ORANGE COUNTY SUMMER : Pedal-Pushing Passion : Biking Has Caught On Fast in Orange County, and the Boom Is Turning Into an Explosion

It all seemed so innocent at first. Dan Gladney was just looking for a way to stay in shape.

“I thought, ‘Gee, this looks like a lot of fun,’ ” he recalled. “Buy a bike, a helmet, and you’re set.”

If only things were so easy.

Just a year after he went out and spent $350 on a new bicycle (“I thought that was a lot of money at the time”) Gladney recently “upgraded” to an aluminum bicycle in the $2,000 range.

The weekly rides of the past have given way to daily outings at 5 a.m., and the 20-mile excursions that once seemed so challenging are now hardly enough to work up a sweat. And the helmet? Gladney now has two of them, plus multiple pairs of Lycra bike shorts, jerseys, riding gloves, two pairs of specially fitted shoes, gloves and sunglasses.

“Well yes, I guess I’m a little obsessed,” said Gladney, 36, a zone director of sales for the Kendall Health Care Products Co. and a resident of Mission Viejo. “But it’s just so . . . fun. “

Gladney is not alone, and in fact is part of a bicycling boom that has swept across Southern California and turned the sport into a passion for tens of thousands of riders.

There are few places where biking has caught on as fast as in Orange County, where cycling has become a million-dollar industry and bike stores have become as prominent as yogurt shops. And with summer, the boom has turned into an explosion.

Drive down any Orange County road this summer and you’re likely to see them--some alone, others riding in packs--their bodies bent over the frames, heads low in the wind, legs spinning, their bright yellow, blue and red jerseys and helmets announcing the presence of the serious bicyclist.

With miles of bike trails leading to both the beaches and the hills, local enthusiasts see Orange County as one of the finest places in the country to practice their sport year-round.

“I don’t know if there is a bad time to ride around here,” said KarroLynn Wells, membership director for the Orange County Wheelmen, a cycling club boasting more than 900 members. “Sometimes it gets hot, and if it rains it can get really cold. But that’s not often.”

Biking, however, just isn’t what it used to be. Blame it on the 1984 Olympics, when the cycling competition was held in Mission Viejo, but the entire industry has gone big-time and high-tech.

No longer content with a leisurely ride down the street, the packs of bikers you see on the streets take their sport seriously. Every little detail of the bike, from the frame to the spokes to the seat post, gets close attention.

Gone are the days when a handful of U.S. bike manufacturers dominated the market, and a top-quality bike went for several hundred dollars.

Entry-level sport, touring and racing bikes now start around $250 and go into the thousands. There are dozens of brands, a bewildering selection of gear and brake systems, wheels and tires. Even the frame has to be carefully selected: traditional steel, light-weight aluminum or perhaps the new-age composite or carbon fiber.

“For the person who doesn’t know much about bikes it can be a little confusing,” said Jessie Gascon, co-owner of Bicycle Man of Mission Viejo, who logs between 150 and 200 miles a week himself.

“We just have to bring them up to date because the technology has changed so much in the last 5 years. It’s like comparing a Ford Pinto with a Thunderbird now; things have changed so much. It’s a whole new world out there.”

Dave Jones, general manager of Two Wheel Transit Authority in Fountain Valley, agreed that the dizzying array of choices on new bikes leaves many people lost. But when they get into it, they do so in a big way.

“Some people don’t need a $1,000 bicycle when a $300 one will do fine,” he said. “And then there are people who want a pro bike because it’s the ‘in’ thing to do. They just want to have one. It can get addictive.”

Small bike-shop owners like Gascon, as well as the larger dealers like Two Wheel, report the biggest growth in the bike industry has been in off-road mountain bikes with raised handlebars and larger, knobby tires.

“Fat tire” enthusiasts now account for an estimated 60% to 70% of all bike sales in Southern California.

“Some people enjoy getting out of the traffic and back in the hills with nature,” said Two Wheel’s Jones. “And mountain bikes are great on the road too. A lot of people who buy the mountain bikes don’t even take them off the road.”

Outside of the gadgetry and the lure of owning a hand-made Italian racing bike, what attracts people to the sport and keeps them in it is the simple fact that it is a relatively easy way to stay in shape.

“People who live around here and don’t bicycle, are really missing it,” said Dan Gilchrist, events coordinator at Two Wheel Transit Authority. “It really is wonderful. You can commute on this, you can get fit, you can travel, you can go to the market, you can take a vacation and you can always find good camaraderie out there on the road. If you don’t bike in Orange County, you’re missing out.”