Lowering the berm on North Peak Trail at Mt. Diablo
Building a bridge at Camp Tamarancho
IMBA Trail Crew Care will be visiting
March 29th - April 1.

We need volunteers!  We need to INCREASE OUR VOLUNTEERISM on all our upcoming projects. One of the best ways to get trails open for bikes is to build the trails! We are active in Joaquin Miller Park, Dimond Canyon, Mt. Diablo State Park, Pleasanton Ridge and Camp Tamarancho in Marin where we work with BTC Marin.

Trailwork is sweat equity. Land managers and government agencies appreciate reliable, competent volunteers. BTC members have volunteered numerous hours of their time to build new trails and improve existing paths. Trail work is fun, rewarding, a great workout and it helps assure continuing trail access for our sport. Please dedicate one half a day a year to BTCEB Trail Work.
"The Moms" clear out a culvert along Sunset Trail in Joaquin Miller Park on Mother's Day.

WE HAVE A VERY ACTIVE PROGRAM, SO PLEASE MATCH OUR EFFORTS BY ACTIVLY SHOWING UP TO HELP OUT.  TRAIL WORK RULES OVER ALL!!!!!

Trail Work Schedule


May 10th | Pleasanton Ridge
We will be doing maintenance on our adopted trail, Bay Leaf Trail, as well as other trails in the north end of the park. I'll be running a recon mission this Saturday to scope out the BTCEB adopted trail Bay Leaf Trail. I'll be riding all over the north end of the park looking for areas that require some attention. If you have time and want to join the recon ride we are meeting this Saturday 4/19 at 9:30AM at the Foothill Staging Area off of Foothill. This will be a working ride so any stopping will be for regroups and/or logging areas of trail work. Expect 2-3 hours out on the trails.

May 24th | V-O-CAL Crew Training
Crew Leaders Wanted! In June BTCEB and V-O-Cal will be working together to build trails in a new park being referred to as the King's Estate. This park is located by the Oakland Zoo. As a crew leader, you will guide small groups of volunteers on a section of the project to produce high-quality trails for the public to enjoy. You will receive special training, customized to your level of experience. Crew Leader training topics include leadership, safety, tools, and technical skills, such as trail construction and habitat restoration.

June 6,7,8 | King's Estate with V-O-CAL

Volunteers for Outdoor California is partnering with the City of Oakland to install a network of trails in King Estates Open Space on National Trails Day weekend, This beautiful natural grassland park with terrific views is a gem in the middle of Oakland but has no trails. We will be creating approximately 2 miles of new trail at King Estates this weekend. As a special treat, we will be camping at the zoo!

August 8-11 | Tahoe Ride, Trail Work & Multi Club Camping Weekend
This a great opportunity to ride and work on the new Donner Lake Rim Trail with other clubs and ride with the locals. The plan is to camp at Donner Lake for 3 days and have a FUN ride/work weekend in the sierras with 5 other nor-cal mountain bike clubs.

September thru December - TBD based on weather.

 

Some Past Trail Days

Joaquin Miller Park
BTCEB held a trail workday at Joaquin Miller Park. Thanks to the Berkeley High School mountain bike team and other BTCEB members for all the help and to Cliff Bar for supplying snacks.

We worked on Cinderella. We corrected the top section of the trail for proper water drainage. We also pulled some French broom from taking over the trail bed. So next time your out in Joaquin Miller, check it out.

Mt. Diablo
We worked on Buckeye trail off North Gate road (close to Diablo Ranch). Buckeye trail is a multi-use trail opened about a year ago by the BTCEB.

Thanks to Cliff Bars for once again providing snacks!
Joaquin Miller Park
The weather was awesome and we worked on 2 different trails.
special thanks goes out to Jay and Roger. We worked on the mud pit on lower Sinawik. We out sloped and fortified the trail bed for better water runoff. We then went over to Cinderella and cleaned out the drainage dips and did some light pruning. We also cleared the top drainage point where the 2 railroad ties are.

Pleasanton Ridge
It was a beautiful day at Pleasanton Ridge for the last trail work day. We cleared out the drainage dips along the entire Sinbad trail. A couple of the switch backs are exhibiting some erosion and Park Supervisor, Laura Comstock decided we'd come back in the Fall with a larger crew to fix the problem. Along with the good company Laura taught us about some of the native plants and little known trail access further up the canyon. Combined with free snacks and drink it was a very enjoyable day.

Redwood Regional Park
IMBA held a Trail building School in the East Bay in December. The School include a half day of classroom instruction and day of field work. Each school combines interactive learning, hands-on trail work and top-notch instructors to develop skilled trail workers and crew leaders. Topics covered include designing a contour trail, controlling water flow, building effective trail structures, and routine trail maintenance.
Joaquin Miller Park
The International Mountain Bicycling Association's (IMBA) Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew joined BTCEB for a trail work day in Joaquin Miller Park in December to help clean up a boggy section on Sinawik and Sinawik Loop.


IMBA & BTCEB putting our new trail maintenance skills to work in Joaquin Miller Park. The Crews teach "sustainable" trail building, which means building trails that last a long time and require minimal maintenance. This helps reduce trail damage, protects the environment, and enhances visitor enjoyment.
Joaquin Miller Park
It's raining in June! Which is perfect for trail work in JMP. We had a load of crushed rock to wheelbarrow about two hundred feet over to our rock drain on Sinawik Trail. No one was spared and we all left with extra long arms. Hopefully the rock will pack down this winter keeping this area dry.
JMP thumbnail Dimond Park, Oakland
It was an awesome day to go out and clear some brush, in some parts more like a jungle. We met up at 10:00 at the Diamond Park parking lot with shears and loppers in hand, just in case we brought a mattock. In hindsight, we should have also brought the 14" machete. It was a short walk to the trail head, which crosses a stream about a mile in. We worked the entire trail, all the way up the canyon. We cleared a lot of ivy and brush. In some parts it felt as though we were clearing the trail for the very first time. We also tackled and destroyed (at least temporarily) one of the most feared and evil vegetation, poison oak. We were out for about 2 1/2 hours and the trail is now prime singletrack once again. Now, ride and enjoy the dirt, look for more trail dates this fall. Any help is good help.
JMP thumbnail Joaquin Miller Park
In conjunction with the JMP Trails Working Group about 20 volunteers showed up to do some drain cleaning on Sunset Loop and Chaparral. Park Supervisor Martin Mataresse lead the group with a quick demo on how to use a McLeod down in the meadow and then we got to work. Afterwards we meet at the Fernwood picnic area for our anual picnic where Marion cooked up a tasty BBQ of steak, chicken and smoked bratwurst. Along with amble beer and other tasty treats a great time was had by all.
Pleasanton Ridge Icon Pleasanton Ridge

For all those who missed Nov. 19 at Pleasanton Ridge you missed a great day.

First off the weather was awesome and the views from Sinbad trail were incredible as usual. We first met up with Steve Quick (Pleasanton Ridge Park Supervisor) and Harry (Park ranger) and went over some of the current activities and news about the park. We also talked about some of the history as well.

We then left park headquarters and headed for Sinbad. We cleared all the existing drainage dips and made sure they were ready for the winter rains.  These drainage dips are sometimes barely noticeable and feel like they are part of the natural flow of the trail. Often times we have to make them a bit more dramatic because of the trail layout. Even though they can sometimes require yearly maintenance they are an easy and effective way to keep water off the trail and stop rutting. We were out for almost 4 hours and plan on going back this winter to see how the trail is holding up.

To top it off we “chowed” down on some Mexican food in Dublin went for a ride afterwards too. Not a bad day.
JMP thumbnail Joaquin Miller Park
We can't blame anyone for missing out on this trail work in JMP (in conjuction with the Trails Working Group) as it was raining pretty good in the morning. But right about the time we got started it tapered off and stopped all together by 9:30 or so. We had a pretty good turn out with 15 people including a couple park staff and Council Member Jean Quan.

We did some light broom clearing at the top of Cinderella and cleared the drains all along the trail. The top of Cinderella is really muddy with the earlier grading work done by park staff. The thinking is that the trail bed can be moved to the right and allow the runoff/creek to take over the left side of the trail. Hopefully this area will get better this spring if we all stay to the right. Martin also cut back the tree across Cinderella which had been cut back by a park user and had turned into a giant spear head high. We also cleared the drains and a couple of large bogs along Chaparral Trail.
Pleasanton Ridge Icon Pleasanton Ridge
We had 17 people at the Pleasanton Ridge trail work day.  We actually did ran short of tools for all of the volunteers that showed up. Thankfully Board members Dan and Paul were on hand to help David our trail maintenance coordinator, without them it would have been extremely difficult to lead all the volunteers.  We ended up breaking into about 4 groups and working our way down the south side of the trail.  We covered all the ground we wanted to cover thanks to the numerous volunteers. So a huge thanks to both Paul and Dan for coming out and lending a hand.

Contact us for more info.