Back Roads of Catalina Have Seen the Last of Bikes

Slowly, achingly, Len Smith pedaled his 18-gear mountain bike up Summit Road, pulling his 1 1/2-year-old daughter, Lia, in a sort of miniature rickshaw attached to his bike.

Smith, Lia and some others from the mainland were out to enjoy the spectacular mountain-to-ocean views and the peace and quiet of terrain almost untouched by civilization.

Suddenly, a red touring bus lumbered around a corner of the narrow road and bore down on Smith and his daughter. The bus missed them by several feet, passing by with a great roar and a cloud of exhaust.

Ranger Dudley Moran, who had been watching the close call with alarm, flagged down Smith to warn him about bicycling in the mountainous areas of Santa Catalina. The downhill route back is so steep and twisted that he advised getting off the bike.

“I’d walk it down,” said Moran, who is one of two rangers patrolling more than 75 miles of roads and trails in the island’s nature preserve.

As of July 1, walking and taking the bus will be the only way to travel the back roads of this refuge 22 miles off the shores of Los Angeles.

The Catalina Conservancy, a private foundation that owns 86% of the island’s 76 square miles, has announced a ban on biking outside the tourist harbor of Avalon. Bikes, buses and a delicate environment are a dangerous mix, the organization decided.

In laid-back Catalina--where the main problem often seems whether to choose between beaches, bars, boats or bikes--news of the pending ban struck a discordant note more in tune with the mainland controversies that the 500,000 visitors a year try to leave behind.

Some denounced it as a heavy-handed overreaction by an organization unaccountable to the public. Others declared that it will hurt tourism and limit enjoyment. A few accepted the ban as needed to prevent abuses.

The conservancy’s six-member board, which has allowed bicycling since 1978 “on a trial basis,” decided recently that the experiment had failed.

“A recent dramatic rise in the number of bicycles, along with the advent of mountain bikes, has resulted in frequent cases of off-road riding (which damages vegetation), reckless riding and speeding and disregard for closed areas,” said Doug Propst, president of the conservancy.

The number of bicyclists who obtained permits for Catalina’s mountain roads more than quadrupled between 1983 and 1986, rising from 525 to 2,206. Partial figures for 1987 show that the popularity of biking the mountain roads is accelerating, Propst said.

“While the problem riders are in the minority, they have created environmental hazards and the conservancy does not have the resources to monitor all areas at all times,” Propst said. Jim Kuhl, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, which jointly administers the conservancy area, said liability for accidents had also been a factor in the conservancy decision.

“This department could really do nothing except say, ‘OK, it’s your property,’ ” Kuhl said.

The ban is part and parcel of the conservancy’s generally protective attitude toward land outside of Avalon. Regulations strictly limit development in the conservancy area and, with few exceptions, prevent visitors from driving cars or motorcycles on the mountain roads. Permits are required for bicyclists, hikers and joggers. Camping, also by permit only, is restricted to five campgrounds.

In Avalon, Gary Brown, owner of the only bike rental shop on the island with the specially designed mountain bikes, says he will lose business. He added that a group planning to visit in July canceled the trip when it heard about the ban.

Brown said that during summer weekends he is able to rent out almost all of his 30 mountain bikes, which have oversize brakes, lightweight frames and 18 gears, for $25 a day. In addition, he said, he has sold 100 of the $400 bikes to islanders in the last two years. Regular bikes rent and sell for about half of the mountain bike prices.

“This is a lot of money,” he said.

But more than money is at stake .

Brown said the ban is likely to affect the leisure activities of islanders, who have increasingly taken to biking. Without biking, he said, islanders are likely to revert to previous habits and “end up in bars.”

Paul Payette, 21, a UCLA senior visiting the island, is vehemently against the pending ban.

“I mean, biking! I’m into biking,” said Payette, who bikes 100 miles a week. “Think of the people who just don’t like walking! Think of the enjoyment!” The ban on biking, he said, was “a complete one-sided decision.”

Several bicycling enthusiasts questioned the conservancy assertion that off-road riding damages the environment.

Moran conceded that the effect of the bikes “is kind of hard to see.” He added that the hundreds of wild goats and buffalo roaming the island clearly do more damage.

At one point on a tour of mountain roads, he stopped his pickup truck to search for bicycle tracks. After several minutes, he pointed out a faint track in dry grass that he said had been made by a bicycle several weeks ago.

“Every little bit (of damage) counts,” he said. “You don’t have a whole lot holding the Earth together.”

More important, he said, is the question of safety.

“It is kind of deceptive for bicyclists,” Moran said, waving at the empty road. “They never see anybody and they are riding back and forth, using the whole road. All of a sudden, (there are) two semis loaded with rock, and airport buses.”

About four months ago, a cycler traveling fast down Summit Road, which leads into Avalon, slammed head-on into a parked truck. Moran said the man was cutting corners for extra speed when he approached a pickup truck going up.

The truck driver saw the oncoming bicycle in one of the mirrors set up on bad curves and stopped. The bicyclist was thrown into the windshield, which was knocked loose. The man landed on his feet unhurt except for minor scratches and bruises, Moran said.

Sheriff’s Deputy David Gardner agreed that downhill cyclers on Summit Road create a special problem.

“They come racing down two or three abreast. It gets extremely hairy. I’m almost afraid to go up there because you are going to be wearing someone else’s bicycle,” Gardner said.

Moran said conservancy officials are discussing ways to make the ban partial but have not reached any decision that would avoid the ban.

“I’d like to have the bikes out there because it is a great way to see Catalina,” he said. But at least for the time being, the ban is necessary, he said.