We have an interesting situation here! The city of Loma Linda is located between the heads of Richey and San Timoteo Canyons. Both the canyons are great riding areas, but alas, are seeing the encroachment of civilization. The area south of town is all undeveloped hills, and most of it is OWNED BY THE CITY. The cities position is that the area should be open for MULTIPLE USE RECREATION, INCLUDING OFF-ROAD RIDING!!. This is pretty elightened (3 city council members seem to be strongly pro off-road)!! They do post signs that you enter at your own risk, to protect the city from liability. If you got caught riding on city streets, the Sheriff would just tell you it is OK if you were going directly to the hills and back. I don't recall anybody actually ever getting a ticket for driving an unliscensed vehicle.

So, all went pretty well for years, until Easter weekend. Apparently, there are 3 pro MX dirt bikers that live in the area (I don't know who they are??), and they train in the hills. Well, the area got written up in one of the dirt bike publications, and people started showing up in droves. Team vans would park on residential streets and unload a dozen bikes, so someone complained. The Sherrif (county) started showing up with helicopeters and Hummers, running everybody out. Thing is, the Sheriff didn't even consult the city (THE LANDOWNER!!), and it turns out the person who complained, has a personal friend in the Sheriffs office who is doing this AS A PERSONAL FAVOR FOR HIM!! (It costs the taxpayers $600 per hour to fly the Sheriffs helicopter).

But wait, it gets more interesting! Two kids were making an action film for a school project. They were riding their bikes, and one of the dads was filming from a quad. The helicopter showed up, and asked them to leave (over a bullhorn). On the way out of the hills the group split up, and the Sherrif mistook this for EVADING. One kid and the dad made it home ok, but the helicopter followed the other, and he was met at home by a Sherrifs car. Well, the Sherrif deputy BEAT THE KID UP PRETTY BAD (kicked him in the stomach at gunpoint!!), and impounded his bike. The newspaper said that the helicopeter chased him for 20 minutes all over the streets. Now, the kid only lives 2 blocks from the hills (and the city isn't so big that you couldn't ride every street in town in 10 min).

Anyway, something good might come from all of this. The main issue seems to be NOISE. Calif. has a new 96dB (on public land) noise level law, so it seems to me that as long as bikes are below that level, and the landowner (the city) doesn't care if we ride, it is NONE OF THE SHERIFFS BUSINESS!! The other issue is that the Sheriff has gotten a lot of bad publicity, and will they (for revenge) start writing tickets for unliscensed vehicles on city streets? What we are going to need, are staging areas where we can park and unload our bikes (sucks when you live just 3 blocks away!!), so the Sheriff can't hassle us for riding on the streets.