For the first time since the world was turned upside-down by the pandemic, the BTCEB’s board of directors (well, most of us) actually rode mountain bikes together!

We had a blast on the scenic and entertaining trails at Pacifica, followed by an extremely informal board meeting at the excellent Humble Sea Brewing Company.

It’s bizarre to think that we’d never even met many of our fellow board members in person. Videoconferencing is a useful tool, but nothing builds relationships like sweating up climbs and hurtling (responsibly) down sinuous singletrack. Bliss!

Let’s hope this is the start of a new tradition.

For a good time check out this video of Rebecca chasing David down the trail.

BTCEB would like to hear from our community about the MTB environment and needs in the Bay Area. We’ve created a survey that will help us learn about how we can make improvements in our priority setting and our operations. This will translate directly into more effective advocacy when meeting with public land managers and will allow us to align our trail maintenance, group ride programs, and other efforts with your priorities.

The survey should take you about 10 minutes to complete . By completing the survey by August 31, you will automatically be entered into a drawing for a $225 TrailOne Components gift card.

Thank you and and thanks to our friends at TrailOne Components. Ride safely!

BCTEB trail stewardship advocates met with EBPRD trails program staff to discuss expansion of volunteer trail opportunities.  BTCEB has been working in partnership with EBPRD since 2015 at Crockett Hills on volunteer trail work ranging from large trail work days, smaller group work sessions, to individual work sessions.  

BTCEB trail maintenance efforts at Crockett Hills and JMP requires having local members actively involved in identifying and coordinating work with district staff.  The working relationship at Crockett has taken time to develop and is somewhat unique.  Volunteers are limited on what they can do by district labor agreements.  The district is in the process of filling positions on the Small Trails Crew after several years of development.  Volunteer labor is one piece in addition to adding park staff to address a 5 year plus backlog of deferred trail maintenance.  This model or variations therein have potential in other East Bay Regional parks as well. 

As other members of BTCEB have interests in several other parks, we’ll be working with trails program staff to initiate work days and start building programs there.  Initial discussions were focused on Black Diamond & Round Valley in East County, Lake Chabot, and Tilden/Wildcat.  Partners from Wildcat Composite and Berkeley High School MTB were part of the discussion.  During COVID the park district added staff to help manage the logistics of volunteer work and that will help as well.  Additionally we are supporting efforts by the Stewards of Briones to expand opportunities beyond the monthly district work days.  We’re optimistic we’ll be able to see some progress in the coming months.  Stay tuned!

BTCEB advocates reached out to EBRPD board members ahead of their July 21st  planning workshop.   Each board member discussed their particular top priorities for the district at this workshop in the series.   We met with 5 of the 7 board members either virtually, by phone, or in person and discussed key priorities of the Briones Pilot, Wildcat Flow Trail, Contra Loma trail project, increased volunteer trail stewardship opportunities, increased staffing for planning and maintenance of narrow natural surface trails, long distance connectivity and expanded access opportunities across the district.  This was also an opportunity to hear the director’s perspectives  on our key issues and their broader perspectives as well. Dee Rosario was on an extended vacation but we’ll meet with him in the near future. Directors Coffey, Echols, Corbett, Sanwong, and Mercurio took time to meet with us. Additionally BTCEB submitted written public comment to the workshop reiterating our requests and interests.

We appreciate the directors taking time to have discussion with us, hear us out, and have dialogue.   Discussions like these with our elected decision makers are important in putting a face to our mountain bike community.   Nine different BTCEB members were able to participate in these meetings providing a variety of personal experiences and perspectives in these discussions.  This was a significant step in expanding the number of members having conversations with these key decision makers.   Live and written public comment is a key part of the public process but constituent meetings like these are incredibly valuable in having a more in depth discussion than a 3 minute comment and the limited response the public meetings afford.   They’re also helpful in getting to know the directors and to building a positive working relationship as a constituent.  

Board members made the most positive comments supporting further mountain bike access that we’ve heard thus far.  Colin Coffey has mountain bike access as a high priority and supports both the Briones Pilot and the Wildcat project.  He additionally asked for 5 more mtb trail opportunities to be identified and pursued in the next 5 years.  He’s been a proponent of mtb trails at Contra Loma which has biking in it’s land use plan and is less environmentally sensitive than other areas.   Elizabeth Echols was also supportive of more mtb access and noted the significant youth participation.  She was appreciative of the public participation in the April Wildcat meeting and is looking forward to the CEQA evaluation work moving forward.   Dee Rosario expressed support for the Briones Pilot and was interested in evaluation of alternatives in Wildcat.  John Mercurio expressed support for more mtb trails, mtb user input and has a particular parcel in mind that the district is working on acquiring but couldn’t name at this time.  Dennis Waespi asked for a survey of what hikers thought of mountain biking.  Olivia Sanwong didn’t specifically mention mtb access but did speak to the need for more trails.   She has requested that there be a Pleasanton Ridge pilot along the lines of the Briones pilot.   You can view a video of the meeting.

Live public comment was made by Barbara Smith responding to the Sierra Club letter opposing the Wildcat trail and park staff actions.  3 youth mountain bikers also made public comment.   

The EBRPD Board uses a series of workshops or study sessions to facilitate their annual planning process, have discussion, and comply with the Brown Act.   The Brown Act prohibits more than 2 board members discussing district business outside of an agendized public meeting.   The workshops are designed for the board to hear information from staff and discuss their thoughts with each other.  The public is allowed to comment on these workshops as they are with board or committee meetings.  The items for from this July workshop were being collected by staff and will be organized and reviewed in a September board meeting.  The next and last workshop for 2023 will be a Trails Session on Thursday September 26th from 10am – 3pm.  The public can access the meeting either in person at the park’s Peralta Oaks office in Oakland or via Zoom.   Additionally these sessions are usually recorded and available on YouTube.

The  California State Parks planning process is moving forward and they’ve got a mailing list, website and Facebook page up.  The project is a planning effort to incorporate over 3,000 acres of land, located on Tesla Road in eastern Alameda County and known as the Alameda-Tesla Property, into the State Parks System.

Join the project mailing list.  Do this now if you do nothing else.  This is the most important action today.  Scroll to the bottom of the linked page and sign up.   You’ll get direct notification when you can take further action.

If you’re on Facebook follow their page.

Visit their website to learn more about the classification process, general plan, and the overall project.   The website provides a lot of information on the steps that will come and is currently the best source of information.

Park Classification is the key step that determines what uses will be allowed in the unit.  This is a unique opportunity to be involved in.  

The project has two phases:

• Phase I: Park Classification – Conducting assessments of existing site conditions and recommending a park classification and name to the State Park and Recreation Commission for approval.
• Phase II: General Plan and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) – Developing the Alameda-Tesla General Plan, which will direct the long-range management, development, and operation of the site.

Throughout both phases of the project, the public will have multiple opportunities to give input, including surveys, workshops, and public meetings.

How You Can Participate!

• Visit AlamedaTeslaPlan.com to learn more about the project.
• Join the project mailing list

If you have any questions after visiting the website, please send them to info@AlamedaTeslaPlan.com

In case you’re not aware of the Briones Pilot Program here’s a little background first.  After 100’s of hours of meetings and trail tours with EBRPD planning staff and members of organizations that have historically advocated against increased bike access on public lands, BTCEB is thrilled to report on the Briones Park Pilot Project, a two-year pilot project intended to test a variety of trail management strategies. The pilot project is limited to a portion of Briones Regional Park in the northeast corner of the park (Project Map). The pilot project was launched on April 21, 2023 and establishes specific rules limiting trail use within the Pilot Project Zone and for two trail segments adjacent to the Pilot Project Zone, such as hiking only, biking only, or biking/hiking only and direction of travel. On weekends, trail use within the Pilot Project Zone alternates between bicycle and equestrian based on even and odd calendar dates (see table). A key component of the Project is the restoration of illegally built “bootleg” trails to protect natural habitat for wildlife.

The Briones Pilot project continues forward with a variety of items.   The July Dig Day was hosted in partnership with the Stewards of Briones (SOBs) who are a group of local Briones riders that are becoming a formalized group.   Work was focused on a Hank & Frank line on rebuilding berms, jumps, drainage, and removing breaking bumps.   The SOBs crew organized the work and got support from park district staff including a water trailer.  Hoses were run to allow wetting the work areas the day before and during the work day.  Water availability was critical to being able to do this type of dirt work this time of year.  Roughly 40 people attended and included hikers and trail runners.  EBRPD Director John Mercurio attended and was pleased with what he saw.  In particular he was impressed with the patience, knowledge and instruction  experienced volunteers shared with newbies.  John brings a history of trail work experience mainly with hiking trails so the exposure to mtb features was educational.  The work day was also attended by Midpen Open Space district Craig Gleason who was a repeat participant.  A lot of good work was done and the stoke was high.  Park District work days are scheduled for August through October and sign ups are released periodically.

As noted, a group of local riders are formally organizing as the Stewards of Briones to engage the park district in Briones specific trail stewardship and advocacy.  BTCEB is taking a supporting role.  We attended a meeting with SOB leadership and park district staff that was very productive and included frank discussion on items that are working and items that both the district and the mtb community would like to see improved.  

The park district has progressed into some enforcement actions inside and outside of the pilot area at Briones.  There was at least one report of park police not being aware of the ride around option of Orchard trail on ‘off’ days for users.   Please continue to use the online feedback option to the park district for things that aren’t working, things that are working, and things you’d like to see them consider as the pilot progresses.  This is a key communication and data collection tool for the park district.  The pilot is a work in progress.

The park district has hired two interns that have been working on validating their trail counter data with field counts.   The park district is using a variety of data collection tool including trail counters and intercept surveys (talking to people on the trail or at trailheads).  Technical issues are being worked on the trail counters.   If you find a trail counter in the field please leave it in place.  The data on types of trail users, trail use patterns such as time of day/week and location are important information for the pilot.  In cases where user behavior is not in compliance with pilot rules the park district is seeking to understand why as well and work towards sustainable solutions.  The interns will move on from the trail counter validations to intercept surveys to gather more direct information from trail users and the types of trail users using Briones.

The pilot includes six month updates to the board.   Data collected from trail counters, live trail counts, intercept surveys, enforcement actions, volunteer engagement, and the online data collection and other sources will be reviewed and reported.   There may be another open house coming before the 6 month update as well.  The  February open house was positive and productive and periodic open houses are being considered.  The pilot is expected to be dynamic and data will be used to drive changes in the pilot design.  Stay tuned for the first 6 month update in a few months

The park district reported in their pilot updates that they held a field tour on June 26th with a variety of regional land managers to share pilot information with them and discuss their experiences in this realm.   You can sign up to get the pilot updates directly by email. EBRPD Trail Program Senior Planner Suzanne Wilson delivered an informative presentation on the Briones Pilot at the July Quarterly meeting of the Bay Area Trails Collaborative which BTCEB is a participating member.   The district is working on sharing information with the land manager and the broader trails community and drawing on their experiences as well.  There is great interest from those groups as well as this is a more progressive step in the Bay Area.

For those that want to learn more: 

• Overview of the Briones Pilot Project
• Detailed history of how the Pilot originated 
• BKXC video of riding the mountain bike legal trails within the Pilot Study area  

While membership on our free Meetup site continues to grow to nearly 5,100 followers! Membership in the dues paying BTCEB, your local mountain biking organization, has not seen such explosive growth. If you are a Meetup member but not a dues paying member of BTCEB can we get you to consider joining us?

To grow, to survive, and to represent the mountain biking community, we need your continued support. Your membership dues support our Gala rides and our RLaG program, pays for our insurance, helps to support NorCal high school and middle school MTB programs, local trail organizations, as well as our own trail work at Crockett Hills, Joaquin Miller Park, and Fernandez Ranch. We are hard at work advocating and supporting new trail access opportunities in Briones, Wildcat/Tilden, and beyond.  Our Board of Directors meets 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. Donations in any amount are gladly accepted as well.

Aside from the dues, we truly need and value your membership.

Please join or renew today at www.btceb.org

See you on the trails! 

The Briones Pilot Project is the result of a broad variety of actions from a number of stakeholders from different user groups who in many cases are not particularly connected.  As such this perspective certainly won’t reflect everything that has happened or everybody that has played a part.  We do not intend to short change anybody but rather to provide a perspective of the broad amount of work that has led to the Briones Pilot.  It came to our attention through a video by Brian Kennedy aka BKXC, that a significant portion of the history that we’re aware of isn’t well known.  Much of the BTCEB work is done out of general sight outside of public meetings; working with land manager staff, participating in or monitoring relatively obscure public meetings, submitting written public comment, attending trails & access related conferences to become more informed & network with land managers and other stakeholders, and working internally as a formal nonprofit organization.  It’s not sexy work, doesn’t make for great social media posts, moves at a glacial pace, requires persistence, takes away from time riding a bike, and is generally mind numbing.

The Briones Pilot Project might be imperfect, but we hope you can agree that it is a significant milestone in moving forward in working with the EBRPD to create legitimate mountain bike access and address a broader spectrum of mountain bike trail experiences, considerations for other trail users, and natural resource preservation.  Managing a transition from illegitimate trails to legitimized trails is messy and fraught with seemingly opposing perspectives such as ‘why reward illegal activity?’ versus ‘these are acts of civil disobedience following decades of legal advocacy’ and many others.  We ask that all stakeholders seek to work together on solutions through this imperfect process to improve and reach a better condition for all trail users and the natural resources.  It’s much easier to criticize and pick something apart than it is to understand others perspectives, be patient, and work together on collaborative solutions.  Please muster all you can and be part of a positive collaboration.

A number of things have come together to reach a critical mass that has resulted in the Briones Pilot.  Advocacy within the public process by a variety of groups and individuals both formally organized and loosely associated along has been a piece of it.  Some of that advocacy has been for more bike access, some against bike access or related to trail user conflict, and some related to perceived environmental impact.  Outside the public process, unsanctioned or bootleg trail building by local users frustrated by the lack of success within the system has created an expanding trail network.  These two major forces were accelerated by the influx of people into Briones Park during the pandemic.  Unsanctioned trail building accelerated and trail use by nearly all types of trail users doubled or tripled.  

The advent of virtual public meetings and social media made it easier for public participation by constituents with land managers.  Remote working increased the time people had to devote to advocacy, trail building, or just time in open space.  This increased intensity resulted in more visibility and awareness of the need for a variety of trail experiences for mountain biking, hiking, horseback riding, trail running, dog walking, etc. and the impact on natural resources by unplanned uncoordinated trail building.  There has been unsanctioned trail creation by all user groups over the years.  Some of the trails are built relatively sustainably and in locations of low habitat sensitivity while others are not.  Grazing practices bring into question how truly sensitive some of these areas are and cloud the issue.  Advocacy, unsanctioned trail building, and increased trail use during the pandemic amplified the situation and reached a point where decision makers agreed something different needed to be done.  From this the Briones Pilot Program came to be.

Now to some history at more of an inside baseball level which you may or may not be interested in.  If that’s the case, just scroll to the end.  BTCEB was formed in 1987 when EBRPD was considering banning bikes from fire and ranch roads.  It has been advocating since then for expanded access and additional narrow natural surface trails with EBPRD and other East Bay land managers.  While success with EBRPD may be marginal there are other positive results such as the access at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland, some initial access to EBMUD, and increased access in John Muir Land Trust properties.  Crockett Hills in EBRPD is a success and is a great introductory trail system.  Much of this advocacy work is based on building relationships and credibility with land manager staff, decision makers, which are elected officials in the case of EBRPD, and other trail and open space stakeholders.  Building these relationships takes time, consistency, patience and persistence.  The process is slow, takes years at best, and often has to be re-started when personnel change in various organizations.  Individuals showing up to make a comment at a public meeting or contacting their elected officials is an important part of the process but consistent efforts and relationships are key to making change.  It has been challenging to keep the consistency but BTCEB has managed to exist for over 30 years. We’re not getting the results we want but we’re doing the best we can as an all volunteer organization and currently working on making it easier for more people to get involved and creating a more reliable and sustainable effort.

Along the way there was the East Bay Trails Council which  BTCEB was one of the participating organizations along with other trail stakeholders and conservation interests.  It fell by the wayside after years of trying to work out solutions to access and trail conflict consistently resulted in stalemate.  The EBRPD Change In Use checklist would rarely result in any changes in use for trail access and was considered broken by all including some EBRPD staff except those interested in maintaining the status quo.  There has also been mountain bike community participation in public planning for Pleasanton Ridge and Tyler Ranch over a decade ago which is just now resulting in the addition of multi-use trails.  Multi-use trails coming a decade or more after planning are then outdated compared to current trail user desires in many cases.

In more recent history there are several items – the Sibley McCosker Land Use Plan Amendment (LUPA) culminating in November of 2018, EBRPD Board Trails Workshop in October 2019, the EBRPD Trail User Working Group (TUWG) (August 2020 to February 2022), post TUWG activity, and years of ongoing discussion with the EBRPD Trails Development and Planning Groups over, that lead into the Briones Pilot Program.  

In the Sibley-McCosker LUPAt approval trail use designations were pulled during the EIR certification and LUPA approval at the Board of Directors meeting.  ‘Environmentalists’ held hostage millions of dollars of grant funding for the McCosker Creek restoration with the threat of lawsuit if bike access is approved in the LUPA & EIR.  The creek restoration is the largest ever taken on by the Park District at a price tag of $12 million and they pulled trail access designations from the LUPA (resolution 2018 – I I – 288).  They have not revisited the trail user designations as of 2023.  This action nullifies the public participation of cyclists, hikers, and equestrians that worked together in the Sibley-McCosker public land use planning process for several years to come up with mutually agreeable access for hikers, equestrians, and bikes while protecting sensitive habitat areas.

In October 2019, the Park District Board of Directors held a public workshop on Trails. At that workshop, the Board heard testimony from a number of different park and trail users. The Board directed staff to convene a working group made up of stakeholders who are active trail users. On August 21, 2020, a Trail User Working Group (TUWG) was convened by Park District staff. Meetings were held throughout 2020 and 2021, and the final meeting was held on February 7, 2022. The meetings were recorded and are available on the Trail User Working Group  – Videos page. A final report, Goals, Issues & Solutions: A Summary of Concepts for New Trail Development (PDF) was published in March 2022.  The TUWG was a cumbersome process with a large number of participants that had limited success in reaching specific solutions.  Scope was limited to land bank properties although participants did discuss items that could be applied in existing parks and on existing trails.  It did provide a broader base of stakeholder perspectives and more foundation to take action.  

In January of 2021 BTCEB advocacy and trail stewardship discussions with staff noted significant mileage of bootleg trails in Briones and challenges for operations, enforcement, and trails program staff to address them.  The situation would take a significant effort to try to address and they were in very early stages of working on an approach but challenged by the complexity.  The idea of considering legalization of more sustainable trails was not met with enthusiasm from staff at this time.

A group including Morris Older (Bay Area Ridge Trail & Bay Area Barns), Gary Fitts (Tilden Wildcat Horseman’s Association), Amelia Marshall (CA State Horseman’s Assoc, Metropolitan Horseman’s Association), Helen Gilbert Snyder (Bike Advocate, Equestrian), Austin McInerny (NICA, BTCEB) , and Scott Bartlebaugh (BTCEB) were discussing Briones at the same time outside of the TUWG.  A draft proposal for a collaborative group of varied user group stakeholders to discuss trail access and conflict issues and propose solutions was written by Austin with input and review from the group.  The proposal was submitted to the Park District Trails Program and Planning staff in April of 2021.  This group recognized that they were not regular users of Briones and any successful process would  need input and buy-in from regular Briones users and this was captured in the proposal.  The situation at Briones was encompassing many of the issues being discussed by the TUWG and looked like a reasonable real case to try to address.  During this time Scott Bartlebaugh hiked with a couple of equestrians, Amelia Marshall and Kerry Roussellot, to better understand what areas in Briones were of high value to them and where they are experiencing conflict.  Staff shared that they are working on the concept of a pilot that may involve adoption of some bootleg trails but they were  at a very early stage.  

Several regular Briones mtb riders reach out to BTCEB seeking legalization of bootleg trails in Briones and we engage them.  A survey is drafted with Ed Martin to collect  input from Briones users for staff to consider as they determine an approach to issues at Briones.  The draft survey is shared with EBRPD trails staff in May 2021 and staff ask to hold off on the survey so as not to get out in front of the park district.  There are valid concerns that opponents will mobilize and block any action through influence with the board or lawsuit.  We comply with the request in light of the concern and to maintain and build a positive working relationship with staff despite the frustration of other users polling and providing input.

A field walk with staff along some bootleg trails happens in May 2021.  There’s discussion regarding what type of features could be included and what might not.  Part of the driver for unsanctioned trail building is the type of trail experience from more advanced features and staff recognize this.  A multi-discipline team is forming including public affairs, public safety, stewardship, trails, and planning.  Outreach to public stakeholders will begin after they’ve collected enough information on stewardship issues, CEQA, and other aspects to have a reasonably developed proposal worthy of discussion.  BTCEB also engages EBRPD public safety at this time.

At the May 11 2021 Board Meeting staff provided an update on the TUWG.  Board discussion moves toward the need to do something different and Director Weiskamp challenges to try something different in Briones or Pleasanton Ridge by year end.  Public Safety notes that there needs to be the ability to direct the public to places to safety recreate (access is needed) and notes the effort on the Briones Pilot including adopting existing trails or new trails with an aim to implement in the next few months.  Inclusion of the mtb community is directly noted.  Enforcement is a last tool and will not be effective until there is mtb access.

The TUWG activity concluded in February 2022.  Staff has been continuing to work on a broad spectrum of details for the Briones Pilot including a robust basis to defend from procedural or legal challenges which moves bureaucratically and politically slowly.  Information sharing was limited.  Feedback from BTCEB to staff included concerns with having a sufficient number of trails included, options available for trail users arriving on ‘off’ days with an even/odd system, and input from local trail users from all user groups.

Austin McInerny and Scott Bartlebaugh were approached by Josh Sonnefeld who is working with California Native Plant Society and Sierra Club about interest in continuing dialogue post TUWG.  We were interested and engaged in facilitated discussions including Norman LaForce and Virginia Reinhart (Sierra Club), Jim Hanson (CANPS & SC), and Amelia Marshall(CA State Horseman’s Assoc.) & Elizabeth Hudson (San Ramon Valley Horseman’s Assoc).  The group decided to start with the Briones Pilot and Trail Master Planning as the first two items to discuss.  Discussions start with Briones and first seek common ground.  Items we agreed on included the need for more public input from actual Briones users and communication of intended goals, desired outcomes, and the data that will be collected (both baseline data and data from the pilot period), as well as natural resource protection plans.  Joint input is submitted to the park district.  There are a series of communications from the group with park district staff and a field walk of some of the proposed trails happened in September of 2022.  

Staff made their first public presentation of their Briones Pilot design at the June 2022 PAC meeting and began a broader public input phase.  

In January of 2023, BTCEB sent out a trail user survey via our IG, FB, and email along with BAMBi & East Bay MTB FB pages to get information on preferred trails and opinions on trails included and excluded from the latest available Briones Pilot map.  At this point staff have not shared plans for public input.  The survey gets several hundred responses and the data is shared with staff.  Suggestions were made to include several trails that were not included at the time including Issac’s which would be added later. 

February 2023, EBRPD held the Briones Pilot Open House at the Alhambra Creek staging area.  The event was well attended and staffed.  A large amount of public input was collected and there was constructive discussion between various types of users (hikers, equestrians, and mtb), users and park district staff and amongst various pockets of the mtb community.  The Briones Pilot team digested the input and make several changes to the pilot plan including adding several new sections of trail which were also reflected in the January BTCEB survey along with revisions to provide a bypass route for users showing up on an ‘off’ day.  The pilot begins in April 2023.

Pulling back to a higher level the route to get to a Briones Pilot is the result of many groups and individuals with a variety of perspectives taking action over years.  Some of the action is directly focused on Briones while other action is building a user case from a broader perspective.  Actions range from individuals making a single public comment to longer term formal organizations with more sustained efforts.  There are formally organized groups and informal groups all of which play a role.  It’s both people working within the system and people working outside the system.  Hopefully the Briones Pilot is a key step to a system that works better and we see planned trails providing for a range of sustainable mtb experiences while protecting natural resources. 

Back in May BTCEB hosted a pop-up ride in Briones to showcase the trails in the Briones Pilot Project in Briones Regional Park that had opened officially in late April of 2023 and features some of the only (now) legal downhill, enduro style single track. Ride Leader and BTCEB Events Director, David Wilcox was a little late after dealing with some last minute car trouble, but rallied with help from friends and caught the group on the initial 750′ climb from the parking lot. Out of the 12 riders in attendance there was a diversity of abilities and bikes represented, from enduro bikes to a fully rigid hardtail, but everyone rode nearly everything (uphill and down), and was stoked to have seen what was in essence a new trail system to most riders who attended.

EBRP was out tabling for the Pilot Project and was excited to see a large group out taking advantage of the trails on one of the weekend days designated for mountain bike access. They encouraged us, and all riders to submit feedback about the Pilot Project via the website as those comments are read at EBRP Board Meetings and could possibly extend the Pilot, or be helpful in making changes to the program to improve it for users. They insisted that feedback via the website is the easiest way for mountain bikers to make our voices heard by the EBRP board in regards to trail access at Briones and in the rest of the system network. 

We even ran into EBRP Trails Coordinator Sean Connelly out taking advantage of the trails with a friend, and he reiterated the importance of submitting comments or feedback, and even writing letters to the EBRP board of directors if we like the pilot or have suggestions for improvement.

Check out our Events Page for more opportunities to ride with us in the future!

The Briones Pilot Program allows mountain bike access on all bike allowed trails Monday through Friday, as well as every ODD numbered weekend day. EVEN numbered weekend days mountain bikes are not permitted in this part of the park, though there are fire road pass through trails to access other parts of Briones Regional Park.

Sign up for Dig Days with EBRP to help maintain and improve the trails in the Pilot Project.

Here’s the route we followed (updated with an easier final climb!): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42864542.

Commentary article published in Bay Area News Group papers today co-written by BTCEB Advocacy Director Scott Bartlebaugh. 

BTCEB Advocacy is working incredibly hard these days. Unlike this article much of it is invisible and behind the scenes developing positive relationships and trust with staff and elected decision makers.

If you value this work and haven’t already, please consider joining or renewing your membership today!