BARRY'S MEMORY WILL ALWAYS BE OUT ON A RIDE.

Byline: BILL BECHER

To generations of San Fernando Valley cycling enthusiasts he was known simply as Barry.

If you went on one of the many regular training rides he established, you'd just say, 'I'm going on Barry's Ride,' and bike racers would know what you meant.

Barry Wolfe, at age 71, died unexpectedly Saturday night at his home in Agoura. A longtime resident of Woodland Hills, Wolfe was a guru to many of the cyclists of all ages who jammed his memorial service Tuesday.

``He was the boss of cycling in northern Los Angeles,'' said Thurlow Rogers, a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic Cycling Team. Rogers said he was just a kid riding in the San Fernando Valley when he met Wolfe.

``Barry was a mentor to a lot of people,'' Rogers said. ``When I first started, Barry would give me a lift to the training rides.''

Wolfe helped junior cyclists like Rogers with lifts to rides and races, bike parts, advice and encouragement. Former U.S. Olympic cyclists Roy Knickman and Ron Skarin of Chatsworth also were helped by Wolfe.

I rode with my friend Barry Wolfe on some of his Tuesday and Thursday training rides for a few years. Even though it was discouraging for me at times to be passed by a guy collecting Social Security, Wolfe never made fun of my efforts. Always the gentleman, he encouraged everyone to join his rides, whatever their ability, as long as they shared his passion for cycling.

Like some other competitive cyclists, Wolfe had been a speed skater as a young man, qualifying for the national championships in 1953 while he was in the military.

Wolfe took up cycling seriously at the age of 30 and competed as a veteran and masters racer.

He won many local bike races on the road and track and a slew of silver medals at the national level. Gold eluded Wolfe until he won the national championship in the over-55 category in track cycling in 1987.

Wolfe never lost his love of competition. Rogers said he and Wolfe had planned to ride in last year's national championship as a tandem team in the over-110 (combined) year-age category until Wolfe broke his hip.

Wolfe trained hard, too.

Forty years ago Wolfe started a Saturday morning winter training ride known as the Simi Ride that is still going on. Also called Barry's Ride, hundreds of cyclists pedal from Chatsworth through Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks and back through the Santa Monica Mountains. From October through January the ride attracts cyclists from pro racers to club riders.

Pro cyclist Baden Cooke, who won the second stage of this year's Tour de France, rode on Barry's Simi Ride.

Wolfe met his second wife, Joan, at a bike race where her son won the junior event and he won the masters race.

Wolfe and his wife rode a tandem bike once a week. He supplied most of the power according to Joan, who said he was known to ride off alone on the tandem without noticing he was missing his co-rider.

Despite a hip replacement and a battle with intestinal cancer, Wolfe was riding about 200 miles a week before he died.

Although he might get a little discouraged, Barry never let injury or illness, or even age for that matter, stop him from enjoying cycling, said Ed Morris of Newbury Park.

``As much as anyone can, Barry personified the freedom and pleasure riding provided. Even though we are saddened by his passing, if he could, he would say, 'Oh, just go out and ride your bike!' '' Morris said.

Wolfe is survived by his wife, three sons and five grandchildren.

Area cyclists will honor Wolfe with a ride Saturday leaving from Lassen and Topanga at 8:15 a.m. and following the original Simi Ride route up Norwegian Grade to Thousand Oaks and back to the Valley via Mulholland Drive.

John Wordin, former pro bike racer and manager of the Mercury Cycling Team, said the annual Warner Center bike race will be renamed in Wolfe's honor.

The family has asked that Wolfe, who was a cancer survivor, be remembered by donations in his name to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Donations can be made online at www.laf.org.

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Longtime Valley cyclist Barry Wolfe died Saturday. He was 71.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer