Erich in Hawaii

My friend Erich decided to do a couple of cool things to close out 2011. For one he decided to visit his sister, Linda, here in Hawaii. That in itself is great, as, so it turns out, is his sister. For most people that would be a fitting close to the year, but not Erich.
Nope, he managed to purchase himself a Bike Friday Pocket Rocket Pro.

There is, of course, a wee bit of a story to go along with this.
Erich and I met at RAGBRAI 2011 this past summer. We were neighbors in tent city, and as he says, “Bob stuck his head out of the tent at the wrong moment.” Turns out we keep about the same schedule riding (he is a strong rider than I, but doesn’t mind my dogging it) and have pretty much the same goals on a ride: maximize fun, minimize pain, eat whenever pickings are good.
Thus was born our Christmas journey. Erich and his sister rented a place on the North Shore across from Shark’s Cove for the evening. She would take the bus and Erich and I would ride around the island. You can see our journey here…

It was quite a ride. The wind here has been rather brisk of late so the first part of our journey, into the wind was, well slow is a word that comes to mind. Still riding a bike is a blast pretty much anytime, so there you are. The toughest hill for Erich as the road up to Makapuu (for me the gulch at Castle junction seems more painful – we are entitled to our opinions). In any case he made it in fine form, ahead of me too boot:

It really was a great ride. I’ve ridden that way many time so I got to play tour guide and Erich, who has been to Hawaii several time but never ridden out this way, got to soak it all in. Luckily the wind was strong enough that he probably couldn’t hear my inane commentary along the way, but he did say he was grateful for my pointing out broken glass and potholes almost quickly enough for him to avoid them.
We finally pulled up at Shark’s Cove and sure enough, there was his sister waving and making sure we didn’t ride on by. We stayed in a converted home that’s now let out for vacationers.

It was a nice place, clean and well kept. We had a bit of a mix-up over a couple of things, but it worked out in the end. I’d stay there again, but I’d be sure communications were clear. I’m pretty sure Christmas stress gets to everyone. Enough. Go there, enjoy.
We had dinner at Shark’s Cove Grill which is a little place with a great view. It doesn’t seem like much more than a glorified lunch wagon but the boy is the food ono. I had steak and shrimp skewers dizzled with curry over brown rice and it was exactly what I needed after a long ride.
Early to bed with the order of the evening, after a trip to the very busy Pupukea Foodland for morning supplies.
The next day after puttering around a bit, getting coffee for myself, a paper for Linda, and a walk for Erich, we were off into a somewhat blustery morning. It was lovely and wet by turns as we made our way back the way we’d come the day before.
Now let’s be clear, it wasn’t a rainy day. It’s simply that every so often a rain cloud would be blown in from the ocean and let go with a shower. Then it would be over and things would be fine. Indeed it really wasn’t worth putting on a jacket as it was more refreshing than anything else. Once we pulled over to put the rain covers on some of our bags and naturally by the time we’d done that it’s had stopped raining. Go figure.
As we went past the Polynesian Cultural Center we stopped for a couple of photos we some friendly Tikis.

We kept at it, mostly into the wind which had helped us the day before. At one point we actually had to shift down to an easier gear while going downhill. That’s some wind.
When we got to Kaaawa at Uncle Bobo’s. I just love the place. I try to get there pretty much anytime I’m cycling past. Sometimes I regret eating so much, but I never regret the flavors. Ono.

Then it was off down the road again. Full. Very full.
We made it as far as the Hygenic Store in Kahaluu before I had to call it quits. If you ever meet Erich he’ll say he was done and wanted to quit, but in truth my legs were a little too tight to want to ride all the hills coming up. I’d ridden 36 miles on Sunday, 65 on Monday, and now another 30. That isn’t really so much, but I’ve only been commuting lately, not training for long rides. Discretion is the better part of valor or so I’m told, but hey, bike riding should be fun. And again kudos to the TheBus, all our buses on Oahu have bike racks and they work well. Yeah.
And the kicker? After a few hours ride, a big lunch, and a lot of dilly-dallying who should be on the bus but Linda – Erich’s sister. Go figure. The ride was a lot more fun with her along, though this wasn’t, in fact, the first time Erich and I had been on a bus together – think across Iowa.
We got of the bus downtown so I could show Erich our Chinatown and give him a tour of our waterfront. Weather on this side of the island was almost perfect – still too much wind. Naturally we had to get the classic bike and Diamond Head shot.

And that, as they say, was that.
We’ve more things planned later in the week, but our big ride was a smashing success, even if I insisted we cut it just we bit short. Listen to nothing Erich says about calling it quits unless he agrees with me.
Aloha!