Mountain Bikes : Mountain-Cycle Enthusiasts Push to Change Image From Outlaws to Guardians of the Hills

Today, at least 150 bicyclists on fat-tire bikes will ride high into the Santa Monica Mountains and gather on a stretch of fire road known as Dirt Mulholland. It’s neither a rally nor a race. Instead, the cyclists will lay down their bikes, pick up tools supplied by the Los Angeles County Fire Department and join with Boy Scouts, Sierra Club members and other volunteers in a major cleanup of the scenic mountain road.

The participation of mountain bikers in such an event is the latest indication that a once-outlaw pastime has grown up.

Five years ago, the sight of a fat-tire bicycle on a mountain trail or fire road was an oddity. Off-road bicycles, popularly known as mountain bikes, were curiosities boldly going where bicycles had never gone before. With their combination of fat, knobby tires, extra-strong frames and extra-low gearing, mountain bikes could carry the few aficionados who rode them deep into the local backcountry, into realms that had before belonged only to hikers, equestrians and nature itself.

Popularity Soars

Mountain biking has soared in popularity since then. The Bicycle Institute of America estimates that 7.5-million Americans own mountain bikes--a 40% increase from a year ago. The burgeoning of the sport has spawned local clubs, national organizations and three national magazines. Locally, it has meant thousands of mountain bikers on the trails and fire roads of the mountains--no longer curiosities, but ubiquitous sharers of the Southern California outdoors.

With the growth of the sport have come new challenges, as mountain bikers attempt to retain access to local trails that are becoming increasingly crowded. Hikers and equestrians have complained about unnerving encounters with mountain bikes on the trails. The Sierra Club has adopted an official policy generally opposing the presence of mountain bikes on public lands, and the California Department of Parks and Recreation has determined to close most state park trails to mountain bikers. Only specifically approved trails will remain open.

The prospect of trail closures has tightened the ranks of mountain bikers. Combatting their earlier outlaw image, local mountain-bike enthusiasts have formed a group called the Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Assn. (CORBA). The group represents the interests of mountain bikers in the Santa Monica Mountains in local policy-setting meetings. It is this group that is mustering its ranks for the cleanup of Dirt Mulholland.

‘Not a Bunch of Crazies’

“We want to show we’re not a bunch of crazies tearing up the trails,” said Kurt Loheit, a member of the association’s board of directors. “We’re getting out there and showing we’re adults, professionals, families with a lot of respect for the environment.”

In the San Gabriel Mountains, the Mt. Wilson Bicycling Assn. is doing monthly volunteer trail work in the Angeles National Forest. Both biking association and the Mt. Wilson group are extending their public-relations efforts to educate mountain bikers themselves. Concerned Off-Road Biking Assn. members distribute cards carrying a code of etiquette, with such rules as “Control your speed and pass with care” and “Stand off to the side to let oncoming horses go by, and talk to riders as they pass.”

Trained volunteers from both CORBA and the Mt. Wilson group have formed mountain-bike patrol units that ride trails in the Santa Monica Mountains and the Angeles National Forest. The riders not only spread mountain-biking good will and information but also act as volunteer rangers.

“We greet hikers, horse riders, groups of kids--anyone who uses the parks,” said Matt Landis, a CORBA member who was instrumental in forming that group’s Mountain Bicycle Unit. “We’re trained in first aid, we’ve studied the natural history and can answer questions, plus we give out a lot of maps. The question we’re most often asked is, ‘Where am I?’ ”

Mountain bikers share a passion for their pastime akin to that of hikers, climbers, equestrians and sail boarders. The physical exertion in an aesthetic environment creates a feeling of release and escape. Jeff Spencer, a La Canada Flintridge chiropractor and mountain biker, endorses mountain biking for both its physical and emotional benefits.

“Just physically, the benefits are incalculable,” Spencer said. “The aerobic and cardiovascular effects are especially important. And the strength, coordination and agility in mountain biking are all necessary factors in a well-balanced fitness program.

“The really great thing about mountain biking is that a person gets to enjoy these physical benefits in a setting that allows them to air out mentally and emotionally. In just a few minutes from the city you can be out riding with red-tail hawks, deer, wildflowers, and not see a soul--or if you do, it’ll be one of like mind who’s up there for the same reasons you are.”

Most mountain bikers are cyclists who have tired of the noise, traffic and fumes associated with riding on the road. Riding a fat-tire bike on a fire road allows them to escape the annoyances and dangers of riding with vehicle traffic. That advantage is especially appealing to families. Casey Patterson of Topanga, an accomplished road-rider who was the winner of the 1987 Race Across America, enjoys escaping to the nearby mountains with her younger children, Mary, 12, and Charlie, 10.

“I can take the kids out on mountain bikes and not have to worry about them mixing with cars and trucks,” she said. “Plus, whether I’m riding with the kids or with a friend, we can ride two or three abreast and chat while we ride. You can’t do that on the road.”

This social aspect of mountain biking has no doubt contributed to its popularity. Families and friends ride into the mountains for picnic lunches as a quiet alternative to crowded public parks. A number of Southern California bike shops hold weekly rides--a good way not only to meet other mountain bikers but to learn new mountain routes.

Bike-shop and bike-club rides are listed in local cycling tabloids, such as Southwest Cycling and California Bicyclist, available in local bike shops.

Bike & Tea Society

There is now a Southern California chapter of the Women’s Mountain Bike and Tea Society, founded by Northern California mountain-bike racer Jacquie Phelan. WOMBATS, Phelan said, is for women of any ability level who like to ride. The club “has all the features associated with a quality organization: a secret handshake, a stupid motto (‘You’re never completely out of the woods’) and a cute, furry mascot,” Phelan said. Members receive quarterly “tips for the mechanically impaired” and Team WOMBAT shirts that identify members as “thoughtful, eco-minded and into mud.”

Information on the local WOMBATS chapter is available from Women’s Mountain Biking and Tea Society, Box 757, Fairfax, Calif. 94930.

The growth of the sport of mountain biking has led naturally to an evolution of the bike itself. According to John Lehrer, author of “The Complete Guide to Choosing a Performance Bicycle” (Running Press, Philadelphia, Pa.), refinements during the past five years have resulted in “bikes that are more fun to ride, lighter frames, components that work better and better dollar values.” Quality mountain bikes start at around $350. According to Lehrer, a $600 mountain bike “will meet the needs of the ordinary rider for a long time. You’d have to spend twice that for similar satisfaction in a road bike.”

Bike-shop owner Jed St. Henri of Malibu said mountain bikes are the most sensible bikes to own: “There’s no reason to buy a road bike any more, unless you race, because mountain bikes are so good, so competent even on the road. They’re able to withstand highway abuse; you can ride over the ‘dirty’ part of the road without getting flat tires.”

Multiple Speeds

Mountain bikes have 18 or 21 speeds, which may seem excessive to a novice, but the high number of speeds means a wide range of gears--and it is the availability of ultra-low gears that allows riders to make it up mountain roads.

And where do riders find mountain roads against which to pit their fat-tire flyers? Southern California is blessed with hundreds of miles of trails and fire roads in local mountains and deserts. Favorite haunts include Sycamore Canyon, Malibu Creek and Topanga state parks in the Santa Monica Mountains; Angeles National Forest trails such as Valley Forge Canyon and Sunset Ridge Trail; forest roads around Big Bear Lake (after the snow melts); Santa Ana Mountains trails, such as the San Juan Trail in Cleveland National Forest; Whittier Hills Skyline Trail near Rio Hondo College; the Santiago Peak area near Irvine, and El Morro Canyon in Crystal Cove State Park north of Laguna Beach.

For thousands of Southern California mountain bikers, paradise is just a pedal away.