For nearly two decades, Memorial Park’s BMX track has remained unkempt.
But Cal High junior Kaartik Tejwani, an avid mountain biker, has decided to change that.
Tejwani is planning to restore the track from erosion and damage that currently makes it unsafe so it can be used again by early next year.
During Tejwani’s freshman year, his passion for BMX and mountain biking blossomed. BMX is an acronym for bicycle motocross, a sport where cyclists race on a special track with jumps and stunts.
“My [Boy Scout] Scoutmaster told me I should try out biking when I was looking for a high school sport,” Tejwani said. “I thought that mountain biking seems pretty obscure and that it seems kind of fun. I gave it a shot and had a blast so I’ve stuck with it ever since.”
His love for mountain biking stemmed from his passion to help others and his community. As the director of community outreach in the San Ramon Valley Mountain Biking Club, Tejwani looks for service projects, such as fixing the track, where the club can help.
“Since the BMX track was pretty close to my house and it was kind of looking rundown, I thought, hey, might as well fix it,” Tejwani said.
The BMX track located just west of San Ramon Valley Boulevard along Bollinger Canyon Road is unsafe for mountain bike riders to use because of erosion. The embankment protecting the area also is damaged.
Junior Samuel Eastman used to visit the BMX track with his friends but no longer goes there because of poor maintenance.
“[The current state of the track] is part of the reason why I think we don’t go back there a lot,” Eastman said. “Because of the fact that nobody has really maintained [the BMX track] it’s not as fun anymore.”
Tejwani first had the idea to take action and improve the dire state of the track last August, and in January he received approval from the city to enact his plan to restore the BMX track.
Tejwani plans to work with the city and his mountain biking club to refurbish the track. He estimates that with a group of 10 people, fixing the track will take anywhere from six to 12 work days, with each work day lasting around five to six hours.
Emails to Parks and Community Services Director Kathi Heimann were not returned.
“It’s a pretty big project, [the track] is pretty big and is around 700 feet long,” Tejwani said. “It will be a lot of fun when [the project] eventually happens.”
Junior Julian Widmer and Tejwani’s mountain biking coach Mike Roberts support Tejwani’s plan to restore the track.
“It’s a good project,” Widmer said. “He’s got all the materials. It’s going to be great.”
“Mountain biking has exploded in popularity for the past few years, and Kaartik’s project is giving local residents another safe place to ride their bikes,” Roberts said.
While Tejwani did get approval for the project, he faced many challenges when planning the restoration.
“The biggest obstacle was we weren’t sure if [the project] was going to happen,” Tejwani said.
He also said the lack of references to help in the planning process created a blockade.
“Because the track was built 20 years ago and no one did maintenance on it for 15 years, anyone who worked on the track didn’t work in San Ramon any longer,” Tejwani said. “So it was kind of just a big question mark.”
Additionally, the consistent heavy rainfall this winter and spring delayed the progress to restore the track.
“Back in August, the question was will we have enough water to work on this project, but that is not an issue anymore,” Tejwani said. “Now the problem is we have too much of it.”
Originally, Tejwani planned to wait out the rain and continue afterward. But after reaching out to his mountain biking coach and the San Ramon City Council, he was told he couldn’t work on it this year as the mountain biking season ends May 13.
So now Tejwani plans to restore the track next January or February. He plans to restore the track by first cleaning it up and then filling in all the ruts and sides. He doesn’t want to add too much to the track as potential issues with liability could come into play.
“We’re trying to get it back to a ridable state versus trying to change the angles, the jumps, or trying to refurbish it completely,” Tejwani said.
Currently, Tejwani is completing another service project which involves restoring the communications room in the Sri Sai Baba Temple in Dublin.
Tejwani’s passion to help others and his community allows more people to use different facilities that were previously non-functional. In the future, Tejwani wants to get into contact with Briones, a regional park in Martinez that is planning to open up new trails.