Mountain Bikers Make Run on L.A. City Park

By Nancy Cole Silverman March 24, 2011

Mountain bikers have made a run on Verdugo Mountain Park in north Glendale, flaunting L.A.’s ban on mountain bikes by illegally constructing an elaborate dirt bike trail that undermines fire roads with 10-foot drops, switchbacks and rock canals, all less than a month after the City Planning Commission finalized a draft of the city’s 2010 bicycle plan.

The accidental discovery of the illegal trail was made in early January, when Kris Sabo, a Sylmar resident, was taking an evening hike and saw mounds of fresh dirt. “I got my flashlight out, and holy cow! There was nearly half a mile of construction. I couldn’t believe it! There were jumps and everything.”

The next morning, Sabo reported the construction to the L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks, the Sierra Club and the office of Councilman Paul Krekorian, in whose district the park is located. Sabo said she then returned with fellow hiker Joe Barrett to take pictures, came upon a man who appeared to be involved in the construction of the trail, and an altercation ensued.

Barrett said the man screamed, “Why are you walking on my bike trails?!” When Barrett said he was there to take pictures of an “illegal trail,” the man, a white male estimated to be in his mid-to-late 30s, picked up his shovel, threw his bike at Sabo and threatened them.

Sabo said, “He claimed he was a city employee and had a right to be there. He than picked up his bike up, and rode up the trail where he turned around and charged full-speed down the hill.” Sabo said she had no doubt his intent was to run her off the trail. Shaken by the experience, she called the Office of Public Safety where she filed a report, notifying them of the incident.

Members from Councilman Krekorian’s office visited the site the next day. In a statement to The Equestrian News, the councilman said, “This brazen and destructive act of vandalism threatens public safety, the integrity of the existing fire road and the surrounding vegetation, and will likely cost the city thousands of dollars to remedy.”

Councilman Krekorian’s office instructed the Department of Recreation and Parks to level out the damaged areas and post signs stating that mountain biking is not permitted. The Office of Public Safety was also asked to step up patrols in an attempt to find those responsible for the illegal trail.

“Those responsible will be caught and punished,” the councilman said, adding, “We are fortunate to live in a city of immense natural beauty that we are all free to enjoy responsibly. I would urge everyone who hikes, bikes or visits our parks to respect nature as you would your home.”

In a motion before the city council, Krekorian also asked the Department of Public Works to examine the feasibility of constructing and installing equestrian trails on the public right of way in areas of the city with equestrian communities. The study calls for an analysis of options to cover the cost of installing such trials, and to report back to city council on the matter within 90 days.

The fight for trails between mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians is not new. Since the early ’80s, when mountain bikes first became popular, various groups have clashed over the exclusive use of city park trails by equestrians and hikers. Mountain bikers have maintained they have a right to city park trails and campaigned for equal opportunities.  Hikers and equestrians fire back that mountain bikers destroy trails, building switchbacks, deep drops, burly climbs and tight twisting ribbons designed for admitted adrenaline junkies, who often tag themselves as weekend warriors and masochists.

The city’s bicycle plan has been a work in progress for the last three years, and in December a draft was passed that has now gone on to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office and is expected to come before the city council early this year. The current plan calls for a study of ‘best practices’ concerning mountain bikes in other areas by the Department of Recreation and Parks. The wording has angered many mountain bikers, who feel the city’s new bicycle plan that calls for 1,680 miles of bike ways on city streets—with an additional 200 miles of bike facilities added every five years—is a reversal of what they believe were plans that called for pilot programs for shared trails in city parks.

Lynn Brown, the national trail coordinator for Equestrian Trails, Inc., said her organization firmly opposes the concept of shared trails, which she characterizes an accident in waiting. “Mountain bikers, charging down hills with horses and hikers is just plain dangerous. We need to fight to have the language concerning mountain bikes on city park trails removed entirely from the plan.”

Of the city of Los Angeles’ 150 parks, only Mandeville Canyon allows for shared trails. Los Angeles County, however, maintains more than one hundred mountain bike trails, many of which are within minutes of L.A. city parks.

Short URL: https://theequestriannews.com/?p=267