Today was officially a rest day with an optional 24 mile ride. Alan and I had decided to ride about 15 miles, but somehow ended up with 22 miles. It was a sunny day making the high temperature of 78 feel warmer when riding among all of the black lava fields. We cycled to four different beaches, including: Hapuna Beach, Wailea Beach, 49 Black Sand Beach and Holoholokai Beach. Between the first and second beaches we stopped at a roadside food truck and I had a strawberry guava smoothie made with coconut milk. It was so delicious! I saved some in one of my water bottles to finish at the second beach. We had hoped to see whales along the shoreline when we were stopped at a beach, but that luck was not in our favor. At the very last few yards of the ride, Alan got a flat. We were lucky because we were back at the hotel and he could change the flat in an air conditioned hotel room. He was unlucky because he pinched the replacement tube and that tube now also had a hole. He sent out a message to our fellow BAC riders asking for tips before trying a second time. Andrew helped Alan while giving him a few pointers. Cyclists are a friendly group of people always willing to help. Thanks to Andrew!
At Wialea beach.
Hapuna beach was a very popular spot. We didn’t stay long at this beach.
49 Black Sand beach.
Holoholokai was our last stop; we ate our peanut butter sandwiches under a large shaded tree. We did not end up walking to the Petroglyphs as the walk was 0.7 of a mile and we still needed to bike back to the hotel.
View of the grounds at the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort.
Three of the hotels we stayed at on the Big Island of Hawaii gave guests complimentary metal water bottles and encouraged guests to refill them at the purified water stations, like the one above. Each station had a running total of plastic water bottles kept out of landfills through their use. Great idea!
A group photo during the happy hour/rider meeting.