BIG BEAR LAKE — Claiming victory in the last five races of the series, Keith Honda recently was awarded the title of masters champion in the Southern California State Series Mountain Bike Championship for Category 3 racers ages 55 and up.

Honda, cousin to Silicon Valley Congressman Mike Honda (and his former chief of staff), has been riding bicycles since childhood, but only recently started racing.

Produced by Team Big Bear (www.teambigbear.com) from Big Bear Lake, the Southern California State Series Mountain Bike Championship is the state’s largest mountain bike racing series.

The championship includes eight races held in a variety of venues stretching from Santa Ynez to San Diego. Attracting up to 400 racers in various classes (ranging from professionals to categories 1-3, divided into age groups) compete in the series. Races are held on rugged dirt trails and fire roads.

Mountain bikes are equipped with suspensions and knobby tires. Courses sometimes involve laps over a short course, but all races involve climbing between 1,000 and 2,000 feet. The final race for Category 2/3 masters was 17 miles long at an altitude of 8,000 feet.

Honda bested 17 racers in his age group, completing the series undefeated.

“When I started racing, I was happy to finish,” he said. “Winning the series proves even if old dogs can’t learn new tricks – at least they can do the old tricks faster.”

He had added winning the series to his list of things to do before he “kicks the bucket.” He stated, ”I can check this one off the ‘bucket’ list.”
Honda credited his wife, Aimee, for supporting his racing ambitions.

When not racing, he works an assistant chief administrator for Monterey County and lives with his wife and 5-year-old daughter Keanna in the unincorporated area west of Salinas.

He grew up in South-Central Los Angeles, and attended UCLA and Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. He served as Rep. Honda’s chief of staff for 10 years prior to joining the County of Monterey in 2000.