Hawaii Trip Day 5

Day 5 - Friday December 10th
Miles - 40.6
Climb - 1043

Today was the last day of our ride around the big island. I had a mix of emotions about it coming to a close. Excited because of what we had accomplished but sad because I wasn't ready for it to be over. Riding around the island was amazing. It was a little chilly in the morning and kind of gray. It looked like it might rain so we were all ready to go with the rain gear. As we set out for our ride I left last but quickly caught up with the front riders Chris, Jeff & Kim. We were riding pretty close together and the shoulder on the road was not very wide and in not very good condition. We were frequently swerving into the road to avoid debris and potholes. The order of our line was Jeff, Chris, Kim and myself bringing up the back. When you ride in a line like that it's a little nerve racking. The rider in the front calls out and uses hand signals to let people know what the road is like. If there is a debris in the road the front rider points. If they need to stop, they yell "stopping" as well as use the hand signal. The people in the back have to pay close attention as well because they have less time to react to something. At some point Jeff swerved to miss a pothole and Kim didn't. Her front tire slammed into the far edge of the pavement and sent her flying. I immediately swerved and locked up my brakes to avoid running into Kim. It's like time all of a sudden slowed down for me. I saw, in slow motion, Kim wabble, then fall, then still clipped into her pedals slide across the asphalt and come to a stop. I did a little endo with my back tire coming up off the ground from me riding the brakes. I quick clipped out of my pedals and luckily landed on my feet unscathed. Unfortunately I can't say the same for Kim. She cracked her helmet and had some pretty gnarly road rash. She wanted to keep riding but neither her or her bike were in any condition to keep going so she was forced to sag in. What's kind of crazy is we later found out that her husband, Nick, crashed right around the same time but 15 miles back or so. They had some sweet matching rasberries to show off in Maui.

Not too long after that it started to rain. First a mist then full on downpour. We arrived at lunch totally soaked!

At lunch Kim found herself another helmet and a backup bike and decided to ride the rest of the way into Kona. Impressive! She's pretty bad ass! So the rest of the ride was a little nerve racking. It was pretty much all downhill. With the rain, cold, narrow shoulders, decreased visibility and heavy traffic it made for an interesting ride. My right hand went numb and both of my forearms were cramping from riding the brakes for 20 miles. I was actually kind of excited to be riding in the rain though. We had 4 great days of riding weather and it was nice to experience the rain. I could have done without the cold. It was absolutely freezing being soaking wet and cruising downhill on a bike. We weren't really having to work very hard so our bodies weren't generating any heat which just compounded the effect. We arrived at the hotel in Kona and had a little celebration that included pool towels. As much as I enjoyed the experience of riding in the rain I equally enjoyed a piping hot shower and dry clothes. That night we were supposed to go to a luau but with the weather they cancelled it and we went to a local bar/restaurant called Jackie Rey's.

Outside the restaurant is this sweet Mercedes ??? custom station wagon thing.

After the restaurant we went out. When we were riding everyone was in bed pretty early. You were tired from the day of riding and then had to get up early to do it again so there wasn't a lot of partying out on the ride. This was our chance to celebrate and blow off some steam. On our way to the next place I stopped at an ABC store to purchase a new Hawaiian shirt for the nights festivities. I was ready to roll now!

So we went from Jackie Rey's to a bar called Humpy's.

The Mai Tai's not only tasted great, they look awesome too!

After a few drinks I thought we should all go sing karaoke so I found a local joint that had it. When I say local, I mean townie bar. It was awesome! I'm pretty sure our hotel rooms were bigger than this bar. It was filled with bikers and people with lots of "character". We closed the joint down and then piled into a cab like we were trying to break a Guinness World Record for most number of people in a midsize sedan. I sat in front with someone on my lap.

Here's some of the girls showing off their flowers. You wear it on your right side if you're single and on your left side if you are taken.

At first glance this photo is just another drinking pic. Upon further examination you will find it's a fairly accurate snapshot of the character of the bar and it's patrons. I love the lady to my right with the reindeer antlers on!

This is Beth dancing on a chair.

All in all it was a great end to a great bike ride!