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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Mark Logrbrinck
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Monday, 16 April 2007 |
Tex in Hawaii
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I got my bike washed off. It is still dirty, but clean enough to ride. I got up early because I told Vikki we would go hiking today. I still wanted to ride. I decided to ride some of the Hanalei area back roads. The Hanalei River Valley is one of the most scenic areas around. It still has numerous taro fields, which double as a wildlife sanctuary.
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Taro is a root vegetable, from which poi is made. For those uninformed, poi is a starchy paste you are suppose to eat with Hawaiian food. Now do not get me wrong….I’m all for eating the ethic culinary delights. I eat BBQ in Texas, Kung Pao in China Town, pasta in Italy even crepes in France. Poi ain’t that good. It has been portrayed as “like eating paste.” The only dissimilarity is that paste tastes better. Oh yeah ridin’ ……I ride around on mostly deserted roads. Kauai is that way, small and rural. There are no freeways and very few 4 lanes roads. For most roads the speed limit is 50 mph or less. I return to the condo unscathed.
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Vikki and I head out to the end of the road on the north shore past Hanalei. The main road around the island, does not quite make it. This is where the Kalalau Trail snakes along the Na Pali coast for 13 miles or so. We hiked this trail on our honeymoon 16 years ago. I remember it well.  | | click to enlarge |
We get to the parking lot and it is teeming with tourists and locals. Luck has it we spot a parking place. We get ready with Camelbacks, Gu, Clif Shots, new Merrill hiking boots for me, water and bug spray. We are ready. I am thinking most of these folks are here for the beach. I remember it to be a strenuous hike. We start out on the trail. It starts out with a bang. It is like climbing stairs from 6 inches to 3 feet, maybe a little higher. It goes up, it goes down and so on.  | | click to enlarge |
The scenery is incredible. Lexis can not express. What I can describe though are the people. Lots of them. Back-packers, families, young, old, in-shape and out-of-shape. The latter is surprising to me since we are in pretty good shape, I thought. It is a hard hike. We get to the beach where the film South Pacific was partly filmed. It is a small area mostly rocks and rough seas. We do not have time to turn inland and hike to the same waterfalls we hiked to 16 years ago. We will attack this trail later. Vikki can report on it since hiking is more her passion.
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It is turning out to be a great vacation, I am going to do my best to ride every day here on Kauai. I am headed out to ride three different trails today. The first is a nice one on the leeward side of a mountain range called Sleeping Giant. From the distance it has a profile of a Giant sleeping.  | | click to enlarge |
Hence the name Sleeping Giant. Folklore says that the natives planned on lighting numerous fires behind the mountains to scare away any potential invaders. I do not think this was ever done but a brilliant idea for the day. The ride is a nice trail; not too eventful. Sometimes it is nice to not have any events. I have had nothing go wrong yet, keeping my fingers crossed. Again I ride on deserted roads. I get done and head over to ride two trails that meet at a summit. Up one down the other and reverse. I do not know how to express the beauty. It is unbelievable. It is quite a bit different than Texas or California.
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I have ridden all the trails on this side of the island and am setting out to Wiamea Canyon on the far west side of the island. Wiamea Canyon is the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. It is over 3000 feet deep in places. Even though it is only 70 miles away, it takes me over 2 hours to get there. I get to Koke’e State Park and buy a trail map. I ask the lady at the counter where to go and she suggests Camp 10 road to Kauaikio Stream. The road is dirt and smooth, really smooth. I can only imagine if it rains. Some spots are slick even now. More forest, birds, ferns, streams, flowers, red dirt, incredible views, and no people. This ride I saw nary a sole. It is nice to get away from it all. Like the other rides, I think I have seen maybe 5 people. I saw more dogs on the first ride than I have seen people the whole time. I do not know why. I guess more people like going to the beach. Not me. I want to get in the mountains.
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All and all Kauai is a great island to visit. There are really not that many crowds, traffic travels at a moderate pace, there are many great restaurants( I have not eaten this much fish in a while), great weather, lot of places to ride, nice people, good hiking, beautiful beaches and mountains. The guys at Kauai Cycles are a good bunch. I had them ship my bike back, I did not want to mess with it. We had a lot of fun and though it will be a while, we can not wait to come back.
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We will fly over to Oahu for 3 days, staying in Wikiki. I have never been to Wikiki. It looks like it is busy. Vikki is on a business trip there (yeah you guessed it the whole trip is a write off). She sells artwork to various companies that make Hawaiian shirts and clothing. I get to lug around two portfolios each with 50 lbs. of artwork. I am Vikki’s cabana boy for a couple of days. I hope she does well. She can pay for the trip.
Aloha,
Tex
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