January 3, 2018
Ocean View
Today’s ride follows the Kona Coast south to Ocean View. We’ll leave soon after Bike Works opens at 9. We’d like to get an earlier start, but somehow we arrived in Hawaii with four hands but only two gloves. We’re lucky there a store close by, so we might as well take advantage of it.
On the upside though, this gave me some extra time to wander around the Kailua waterfront. This is going to be a dazzling trip!
Out of time; see you later.
So, it’s later now. We’re back in our room in Ocean View, having just returned from dinner at the nearby bar and grill, about a half mile away. Nice place, delicious stir fry. The highlight though was the walk home after dark on an unlit highway. Pitch black without our cellphone flashlight, except when an occasional car passed. It has been years since I’ve seen so many stars.
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Before this though of course came the day’s ride; and before that a few hours of frustration that held us up from starting our ride until 11, when it was already hot and we’re starting to feel pressed for time. One thing after another held us up - replacing Rachael’s missing gloves; finding replacements for the mount screws for Rachael’s GoPro; having my brakes adjusted when I realized one was almost completely unresponsive; and then dealing with the fact that we forgot the charger for the GoPro. Not the most promising start.
On the other hand, we enjoyed chatting with the bike mechanic - a recent Portland refugee driven off by last winter’s dreadful weather. We were surprised to gradually realize we knew each other from when he worked at the Bike Gallery.
The ride was challenging but great - quite hot and humid at first, but quite comfortable on the back half after a cloud layer formed and cooled things down considerably. The first half was beautiful - after riding close by the coast for about ten miles we crossed a 1700’ ridge, passing through a few miles of coffee plantations as we slowly climbed toward the summit; dropped steeply to the shore again, where we stopped for lunch at Kealakekua Historical Park, eating our peanut butter sandwiches on the black lava rocks lining the beach; and then slowly climbing back out again.
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6 years ago
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https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/eafrinet/weeds/key/weeds/Media/Html/Leucaena_leucocephala_(Leucaena).htm
In some areas it's an invasive species (http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/species.php?sc=23)
1 year ago
A surprising highlight of the day was the wonderful Saint Benedict Catholic Church, better known simply as the Painted Church. We were lucky to stumble on it, as we had no idea of its existence before today. It was all the more delightful for being so unexpected.
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Ocean View is a curious spot - a large grid of paved streets through a lava field in the middle of nowhere, with only a few houses. It feels really off the grid here. I was glad we found a B&B here (Leilani’s),since without one this route wouldn’t be viable for us. Lynn, the proprietress, is a surprise. An wiry elderly lady, she lets on that she’s done a bit of bike touring herself in her day. She eases in slowly, telling us of her tour of Denmark. It’s surprisingly hilly, she informs us. We act impressed, so she continues: oh, and she biked the length of the west coast in the US. Oh, and she set off on a solo RTW tour in 1985, starting in Japan. She made it across China also, where she was given a government escort. Denied permission to Bike across Russia, she took the Trans-Siberian Express instead; but after that her tour was cut short by a family emergency.
People are so surprising once you get them talking!
Elevation gain: 4,900’
Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 54 miles (87 km)
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It is -6 degrees here in MN this morning. I hope you're happy.
Seriously though, your trip is making me think about going south for a bike tour in the next month or two. Hopefully that will shorten my winter by a few weeks. It looks like you're having a good time. Keep it up.
Greg
6 years ago
6 years ago