SPORT REPORT

In Los Angeles, Spandex shorts, cruel cycling shoes and matted “helmet hair” have become a fashion statement. But 25 years ago, when three-time Olympian John Howard was beginning his cycling career, cyclists were targets for ridicule.

“Cycling was at an infantile level back in 1967,” Howard remembers. “We were laughed at because of our funny clothes--it was not considered cool to be riding a bicycle.”

Although the image of cycling has come a long way, the knowledge level of the average cyclist has not kept pace, says the 44-year-old Encinitas-based instructor. “We’ve always had this ‘toy’ syndrome about bicycles in America,” he says. “It’s even reflected in the language--people say, ‘It’s as easy as riding a bike.’ ”

That, Howard points out, is a misnomer. “The proof that we don’t know much about it is in the statistics,” he says. “The Consumer Products Safety Commission lists bicycling as the most dangerous preoccupation we have. More people are killed and maimed on bicycles than in any other thing we do short of driving a car.”

Howard, whose two-wheel achievements include eight U.S. national championships, world records for 24-hour endurance (539 miles) and top speed on a bicycle (152 m.p.h., set in 1985 on the Bonneville Salt Flats), and a second-place finish in the grueling Race Across America, takes bicycles very seriously. Nine years ago, in an effort to make the world safer for cyclists, he founded his School of Champions clinics. At workshops across the country and around the world, he teaches all levels of cyclists basic techniques, including how to stop or brake in short distance, how to ride in a pack, how to take a corner smoothly and how to set up a bike for comfort, power and safety.

The classes are a lot like high-performance-automobile driving schools. “You go in thinking, ‘Well, I know how to do this,’ ” he says, “and you come out realizing that you really knew very little.”

Howard’s fascination with all things pedal-able has taken him across land and sea. Last December, Howard biked from Dana Point to Catalina. A pedal-powered boat designed by Sid Shutt is his latest project; though it’s still in the prototype stage, he and Shutt hope to market it, as well as a pedal-powered hydrafoil, in the next year. “Sometimes cyclists just get tired of having cars pull out in front of them,” he says. “I want to give people an alternative.”

Instead of a helmet, remember to wear a life jacket.