PARK OFFICIALS PLEASED WITH MOUNTAIN BIKERS.

Byline: R.A. Hutchinson Daily News Staff Writer

Despite dire forecasts of confrontations between bicyclists and other trail users, state park officials say the opening of two trails this year to mountain bikers has yielded no complaints.

Yet some trail users say that's no surprise - once bicyclists are allowed, hikers and horses go elsewhere in the mountains.

"Typically, hikers just start avoiding those areas," says Mary Ann Webster, a member of the Santa Monica Mountains Taskforce and the Sierra Club. "When you have the bikers, your blood pressure goes up, you get nervous. Why do you go to the mountains? To get away from stress."

The California Department of Parks and Recreation opened a portion of the Guadalasca Trail at Point Mugu State Park in November. Two weeks ago the parks department began allowing mountain bikers to use Rogers Road, along the eastern portion of the Backbone Trail beginning at Will Rogers State Park.

"I don't know of any specific complaints," said Daniel Preece, Angeles district superintendent for the state park agency. "There probably are some conflicts and you can expect (the trails) to be more crowded at first. But as people get used to sharing, I expect those conflicts to die down."

There have been no accidents reported either since the six-month trial began, according to Susan Ross, superintendent of the Topanga section of the Angeles district.

"We kept emphasizing that we wouldn't open it to bikes if we didn't think it was safe. We have had no accidents, which certainly documents the safety. It also shows the users are trying to cooperate. It seems to be workable at this point," Ross said.

Ross Blasman, a corporate sponsor and a co-founder in 1987 of Concerned Off-road Bicyclists Association, said the group has not had negative feedback since the trails opened.

"We all rode Rogers Road with a big smile on our face," he said. "I'm sure people have been using it and I think this proves that all these doomsday predictions . . . are patently untrue."

Simon Cavazos, a park ranger at Point Mugu, said he hasn't heard of any problems on the Guadalasca Trail since it became multi-use but attributes that partly to the shortness of the trail and the fact it was never frequently used by hikers. In contrast, Cavazos reports on-going complaints about multi-users on the Sycamore Canyon Trail, a wider track.

"Most of the complaints are with bikers speeding," the ranger said. "We have an average of two crashes a month in the backcountry and we have to go and rescue them."

Ruth Gerson, an equestrian from Agoura who frequently uses the extensive trail system stretching through the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area, said she has abandoned using Sycamore Canyon because of the stress from worrying about bicyclists.

"It is a problem in some instances. There's a lot of anxiety and intimidation just by their presence, so it's not the relaxing experience you wanted," she said. "When they take over, it excludes other people from enjoying the park experience."

She said hikers and equestrians are concerned about the impact of opening the narrow, steep Rogers Road trail to bicyclists, citing an incident that occurred Jan. 17, the day the park service opened the path.

"At the opening, a biker came right up behind a horse that was standing there, without any regard to the horse and rider," she said. "I think mountain bicyclists are far more educated than they were a few years ago, but there are new people in the sport who don't have a regard for other users."

She and Webster agree that it may be too early to tell what the overall impact of bicyclists on those trails will be, but both say it usually means hikers and equestrians will have to go elsewhere in the mountains.