GROUP SPOKESMEN : Bike Clubs Ride a Wave of Success as Cyclists Band Together for Training, Competition and Fun

It’s 5 p.m., and there are only 17 miles left in your commute down car-choked Ventura Boulevard.

In Woodland Hills, you speed by a bicyclist on a cucumber-green bicycle with matching helmet, jersey, shorts, glasses, gloves and shoes. In Encino, 20 minutes later, she passes you as the traffic slows to yet another crawl.

About 85 million Americans put foot to pedal last year, according to Ed Burke, assistant coach for the 1984 U.S. Olympic cycling team. Many of them are joining clubs in an effort to increase their skill, motivation and enjoyment.

Riding with a group often results in a longer, stronger workout, Burke said, and it’s a good climate in which to acquire some techniques and make friends.

Although busy routes such as Ventura Boulevard are not ideal for every cyclist, many use the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas as a training ground because of wide-open spaces not found farther downtown.

Gary Canter, president of the Conejo Valley Cyclists, said Westlake Village is an ideal spot because of the flat, wide bicycle lanes along Westlake Boulevard and Lindero Canyon, Agoura and Triunfo Canyon roads.

“It’s good for novice riders,” Canter said. “There’s a beautiful lake there and little traffic. The joggers are still there, but they’re finding out from their doctors that the best way to go is to swim or bike.”

Burke said many Americans are “cross-training,” a trend that has grown in popularity in recent years.

“People aren’t getting wrapped up in one activity and getting fanatical about it,” he said. “They’re combining several and obtaining good cardiovascular fitness.”

Head-Related Injuries

Dr. Jerry Maryniuk, an emergency room physician at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, said 75% of all serious bicycle injuries are head-related.

“Probably half of head and facial injuries could be eliminated through the use of a helmet,” Maryniuk said.

In “The Effective Cyclist,” author John Forester writes that a simple fall will be experienced by an adult cyclist every 2,000 miles. Cyclists who join clubs are less prone to accidents, falling only once every 10,000 miles, on the average, he says. Of those accidents, 50% are caused by falling off a bicycle; 17% involve a car; another 17% involve another bicycle, and 8% involve a dog.

The following is a partial list of local clubs.

The San Fernando Valley Bicycle Club has “room for everybody,” according to Dick Sanabia, its president. Many of the 1,000 members gather at Cal State Northridge parking lot A, Nordhoff Street and Darby Avenue, at 7:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday for rides that range from 25 to 129 miles.

Among them are the “Beverly Hills Bash,” a 42-mile ride that traverses the Sepulveda Pass; “Pig out at Paty’s,” a flat, 33-mile ride that drops into Toluca Lake in time for a late breakfast feast at Paty’s Restaurant; “Oh Hi Ojai,” a “real killer” that winds 129 miles from Santa Paula to Ojai, and the 25- to 40-mile “Woodland Hills Wiggle,” which careens in, through, around and especially up a maze of streets about a mile south of Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills.

Twenty-five-mile time trials for racers are held on alternating Saturdays and Sundays of odd-numbered months on The Old Road near Magic Mountain at 8 a.m.

Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at the Encino Community Center on Balboa Boulevard at 7:15 p.m. Membership in the 10-year-old club, which includes a monthly newsletter, is $11 for individuals, $14 for couples and $16 for families. The club also holds an annual “Nude Moonlight Ride” on April 1. (818) 787-2788.

The Ventura County Bicycle Club combines recreational rides, touring and racing for its 220 members. “We’re a family club,” said its president, Tren Morris. “You’ll see a lot of members with baby carriers on the back of their bikes.”

Recreational rides depart Sundays at 9 a.m. from Mission Park in Ventura. The 40-mile route varies, sometimes traversing Casitas Pass or the outskirts of Carpinteria and Ojai.

The last Sunday of every month, bicyclists depart on a breakfast ride at 9 a.m. from Mission Park. The flat route, following the coast, is cycled at a leisurely pace and takes hungry bicyclists into a Carpinteria restaurant for breakfast and back.

Time trials are held during three weekends in October and November. Call for location and times.

The 21-year-old club sometimes arranges informal tours to locations such as the Rockies, the Pacific Coast, and Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks.

Club meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. on the last Tuesday of every month at various restaurants in Ventura. Maintenance clinics are sometimes offered. Membership is $12 for individuals and $15 for families. (805) 644-4311.

The Conejo Valley Cyclists club has 200 members that make up a “very likable bunch,” according to Canter. Members meet Wednesdays at 6 p.m. for a 17-mile ride through Hidden Valley, beginning at the Landing Shopping Center in Westlake Village, just off Lindero Canyon Road.

Additional recreational rides leave at 8 a.m. Saturday from the Security Pacific Bank at the northeast corner of the Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks. The eight different routes range from 25 to 35 miles.

Training rides for more advanced riders, held Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings, range from 25 to 40 miles.

Monthly meetings are held at the Thousand Oaks Mall community room at 7:30 p.m. the first Monday of the month except during July. Membership, including a monthly newsletter, is $20 a year for individuals, $25 for families, $25 for racers and $15 for students. (818) 889-3319.

The Santa Clarita Bicycle Club offers rides with “some good steep hills,” said Bill Blokzyl, the club’s president.

Recreational rides start at K mart at Bouquet Junction in Saugus at 9 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays and travel on various routes, which average about 20 miles.

For a faster ride, bicyclists meet at the Granary Square Shopping Center at McBean Parkway and Arroyo Drive in Valencia at 8 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The 50-mile route loops around the Santa Clarita Valley and sometimes into the Antelope and San Fernando valleys.

Registration for time trials, which cost $5, begins at 8 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month on San Francisquito Canyon Road in Valencia. The 10-mile ride begins at 9 a.m. and travels past remnants of the St. Francis Dam. “When you ride up, you can see the old blocks of concrete--big old chunks of stuff about the size of houses,” Blokzyl said.

The club, formed in 1983, has 70 members, no regular meeting (“the bike rides are our meetings”) and has an occasional newsletter. Membership is $15 per year. (805) 252-4011.

The Montrose Cycle Club, strictly for racers, has a 1984 Olympic silver medalist, Pat McDonough, among its 300 members. The 33-year-old club offers rides for both novice and expert racers.

Members meet Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 p.m. in the main parking lot of the Rose Bowl for a 5-kilometer circuit ride around the stadium. Group training rides leave from the front entrance of La Canada Flintridge’s Descanso Gardens at 8 a.m. every Saturday. The 65-mile, fast-paced ride takes riders over rolling hills to San Dimas and back.

The club meets on the first Wednesday of each month at the La Canada Flintridge Public Library at 8 p.m. in the summer and 7:30 p.m. in the winter and fall. Guest speakers, such as nutritionists, exercise physiologists and massage therapists, occasionally offer advice.

The membership charge, which includes a monthly newsletter, ranges from $10 to $30, depending on age. (213) 227-9024.

The Burbank Cycling and Touring Club has no newsletter, no membership fee and is “pretty informal and casual,” said President Dave McAuley.

The 15 members meet at McAuley’s Sport Cyclery in Burbank at 8 a.m. Sundays for rides that range from 35 to 50 miles. One of the club’s more scenic routes travels through San Marino and Pasadena, passing historic Pasadena mansions. “It’s real quiet there and we try not to make too much racket,” McAuley said. (818) 842-6957.

The Lame Duck Cycling Pod consists of “five guys and three girls,” according to Brent Dyrness, one of the eight founders of the club formed last year. “We’ve all known each other since high school.” He said new members are welcome.

There is no membership fee, no newsletter and no monthly meeting, but “we’re hoping to get a funky T-shirt and all that, and people will think that’s cool, and maybe we’ll expand to a bigger club,” said Dyrness, a Burbank resident.

The informal group cycles on weekends whenever its members find the incentive to call each other to organize a ride. The rides are around the Valley or down to the coast. “We’re just a bunch of outgoing people,” Dyrness said. “We like to have fun.” (818) 845-5360.