Aloha From Maui
Author - Darcy Turenne
Date - 5/8/2009
It's no wonder that everyone and their cat has owned an aloha shirt at one point in their life. The aloha spirit of Hawaii seems to follow its visitors far after they leave the islands...even if it is in the form of a really bad shirt that your kids cringe at every time you put it on.
The Ride Guide crew was lucky enough to be able to explore the island of Maui recently (sans flower shirts), and we quickly found out that world class surf is not the only thing the island has going for it. Rolling up to the Maui baggage drop with bike bags is not what people expect to see when you are paradise bound, but to us, the insinuating stares of "what's wrong with the beach?" are common place. Although we later traded wheels for surfboards, the trails on the island were well worth looking forward to.
I had spent some time riding in Maui a few years back and was blown away by the trails I saw. Through correspondence with my friend Juli, I had learned that what I rode the first time was only the tip of the iceberg. She was right. Our first ride we went to the Makawao forest that has in my opinion, one of the most fun non-bike park trails in the world. We got lucky and the red clay dirt, otherwise known as "Hawaiian ice". Unlike the other Hawaiian ice that seems to be a problem in the jungles of Hawaii, the deadly mud was nowhere to be found on our ride, and we only had brief encounters with the infamous slip on the occasional flat corner. Like the guava trees in the area, the trails are exploding with the fruits of the hard work from local trail builders, and with better-than-normal traction we were free to hit up all the jumps we could possibly handle.
Makawao is just one of the few mountain biker's paradises in paradise. Over the course of our trip we rode four distinctly different types of terrain on different sections of the island. Lava rock, Utah-esq desert formations, dry dusty pine forest, the jungle loam of Makawao, and fast red dirt through shoaling cane fields are just a few of the treats a mountain biker can expect in Maui. To our delight, most of the places were shuttleable! If it wasn't for some serious local knowledge we probably would't have found any of them though. One thing about the people in Hawaii is that they will do anything you need to make sure you have a good time and aren't territorial over their local gems (although, the surf breaks are a bit of a different story). Thanks to Juli, Eric, Paul from Crater Cycles, and Moose from West Maui Cycles we were shown the goods. Many Mahalos to you guys!
Although the mountain biking in Maui is as good as it gets, we would be crazy to not concede to the "what's wrong with the beach?" looks and spend some time shore side. Not being much of a lie-on-the-beach-and-get-dark type girl, we decided that surfing was the best way to spend our ocean time and catch some rays. Jay didn't need to tan after all, because he put in some time at the tanning salon before the trip. That's right Jay, you're secret is out! Next time you look at Hoots and wonder where he got his golden glow don't feel bad...he probably paid for it!
We stayed at the Aina Nalu in Lahaina Town which was beautiful and nice and close to the surf. Tim from Goofy Foot surf school hooked us up with a lesson (much needed) and board rentals for the rest of the week, so every morning I would wake up at 6am and paddle out before starting my day. It takes a pretty spectacular reward for me to wake up that early in the morning, and surfing was so much fun that I would have even woken up at 5am. Jumping into the water and paddling into a glassy set of waves is a better way to wake up than the most potent double shot of espresso you could find in Italy...the locals though often opted for both the double shot and the paddle out.
In a place like Maui there is so much beauty and recreation that it can sometimes seem overwhelming. Our trip was the perfect balance of play and rest and we all came back as bronzed beauties thanks to the sun that shone on us everyday. I guess Lahaina is known as the land of "relentless sun", but to a Canadian who hasn't seen the big ball of fire consistently for months, it was heaven.
My short list of things to do for any biker who goes to Maui is this: 1) fly Air Canada and bring your mountain bike (they have the cheapest rates for bikes). 2) Don't go home before riding Makawao. Both DH riders and weekend warriors on XC bikes will go away happy. 3) Take a surf lesson from Goofy Foot. Tim will push you into overhead waves that you thought were reserved for surly locals. 4) Go to a luau. We went to the Old Lahaina Luau and it was fantastic! If you like pigs that are cooked in the ground you'll be in luck. Good food for vegetarians too. 5) SPF 30. 6) Go say "aloha" and ask to ride with the local riders. We all ride bikes and they are some of the most enthusiastic and stoked people out there (talented riders to). Living in paradise makes people really friendly so put your tourist hat to the side and have fun like the locals do!
You can share in our Maui travels, on an upcoming Ride Guide episode, broadcast throughout Canada on OLN, Rush HD, Shaw Video On Demand, Rogers On Demand and Men TV, and for our US viewers, The Ski Channel. Check Ride Guide out on-line at Dose.Ca and BikeMag.Com.
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