Expert Biker Dies in Plunge off Cliff : Cycling: Roger Dean Dahl, an experienced rider of Mt. Wilson trails, misses a turn and becomes the first mountain bike fatality in the Angeles National Forest.

The death of Roger Dean Dahl, a highly skilled cyclist who on Sunday accidentally rode off the side of a cliff in the Angeles National Forest, has shocked and puzzled the tightknit, mountain biking community in the San Gabriel Valley.

A 29-year-old La Canada Flintridge resident and veteran cyclist, Dahl had competed as an “expert” in mountain cycling races years ago, garnering a reputation for strength, speed and skill.

When he was not working as a bicycle mechanic in Pasadena, he could be found charging up and down rugged bike trails.

Yet last Sunday evening, Dahl unaccountably missed a gentle, downhill turn near the top of Mt. Wilson. On the Old Mt. Wilson Toll Road, a 12-foot-wide dirt trail that he had ridden numerous times, Dahl zoomed downhill past his companions and over an extremely steep cliff. Members of the Altadena Search and Rescue Team who recovered his body said Dahl fell through the air 150 feet before landing on bare rocks and tumbling another 150 feet.

“A lot of times, cycling and hiking accidents are novices getting in over their head,” said Reece Vogel of the Mt. Wilson Bicycling Assn. “But he was an expert racer, extremely skilled, so that makes this pretty unusual.”

Dahl’s death marks the first mountain bike fatality recorded in the 640,000-acre Angeles National Forest, said Terry Ellis, head ranger of the Arroyo Seco District, one of five regions in the forest.

Ellis estimated that in his 120,000-acre district alone, more than 500 mountain bike enthusiasts can be found on trails on any day. Norm Batterson, who heads the volunteer group that retrieved Dahl’s body, estimated that nearly a fifth of the 50 rescues performed by the Altadena-based team yearly are for mountain bikers in trouble.

Dahl’s friends and fellow cyclists say that the sport is a safe one and that Dahl’s death was an accident; a freak occurrence.

“It’s just one of those things that happen,” agreed Dahl’s 73-year-old father, Alfred. “You never know.”

Born in Glendale and raised in La Canada Flintridge, Dahl had been a rugged athlete since his youth. He ran cross-country at La Canada High School and rode cross-country motorcycles in his teens. He switched to mountain biking when the sport was still in its infancy, competing in national races at Mammoth Mountain and Big Bear Lake and placing among the top 10 finishers, said close friend Brian Provost, 21, of La Canada Flintridge.

Dahl’s specialties were uphill climbs and cross-country races.

“He was known on the racing circuit,” Provost said. “He never got sponsors, but he was racing when mountain biking was very young. He could beat me and I got sponsors easily.”

The death of Dahl’s mother three years ago set back the aspiring cyclist, Provost said. Dahl lost the racing momentum and instead tried to concentrate on finishing school and working. He was living with his father in La Canada Flintridge, studying geology at Pasadena City College and working at Pasadena Cyclery, a job he loved, Provost said.

Through the shop, he was able to buy expensive bicycles at low prices and customize them with special equipment, Provost said. He pieced together a bike for his father to use on daily rides in Griffith Park and recently gave another friend a gift of a mountain bike, Provost said.

The red and silver Trek bicycle Dahl was riding the day of his death also had been pieced together, Provost said. Dahl had waited for special parts for the bike until, impatient to ride, he had cannibalized parts from his other four bikes to complete his prize.

He had ridden it only two times previously when he took it up Mt. Wilson on Sunday for a nine-mile downhill ride, Provost said. Although Dahl preferred charging uphill, he joined five others, mainly his co-workers from Pasadena Cyclery, who rode in a car to the top of the mountain.

The group had recently begun doing the “Mt. Wilson Drop-Off,” as they called it, as a pleasant way to end Saturday and Sunday workdays. When the shop closed at 6 p.m., there was still enough light for the enjoyable downhill ride, Provost said.

But last Sunday, Dahl had trouble with his new bike. The chain and the bolt holding the seat at the desired height, both essential for control, broke during the ride, but he chose to continue, Provost said.

“No seat, no chain, they’re like stabilizers. It makes a big difference,” he said.

Still, the route downhill was not particularly strenuous and Dahl had ridden it twice recently, Provost said.

“We know all of the turns in the road,” he added.

Those biking with Dahl said there was no sign of distress before he went over the edge, Batterson said. One moment Dahl was biking and the next he was gone.

News of Dahl’s death brought business to a halt at the bike shop Monday as dry-eyed but obviously weary friends and co-workers gathered silently. Some friends biked to the accident site that afternoon, Provost said. They kicked at the loose gravel at the edge and speculated whether Dahl went too wide on his turn and if the freshly plowed, loose gravel gave way.

“It’s going to be a hard one to forget,” Provost said.