Hawaii bike tours

I recently accomplished on of my goals for this winter: leading bike trips on the Big Island of Hawaii. Bicycle Adventures offers about fifteen trips on the big island each winter, and I was very excited to be sent down there as Tour Guide for two recent trips. I got to escape the Seattle winter and get some sunshine, while also meeting some great folks and earning a bit of cash. Whoop whoop!!

Rather than giving a play-by-play, here are some highlights of the trip…

Before the guests arrive, Teri and I hiked to a flooded lava tube near Kiholo Bay that is called Queen’s Bath. Apparently lots of cool swimming spots on the island are called “Queen’s Bath,” but this one was super-cool. There were two holes that led into the flooded tunnel, and one of them had a cute ladder for climbing down. The other one was a great photo op, too, as you can’t see how the swimmer gets in/out of the water! The tunnel between the two holes had a few feet of breathing room. I heard you can explore about 50m into the dark tunnel beyond the second hole, but we didn’t have a flashlight handy and it got rather creepy very quickly!

We went on a snorkeling trip during the Classic bike tour, and the humpback whales were everywhere! February must be a great time of year to see humpbacks in Hawaii. Boats must stay 100m away from the whales, but if a whale comes closer then the captain just has to cut the engine and wait. We were treated to a mama whale and a calf swimming right up next to our boat!!

Another memorable sight was the smoking/steaming crater on Kilauea. We saw action at the Halema’uma’u crater from a few different angles, during our daytime hike and from the Jaggar museum at sunset. As the sun sets, you get a better and better view of the “red glow,” which I understand to be the lava reflecting off of the smoke and steam. You can’t see the lava itself from the overlook right now – you need a helicopter! The best time to take a photo is just after sunset – you don’t want enough ambient light to drown out the “glow,” but you need enough light to light the landscape, otherwise your photo is just a red splotch.

Another cool thing that we saw: sea turtles at Punaluu black sand beach. People also saw turtles in the water here, and at Kahaluu, but this is the only turtle photo that I have:

Near the Waikoloa resorts, you can pick up the King’s Trail and see some petroglyphs that are over 100 years old. These cravings are less than a mile from the road. I took a few photos during a before-dinner run one night.

One of my favorite bike rides was on the quiet and scenic roads of the Puna District. You go through a few tree tunnels with low-hanging vines, and you also have some beautiful views of the rocky coastline. You go through a few lava flows, too.

I’ll lave you with a photo of the sunset from the shopping center at Alii and King Kam III. I finished my grocery shopping one evening just in time to snap a few shots with the surprisingly large crowd of tourists. Well, it was surprisingly large for a shopping center parking lot, but the view explains their presence.

And what better to enjoy this sunset with, than Kona Brewing Company’s current “Aloha Series” seasonal, the Koko Brown ale?

Northern California Pub N Pedal

In October I had the privilege of leading two Northern California Pub N Pedal trips for Bicycle Adventures. Most of you know that pubs and pedaling are two of my favorite things! These trips included daily visits to local microbreweries as we cycled through Northern California, from the Bay Area up through Ukiah. Here are a few photo highlights:

Van+trailer glamour shots:

  

Our Fearless Leader / Head Guide, Brad Gordon, hanging out at Korbel:

Tour of Korbel Champagne, complete with a free tasting of various dosages:

  

Riding in Northern California also means riding through the vineyard. I’ve ridden my bike in plenty of beautiful places, and the wine country is right up there with the best of them:

 

We saw beer everywhere we went:

We also saw llamas!

  

Anderson Valley was my favorite of all the breweries we visited:

   

We had lunch at a restaurant where patrons are encouraged to draw pictures while they wait for food, and some of the best end up on the menu covers.

Beth’s Café in Seattle also gives customers crayons and encourages customers to draw. The walls are covered in drawings. Beth’s is also the home of the twelve-egg omelet.

Our second Pub N Pedal trip included a visit to Biketoberfest Marin, which featured beers from 20+ breweries and a bunch of cool bikes. These featured bamboo frames. I also saw some sweet carbo bikes and trikes.

 

Bicycle Adventures guides pride ourselves in our artful cheese plates at our Wine & Cheese socials. I learned a few tricks from Randy Resch when we led an Oregon Coast Casual trip together:

View from the top of Mt Tam. I rode up there three times – once when we were scouting routes before the trips, then once on each of the two trips. Yay!

  

I am glad to see that they regulate their garbage in Northern California. I hate Unregulated Garbage.

Bodega Bay is rather picturesque. Cold and foggy, though…

  

The big board at Russian River Brewing, home of Pliny the Elder:

I parallel-parked the van into this space. Baller!

This one goes out to Seattle runner and Starbucks food scientist Chris Charles, a.k.a. the Cake Pop King! (Or is it Cake Pop Kid?)

On our way back to Seattle, we drove past the famous town of Weed, California. I can’t decide which of these highway signs is my favorite!