BloomingCyclist
We’ve done a few tandem rallies in our two years of tandem riding (MTR, TTR, STR) but this was our first tandem tour and first time flying with the tandem (non-coupled Santana Niobium). It was a week of great company and great riding on the islands of Maui, Lanai, and Molokai with 35 couples being led by Bill and Jan McCready of Santana. We left early on Saturday morning with our non-coupled tandem in a Bike Pro tandem case. It weighed 88 pounds including some supporting gear and was accepted at the US Air counter with no problem (the agent didn’t weigh it or measure it). We paid the expected $80 charge and paid for the return at the same time. Counselguy’s S& S coupled tandem in two cases was checked in with no problem. The sun chased us, caught us, and then we chased the sun, arriving in Maui in the afternoon, five hours behind our back-at-home local time. The shuttle van was able to fit the Bike Pro case along the side with one end squeezing tightly in the narrow space between the end of the rear seat and the side of the van (we had to get in the seat first because it blocked access to the seat). The two tandems in cardboard boxes that were there at the same time were loaded the same way in other (one long bike box per van) but they were thinner than the Bike Pro case and went into the narrow space more easily.
Several teams were there by Sunday ahead of the official Monday start and we met and visited while assembling our bikes in front of the Royal Lahaina hotel in Kaanapali. The bike appeared to travel well but the Flitedeck sending unit mounting strap had broken and I had to reattach it to the fork with zip ties. I had also left the display unit on the bars and it was blinking kph at me. I couldn’t seem to turn it on and get it working – it finally hit me that it was in set up mode which I thought was impossible to get in without pushing the recessed reset button. The bike case had been opened and inspected (TSA left a note inside) and perhaps they had reset it to see if it was just a bike computer – I have no idea. No big deal but it took me a few tries of learning which buttons to push when to set it back up with the correct chainring and cog sizes and wheel size. (I took the captain and stoker displays off for the trip home.)
Official check-in was Monday morning and the rest of the bikes were assembled and we met leaders Bill and Jan and the other riders at a noon meeting followed by a check-everything-out ride. We ate supper on a catamaran with frequent sightings of humpback whales. The guide said it was “whale soup” during February and March between the islands of Maui, Lanai, and Molokai with all of the whales nursing their young and playing in these warm waters before they all headed back to Alaska.
At 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday, we began the bus trip to the top of Haleakula to watch the sunrise from 10,000 ft elevation in the cold (below 40 F) followed by a wonderful descent through several different ecosystems with a breakfast at a lodge partway down with a grand view of the ocean. We passed through a couple of non-touristy small towns and toured a flower farm / greenhouse on the way to the coast and then rode along the coast to a surfer’s mecca, the town of Paia. Prior to the descent Bill personally checked and adjusted all disk brake pads closer (disks or drum required). All teams were instructed to use only the rear disk or drum to brake on this fairly steep 20 plus mile descent with switchbacks (and another 10 miles much more gradual to the coast). We had EBC full-metallic pads on our Winzip and we did not have to readjust the pads at all on the descent but I believe that the Winzips using the original red pads (made by Jagwire) wore enough that they typically needed to be adjusted three times during this descent. I believe all of the Avid’s with OEM pads also had to be adjusted once or twice during the descent. The drums were all trouble free. The first 9 miles of our descent was inside the national park with no guard rails and we learned that the park stopped allowing cyclists to descend from inside the park last October after two cyclist deaths. The other descent tours now start outside the park 9 miles down the road from the peak but that still includes plenty of steep descent with switchbacks. The good safety record of Bill’s previous Hawaii trips and promise of rear disk or drum usage earned permission for us to descend from the peak. There are no guard rails. A Park Ranger released us one at a time with a great deal of space between each tandem. In the afternoon, 50 miles later, we loaded our bikes in the trucks and rode a bus back to the Royal Lahaina in time for a luau for a few hundred people.
We left very early Wednesday morning on a small ferry to the island of Lanai. This island was the former home of the Dole pineapple plantation. We had some time on a beach at Lanai to swim or snorkel before we started our ride up to the peak of the island. We climbed up for a few miles and then rode over the valley of the crater and up over the far crater lip to a very lovely Keole Lodge at 1600 ft elevation with beautiful grounds where we ate lunch in a very formal elegant setting. It was the single best meal of the trip. After enjoying the beauty of the grounds we descended with some brisk wind in our ears to another port where we boarded the Molokai Princess to take us to the island of Molokai. The tandems were all lined up overlapping along the rails on both the lower and upper decks. Most people were sitting on top until we got past the protection of the island. The big winds made for some rough water and the splashing waves drenched everything and everybody who remained on top for fun. Most people moved below but some, including Bill and Counselguy stayed on top having a grand time getting soaked.
continued in part 2
Bloomingcyclist
Bloomington, IN
Several teams were there by Sunday ahead of the official Monday start and we met and visited while assembling our bikes in front of the Royal Lahaina hotel in Kaanapali. The bike appeared to travel well but the Flitedeck sending unit mounting strap had broken and I had to reattach it to the fork with zip ties. I had also left the display unit on the bars and it was blinking kph at me. I couldn’t seem to turn it on and get it working – it finally hit me that it was in set up mode which I thought was impossible to get in without pushing the recessed reset button. The bike case had been opened and inspected (TSA left a note inside) and perhaps they had reset it to see if it was just a bike computer – I have no idea. No big deal but it took me a few tries of learning which buttons to push when to set it back up with the correct chainring and cog sizes and wheel size. (I took the captain and stoker displays off for the trip home.)
Official check-in was Monday morning and the rest of the bikes were assembled and we met leaders Bill and Jan and the other riders at a noon meeting followed by a check-everything-out ride. We ate supper on a catamaran with frequent sightings of humpback whales. The guide said it was “whale soup” during February and March between the islands of Maui, Lanai, and Molokai with all of the whales nursing their young and playing in these warm waters before they all headed back to Alaska.
At 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday, we began the bus trip to the top of Haleakula to watch the sunrise from 10,000 ft elevation in the cold (below 40 F) followed by a wonderful descent through several different ecosystems with a breakfast at a lodge partway down with a grand view of the ocean. We passed through a couple of non-touristy small towns and toured a flower farm / greenhouse on the way to the coast and then rode along the coast to a surfer’s mecca, the town of Paia. Prior to the descent Bill personally checked and adjusted all disk brake pads closer (disks or drum required). All teams were instructed to use only the rear disk or drum to brake on this fairly steep 20 plus mile descent with switchbacks (and another 10 miles much more gradual to the coast). We had EBC full-metallic pads on our Winzip and we did not have to readjust the pads at all on the descent but I believe that the Winzips using the original red pads (made by Jagwire) wore enough that they typically needed to be adjusted three times during this descent. I believe all of the Avid’s with OEM pads also had to be adjusted once or twice during the descent. The drums were all trouble free. The first 9 miles of our descent was inside the national park with no guard rails and we learned that the park stopped allowing cyclists to descend from inside the park last October after two cyclist deaths. The other descent tours now start outside the park 9 miles down the road from the peak but that still includes plenty of steep descent with switchbacks. The good safety record of Bill’s previous Hawaii trips and promise of rear disk or drum usage earned permission for us to descend from the peak. There are no guard rails. A Park Ranger released us one at a time with a great deal of space between each tandem. In the afternoon, 50 miles later, we loaded our bikes in the trucks and rode a bus back to the Royal Lahaina in time for a luau for a few hundred people.
We left very early Wednesday morning on a small ferry to the island of Lanai. This island was the former home of the Dole pineapple plantation. We had some time on a beach at Lanai to swim or snorkel before we started our ride up to the peak of the island. We climbed up for a few miles and then rode over the valley of the crater and up over the far crater lip to a very lovely Keole Lodge at 1600 ft elevation with beautiful grounds where we ate lunch in a very formal elegant setting. It was the single best meal of the trip. After enjoying the beauty of the grounds we descended with some brisk wind in our ears to another port where we boarded the Molokai Princess to take us to the island of Molokai. The tandems were all lined up overlapping along the rails on both the lower and upper decks. Most people were sitting on top until we got past the protection of the island. The big winds made for some rough water and the splashing waves drenched everything and everybody who remained on top for fun. Most people moved below but some, including Bill and Counselguy stayed on top having a grand time getting soaked.
continued in part 2
Bloomingcyclist
Bloomington, IN