The holidays are quickly approaching! When you shop with AmazonSmile, you will also be supporting SVMTB!

Silicon Valley Mountain Bikers supports Open The Watershed (openthewatershed.org) to again access to 23,000 acres of open space on the SF Peninsula. We want this watershed open for public hiking, cycling and equestrians.

Here’s our take on what to do when you’re out riding and need to get past an equestrian. Our hope is that we can all happily coexist, sharing multi use trails. You can also check out our page: A mountain Biker’s Guide to Hikers and Equestrians.

Silicon Valley Mountain Bikers is giving its membership and the public an opportunity to meet Dorsey Moore, Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors for the Open Space Authority, and Greg Bringelson, Trail Program Coordinator of Santa Clara County Parks. They will discuss current projects, conservation, volunteering, and the future of mountain biking in the county. Santa Clara County Park’s five decade legacy of providing outstanding recreational opportunities in beautiful natural locations has resulted in one of the largest regional park systems in California. The Santa Clara County park system has grown to include 29 regional parks encompassing nearly 48,000 acres of land. Santa Clara County Open Space Authority is an independent special district – rather than a part of county government. The Open Space Authority’s purpose is to preserve key portions of the natural environment in order to balance continuing urban growth. Buying land, acquiring easements, contributing funds to joint conservation efforts, and careful land management are OSA’s major preservation tools. Silicon Valley Mountain Bikers (SVMTB) is a local chapter of the International Mountain Biking Association.

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The grant funds will be used to produce design and construction documents to build many of
the different features in the bike park. These features will be designed for a range of skill levels and include some of the following:

Pump Track Area will allow cyclists to learn and perfect their riding skills. This track will allow for progression of skills and fitness for riders from kids to advanced adults.

Advanced Flow Trail will contain flow features such as rollers, dips, berms, jumps, and man-made features allowing users to transfer their pump track and jump park skills to trail use.

Fellow parks and trail lovers:

There is an important MidPen meeting regarding the Bear Creek Redwoods Preserve on Wednesday, April 29 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the Los Gatos Community Center – Adult Recreation Center 208 E. Main St. Los Gatos, CA 95030. It is an ‘information gathering’ session put on by the District – essentially an opportunity for the public, the staff and the board to propose ideas for how the Preserve will be used. The existing plan calls for no mountain bike access but we believe there is an opportunity for true multi-use access on at least part of this preserve. It is important that mountain bikers show up to this meeting to let the MidPen staff know we are looking for. I’ve been to several of the meetings regarding the plan for the stables and have been impressed with the openness of the process and the desire of staff to understand the preserve user’s interests.

Some of the comments that we have heard from SVMTB members, other riders and the broader community are summarized here:

1. We would like to see the District create a regional connector trail so that cyclists can ride from Los Gatos or Lexington Reservoir up to Skyline. This would create safe loop options utilizing the recently opened John Nicholas Trail and the Bay Area Ridge Trail and reduce traffic congestion riding up narrow Bear Creek Road.
2. The preserve is only a five minute drive from Los Gatos. Can we get some loop trails that families, kids and beginner riders can use that aren’t as steep and challenging as the dirt roads in Sierra Azul?
3. Please recognize that Bear Creek Redwoods Preserve has been a great place for equestrians to ride, keep their horses and give children opportunities to experience nature. We believe that allowing cyclists a safe route would maximize the public benefit by broadening public access and use of the Preserve. It appears that it would be easy to open the preserve lands west of Bear Creek Road (currently closed to ALL users) to allow true multi-user access for hikers, equestrians and cyclists.

What I’ve learned from working with Land Managers and staff is that you should:

1. Keep your message simple (ask for a few concrete things)
2. Keep your message respectful (these are people doing their jobs just like you)
3. Let them know what you want and why (why you want something is as important as what you want)
4. Figure out how you can get what you want and help other users get what they want (classic Win/Win)
5. Be pleasant and persistent (these processes take time)

Details on the planning process and the April 29 meeting can be found here http://www.openspace.org/plans_projects/bear_creek_planning.asp

Construction of new 1-mile segment of the Ancient Oaks Trail was completed last fall by District field staff. The new trail was the final phase of the POST-funded Mindego Gateway Project, and will connect the new Mindego Parking Lot with Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve’s popular multi-use trail network. The trail also provides a new, 4-mile loop opportunity for hikers, bikers and equestrians to experience the spectacular vistas and shady woodlands of the Mindego area.