67-YEAR OLD MAN LIVES ONE RIDE AT A TIME

By: Areli Tovar

The best day of his life happened when he was 10 years old. 

Michael Hefner is a 67-year-old motorcycle enthusiast from Tulare. Mike, as his family calls him, owns over 15 bikes.

Hefner was adopted at an early age, and since then, his adoptive father planted in his heart a love for bikes, speed and adrenaline. 

“My dad said the biggest mistake he ever made was buying me a little motorbike when I was ten years old because I’ve been crazy about them ever since,“ Hefner said.

Through the years, Hefner has been collecting all types of bikes. His home has turned into a bike museum with street bikes, dirt bikes, and quad bikes everywhere. 

There are bikes in his front door, in the garage, in sheds, in the backyard and even at his camping site.

Hefner said he has been riding bikes for over 50 years now, but it has not always been easy. 

Before moving to California, Hefner lived in Colorado. He was riding his motorcycle to his son’s baseball game one day when out of the blue, a deer jumped in his pathway.

“I flew through the air and I landed on the back of my head, and my neck and my shoulder is the first thing that impacted the ground,“ Hefner said.

The speedometer marked over 135 miles per hour right before he hit the deer. His bike shattered.

With multiple injuries, like the bleeding cuts to his palms from sliding through the road, Hefner attended his son’s baseball game instead of going to the hospital.

“I’ll have to say, he’s a risk-taker. Mike is a risk-taker,” said Carol Griffith, his girlfriend of 10 years.

If multiple injuries did not stop Hefner from riding, nothing will. He’s a rider at heart and will continue to live his life “one ride at a time.”