John and I got started around 9:00 AM on the 26th.  We started in Keau a few miles before my actual finishing point the day before.  There was a nice park and John was ready to get on the bike so we figured 20 miles up Volcano would be a nice round number to jump start from.  The photo above is the last time that John and I were side by side.  Like every single day of my ride, this one started with an immediate climb.  That means my legs were strong for about 25 minutes.  John is super fast and strong on hills so at this point he is just getting loose and offering some pointers on how to ride up hill.  Sit upright and bend the arms a bit.  I definitely start out in that position but as the body tires it becomes harder and draining to stay upright and forward in the seat.  The down side to slouching back a bit on an uphill climb is that the weight on your seat gets heavier and adds to the drag of the bicycle.  The more weight you put on the seat the more your bottom hurts too.  All of this lends itself to pretty much not being strong enough to implement the advise.  Thanks for trying though John, I’ll get there one day.

The climb to the Volcano Village is 2o miles straight up hill.  There is no relief in this climb at all.  It’s not too steep but it’s constant and very hot.  I forgot to lube up with sun screen in the morning so this is the day that I collected some wicked tan lines.  You’re basically pedaling uphill facing the rising sun for several hours.  I unzipped my jersey, loosened my helmet strap and spun as best I could all day.  Laura drove ahead of us and snapped a few shots along the way.  It was always great to run into Laura smiling and cheering me on.  Although mustering together a smile for the camera was not very easy.

About half way up was a great little market.  I pulled off grabbed a gatorade an orange and sat on the picnic table.  This was like the community center for the area.  There was a community bulletin board and reading the posts was my distraction while I put in some calories and got out of the sun.  I spent about 30 minutes here trying to gain some strength.  Just before I left I asked owner how far to Volcano and he said “you’ve got 11 more miles but it’s not as hard as what you’ve already done.”  Encouraging news!

I rode 6 more miles with occasional stops to catch my breath and give my legs break.  I got pretty low on water and was starting to wonder how far I was from reaching John and Laura at the Village when I saw a bicycle screaming down the hill toward me.  It was Laura.  She had parked and put on her bike gear to ride down and help me climb the rest of the way.  When she reached me she shot the picture above.  At this point we have about 4 miles to go.  The boost made the last 4 miles much easier to handle.  Laura’s energy ignited the last bit of fuel inside me and we made pretty good time to the top.  The next photo gives you a pretty good view of what the climb looks like.  Behind me is what we climbed.

When I got to the top I had a feast waiting for me.  I scarfed down some oranges and some salty chips.  Salt is so good for you after a big sweaty ride.  You need to replace and your body naturally craves it.  I was craving some coffee but couldn’t find any so I settled for an orange soda.  Now anyone that knows me well knows that I usually only drink an orange soda when I go to the movies.  I really really like orange soda and despite the fact that it’s not very good for me I downed one like I was sitting in Ward Theatre with my best friend watching a movie.  So tasty.

The big question remained, “should we continue on?”  Our new plan called for us to finish the trip the

next day which meant that if we stopped at the top of Volcano, which was the original plan, then going all the way to Kailua the next day would be over 100 miles.  I knew that I could do 100 miles but I wasn’t fond of the idea of finishing the trip with such a long ride and missing out on beautiful scenery because I was so focused on finishing.  The downhill from Volcano was 30 miles and is straight down.  Laura said you won’t pedal at any point. If we completed the 30 plus miles today it would take at most just over an hour and we would cut out that much from our ride the next day.  Plus we would get to take in the view in the afternoon instead of the dark and cold of the morning.  So we headed out down the hill.

Immediately we both realized that while we were going downhill and our speed was high that we actually had to pedal hard to maintain the high speed and momentum.  In fact if you stopped pedaling you would come to a stop.  how could this be going down hill?  Head wind!  That’s right,

in the afternoon the winds off the south east shore of Big Island can run right up the hill.  Before you feel bad for us it was still easy riding and the views were great.  Once you leave the park you start to see the lava fields and of course the giant Mauna Loa.  Since we weren’t bombing down the hill at top speed I was able to take in more of the view.  I stopped a couple of times to look around, watch the vog begin to roll in and snap a few photos.

The ride was really easy, the speed was fun and seeing the ocean again for the first time in two days of riding instilled a sigh and a smile.  The next big smile I had was when i came upon the first sign for Kailua.  I left Kailua 5 days prior and had not seen a sign for it since.  even though I knew when I started the day that I was almost there coming upon this sign made me realize that as long as I stayed on the seat, didn’t fall off, didn’t get hit, didn’t catch a cold or anything out of my control, I was going to make it around.  For anyone that has ever done a marathon or some other kind of monstrous adventure you know the feeling I’m describing.  You know you’re still in for some more pain but your mind accepts it differently and you start to relive all the moments with a more positive spin and realize that you are accomplishing a goal.  It’s a great feeling and is probably a big reason why I enjoy taking on journeys like this one.  Kailua 74 miles- I can do that, no problem.  I mean I already rode 225 miles.

After reaching the bottom we decided to ride a few more miles down to Punalu`u Beach Park.  Some know this beach as Punalu`u Black Sand Beach because of the beautiful black soft sand.  The contrast of the black sand, the lava rocks and the blue ocean was nice to look at.  I was in no rush to get out of here.  My only regret from this trip is not jumping in the ocean here.  It smelled great, looked so peaceful and the sun was so hot there really is no excuse for not doing that.  I guess we were still unsure if we were going to go forward from here so that kept me from just taking the opportunity to enjoy the water.  It’s good to remind yourself when you miss something or let it pass you by.  I’m not usually the type to miss an experience or let a cool thing go by.

Next time I’m on Big Island I’m going to rent this house and jump in the water every day.  There was a big crowd at the beach and we joked that this would be the perefect beach party house.  It is literally right there on the beach.  Drop a cooler down on that big back deck, throw some sausage on the grille and turn on some good music and everyone from the beach would be right there with you.  This would really make a great place to take your family for a secluded retreat.  There isn’t anything around you for miles and the beach is exquisite.  The whole area used to be some kind of resort.  If you look closely into the woods you can see the remains of the old resort.  There is a golf course just above the beach that looked like in its prime it was pretty fun.  When we left the beach we saw a couple of sluggers out there hacking away.  I chose to sit here a while and that turned out to be the nail in my coffin for the day.  All total we had done close to 60 miles and been on the bike for almost 7 hours.  We had cut a huge chunk out of our next ride and I was ready to for a shower and dinner.

Laura’s mom generously offered her cabin in Volcano to us.  So we packed up the gear and bikes and drove back up to Volcano to grab a shower, some food and a bed.  The night ended with some super spicy Thai food and an early retreat for bed.  There was no internet at the cabin so I picked up my cell phone and drafted an email to my best friend to share some more personal moments and thoughts.  That was plenty of activity and entertainment for me and I fell asleep while I was typing.  Lights out.

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