Motocross and mini flat track facility in San Mateo County.

I've been thinking for a while that San Mateo County needs a place
where people can ride dirt bikes. I'm thinking a facility with a
reasonable motocross track, a small "mini" flat track, and maybe even
a small supermoto style course. Such facilities exist south of us,
such as Hollister Hills and Metcalf Park in San Jose, but there's
nothing really within an hours drive for San Mateo and San Francisco
County residents.

What drove this need was seeing 3 children, probably ages 12-15
sitting in the back of a San Mateo Sherriff's car while three Honda
XR50's were being loaded onto a tow truck just around the corner from
my house in Emerald Hills (Redwood City). I went over to ask the
Sherriff what was going on, a bit outraged that the Sherriff was going
to the extreme measures of having the bikes towed and the children
arrested. He told me that they'd been riding through the neighborhood
and trespassing on people's private property. As well, these bikes
were not registered for street use and being under aged, they had no
license to operate a motor vehicle on the street.

Given the opportunity for these kids to ride in the area, I can
absolutely understand why they took to riding on the streets. The
hills surrounding my home and many of the open space areas were always
open for riding many years ago, but have since been taken over by
development and open space preserves. The Sherriff mentioned above
even told me he remembers riding up to the top of the hill as a kid.
Granted, this area has since been developed, there's a large number of
open spaces still available in San Mateo County. But most of these
lands have been given over to "Open Space Preserves" and other such
organizations that seem to want to prevent any use beyond their
special interests. This has left both children and their families
with nowhere to ride except trekking down to southern Santa Clara
County, or trespassing on private property.

I'd like to see an effort begin to create a county owned dirt riding
facility in San Mateo County. Ideally this facility would start out
as a small facility limited to motocross, flat track and supermoto
use. This facility would be designed to accommodate the residents of
San Mateo and surrounding counties recreational off road motorcycle
needs. This facility would be limited to 2 wheeled use, and be
required to meet the state sound limitations set by the California
State OHV program.

I'd like to ask for people's opinion and ideas for how to make this
happen. Does such a facility make sense? Would you be willing to
donate to support this idea? Does anyone know of any private property
that would suit these needs that may be for sale or lease?

I'm assuming the first step in this is to generate support. Replying
to this post would be a good start. Volunteering your time, money,
ideas and effort is even better.

Let me know what you think, publicly or privately.

-Greg Creech
Redwood City, CA

 

I wholeheartedly agree this is a good idea. Maybe a tilting at windmills
idea, but why not dream, and then make it happen.

I'd recommend talking to the ranger staff at Metcalf/Santa Clara County
Motorcycle Park. It is a gem, and the ranger staff are pro-rider, and know
what it takes to get along with the various groups that ignore riders at
best, and hate them at worst. They told a group of us last week that there
are endangered species living, and prospering, within the park, and that
alone seems like an incredible opportunity to show how offroad motorcycles
and support for the environment can coexist.

Other possibilities for help/advice are the Blue Ribbon coalition, and
Club Moto in Livermore--Kirk Smith runs a facility similar to what you're
thinking about, although I think he is a refugee from your area...

I think the key is to find some land that nobody wants to use for any
reasonable purpose, either because of noise problems (next to a freeway,
airport), unstable soil--perfect for dirt bikes!--maybe contaminated (only
sorta kidding) and then show how a dirtbike facility will be a boon to the
community. Perhaps even something like a Police Athletic League
sponsorship.

 

Observed trials practice should also be considered. Trials bikes
are very quiet, don't tear the ground up much, don't need a lot of
space, and can use areas that are unuseable for normal riding.

The NorCal trials club used to have a Redwood City branch. Their riding area
was whats now "Skeggs point".

I have to point out that they co-exist because Metcalf closed
off the areas that the endangered species live in. If I
remember right, it's an endangered snail that lives on serpentinite
rock outcroppings around southern santa clara valley. The one good
trials practice area at Metcalf used to be on and around such an
outcrop and I spent a lot of hours there trying not to suck at trials.

It's closed now. I'm enough of an environmentalist that I don't want
to harm an endangered species just to have fun, but I found it deeply
ironic that they closed it to us after they'd blasted and bulldozed
about half of the outcrop for some reason.

Metalf's also closed ravines to trials riding when Cal F&G complained about
streambed silt, rather than built better silt traps.

I don't want to turn this into an anti-environmentalist thread, just
point out that Metcalf's way of dealing with environmental
problems isn't always all that great for riders. OTOH they have managed to
keep the park open, which is an acheivement.

Actually not, since dirt bikes do tear up the ground cover and increase
erosion. Yea, you can mitigate that with good trail design but that
takes more work/money.

Metcalf's next to a rocket fuel factory... I don't think that
there will be pressure to build houses there any time soon!

As a trials rider, an old quarry or similar would be perfect. There's one
off La Canada (visible from 280) that I keep eyeing. But theres houses right
at the top of the cliff at the top...


Creech, were the kids riding the small area right near the top of
Emerald Hills (sorry I don't remember the name of the streets, but
there's a pretty good sized rock there that looks suitable for
climbing practice, and at one point, a small BMX track).


Eric

 

Actually not, since dirt bikes do tear up the ground cover and increase
erosion. Yea, you can mitigate that with good trail design but that
takes more work/money.[/QUOTE]

I was thinking about unstable as in "unsuitable for a building
foundation." Sure, a good structural engineer can design a foundation for
just about any problematic situation...but it will put a lower value on
the land. So, I'm looking for a 50 acres with an earthquake fault (a
strike/slip fault makes a perfect jump ramp) some quicksand (for the
trials riders) and a past history as landfill (to cover with whoops).
Should be perfect for us dirt types.

 

I was thinking about unstable as in "unsuitable for a building
foundation." Sure, a good structural engineer can design a foundation for
just about any problematic situation...but it will put a lower value on
the land. So, I'm looking for a 50 acres with an earthquake fault (a
strike/slip fault makes a perfect jump ramp) some quicksand (for the
trials riders) and a past history as landfill (to cover with whoops).
Should be perfect for us dirt types.
[/QUOTE]

That describes most any lot in the county.....

RickB

 

I agree. That woulnd't be too difficult or expencive to produce and
maintain.

The concept here is not a trail riding facility. While sure, I'd love
to see it happen, that'd take hundreds to thousands of acres of land
and would be seemingly impossible to get our hands on. I'd like to
see a small 5-10 acre facility with just some simple tracks for
various offroad use.

That would be them, most likely. I live 3/4 way up that hill, and
I've seen them come up the street before.

 

The concept here is not a trail riding facility. While sure, I'd love
to see it happen, that'd take hundreds to thousands of acres of land
and would be seemingly impossible to get our hands on. I'd like to
see a small 5-10 acre facility with just some simple tracks for
various offroad use.[/QUOTE]

I understand what you are want here. The point I was not very successfully
trying to make was that Metcalf has managed to be the last surviving place
to ride offroad bikes in a place that is visible from the SF Bay. They're
doing something right, and I'd try to figure out what that something is.
Your concept is similar to what Club Moto is doing, they have an expert mx
track, a beginner mx track, and a kids track that was at one time a short
track oval. I'm sure they could put in a trials section without too much
trouble. Total acreage is probably 10 or so. Costs $20 per rider per day,
plus a membership in IMSA ($30 or so) to help provide insurance.

I haven't posted any links to the Blue Ribbon Coalition, Club Moto, etc.,
figuring you can google them up faster than I can hunt them down from my
lists of bookmarks. If you can't find them, and want to, let me know.