Huntington Beach Cyclist Is Riding on a Wheel of Fortune

Before Steve Khachadoorian got his first bicycle almost five years ago, he felt he was on a road to nowhere. He said he smoked marijuana and cigarettes, partied constantly and hung out with a crowd whose only concern was having a good time.

Today, the wall in his Huntington Beach living room is covered with plaques and medals he has earned as an amateur cyclist, and photos of him on his 12-speed racing bike. But, an unpleasant reminder of the past lingers.

Hidden within the cycling memorabilia is a photo of Khachadoorian in a wet suit with a surfboard in his hand and black, long, curly hair covering part of his eyes.

“I grew up like that,” said Khachadoorian, 28, referring to the picture of him as a teen-ager. “I was just a surf rat and I partied too much.

“When I got into biking, I saw immediately what it did for me in terms of discipline. It got me off dope and made me quit smoking, because you have to service your body if you want to be a successful cyclist.”

Khachadoorian’s wife of two years, Darla, agrees that there’s been a positive change since her husband began biking. She has known him for 10 years.

“A lot of bad habits were thrown out the window,” she said. “The sport has set him on a straight road. It’s really done him a lot of good.”

Khachadoorian, who will compete in the 20-mile Seal Beach Grand Prix Saturday, said he grew tired of surfing in his early 20s. So, he started snow skiing.

In 1983, he read a book called “Situation Skiing” that suggested cycling to strengthen the legs. Soon thereafter, his cousin bought him a 12-speed bicycle.

“He said, ‘I hate to give you this good bike because I know you’re not going to ride it,’ ” Khachadoorian said.

At the time, Khachadoorian was 23, working for his parents’ produce company and determined to prove his cousin wrong.

“I showed him,” he said. “A year later (1984), I was in the Race Across America.”

RAAM is an annual 3,200-mile, coast-to-coast endurance event. To remain near the leaders, competitors can barely afford to sleep 1 1/2 hours a day.

Khachadoorian lasted 6 1/2 days on 18 hours of sleep. He was 12th out of 29 riders by the time he reached Agra, Kan., but intense pain in his knees and arms forced him to quit after 1,540 miles. He admits he did not train hard or long enough for that cross-country race, which he hasn’t entered since.

“When I got home I was so mentally and physically exhausted that I can’t even begin to explain it,” he said. “The damage to my arms was so bad that I couldn’t even spread shaving cream on my face.”

Nonetheless, RAAM awarded him the “most inspirational cyclist” trophy.

“Steve just has a lot of drive,” said Greg Miller of Seal Beach, a former Olympic road cyclist who designed one of the bikes Khachadoorian now rides. “When he goes at it, he really goes at it.”

Khachadoorian qualified for RAAM by placing in the top 10 of an ultra marathon race in Hemet a couple of months before the cross-country race. He trained for RAAM by riding up to 1,000 miles a week.

“Some may see it as pain with no gain,” Khachadoorian said. “But there really is a beauty to suffering. You hurt so bad, yet if feels so good when you’re done and you see what you’ve accomplished.”

Khachadoorian won his first race in 1983--the 100-mile Riverside Mission Inn bicycle race--10 months after he had been given his bike. He was still smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, but after the victory decided to get serious about racing and quit smoking.

He began to concentrate on ultra-marathon racing (800 miles or longer) until the 1986 season, when he decided to switch to road racing. The average length of the races he now enters is 70 miles, he said.

“In the marathon races when you take the lead, you get lonely,” Khachadoorian said. “Now the intensity is greater and it’s more exciting.”

In his first season of the shorter road races, Khachadoorian, then a Category-4 novice, won 12 of the 35 races he entered. He set a Category 4 record in the Double Century Race, a 200-mile event which goes from Huntington Beach to San Diego and back. Khachadoorian finished in 9 hours 57 minutes, taking only three three-minute breaks.

This season, he has moved up to Category 3, the upper-novice level, but has yet to win. Top level national riders are rated Category 1 or 2.

“I know I’ll never get to a super high level of competing,” Khachadoorian said. “I’m too old and most of those guys started when they were just kids.”

Also, he has to divide his training time with his work. Khachadoorian, who owns a produce business, is up at 3 a.m. every day and drives to Los Angeles to pick produce for the restaurants he services.

He still manages intense workouts daily on roads through Laguna and Santiago canyons and such tough stretches as the Wall near O’Neill Regional Park. Twice a week he works out with weights, then rides 100 miles with members of the Velo Playa Larga bicycle club in Long Beach.

“Time is always a factor,” he said. “I usually rush home from work, eat, stretch and then go riding. By 8 p.m., I’m already dead asleep.”

Khachadoorian primarily competes in California races from February to November. He competes internationally whenever he can afford it.

Two weeks ago, he was in France for a Tour de France tune-up race that takes place on roads 30 miles outside Paris.

Khachadoorian, who said he was the only American in the race, finished the hilly, 120-mile course 893rd out of 35,000 competitors in 6 hours 12 minutes. He managed that even though 10 minutes into the race, he had two flat tires.

Khachadoorian hasn’t always been so fortunate with flat tires.

He took a fall at the El Dorado Park Criterium in February in his first race of the ’87 season when his front tire exploded after an opponents pedal cut it. His body slammed to the ground chest first, and he scraped skin from his chest, arms and legs.

“I felt like I was in shock for two days,” he said. “For a while after that I got nervous to sprint to the front.”

That was his worst accident, but there have been many others. His 5-foot 8-inch, 155-pound frame is full of scars that look more like severe burn marks.

“You don’t know how many times I’ve fallen into the dirt and cried,” he said. “But you just have to get back up and keep going and have a positive attitude.”