Tour of the Big Island

I have a few days all by myself this March and I decided I need to bike somewhere. For some reason, I have my mind set on Hawaii's Big Island, probably because it was more do-able than Taiwan (which I hope I could ride around some day) I googled and found (surprise surprise!) Big Island Bike Tours (the first non-ad search result) I like the description of their "Circumnavigate the Big Island" multi-day tour and the tour days look good so I wrote them an email. No reply (found that it went to Spam for no reason) so I called and it was answered by Alex Candelario, the owner. He also sent me more details. I gotta admit I didn't see his bio on their website but instinctively I feel that name seems to be somebody so I googled him and indeed, he has just retired from professional cycling! And I immediately felt more confident about joining their tour. And I was lucky! Alex actually suffered from back injuries for the last few months and wasn't able to ride with the tours until ours. (Side-story: he drove the van on the previous tour and got bitten by a black widow in the middle of the 2nd night and suffered through the next few days of that tour. Poor Alex.) Riding with a former pro was definitely a super-cool thing to do. For one thing, Alex DO knows all these different routes all around the world. He even raced in Hong Kong (and knows the most famous cyclist from Hong Kong) With his experience riding Tour of California (I must have seen him in the peloton from the times I watch the tour in person or on TV), he is familiar with my usual routes like Old La Honda and the most challenging ones like Mt. Hamilton, Mt. Diablo and Tunitas Creek. On the first ride he told me to draft behind him so that we could catch the leaders of the group. During the whole tour he kept urging me to get the basics right: ride with high cadence and smooth strokes, including "pulling up" the pedal, and change the positions (between sit-down and standing) It's also cool to hear his opinions on PED users. (Big dislike!) Finally, he gave me some good tips on controlling my weight: snack with apple or baby carrot instead of junk food. For me, this tour is not cheap (spent a total of ~$5k) but I felt that it's worth every penny. In addition to the invaluable advices, Alex certainly didn't go cheap on the food and lodging (yes, even free beer!) I will break down the tour day-by-day (scroll down for stage 1.)

Tour of the Big Island: Stage 7

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This route covered another part of the Ironman biking course, i.e, Hwy 19 (aka "Queen K") between Hapuna and the Kona airport. And I rode all by myself, like a time trail. According to Alex, a lot of athletes came to the Big Island just to ride this course for training and nowhere else. Man, they don't know what they have missed. I did see a lot of riders that day. Even though it looked flat, for the 54 mile I covered, there were actually ~2000ft of elevation gain. The 2 free bottles of water from the hotel was definitely not enough. Fortunately I found this Blue Hawaiian Helicopter airport with 9 miles to go selling bottled water (and for $1 only. They certainly don't try to milk the tourists)  I was more tired than I thought by the time I returned to the hotel, which was around 11am. I was thinking about sneaking in a round of golf in the afternoon but I quickly nixed that thought (BTW, the green fee was $95, which was actually quite reasonable but I also need $55 for club rental) Instead, I took my sweet time for a good bowl of cobb salad for lunch next to the beach. Then swam a bit in the ocean and looked at the tropical fishes (some are big, longer than 1 foot!) The beach of Hapuna Hotel was one of the best according to the locals. Many spent time here to enjoy Easter. Then I took a hot sauna and a shower at the fitness center in the Golf course club house, courtesy of the hotel (I've already checked out) Sipped a Mai Tai while listening to the awesome guitarist/singer and enjoying the view of Sunset at the beach as well as the Hula dancer. After finishing my fish burger and strawberry shortcake, Jeremy from the tour drove me to the airport to end this wonderful trip. I ended up riding a total of 270 miles. And coincidentally the length of the Big Island coast line is about the same. So even though we didn't always ride along the coast, I pretty much did the equivalent of actually circumnavigate the Big Island :P

Tour of the Big Island: Stage 6

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This route covered the other side of the Volcano, the East side of the island. The starting point was where the newest lava from the Volcano flow through. After a short Cat-4 climb, we went back down to the sea level and rode along the coastline. Then detour to the intersection of Hwy 132 and 137 and back to the geothermal hot pond/tidal pool in Ahalanui Park for a refreshing after-ride dip in the pool. I was able to see tropical fishes swimming in it. Next the van took us to Hilo, the big town on the East side where the government is located and we had dinner at Hilo Bay Cafe, which has a good view of the beautiful bay. The seafood curry I had was delicious too. So was the cheesecake. Then the van drove us back to the Hapuna Prince hotel along the North East and North coast in counter-clockwise fashion and thus complete the circumnavigation of the whole island! This was also the last day of riding with Alex and the group. It was so hard to say goodbye :(

At the Hilo Bay Cafe

Tour of the Big Island: Stage 5

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Create Routes or Search for a route from millions at MapMyRide

This 2-part route covered roughly the South east part of the island. The 1st-part was the long Cat-1 Mauna Loa climb (yes, it's the same name as the famous macadamia nut brand) and the 2nd part descend from the volcano down the Chain of Crater Road, took a detour to a lookout point and then climb out of it (a Cat-2) and finally a super-long and winding descend (but not too steep) to the South east coast, which was full of lava rocks. We took the van back up to the Volcano and stayed at the Volcano house for the night. Had a good steak at the restaurant there, which had a view to the fire. In fact, you could see the volcano from each room. What an awesome hotel!

6 mile into the Mauna Loa Cat-1 climb

Me and the tour provided Giants Defy bike at the South East coast

Tour of the Big Island: Stage 4

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This route covered the Southern part of the island. We started from the Woodvalley house, stopped briefly at the Buddhist temple, which was fitting for the spiritual surroundings. Then we made another stop at the Kau Coffee Mill for coffee and macadamia nut tastings. After 2 Cat-5 climbs we reached the famous Punalu'u Bake shop. Then we climbed a Cat-3 and it all went down hill: all the way to South Point, the Southern-most point in USA (which was actually not in Key West, Florida) The cliff was a popular spot to jump into the ocean (which I didn't, obviously) Then we took the van all the way up to the Volcano. After a nice dinner of Thai food at Thai Thai, we visited the Jagger museum of the Volcano to see the "red hot fire" spat from it. It was an unforgettable scene. We stayed at the cozy (yet a bit cold) Hale-Ohia Cottage for the night.

L-R: Michael, Chuck, Lisa, Alex Candelario, me

South point cliff jump

Fire spat from Kilauea

Tour of the Big Island: Stage 3

Create Routes or Search for a route from millions at MapMyRide

Create Routes or Search for a route from millions at MapMyRide

This route roughly covered the South west part of the island, starting from the most tourisy town of the island, Kona. (The tourisy indicators were the several ABC stores, which was a popular chain in Hawaii for souvenirs) My first part of the ride was a challenging Cat-2 climb up to the coffee shop and back until I reached the highway. I got back on the van to avoid the high-traffic area and also to take a break (I didn't sleep well the night before with only ~2 hours) The 2nd part, a Cat-3 climb, started from Captain Cook (honoring the first Westerner who visited Hawaii) and ended at the Painted church. The heat made it more challenging than it should. For the day I rode a combined 20 miles only. We drove back to the Honaunau beach for snorkeling (which I skipped and visited the nearby Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park instead, where a couple of totem poles and outrigger canoes were preserved) Then we headed to the Airbnb house we stayed for this night in Woodvalley, near the Southern part of the island. The host, Matt, was also our cook for the night. He made delicious fish and pork tacos with home-made tortillas. And the quiet and peaceful surroundings of the house simply look surreal.

The road from Captain Cook

The Painted Church

Honaunau

Tour of the Big island: Stage 2

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This stage roughly covered the North-central and North shore of the island, starting from Waimea, near the headquarter of the tour company. We stopped briefly at the Hawaiian Vanilla Company for its delicious milk shake. Then rode to the beautiful Waipio valley lookout. Alex and I got back on the van at that point but the rest of the tour (3 members) continued back to the starting point. The "after-ride treat" was at the Big Island Brewhaus. I enjoyed its own White Mountain Porter, which contains less alcohol than usual for a Porter. The fish tacos tasted awesome too. The tour didn't provide dinner this night but I was already quite full from the brewery food so I just had a roast beef sandwich from the hotel's cafe as dinner.

Waipio Valley

Tour of the Big Island: Stage 1

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This is the first day of riding and it covered roughly the Northwest part of the island. (BTW, I arrived at noon the day before and ended up just relaxing in the hotel room and the beach. Alex told me the tour has deal with the Mauna Kea Beach folks for water activity but I wasn't able to find them. Too tired anyway. The first dinner was at the Coast Grille of the hotel. The seafood was decent but not special) The first part of the ride was the Northern half of the world-famous Big Island Ironman biking route, between Hapuna beach (we started from the Hapuna Prince hotel) and Hawi. We actually continue riding to Pololu valley lookout for a total 29 miles. Hiked down the valley all the way to the beach side. It was a challenging hike! Then we rode back to Hawi and took the van back to the hotel (Alex has just recovered from his back injury and he suggested me not to go all-out on the first day too.) Rested at the hotel for a bit and then headed to Mauna Kea beach to paddle an authentic Hawaiian outrigger canoe. Dinner was at the Mauna Kea hotel restaurant.Very high quality seafood.

The statue of the first king who unified the whole Hawaii at Hawi

Pololu Valley

Challenging hikes

I am hoping to try these trails in the near feature:
The Black Mountain: This should be the hardest trail in Rancho San Antonio. One possible starting point is the Duveneck Windmill Trailhead on Rhus Ridge Trail. The parking lot is kinda small. If it's full, try parking on the street near Bledsoe Ct on Moody Rd. 
Windy Hill: This one also go up to Skyline Blvd. 
Mount Diablo State Park: This is gotta be one of the most famous mountains in the area. (My buddy did it with his son last year starting from Rock City Park, S Gate Rd, Danville. Total was 8.6 miles. It costs ~$10 per car for parking)
Mount Hamilton Antler Point: This is probably as famous as Diablo.

Map on Garmin Vivoactive

My 5-year old Garmin Forerunner 305 was on its last leg: its battery couldn't even last a 1.5 hr ride last time I tried. So I need a replacement. And I found the Garmin Vivoactive released in 2015 quite interesting: Garmin marketed it as a smart-watch (think Apple Watch) as well as an activity-tracking device (think FitBit) And the battery is supposed to last for 10 hours with GPS on (Yes, I did 3 10+ hour rides in the last 5 years) I just got it tonight and immediately paired it with the phone (installation of the Garmin Connect mobile app was required and I created a new Garmin account) and my old heart rate monitor from the 305. I also linked my MapMyRide account to Garmin Connect. Then I did a quick indoor ride just to test its HR tracking ability. That ride was sync-ed to Garmin Connect right after (via my phone) and also to MapMyRide as a workout. So the activity tracking part of the watch seems not bad (wish it doesn't require a chest-strap HRM though) Next task was to prepare for my weekend ride. Forerunner 305 allowed me to load a route to it and display as a map on screen to provide some "rough" navigation utilizing the GPS. (I would manually create the route on MapMyRide, export the route and convert to GPX, import to the PC software and then finally sync to watch. Yes, I know those are a lot of steps) I was hoping Vivoactive would support the same (if not better) out of the box but it doesn't. Fortunately, the smart-watch side of Vivoactive allows third-party developers to create app for it. And one such app seems to fit the bill: dwMap. First, open your Garmin Connect mobile app and enter the Connect IQ store. Search for dwMap and download it. It will sync the app to your watch eventually. Second, go to dwMap's website dynamic.watch. Click 'Link to watch' and open the app on your watch to see the code to be entered to the website. Then log on using your MapMyRide (UnderArmour) account. The website will show 20 of the routes you bookmarked in MapMyRide. You could "star" one of those route and next time you open the app on your watch. This will be the route to be displayed. Hopefully my Vivoactive experience will get better and better and I could share more here.

(BTW, found a pretty good page that compare all watches for running.)