dirt, ready for your shredding pleasure.

Alpine comes to us with their book of designs ready to be repurposed for use here locally, and many of their park features are ready to be plugged straight  into our park project. It will also help keep park costs down, which as you all probably know is one of the big hurdles we still have to face in bringing our very own bike park to reality. Since funding is still one of the challenges we still face, remember to help spread the word about this Saturday’s Community Design Workshop, and raising awareness of this potentially incredible project. We’ll also have MBP shirts for sale for $20 (cash) with all proceeds to go to Bike Park Design. We hope to see you there.

All photos courtesy of Alpine Bike Parks

Just got this flyer from SFRPD’s planning folks and its pretty obvious they’re psyched about the meeting. Great flyer guys! And thanks for the support! Looking forward to Saturday, June 18th. It’s gonna be a fun and important day for MBP, SFUR and SFRPD!