We woke up Monday morning to find and unwelcome guest
in our house, no not Kris or Doug again, but rather a Hawaiian centipede
crawling in our living room. Now a centipede in Hawaii is not one of
those little furry things you might find back home and may even consider
cute but rather a nasty critter with a sting that is supposed to hurt so
much the only cure is to stay drunk for three days. Perhaps a sting
would set off a three day bender by Eric and me and would change the
tone of the J.E.W. to something our readers could better relate to or appreciate.
No such luck. But my week did start with my best Tony Soprano imitation
as I flipped the thing outside with the dustpan and proceeded to beat the
piss out of it with a shoe. The boys at the Ba Da Bing would have been
proud as I spit on its remains after the pummeling. Anyone else want
a piece of me? One of the things we’ve loved about Maui is that we
take advantage of nearly every minute of daylight here rising early for bike
rides and yoga, hitting the water for kiting at mid-day and coming in off
the water with our windsurfers just as the sun goes down. While this
doesn’t leave a lot of energy for nightlife at least we don’t run into these
night crawlers as often as we might if we were stumbling home at 3AM.
So while our encounters with Maui nightlife this week included mostly meeting
up with a centipede our days were non-stop again and our bodies are definitely
feeling it.
We continued our daily beating down at kite beach but continue to make steady progress and even had some breakthroughs this week among our usually array of mishaps and wacky adventures. Monday brought lighter winds which makes the launch a little tricky as you need steady wind to drag out a safe distance from the beach before you start slamming the kite around. We had a few trial and error launches before getting off the beach but once we got Eric out there he was able to work the kite creating additional power by moving the kite way up and down to get going on the board. This was a major breakthrough as in the past we were both able to get going but mostly when it was really windy and in those situations the wind seemed to dictate where you go and how fast. With the lighter wind and the kite work, Eric was able to remain in control and had some great runs out and back edging the board to stay higher up wind and is not far from the goal of being able to return to the point of launch. Later in the week I was able to get going in similar light wind conditions although so far I can only go outbound and have not yet mastered coming in so I have to do a lot of dragging without the board to get back to the beach downwind where Eric meets me with the car. At the same time that we continue to work the kite, Kris is doing the same back home although he is on a huge 11.5 square meter kite that he bought to use in the light winds on the Cape and this beast is more than twice as big as our 5.0 which is scary enough to me. We exchanged some battle stories over the phone and Kris, normally fearless, admitted spending several minutes sitting on the beach doing some deep breathing to get psyched up to launch his new kite. When he finally did, he described a self made eclipse as the sky went dark with the huge kite flying overhead. Don’t worry Kris, I am petrified too but getting less so as we get in more control of the kite. We also had our share of mishaps, losing the board once, twisting the kite lines another time and landing it into another rock jetty along with our usual series of slamming the kite down on the water. However, Eric takes the prize this week as he was ripping through kite beach on a day when there were several others on the water and got squeezed between two kiters, one just down wind of him and another who at the last minute decided to rip just upwind. In a panic Eric tried to move his kite low to avoid the kiter upwind of him when he slammed it into the water and his lines swept the legs of the kiter downwind. This ripped the bar out of Eric’s hands actually breaking the bar that is used to steer the kite. Fortunately, everyone involved was alright and the bar was replaced under warranty after Eric’s long swim in with the kite, board and tangled lines. All in all another great week of kiting and we celebrated on Saturday after each having good runs and not a single mishap by heading up to Pukanlani where we’d heard from the Texans, Trent and Mike, that the clown cones were legendary – we were not disappointed.
We of course continued our mornings alternating between biking and yoga and on Tuesday went for a great ride up to Mokowao but this time went left through the hills towards Haiku and then down to the Hana highway where we headed back to Paia and finished up at the Cakewalk Bakery , a favorite spot of ours. With the wind light that day we decided to follow the ride with an ashtonga yoga class that afternoon taught by a very traditional teacher, Lucy Martorella. She teaches an intense class and does not allow you to drink water during class which Eric found out the hard way as he went for a drink about twenty minutes into the grueling two hour workout. Having not hydrated enough after the morning ride this left him with little choice but to lie on his mat awaiting the end of class and me laughing quietly at him as he lay in shavasana or corpse pose for an hour and a half. I battled my way through class pouring sweat and had barely enough energy left after the double workout to pull up a bar stool at Jacque’s for a much needed lunch. After the class, some of our fellow yogis enquired as to whether Eric was all right when he explained that we had gone for a long ride and wasn’t prepared for the no water rule. Before he could finish the explanation, one asked ‘are you guys roadies?’ (meaning are we road cyclists which are rare on Maui compared to the large number of mountain bikers here) After a few minutes of talking bikes we had our first pack ride planned and were excited to ride with a group and explore some new terrain.
We awoke Thursday morning and drove up to Kula for an upcountry ride in the hills of Haleakala with Katie, Melanie and Lauren, our friends from yoga. We’d heard about this ride from other cyclists but hadn’t been up there yet mostly because we like to ride from our house and the 3,000 foot ascent to the start of this ride is not yet in our repertoire. When we arrived we got immediately nervous as we saw Katie, who has a reputation as a superstar athlete, pull out a new titanium bike from Airborne and knew we had our hands full. The ride started with a grueling climb just to get out of the driveway and onto the Kula highway and so Eric and I pedaled our heart rates up close to 200 just to get to the road. We then cruised on some rolling hills around the mountainside with spectacular views of all sides of Maui and as we got to the other side had perfect views of all of south Maui including the resorts of Wailea, Molikini Crater and La Peruse Bay where black lava meets bright blue ocean. The ride was stunning and best of all not a car on the road which was a nice brake from our usual dealings with the hundreds of tourists on the Hana highway. The ride out to just beyond the winery was a little over 12 miles and while it was rolling hills the ride in was mostly downhill and the pack stayed together to the turn. When we began to head back we knew the real test awaited as we had to climb back up to where we’d started and knew there would be some long grinds. As we hit the bigger hills the pack started to break apart but Eric, Katie and I were all close for the first few miles. As the hills got bigger, my ego, or my legs for that matter, was not strong enough to keep up and I slowly fell back. As I panted my way back to the starting point I found Eric who later admitted that he was able to stay with Katie for most of the ride but that she did pull away in the last hills to take the yellow jersey. Bruised egos aside, this was the most spectacular ride we’ve done to date and yes, Eric and I were both the ones who had our lunch money taken by girls during school recess.
We rounded out each day this week with some epic late sailing sessions. It is great to get back on the windsurfers after kiting, where I feel in less control, as our windsurfing has improved incredibly over the last few months. Eric is now hitting his heli-tacks with some regularity (helipcoter tacks or as I like to call them helmet-tacks after the countless hours that Eric has tried and failed at this trick) and I have been working hard on landing my jumps, the occasional duck jibe attempt, wave riding and this week am finally hitting my jibes in the waves consistently and even doing some clew first wave riding which is quite a rush. We sailed into the sunset most nights this week and each time we realize that the one thing we will truly miss about Maui is having incredible windsurfing in our back yard available any time we feel the itch for a session. Windsurfing is still king and always will be!
Contest:
Congratulations to Mike Finegold for winning the trivia finals and his very own DVD copy of Not Another Teen Movie. He needed a little help to get the obscure ‘Breaking Away’ reference but got the other three on his own.
Answers:
“Dumpster filled with gristles – Bling Bling’ – Not Another Teen Movie, one of the year’s best and most underrated films
“Turtle head that could choke a donkey” – Austin Powers II – said by Fat Bastard
Taping the feet to the pedals – an obscure reference from the movie Breaking Away
Old man passing us on a walker – a reference to the opening scene in Office Space, another classic yet often underrated movie
We continued our daily beating down at kite beach but continue to make steady progress and even had some breakthroughs this week among our usually array of mishaps and wacky adventures. Monday brought lighter winds which makes the launch a little tricky as you need steady wind to drag out a safe distance from the beach before you start slamming the kite around. We had a few trial and error launches before getting off the beach but once we got Eric out there he was able to work the kite creating additional power by moving the kite way up and down to get going on the board. This was a major breakthrough as in the past we were both able to get going but mostly when it was really windy and in those situations the wind seemed to dictate where you go and how fast. With the lighter wind and the kite work, Eric was able to remain in control and had some great runs out and back edging the board to stay higher up wind and is not far from the goal of being able to return to the point of launch. Later in the week I was able to get going in similar light wind conditions although so far I can only go outbound and have not yet mastered coming in so I have to do a lot of dragging without the board to get back to the beach downwind where Eric meets me with the car. At the same time that we continue to work the kite, Kris is doing the same back home although he is on a huge 11.5 square meter kite that he bought to use in the light winds on the Cape and this beast is more than twice as big as our 5.0 which is scary enough to me. We exchanged some battle stories over the phone and Kris, normally fearless, admitted spending several minutes sitting on the beach doing some deep breathing to get psyched up to launch his new kite. When he finally did, he described a self made eclipse as the sky went dark with the huge kite flying overhead. Don’t worry Kris, I am petrified too but getting less so as we get in more control of the kite. We also had our share of mishaps, losing the board once, twisting the kite lines another time and landing it into another rock jetty along with our usual series of slamming the kite down on the water. However, Eric takes the prize this week as he was ripping through kite beach on a day when there were several others on the water and got squeezed between two kiters, one just down wind of him and another who at the last minute decided to rip just upwind. In a panic Eric tried to move his kite low to avoid the kiter upwind of him when he slammed it into the water and his lines swept the legs of the kiter downwind. This ripped the bar out of Eric’s hands actually breaking the bar that is used to steer the kite. Fortunately, everyone involved was alright and the bar was replaced under warranty after Eric’s long swim in with the kite, board and tangled lines. All in all another great week of kiting and we celebrated on Saturday after each having good runs and not a single mishap by heading up to Pukanlani where we’d heard from the Texans, Trent and Mike, that the clown cones were legendary – we were not disappointed.
We of course continued our mornings alternating between biking and yoga and on Tuesday went for a great ride up to Mokowao but this time went left through the hills towards Haiku and then down to the Hana highway where we headed back to Paia and finished up at the Cakewalk Bakery , a favorite spot of ours. With the wind light that day we decided to follow the ride with an ashtonga yoga class that afternoon taught by a very traditional teacher, Lucy Martorella. She teaches an intense class and does not allow you to drink water during class which Eric found out the hard way as he went for a drink about twenty minutes into the grueling two hour workout. Having not hydrated enough after the morning ride this left him with little choice but to lie on his mat awaiting the end of class and me laughing quietly at him as he lay in shavasana or corpse pose for an hour and a half. I battled my way through class pouring sweat and had barely enough energy left after the double workout to pull up a bar stool at Jacque’s for a much needed lunch. After the class, some of our fellow yogis enquired as to whether Eric was all right when he explained that we had gone for a long ride and wasn’t prepared for the no water rule. Before he could finish the explanation, one asked ‘are you guys roadies?’ (meaning are we road cyclists which are rare on Maui compared to the large number of mountain bikers here) After a few minutes of talking bikes we had our first pack ride planned and were excited to ride with a group and explore some new terrain.
We awoke Thursday morning and drove up to Kula for an upcountry ride in the hills of Haleakala with Katie, Melanie and Lauren, our friends from yoga. We’d heard about this ride from other cyclists but hadn’t been up there yet mostly because we like to ride from our house and the 3,000 foot ascent to the start of this ride is not yet in our repertoire. When we arrived we got immediately nervous as we saw Katie, who has a reputation as a superstar athlete, pull out a new titanium bike from Airborne and knew we had our hands full. The ride started with a grueling climb just to get out of the driveway and onto the Kula highway and so Eric and I pedaled our heart rates up close to 200 just to get to the road. We then cruised on some rolling hills around the mountainside with spectacular views of all sides of Maui and as we got to the other side had perfect views of all of south Maui including the resorts of Wailea, Molikini Crater and La Peruse Bay where black lava meets bright blue ocean. The ride was stunning and best of all not a car on the road which was a nice brake from our usual dealings with the hundreds of tourists on the Hana highway. The ride out to just beyond the winery was a little over 12 miles and while it was rolling hills the ride in was mostly downhill and the pack stayed together to the turn. When we began to head back we knew the real test awaited as we had to climb back up to where we’d started and knew there would be some long grinds. As we hit the bigger hills the pack started to break apart but Eric, Katie and I were all close for the first few miles. As the hills got bigger, my ego, or my legs for that matter, was not strong enough to keep up and I slowly fell back. As I panted my way back to the starting point I found Eric who later admitted that he was able to stay with Katie for most of the ride but that she did pull away in the last hills to take the yellow jersey. Bruised egos aside, this was the most spectacular ride we’ve done to date and yes, Eric and I were both the ones who had our lunch money taken by girls during school recess.
We rounded out each day this week with some epic late sailing sessions. It is great to get back on the windsurfers after kiting, where I feel in less control, as our windsurfing has improved incredibly over the last few months. Eric is now hitting his heli-tacks with some regularity (helipcoter tacks or as I like to call them helmet-tacks after the countless hours that Eric has tried and failed at this trick) and I have been working hard on landing my jumps, the occasional duck jibe attempt, wave riding and this week am finally hitting my jibes in the waves consistently and even doing some clew first wave riding which is quite a rush. We sailed into the sunset most nights this week and each time we realize that the one thing we will truly miss about Maui is having incredible windsurfing in our back yard available any time we feel the itch for a session. Windsurfing is still king and always will be!
Contest:
Congratulations to Mike Finegold for winning the trivia finals and his very own DVD copy of Not Another Teen Movie. He needed a little help to get the obscure ‘Breaking Away’ reference but got the other three on his own.
Answers:
“Dumpster filled with gristles – Bling Bling’ – Not Another Teen Movie, one of the year’s best and most underrated films
“Turtle head that could choke a donkey” – Austin Powers II – said by Fat Bastard
Taping the feet to the pedals – an obscure reference from the movie Breaking Away
Old man passing us on a walker – a reference to the opening scene in Office Space, another classic yet often underrated movie
Eric now cruising comfortably both ways on the kite makes his way toward the shore.
Jonny rips off of kite beach heading rapidly toward the Alaskan border.
Kris creating his own eclipse as he launches his huge 11.5 Cabrinha. See you in 2 weeks on the Cape!
Jonny expertly negotiating the purchase of two "clown cones" at the world famous Pukalani "Mac Darnell's".
Eric tries to eat his clown cone with one bite.
Our favorite bakery on the island, where we consume large numbers of chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, blueberry bran muffins and a fresh slice of mango coffee cake certainly isn't going to kill anyone.
This almost begins to capture the spectacular rode we cycled on from Kula.
A view of South Maui (Kihei and Wailea), from our ride.
A truly spectacular ride.