Extreme biking: dangerous, dirty and tons of fun

Cutting your gas bill, your carbon footprint, or your waistline: these are some of the reasons to bike more. And in San Francisco, biking has increased by more than 50 percent over the past three years, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. 

But how about bicycling to perk up your animal survival instinct? That’s the goal of one Bay Area group that organizes secret, competitive rides covering varied terrain – from highways to steep dirt trails to mountain roads with hairpin turns. This is extreme biking. Reporter Dara Kerr brought her road bike to a recent ride to see what it was all about.

*     *     *

DARA KERR: As the bikers pull up to their meeting spot at the base of the Oakland hills, I overhear them say things like, “Well, at least it rained two days ago,” and, “Hopefully we’ll get some mud.” Apparently, the more mud, the better. It makes the ride slippery, fast and dangerous. And this is a group that can appreciate a challenge. These are self-described bike geeks from every niche of the Bay Area’s cycling scene. There are mountain bikers in baggy shorts, messengers on fixed-gear bikes and road cyclists in spandex. As they talk about the terrain they’ll try to conquer, they make some last-minute bike repairs.



Five bucks gets them a map of the route and a ticket to the post-ride “beer and barbecue” party. The course is about 25 miles long, half on roads and half on dirt trails. And did I mention the riders are competing? It turns out the predicted front-runner is feeling sick today, so the field is wide open. James Johnston is one of the hopefuls.

JAMES JOHNSTON: I do races like this where it’s guerrilla style and fun.

By “guerrilla style,” he means it doesn’t have the same formalities as traditional bike races, like a set course, a hierarchy of racers and rules. Today, Johnston says, no one’s really here for a trophy.

JOHNSTON: This one, whether you place or finish, it doesn’t really matter. There’s no pressure of an organized race. You better be serious if you’re gonna go to one of those races, you can’t bring your B-game. You can come to this and get lucky.

Another rider hoping to get lucky is Murphy Mack.

MURPHY MACK: I’m picking top 10 barring any wrong turns or mishaps, unintentional dismounts, where I might go over the front end somewhere.

The course is never published in advance. Riders just show up and get the map. Today’s competition has five stages. “King of the Hill,” “The Volcano” and “Canyon” are really tough and required. The last two sections are a free-for-all: eight to 10 miles of steep hills with everyone looking for the fastest way down. The only rule is they have to hit four checkpoints along the way to get a hole punched in their maps. Right now, the 86 riders are lined up ready to go. Evan Sarna, the race’s organizer, makes some last minute announcements.

EVAN SARNA: We have a suggested route for people who don’t know the East Bay. It’s not the fastest route. You probably won’t win anyways, so who cares. We have beer for everyone who doesn’t win. Beer and food at the end. Okay, ready, GO!

Unorthodox cycling events are popping up all over the Bay Area. People on track bikes play bike polo in parking lots, while others build cyclocross trails in Golden Gate Park. There’s even a group of road bikers that turns high-speed laps around the Port of Oakland.



Today’s course starts in a residential neighborhood and winds through Joaquin Miller Park, down towards the town of Orinda and back up to Oakland’s Skyline neighborhood, before finally heading into Redwood Regional Park. I ride up the first stage of the race, which is a four-mile climb on city streets. I’m not gonna lie, it’s tiring. So, I take a short cut to the third checkpoint, where riders screech off the dirt trail to get their cards punched.



They’re muddy and dripping with sweat. Guerilla racer James Johnston is one of the first to rush up. He’s got mud on his eyebrows, cheeks and ears.

JOHNSTON: Is it disgusting? Am I pretty much covered with mud? It comes flying off your tire at mach speed in piles and it just splatters over your whole body actually. If you look, it’s not just my face, my legs are actually completely black and if you pull your sock down you can see the edge of white. There’s white under there, somewhere.

I take another short cut and sprint back down the mountain to the finish line. The riders are just starting to blast in. Organizer Evan Sarna has the keg tapped, bratwurst on the grill and a big pot of chili warmed up. One table is stacked with prizes: cycling jerseys, hats, jars of homemade pickles and gourmet coffee. It’s not yet clear who has placed in the top ten, because the point system depends on what kind of bike people rode. For example, fixed-gears with only one gear and tricky braking get more points than mountain bikes, which are designed for this type of terrain. I find Mack and ask him how it went.

MACK: Just like every other fast ride, you never know what’s going to happen, and your best-laid plans don’t survive the start line. We completely got lost and some friendly hikers helped sort us out, but 10 minutes in this game is a lifetime or a day in others.

But he’s still hopeful he’ll place.

MACK: I may just end up clawing by my fingernails to number 10.

Once most riders have made it down the mountain and gotten some food and beer in their bellies, Sarna stands on a picnic table to announce the winners.

SARNA: So, first place in the men’s category coming through… Johnston!

I walk over to congratulate Johnston, who’s still covered in mud.

JOHNSTON: There’re a lot of crazy bikers here, people who have just flogged themselves for a couple hours on some really good trails. I ride these trails constantly. I was definitely not the fastest person on the course today. When we got to the part of the course where we could take short cuts, I think I just had the best route. I knew exactly where I was going today and I just went there.

For women’s first place, it’s a toss-up. Two riders finished at exactly the same time.

SARNA: It’s a tie. You guys can fight over something.   

CROWD: Wrestle-off! Arm-wrestle! Roshambo! Leg wrestling! Thumb wrestling!

The two women duke it out in a tight game of rock-paper-scissors.

WOMEN: One, two, three.



SARNA: Oh, Kathleen takes it.

And as for Mack? He made top 10, just like he predicted. He got 10th place. And that’s good enough for him.

MACK: Any Saturday ride is good, as long as I’m off the couch and not playing some video game, and outside with the wind in my hair, it’s a great Saturday.

Which is the whole reason this kind of event is so much fun – because it’s basically just a big group of friends who get together for the love of biking.



In Oakland, I’m Dara Kerr for Crosscurrents.

Dara Kerr is a student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.