By Lauren McSherry
 Joe Hu/Town Crier Two hikers walk on the Rhus Ridge trail in Los Altos Hills. |
Local mountain bikers are asking the Los Altos-based Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District this month to include them among the user groups allowed on the Rhus Ridge and Black Mountain trails.
Hikers and equestrians are the only user groups currently permitted on Black Mountain Trail, which twists up to the mountain’s 2,800-foot summit. It links to the popular Rhus Ridge trailhead on Moody Road in Los Altos Hills.
“I’d like to see it open because it’s the closest trailhead to the city of Mountain View and the city of Los Altos,” said Mountain View resident Joshua Moore, president of Responsible Organized Mountain Peddlers (ROMP). Moore was one of several mountain biking advocates from Los Altos and Mountain View who turned out Nov. 2 to lobby district officials to open the trail to them.
“If the trail is wide enough for a horse, I don’t see why it’s not wide enough for a bike,” Moore said.
Opponents argued that mountain bikers have their fair share of trails on district lands and that cyclists are dangerous because they travel at high speeds. Hikers asked officials to maintain the trail’s serenity by keeping its current status. They said sections of the trail where there are switchbacks or singletrack, wide enough for only one person, are difficult to share with cyclists.
Cyclists said the trail could be an important access point to the district’s regional trail system for Los Altos and Mountain View residents. Most local mountain bikers must drive or bike 10 miles to Cupertino or Woodside to access trails open to them. If the Rhus Ridge trailhead were opened, the distance would be reduced to about 2 miles.
Patty Ciesla, executive director of the Los Altos-based Northern California Mountain Bicycling Association, asked district officials to test opening the trail to bikes one day a week.
District policy states that trail use should be compatible with neighboring jurisdictions. Hidden Villa’s trails to the west are hiking and equestrian only. To the east is Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve where bikes are restricted to a short loop near Deer Hollow Farm. The district must provide multiuse trails, but only if they don’t threaten “the opportunity for tranquil nature study and observation.”
Deane Little, district representative for Los Altos and Mountain View, did not support opening the trail to bicyclists, citing its sharp corners and narrow corridor. He suggested constructing a trail elsewhere that would be “a friendlier experience for bikers and hikers.”
Increased traffic to the popular Rhus Ridge trailhead where parking is a problem on weekends could be another issue.
