Senior Spokesman Hector Monsalve, an Age-Group Cycling Champion Nearing 59, Is Training Again, Soon After a Serious Fall on a Practice Ride

Everything was going smoothly for Hector Monsalve and his bicycle-riding friends during another 75 or so training miles through Valley streets on a Sunday morning. Then, as the group turned a corner in San Fernando, it happened. Quickly and without warning.

The front tire on Monsalve’s racing bike went flat, sending him crashing to the pavement on his right side. After his friends helped him up, Monsalve assessed the damage: The bike was fine; his right thigh was not.

“I was going about 17 miles an hour and it was like somebody pulled the bike from under me,” Monsalve said. “I picked up a staple on the road and the tire went flat.”

About a week after the accident in May, an orthopedist put two pins in Monsalve’s cracked femur and a warning in his head.

“He said, ‘Hector, if you start riding too soon and fall again, don’t come to me,’ ” Monsalve said, laughing.

Monsalve, who will turn 59 on Tuesday, is riding again. But the layoff will force him to skip the U.S. Cycling Federation Masters Track Nationals next week in Colorado Springs. He is resigned to the idea--barely.

For the past few years Monsalve, owner of Hector’s Cycle World in Sherman Oaks near his home and coach and co-sponsor of Team Hollywood cycling club, has been one of the leading senior riders in the world.

In 1991, Monsalve was the overall champion among men 55-59 at the Senior World Games in St. George, Utah. That same year in San Diego, he was the national champion in the points race in the same age group and finished in the top five in three other events. Last year, Monsalve took fourth in four events and sixth in another at the nationals.

“It’s hard to hang with him. He’s an incredible rider,” said John Christie, 58, Monsalve’s friend and teammate on Team Hollywood. “One time we were going up Santa Susana Pass, and I’m struggling. I look to my side and there he is, whistling.”

It’s no surprise Monsalve won the points race two years ago; it is a favorite of his along with the criterium.

The points race, usually 50 or 60 laps in a velodrome, pits riders who cruise around the track for nine laps and sprint for one, accumulating points according to their position every time they cross the finish line after each sprint lap. The criterium is a fast-paced, 30- to 40-mile race normally contested on a rectangular or square course on flat city streets.

“On the track, I like the points race the best,” Monsalve said. “You have to have stamina and speed. It takes brains, expertise and good handling of the bike. You have to know when to make your move.”

Monsalve first learned about cycling gamesmanship in the 1950s in his native Bogota, Colombia. He doesn’t know why he started riding, but figures it probably had something to do with the sport’s popularity in the country.

One of his early victories, however, was disheartening.

“I was 19 and it was my second year of racing,” Monsalve recalled. “I entered this race called ‘King of the Mountain.’ It was a race from Bogota over a mountain to Alban and back. I killed myself for 120 kilometers. I busted my butt and broke away from the pack. I didn’t know what the prize was.”

The reward for his trouble was a four-inch-high trophy, much like the ones sold at knickknack stores, with the words “World’s Greatest Fisherman” inscribed at the base.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “It was a big joke.”

The prize sits on a shelf in Monsalve’s shop, dwarfed by several impressive trophies. Other awards won by the veteran cyclist, including medals and certificates, hang on a wall. A white winner’s jersey from his overall master’s title at the 1992 Casper (Wyo.) Classic hangs near pictures of famous customers--Jermaine Jackson, Shelley Duvall, Barbra Streisand and Cybill Shepherd.

By the mid-’50s, Monsalve was a force within Colombian cycling circles, where Roberto Guerrero Sr., father of the Indy-car driver, was also a prominent figure. Although capable of handling any of the events, Monsalve generally competed on pursuit teams. He competed for Colombia in the 4,000-meter team pursuit at the 1954 Central American and Caribbean Games and in the 1955 Pan American Games, both in Mexico City, and in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

A year after Melbourne, Monsalve emigrated to Reading, Pa., and went to work at a textile mill. While in town, he met Theresa, who became his wife, and the two moved to Southern California after they married in 1958. At first, Monsalve worked in Los Angeles for a couple of foreign-based airlines and in a bicycle shop on weekends to supplement his income. Being around the bikes stirred his competitive juices.

In 1964, Monsalve qualified for the U.S. Olympic pursuit team but never made it to Tokyo. An International Olympic Committee rule prevented him from competing for the United States because he already had done so for Colombia. The news devastated Monsalve.

“It’s my biggest disappointment,” Monsalve said. “I was really upset. For a few years, I didn’t touch my bike.”

Eventually, though, Monsalve returned to the sport. He coached his three children--daughters Diana and Sandy, and son Rick--and watched them win state road and track championships in the 1970s. And, in 1968, Monsalve opened his shop on Ventura Boulevard and has been there since. That’s where he spends most of his time when not on his thrice-weekly training rides, surrounded by the wares of his trade and the mementos from a lifelong passion.

Among them is an Italian-made Cinelli bike Monsalve bought for $70 and rode in the Olympics. There’s also a $4,000 emerald-green road bike he now uses, an aerodynamic number with a $1,000 Russian-made solid rear wheel. It’s a tangible reminder, Monsalve says, of how costly the sport has become.

“It’s an expensive sport,” Monsalve said. “The sport is so specialized now. For every event, there’s a special bike. Everyone carries about three bikes to competitions--one for the road, one for the time-trials and one for the track.”

Monsalve says he competes in the senior events because he loves the sport and wants to remain active. Others, he says, are driven by a different motivation.

“Nowadays, I like to compete in everything,” Monsalve said. “I had my glory years ago. But let me tell you, there are racers who never won anything and they put so much emphasis and compete so hard to beat you that it’s pretty much an ego trip for them.”

Despite his sometimes-critical outlook toward the sport, Monsalve concedes he can hardly wait to race in 1994.

“I’m looking forward to next year,” he said. “I’ll be 60 and that means a new age category (60-64). I’ll clean house in that one.”