Improving Switchbacks in McLaren Park

On the morning of December 7, members of SF Urban Riders, SF Recreation and Park, and Strava braved the frigid temperatures to come together and successfully improve sections of the Philosopher’s Way trail in John McLaren Park.

SFUR’s goal for the volunteer day was to give the trail “better shaping to improve water drainage and bike flow”. The project was aided by the previous day’s rainfall, which made the soil extremely malleable. Another generous aide to the crew of 10 volunteers was coffee provided by Annie Vranizan of Strava.  SF Recreation and Park Department (SFRPD) were kind enough to provide the vital tools- picks, shovels, McLeods, wheelbarrows, compactors, buckets and other various hand tools.

 The area of focus was a series of turns, which are part of the McLaren Short Track course at the SF MTB Festival every year, and can be ridden as either an ascent or a descent for daily recreation. Before work commenced, the volunteers gathered to review the area and plan what would be done at each section of the trail. The planning process was led by Joe Grey of SFRPD, who explained how to transform a trail from a hodgepodge set of turns and social-trails, into a well-groomed singletrack that suits all user groups, and skill levels. The plan detailed how the corners would be improved by lowering the trail grade, and carefully shaping the corners. Since John McLaren Park is used by both cyclists and hikers, the idea of building multi-use trails would be reinforced throughout the day.

Once work commenced, the volunteers built drainages for rainwater to properly drain, and formed berms in the turns to allow riders to efficiently flow through. In order to aid compaction of the trail surface, loose leaves and sticks were raked away. Obstructive stumps and stones were removed to make the trails wider in spots, and create a better corner to ride. When cyclists can ride the trail without having to slide around off-camber turns, it limits trail and habitat erosion. Small tree branches were used to close undesirable ‘social trail intersections’ and prevent erosion, and avoid potential bike and hiking collisions.

All genres of cycling were represented in our volunteer group- from roadies to downhill riders.  A couple of runners taking a morning lap of the trails even complimented our work. It really set the tone for what is to come for the park.

When the dust settled and the volunteers had enjoyed a brunch on the tailgate of SFRPD’s heavy-duty Ford, it was time to break out the bikes and try out the newly renovated section of Philosopher’s Way.

SF Urban Riders would like to send out a big thanks to everyone who made the day a success, and we look forward to exciting things in 2014.