Oahu cycling

[Onno]

My wife's family is planning a big reunion in Oahu this June. I'm not much for beaches, though, so I'm wondering about better ways of escaping, uh, exercising. Does anybody have any experience road biking over there? Is it worth hauling a bike, or renting one, and exploring the island by bike? That is, are there relatively empty, relatively safe, relatively interesting roads there?

Thanks!
Onno

[Kevin]

Send Kahuna a PM or an e-mail.

Kevin

[coylifut]

as a frequent visitor and former resident (my mother law still lives there) i can say there is not much in the way of relatively empty and relatively safe roads. There are many relatively interesting roads though. With that said, Rich Mc and others have shown me the better routes on the island. There are a couple of group rides as well. Shipping your own bike is likely the most cost effective way to go. If you want the bike to travel with you, it'll cost about $160 round trip. Shipping in advance should cost around 1/2 the above figure.

If you do indeed decide to take your bike, ride extremely defensively. atmo, a good percentage of the drivers there learned to drive in countries where pedestrians and cyclists aren't aforded the same rights. When I was in HI in December I saw a report that there were over 60 trafic fatalities for 2005. An amazing number for MSA of that size.

So, it's worth it to take a bike, you'll just need to do a little research to plan the best routes.

[csm]

I lived there for a few years back in the 80's. I lived on schoffield barracks. the riding on post was good. there was a local club that used to have rides up the tantalus. there's a tt up it too. it was a bear of a climb. we rode the north shore a good bit . as I remember, traffic wasn't too bad. the roads were nice. the scenery was fantastic and the weather great.

http://www.oahu.islands-travel.com/tantalus.html

[Erik.Lazdins]

If you want a climb worth hauling a bike over - look into going to Maui and riding up Haleakala. It rises from sea level to 10,000 feet in about 38ish miles. I believe the grades are 5-6%.
Not to mention any time I've elected not to take the bike anywhere on vacation - I have always regretted it!