The Hills Are Alive With BMX Riders

The bicycle motocross videos were entertaining, but Michael Ontiveros had to see for himself.

So when the 13-year-old from Boulder, Colo., found out his family would be spending three weeks in Southern California, he made sure Sheep Hills was included on the crowded agenda.

Legendary among BMX enthusiasts around the world but widely unknown to the thousands who walk, ride and drive within yards of it, Sheep Hills is tucked inside the Talbert Nature Preserve, which sits alongside the Santa Ana River Trail.

The 10-year-old, hand-crafted playground, which sits on county property between Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach, features dozens of jumps, banks and straightaways tightly woven into an area roughly the size of a baseball diamond.

It has become an unofficial training site for professional riders, who perform daring maneuvers such as backflips and barspins on ramps of dirt that measure up to 10 feet. Children as young as 5 take their turns on less-intimidating terrain, while others just sit and marvel at the experts.

“I just like watching everybody,” said Ontiveros, who spent a recent day at Sheep Hills with his parents and 8-year-old brother. “Hopefully, I want to do this someday, so I’m watching them and getting ideas.”

The site was built and is maintained by its users. Sections of the course are named Styles, POW, Quads and King of Dirt, each after the person who built it.

“Everybody likes to come out here and watch,” said John Jesme of Newport Beach, a 23-year-old professional dirt jumper. “They’ll come from all over the world. It’s not just a local spot, it’s a world famous spot.”

Ontiveros learned about Sheep Hills after seeing it on a BMX video. His uncle had been there, so finding it wasn’t a problem.

“We actually brought their bikes just to come here,” said Michael’s mother, Gloria. “We stayed at a beach house for a week and we had their bikes, but they didn’t want to ride on the boardwalk, they wanted some action.”

Although Sheep Hills is a mecca among cyclists, it has become a headache for county officials who would like to turn the entire area into a nature preserve someday. Tim Miller, manager of the county’s Department of Harbors, Beaches and Parks, has not set a timeline for the transition, but said it’s inevitable.

“There are no proposals at this time to shut it down,” Miller said. “But ultimately our goal is to establish it as a nature habitat.”

Jesme, who graduated from Mission Viejo High in 1995, has been riding Sheep Hills for about eight years. He and the other veterans do their best to keep the area clean and hospitable, even helping to maintain fire roads leading into the preserve.

“I hope this place stays,” Jesme said. “A lot of good riders have come and gone out of here. We’ve put a lot of time in here. We pretty much keep it clean, we try to do our best, but [the county is] scared for insurance reasons, I think.”

Greg Young, a 40-year-old from Huntington Beach, has been riding since the early 1970s. He already has seen much of the land flattened for condominiums and wouldn’t be surprised if Sheep Hills disappears as well.

“There was a five-year span from 1992-97 that I didn’t come out here, and then when I came back it seemed three times larger,” said Young, sitting on his 40th birthday present, a top-of-the-line BMX bike. “That’s a lot of digging. To come in here and bulldoze it is a shame. A couple of kids do get hurt out here, but you know what you’re in for if you’re out here.”

Young brings his 6-year-old son, Miles, to Sheep Hills about once a week. Young admits it can be a dangerous place for youngsters, but said most of the grown-ups are alert and conscientious.

“Some of the runs you have to get a full-speed sprint and then go into the thing, so you’ve got to watch out,” Young said. “It’s fine because everybody has a chance to ride. You can’t say, ‘You can’t do this or that,’ it’s a free place, which is good because that way the younger kids can come out here too.”

Dean Bridges drives his 15-year-old son, Brett, and a few of his friends down from La Habra whenever he can. Bridges is impressed with the cordial atmosphere and the effort made to keep it clean.

“It’s a nice place for them to come,” he said. “Everyone gets along, they pick up their trash. I wish there were more places like this available.”

Jesme said the positive attitude toward novices is a byproduct of the sport.

“BMX has a totally positive attitude,” Jesme said. “With the kids that are out here, they’re going to be the next riders that are coming up, so you can’t give them a hard time. We were all young once.”

Michael Ontiveros never got his wheels off the ground during his visit, but as he headed back up the dirt road at the end of the day, he was wide-eyed and full of stories to bring back home.

“My son was saying coming here, ‘I just want to see a whole bunch of pros,’ ” said his father, Mike Ontiveros. “I think they’ve enjoyed this better than Disneyland.”