Hey Grandriders of Kauai and supporters of "Living it Up While We Can!"
What a perfect day it was as one-by-one we all showed up at the Coconut Coasters Bike Shop in Kapa'a where Sparky was doing his best to get the perfect bike and helmet for each rider.
What a great deal on the bike rentals! I thought that we would be a cozy group of Jodi, Victor, Carol Sue and Phil….but the party grew and grew and grew as the day wore on.
Donna and her friend Millie showed up, Carol Sue's four buddies from the stables showed up, so we had almost as many in the group as the Grandriders of Taiwan. We missed those who could not make it, so here's a quickie wrap-up on the big bike ride along Ke Ala Hele Makalae.
We learn something new everyday and my biggest "new thing" I discovered when I tried the easiest bike in the shop was that my right knee cannot bend enough to peddle a bike. Yup!
I could only peddle with my left leg. Good thing I did not come home from McCully Bike Shop in Honolulu with a three-wheeler that I could not even peddle. Whew!
Victor, ever gallant and generous, quickly saved the day for me so that I would not have to be a half-ass biker; he offered to peddle a tandem bike so that I could be the back-seat driver who had to peddle with only my left leg.
After awhile, he told me to not peddle and just keep both my feet on the main frame. I think that was much safer way for us to stay on the path.
….and the PATH….
What a great concept that is!
What a great way to make that concept into a reality so that folks from all walks of life could enjoy the unbelievably gorgeous coastline!
Just picture the red, red cliffs rising above beach-front stretches of native Hawaiian plants and gnarly trees bent over from the winds, white surf surging out of the blue Pacific and crashing onto rock formations of indescribable colors, stretches of blond, blond, blond white sand beaches with hardly anyone basking in the sun.
Add surfers and fishing families enjoying the ocean life by Kealia.
Throw in a few neat and clean rest pavilions all along the path for a chance to catch our breath and talk story.
Then we came to a dramatic lookout built on the cement remnant of a once vital Kealia harbor, yellow posts in the middle of the path to make sure that no cars suddenly popped up on the bike path (Sparky warned us not to bump into the yellow posts), and so many people coming and going with huge smiles on their faces and willingness to give us a few moments of their time so that we could capture our adventure in photo ops.
We were never all together for each of our four group photos, but we did manage to capture everyone in the four photos we took at the Bike Shop, at the remnant harbor lookout, at the end of the Kealia Path, and above Donkey Beach.
We did after all need our cell phones because we kept losing each other along the bike path because some folks took side paths to look for the lua, Carol Sue has no sense of direction so she went back to the beginning when she was looking for the end, and I believe some of us just passed each other on the path, and if not for the old Hawaiian greeting….."Hui!"…. we might never have found each other.
As the musicians say, "Let's just end all together!" and so did we as novice bikers end up at the Bike Shop at the same time and celebrated the great bike adventure at Olympic Cafe for lunch.
I did the hobey-cat sail in Kalapaki Bay, the bike ride along the Kaua'i path….what's next on the agenda?
Happy Birthday, Brian Doyle in Portland! Methinks I should go and cross every bridge in Portland next!
—Carol Yotsuda
Editor's note: Carol Yotsuda is the Executive Director and Treasurer of the Garden Island Arts Council, and coordiantes the fantastic E Kanikapila Kakou Hawaiian music concerts. She is soon to unveil a Ke Ala Hele Makalae window display at the Lihue Airport.
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