Wheel Fun : Bikers Discover Thrills and Spills on Sequoia National Forest Trails

High on a mountain above town, riding on the Trail of the Bear, the man known around here as “Mad Dog” took a short detour and led his group to one of his favorite places, a rocky bluff affording a spectacular view of the surrounding wilderness.

In the vast valley below was Isabella Lake, a sparkling blue reservoir fed by the mighty Kern River, which in turn is fed by melting snow miles away, pouring through the Mt. Whitney drainage. In the distance was Whitney itself, its snowy peak rising majestically through a thin layer of clouds. In between was a lush forest of trees reaching toward the bluest sky imaginable.

Mad Dog stops here often before making his descent, not as Mad Dog, the former professional mountain bike racer who earned his nickname speeding down mountains at breakneck speeds, but rather as John Stallone, outfitter and guide.

He put bike racing behind him years ago after falling on a bush, a thick branch of which broke off in his hip.

“It pretty much ended my career, because it was like seven months of on and off rehabilitation,” he said, with not a hint of regret.

At 35, he is rolling along at a more leisurely pace these days, having settled in the Kern River Valley and opened Mountain & River Adventures, which, among other things, offers biking tourists miles of trails and access roads--mostly within Sequoia National Forest--on which they can ride practically alone.

This, Stallone says, is what separates his operation from bustling mountain bike parks such as those at Mammoth Lakes and Big Bear Lake.

“Promoting this, like I am right now, is important [from a business standpoint],” he said. “But I don’t want to get it overpopulated. We don’t want to be a Mammoth or a Big Bear, but we definitely have the resources and the land to do that kind of stuff.

“I’d like to keep it more on a recreation level, not so much with race situations. We could easily put on races [like Mammoth and Big Bear] but I like to limit it here to festival rides [on selected dates] and casual rides.

“Otherwise you’d get a lot of racers up here coming up for races, and then you have them coming up here to train. And I know, as an ex-racer, how you train and that’s pretty much hard-core, and you’re not looking around worrying about what’s around the corner--whether it’s a horseman or a hiker. And then you have collisions and a situation where the forest service starts closing [us] down.”

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Stallone’s customers are driven into the forest by van and ride on trips lasting as long as four days or as short as half a day, ranging in difficulty from beginner to advanced.

The most exciting ride is the “Cannell Plunge” down Cannell Mountain, a one or two-day descent (the two-day features a camp-out in a meadow at 5,000 feet) on single-track trails (those wide enough for a single bike) starting at 9,200 feet.

“It’s mostly for advanced riders,” he said. “We’ve taken beginners, but it’s nerve-racking for them as well as us.”

Said guide Eric Hansen, “Rescuing someone up there is way too much like work.”

But Stallone’s most popular trip is the half-day, afternoon 17-mile “jam” down Greenhorn Mountain. “A lot of people like this one because it’s not too grueling and they don’t have to spend the entire day on a bike,” Stallone said.

The three-hour descent takes riders on the Unal Trail (Trail of the Bear to the Tubatulabal Indians who once inhabited these mountains) and the Shirley Loop. It begins at the top of Evans Road, at 7,000 feet, and takes riders through alpine forests, high chaparral and high desert, ending on the valley floor at 2,500 feet.

“People say, ‘Oh great, downhill,’ but it’s not always easier,” Stallone said, leaving the pavement and hitting a bumpy stretch of single-track beneath a canopy of pine. “It’s hard on the hands and very easy to get out of control.”

His customers made it through the first section precariously but without incident to an opening in the forest and stopped atop a large, flat granite boulder full of holes once used by the Tubatulabal to grind corn and pine nuts.

Onward and downward went Stallone and his group, seeking only to complete the ride in one piece, onto a washboard access road, which led back to Evans Road and a 10-minute, somewhat grueling climb to another access road, which led to the rocky bluff and the panoramic view of the valley.

Back on the trail, and into the forest, onto meandering, narrow paths winding around towering pines, paths obviously used by wildlife as well as hikers and bikers.

“Once we were riding down the mountain and came across two mountain lions resting on the trail,” Stallone said. “I was with a small group and the lions saw us coming and took off.”

Only birds and squirrels were seen on this excursion--they scattered as the group rounded every turn as it roller-coastered over bumpy single-track and bounced over the rut-marred access road.

Leaving the narrow trails of the forest and entering a world of sand and shrubs, the group headed down a newly graded fire road, wide and smooth, but pocked with mounds of soft dirt that were difficult to detect.

Stallone followed closely behind one beginner whose confidence had built to the point of cockiness as he rounded each turn with a little more speed.

Finally, less than a mile from the van waiting on the valley floor, his front tire hit one of the mounds and he flew over the handlebars, performed a perfect somersault and sprung quickly to his feet, a bit red-faced but ready to resume the ride.

“I knew that was coming,” Stallone said. “I should have told you to slow down.”

Perhaps the Mad Dog in him kept him from doing so.

SPRING TUNA

It’s more than a month early, but the season may be getting underway. A huge school of bluefin has been located 140 miles south of Point Loma, within a day’s boat ride of San Diego. The Holiday returned to Point Loma Sportfishing Monday with 94 fish and the Pegasus to Fisherman’s Landing with 55. The fish averaged 20-50 pounds. With the yellowtail bite fading at the Coronado Islands, the overnight fleet will begin concentrating instead on the offshore kelp paddies, running single- and 1 1/2-day trips.

BAJA’S BILLFISH BONANZA

Anglers are getting all the striped marlin they can handle in the Sea of Cortez, from Land’s End to La Paz. Tracy Ehrenberg of the Pisces Fleet in Cabo San Lucas reports a 95% daily hook-up success rate for her boats. Victor’s Fleet out of San Jose Del Cabo is averaging two to four stripers a boat per day “only 10 minutes from the landing.”

At the East Cape, where the concentration of fish appears to be the greatest, a group of 26 anglers out of Playa Del Sol released 61 stripers and, for good measure, boated 26 dorado, 17 yellowfin tuna, a wahoo and a 400-pound blue marlin in three days.

EXPOS & SHOWS

The All-Sports Festival and Expo, billed as showing the latest in leisure sports equipment, accessories and services, will be held Friday through Sunday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Hours are 4-10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Cost is $8 for those 9 and older, $4 for those 6-8 and free for those 6 and under.

Angeles Expo ‘96, a shooting sports fair featuring hands-on instruction, exhibitions, demonstrations and competition, will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Angeles Ranges in San Fernando. Hours are 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Cost is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors, $4 for ages 12-17 and free for children. Proceeds will benefit the Boy Scouts of America. Details: (800) 499-4486.

The annual spring boat show begins a nine-day run Friday at Fairplex in Pomona. Hours are 1-9 p.m. Monday-Friday; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Cost is $6 for adults and free for those 12 and younger.