I made another attempt to host a Meetup bicycle touring event revolved around activities related to cycling and volunteer work.  This time I scheduled it to occur on a Saturday in conjunction with an already occurring trail maintenance work day being hosted by Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay (BTCEB), which has a Meetup group too.

The idea was for my Pedal with a Purpose (PWP) Meetup group to join the BTCEB group to engage in trail work needed on a popular mountain biking trail at Joaquin Miller Park in the East Bay.  Then afterwards, we would bike to and camp at a campground located nearby.   The next day, campers had the options to mountain bike, road ride, or hike in the area.  In the end, no one other than myself attended from PWP.

None-the-less about 35 mountain bikers showed to help out, and it just so happened that a journal from SF Chronicle was present to write an article and take photos.  Reed the article here.

The leaders of BTCEB were some passionate sorts, who seemed very knowledgeable about trail maintenance and building, and did a nice job explaining to the group what we were to do, how, and why.  All the work tools were supplied by BTCEB and the new people were given BTCEB tee shirts.  It was definitely not easy labor, but it was fun to try and use my rather non-existent upper body strength to pic out earth, widen trails, chop roots, and stamp down uneven or shifting foundational areas.  I met lots of nice guys and gals in the process.  Afterwards, a nice picnic food spread and beverages were provided by BTCEB.   What a nice well-run inviting group.  I look forward to hitting the trails with these folks soon.

Well…after 4 hours of non-stop trail work, I was tired.  Since no one else was signed up to join PWP, I opted to head home to the comfort of my bed.  Minus the poison oak, a great experience had.