(A little late to this, apologies)
Had an awesome, awesome ride - one of my favorites so far - out of Waimea! Dan and his mother directed me to a super fun side road that wove in and out of countryside, all rolling hills and grassy pastures, still dotted with lava rock, predominantly downhill. Smooth roads and almost 0 traffic. After about 10 miles it turned abruptly into forest and got steeper (still downhill). I cruised through the curvy roads at 25-30mph like it was nothing. I'm pretty sure I had maximum pizza strength from pizza dinner... And pizza breakfast.
I stopped for a giant, greasy bacon and bleu cheese burger about 12:30 right as it started raining. It rained, mostly lightly, on and off into the afternoon. No huge deal, had my rain gear up.
From lunch, my ride cut in and out of really amazing gulches for the rest of the day. I got used to the pattern: a climb, a curving descent cutting sharply back into the land, tight turn and old concrete bridge over a stream with a very Jurassic-Park-esque view (sometimes a waterfall or beach below!), and an equal but opposite ascent out the other side. I think there were 8 major gulches, all with fantastic views of their little bays. Here's one of the bigger ones:
I also got to stop near the botanic gardens for a cool little hike down to one of the coves. Pictures of that are on my nice camera, agh, but here's the trail entrance (fun getting my bike down there).
I made my way into Hilo at about 5:30 and had to decide whether to stop there or push another 10 miles or so to a relative's house for a place to stay. I went with an unfortunately crappy hostel called Wild Ginger - perhaps the worst I'd ever stayed in. It was more like a refugee camp, except that it cost me $35. I stayed in what was basically a partitioned shack down a staircase from the lobby area. I'll spare details, but the "kitchen" was ancient, the nice ocean breeze was replaced by a trade wind of cigarette smoke from the smoking area, 9pm "quiet time" and 10pm power shutoff were very strictly enforced, and the guy "managing" the area was ultimately really slimy and rude. Oh well, at least it was a place to sleep!
Today's stats:
Dist: 59.15 mi
Time: 3 hours 58 mins
Avg speed: 14.88mph
Max speed: 35.34mph
Had an awesome, awesome ride - one of my favorites so far - out of Waimea! Dan and his mother directed me to a super fun side road that wove in and out of countryside, all rolling hills and grassy pastures, still dotted with lava rock, predominantly downhill. Smooth roads and almost 0 traffic. After about 10 miles it turned abruptly into forest and got steeper (still downhill). I cruised through the curvy roads at 25-30mph like it was nothing. I'm pretty sure I had maximum pizza strength from pizza dinner... And pizza breakfast.
I stopped for a giant, greasy bacon and bleu cheese burger about 12:30 right as it started raining. It rained, mostly lightly, on and off into the afternoon. No huge deal, had my rain gear up.
From lunch, my ride cut in and out of really amazing gulches for the rest of the day. I got used to the pattern: a climb, a curving descent cutting sharply back into the land, tight turn and old concrete bridge over a stream with a very Jurassic-Park-esque view (sometimes a waterfall or beach below!), and an equal but opposite ascent out the other side. I think there were 8 major gulches, all with fantastic views of their little bays. Here's one of the bigger ones:
I also got to stop near the botanic gardens for a cool little hike down to one of the coves. Pictures of that are on my nice camera, agh, but here's the trail entrance (fun getting my bike down there).
I made my way into Hilo at about 5:30 and had to decide whether to stop there or push another 10 miles or so to a relative's house for a place to stay. I went with an unfortunately crappy hostel called Wild Ginger - perhaps the worst I'd ever stayed in. It was more like a refugee camp, except that it cost me $35. I stayed in what was basically a partitioned shack down a staircase from the lobby area. I'll spare details, but the "kitchen" was ancient, the nice ocean breeze was replaced by a trade wind of cigarette smoke from the smoking area, 9pm "quiet time" and 10pm power shutoff were very strictly enforced, and the guy "managing" the area was ultimately really slimy and rude. Oh well, at least it was a place to sleep!
Today's stats:
Dist: 59.15 mi
Time: 3 hours 58 mins
Avg speed: 14.88mph
Max speed: 35.34mph