A 52-year-old man riding a mountain bike escaped serious injury Saturday when he fell approximately 75 feet off a cliff on the Sam Merrill Trail, in the Las Flores Canyon, just north of Altadena.
Deputies said his helmet prevented injuries.
“The bicyclist was covered from head to toe in brown dust, and once paramedics started treating him they saw he had only minor cuts and scratches along his arms and legs,” according to a news statement from the sheriff’s Altadena station.
The sheriff’s Altadena Mountain Rescue Team and sheriff’s Air Rescue helicopter were dispatched to the scene at 10:15 a.m.
“The mountain biker was on Sam Merrill trail, approximately two miles up the trail, when he moved to the side of the trail to let a hiker pass by,” according to the news statement. “The mountain biker’s tire slipped off the trail, and the victim fell off the side of a cliff.”
The helicopter performed a hoist rescue of the bicyclist, a 52-year-old Pasadena man, and flew him to Farnsworth Park. He was treated for minor abrasions and released by county fire department paramedics.
The Altadena Mountain Rescue Team took him and his bike back to his vehicle.
—City News Service