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BTCEB's December Buzz . . .
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#RecreateResponsibly, #StayVigilant #RideSmartDoYourPart  As we all know the COVID situation has not improved and only gotten worse. We at the BTCEB would like to remind all trail users to wear masks, ride within your abilities, and stay local if you can. Here's a great idea: ride to the trail head if you can! We know it's not always possible but be smart about how and where you ride. Do your part to help keep us all safe!
The above graphic paints a cautionary (no pun intended) tale. Just image yourself creating these comets. Or riding through a comet tail. We all can make the most impact to limit the potential spread of the virus by wearing a mask while riding or have one in easy reach to pull up when coming upon other trail users. Earlier this year BTCEB among other mountain biking organizations helped sponsor an educational video related to COVID and safe trail use. Now more than ever is it relevant.
Although outdoor recreation activities have not been substantively changed with the recent tightening of the pandemic shelter at home orders it is critical to continue to be considerate of all trail users.
Stay safe and happy trails! Virtual Gala Rides are Here!
By Scott Bartlebaugh and Jamuel Starkey
 In the era of Covid we can’t do our normal Gala rides but we’re reaching out to provide some incentive to get out and ride and give you some possible routes to explore. To that end we bring you A Separately Together Gala Ride. They way it works is we'll provide three curated rides with increasing difficulty similar to our regular Gala rides (A, B, and C hardest to easiest). The inaugural December virtual gala ride is at Crockett Hills Regional Park. Crockett Hills offers great views, single track, low technicality, and a few steeper but shorter climbs. Those climbs get easier the more you do them. Really, they do.The best way to participate in this month's ride is head over to the BTCEB Strava Club. If you are not yet a member of our Strava club, please give us a day or so to approve you. Membership in the BTCEB Strava Club is open to the public.
Over on Strava we are testing out some functionality to provide for ride tracking and possible promotional giveaways on future virtual gala rides. To help us get prepped for possible giveaways on future virtual gala rides we ask that if you haven't already, please allow us to track your progress on your upcoming rides:
For your rides to appear in our club leaderboards on the BTCEB website you will need to provide authorization (aka opt-in) for the BTCEB Strava Club to collect data on your rides. By joining the BTCEB Strava club any other members of the Strava club will be able to see your logged activities. By opting-in to BTCEB collecting your rides activities we will be able to also publish them individually or in aggregate on our website or in social media posts. BTCEB will not use your ride activity days for any other purpose.
Even if you don't want to participate in any of the social media aspects of the Virtual Gala Ride we encourage you to get out and ride any!
More details can be found on the BTCEB website.
Goldfinch Trail Work continues at Crockett Hills
by Scott Bartlebaugh 
Goldfinch is a seasonal trail in the south end of the park. It's typically closed from March through September due to nearby nesting Golden Eagles.
BTCEB volunteers have cleared the vegetation and made some progress on improving the tread. The first rain of the season while meager did help the workability of the soil. It's still a work in progress but it's steadily improving. More wheels on it will accelerate the progression so take it for a test ride next time you're out there.
BTCEB Membership Drive
by Mike Udkow While membership on our Meetup site continues to grow to over 4,000 followers, membership in the BTCEB, your mountain biking organization, has been lagging comparatively.
To grow, to survive, and to represent the mountain biking community, we need your support. Your membership dues support our Gala rides and our RLaG program, pays for our insurance, helps to support NorCal High School MTBing and supports trail work at China Camp, Rockville, Fernandez and Crockett. We are hard at work developing the JMP Pump Track. Our Board of Directors meets bi-monthly to discuss all topics relevant to local mountain biking.
Membership levels start at $30, with a $15 student/hardship level. Lifetime membership is $500.
Aside from the dues, we truly need and value your membership.
Please join or renew today at www.btceb.orgSee you on the trails! BTCEB via on Social Media
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From the Dusty Trail . . .
In Defense of Unfancy Bikes
by Tom Gandesbery
Courtesy Vintage MTB Workshop: 1980 Series II Breezer #15
The other day I happened to be up at Joaquin Miller Park on one of our beautiful fall days in mid-November checking out how the pump track was looking after our first rain (answer: pretty good with just one set of tire tracks from just one clueless person).
And I looked across the road in time to see a guy whip his old Toyota truck in a dramatic U-turn to park at the Sequoia-Bayview Trailhead. Strapped to the side of his rig’s lumber rack was a 1980’s era “first generation” mountain bike. You know the kind: pre-suspension with that “unicrown” fork, cantilever brakes, Y-shaped stem, stretched out geometry, and yes even a chromed frame. A Classic. But just minutes earlier I had seen a half dozen guys unloading their very modern looking full-suspension rides: bikes that may cost as much as a decent used car. So now I wondered: who of this loose assemblage of trail cyclists would be having the most fun? Sure, having the latest tech can be a “game changer”, to use that worn out expression. But what if you don’t know what you are missing? What if every time you get out on that 1988 Rockhopper, your enjoyment level pegs at TEN, while the guy with the $5,000 Hi-Mod-Evo-Enduro-Endo-Xtreme-Comp is busy obsessing over pre-load settings and is slightly tormented by the second mortgage that got him the new ride (and new kitchen cabinets which is neither here nor there). Sometimes the thing that helps creates the experience gets in the way.
This also got me thinking about my first mountain bike, which even back then was definitely unfancy. Actually, not at all an actual mountain bike, but what might be considered a close cousin to the "proto" mountain bike: the trusty, rusty Schwinn. Back when they were made in Chicago out of surplus locomotive parts.  Mine was called the “Collegiate” and had five speeds; whereas, the original Marin County Repack machines were mostly modified single-speed, 1940's era Schwinn “Newsboys”. You can see them in action in the highly recommended MTB origins documentary Klunkers (available on Amazon Prime Video). 
I recalled, growing up in the (flat, flat, flat!) Sacramento Valley, many a day riding off-road with my friends along rock strewn railroad tracks, bombing down into drainage ditches and building jumps out of scrap lumber amongst the half-constructed subdivision homes. In the heyday of Evil Knievel we were all fixated on jumping over things, occasionally other humans. Sure, a modern mountain bike would have been far more capable than that old Schwinn, but I’m not sure I would have had more fun. And I’m not arguing against getting the latest greatest bike if that’s what you crave. After all, there are myriad other more wasteful and unhealthy ways to blow through your disposable income! (loaded Sprinter Van anyone?) But one of the beautiful things about the bicycle is the democratic way it gives access to all income levels to trails. And in beautiful public places like Joaquin Miller Park, old tech or new.
Point Molate Bay Trail Funded for Construction‼️
by Bruce Beyaert, Trails for Richmond Action Committee
Fantastic news! The City of Richmond and East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) have been awarded $2.2 million for building 2.5 miles of Bay Trail along the shoreline from the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Trail to the northern border of the City’s Point Molate property at Stenmark Drive. The California Natural Resources Agency announced the award of these Prop. 68 Recreational Trails & Greenways program grants on December 9th.
These grants complete funding for construction of this $6.5 million project when combined with Plan Bay Area Priority Conservation Area grants of $2.2 million, EBRPD funds from Measures CC, FF & WW, and funds provided to the City by Chevron in 2009 as settlement of litigation over underpayment of utility user taxes. EBRPD has funded design plans now at the 65% preliminary stage, approved a Mitigated Negative Declaration under CEQA and applied for the major permits required. Construction should be completed by the end of 2021.
This will be more than a multi-use trail. It will provide the first public access to this shoreline, other than Point Molate Beach Park, since the Huichin tribe of Ohlones dwelled on this stretch of San Francisco Bay shoreline. The first mile of trail from the RSR Bridge will follow a shoreline easement granted by Chevron to EBRPD, while the remaining 1.5 miles will be on the City’s Point Molate property.
See TRAC’s website for more information about Bay Trail plans for the Point San Pablo Peninsula.
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Reminder: As a BTCEB member, you can receive a 10 percent or higher discount for parts at many of the bike shops in the East Bay. You just have to ask. Thank you to the many bike shop sponsors for your support!
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ABOUT BTCEB
BTCEB is a one-stop shop. We defend access rights. We lead volunteers to build sustainable trails and repair historic trails. We host social rides. We teach underprivileged kids to ride. We fund youth mountain bike race teams. The list goes on because as riders we can do more together than individually. If you have not already, please consider joining us as a member. Many bike shops in the East Bay grant a 10% discount on bike parts to BTCEB Membership Card holders. It is just another benefit of joining BTCEB. Thank you to all the East Bay bike shops that support our efforts both on and off the trails!
CONTACT US
Do you have a good ride story, trailwork report, or other bike trail news? Tell us about it. Please send a paragraph with 150 words or less with a pic (under 10MB please) and/or link telling us about trailwork, rides, events, or any good mountain bike effort to bring our community together, etc. Please send via email to our editor Jamuel Starkey (with pictures if possible) at: buzz@btceb.org
BTCEB BOARD MEMBERS Jerott King, Presidentinfo@btceb.orgJon Running, Membership Directormembership@btceb.orgYvette Skinner, Vice President
Tom Holub, Secretary
Alan Enrici, Treasurer
Austin McInerny, Advocacy Directoradvocacy@btceb.orgBen Brunetti, Trails Directortrails@btceb.orgJosh Church, Education and Promotion Director
Jamuel Starkey, Communications DirectorTom Gandesbery, Director-at-Large
Scott Bartlebaugh, Director-at-Large |
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