Mountain Biking Advocacy in the Presidio

The new Presidio Trails and Bikeways Plan was completed in 2003. On Tuesday, May 20, 2003, the National Park Service and the Presidio Trust offered a summary of public comment received on the Trails and Bikeways Master Plan and a preview presentation of the Final Plan for improving the Presidio's entire trail system. The public comment period on the plan is over.

Click Here to see the final version of the Park Service's trails & bikeways plan

Without question, the new plan will improve overall bicycling, hiking and recreation in the Presidio immensely. It will add about 17 new miles of multi-use pathways in the park, resulting in more biking options in the park than ever before. However, the interests of mountain bikers, though not ignored, have largely been left unaccomodated. Starting in November of 2002, SFMTB and other local mountain bikers got involved in planning process, providing constructive and positive feedback and comment to the planning group that wrote the new plan during the public comment period. Here is a copy of the comments SFMTB delivered to the Presidio Trust on January 28, 2003, at the Trust's public meeting.

There will be no legal singletrack mountain bike trails in the Presidio under the new plan. However, our efforts led to the following changes to the Plan:

• A continuous multi-use trail from the south ends of the Presidio to the Golden Gate Bridge was added to the plan.
• Multi-use trail width was reduced from 8 feet wide to 6 feet wide.
• Most multi-use trail will not be paved, as originally called for, but will be a hardened dirt/gravel surface.
• A trail stewardship program called "Trails Forever" will be implemented.
• An admitted new awareness, understanding, and respect for mountain bikers by the Presidio Trust planning staff.

Here is an SFMTB map of the Presidio mountain biking as it currently exists. Note that this map does not depict legal mountain biking trails, it is simply a diagram of the trails in the park which are suitable for mountain biking.

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