Simi Valley Duo Uses Bicycling to Shift Gears : Exercise: In tandem, Frantz and Montano satisfy appetites for competition while shedding weight.

Roger Frantz embraced tandem bicycling 4 1/2 years ago as if his life depended on it.

Frantz, beset by heart and blood problems, turned to bicycle riding to regain his health. He hooked up with Abbey Montano on the tandem bicycle and the two Simi Valley residents set a record in the L.A. Wheelmen’s Grand Tour 400-mile ultra-marathon last month by finishing in 21 hours 54 minutes. The previous record was 22 hours 32 minutes.

“I had blood disorders and light heart problems and this was all due to the extra stress my body was going through,” recalled Frantz, 43. “The doctor just took me aside and said, ‘You’re on a collision course. You’re not going to live much longer if you keep on being this size, so you’re going to have to get out there and exercise.’ ”

Frantz started his new activity at “a shade under 300 pounds.” At the same time, Montano weighed 250. Nearly half a decade later, Frantz is a trim 190 and Montano hovers between 155 and 160.

Frantz first tried his hand at racquetball for exercise 4 1/2 years ago, but was disappointed at not losing enough weight. “I became proficient at racquetball but I didn’t have to lose a lot of weight to become proficient,” Frantz said. “I stood in the middle of the court and engineered my shots rather than running after them.”

Dave Brown, a friend of Frantz’s and a cycling enthusiast, suggested that he take his 12-speed from his garage and take to the streets.

“We jumped on our bikes and rode to the top of Santa Susana Pass,” Brown said. “He had a huge stomach on him and I didn’t think he was going to make it.

“The girl I was seeing at the time passed him like he wasn’t even moving, and Roger didn’t take to that too well.”

But the challenge of bicycle riding appealed to Frantz. “I remember the first couple of times I set up a program I was gonna go out and ride, I couldn’t ride around the block twice,” Frantz said. “Breathing hard, sweating like there’s no tomorrow. I’d come back and lie down on the couch.”

Montano tried to get into shape by starting a running program in 1984 but did not continue because of injuries, primarily shin splints.

“I ended up getting on the bike to recuperate (after running) and wound up staying on the bike,” said Montano, 38. “I spent less time at the doctor’s office (for injuries) that way.”

The cycling relationship Frantz and Montano built over the past four years arose after the two were riding single bicycles in Moorpark.

“He was riding by himself and I was riding by myself and I caught up with him and I thought, ‘Oh boy, someone to have a little fun with,’ ” Frantz said.

A competitive urge seemed to take root as Frantz pedaled past Montano on a surface street. Montano, not to be outdone, answered with a surge of his own. The two continued to compete back to Simi Valley, where they decided to ride together on a regular basis.

“We said, ‘Hey, we’re pretty good at this. Why don’t we ride together?’ And that’s how it got started,” Frantz said.

Frantz and Montano are 9-0 on the amateur circuit, excluding their latest effort in the Grand Tour.

The pair began the event at 4:35 a.m. June 23 at the Los Angeles County sheriff’s substation in Malibu and rode through Port Hueneme, Oxnard, Camarillo, Ventura, Ojai and Santa Barbara before reaching the turnaround point at Gaviota, about 26 miles north of Santa Barbara.

Frantz and Montano finished back in Malibu at 2:29 a.m. June 24.

About 200 miles into the event, four chain links snapped from the force exerted by Frantz and Montano and delayed the riders nearly 30 minutes for repairs.

“Actually, I think we were crushing it,” Frantz said. “The bearings themselves couldn’t take the stress against the gears and that’s what started metal fatigue.

“Usually a chain will last you 3,000 to 4,000 miles but this chain probably had 800 miles on it at most.”

The tough part came after the chain was repaired. Generally, a 30-minute loss would be considered insurmountable, but Frantz and Montano, the only tandem crew in the field of 29 riders, overcame their disadvantage.

Riders were released at the start in five-minute intervals and Frantz and Montano caught and rode even with a pair of singles until the chain started jumping gears and broke. Frantz and Montano steadily made up the deficit over the final 200 miles and crossed the finish line simultaneously with two singles. Frantz and Montano were technically five minutes ahead because they started five minutes behind the two singles.

“I didn’t think we would catch up,” Montano said. “(But) as we got into each check-in area, as we were checking in, they were checking out.”

Check-in stations were 50 to 60 miles apart, said Montano, who rode in the back of the team’s black, 14-speed Cannondale.

Both Frantz and Montano have suffered injuries riding bicycles. Montano once sustained a broken arm while crossing railroad tracks on a narrow road in Moorpark, but that was not nearly as life-threatening as Frantz’s accident.

In January 1985, about nine months before meeting Montano, Frantz was broadsided and run over by a car where Los Angeles and Emory avenues intersect in Simi Valley. Though swept underneath the moving vehicle, which proceeded to cross the intersection, Frantz miraculously was missed by all four tires.

Even more amazing was that Frantz sustained no broken bones. However, he did suffer a bruised kidney, liver and pancreas.

“I don’t know why it didn’t kill me and I don’t know why I didn’t break any bones,” Frantz said. “All I could remember was that I saw the car coming and I just thought, ‘It’s over.’ ”