Friday, March 12, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
UH at Hilo's mountain bike scene and Fun-Ride results!
Just before 10am on December 27, 2009, 54 individuals of all ages and abilities gathered at the Kulani trails for the Big Island Mountain Biking Association’s 12th annual Poker-Run Fun-Ride.This event consisted of two set courses -- one for beginners at 7 miles, and one a more advanced at 17 ½ miles. There were check points, where riders picked up checks, and were dealt a poker hand once completing their course.
Chris Seymour, owner of the Hilo Bike Hub and a Uh at Hilo student in Hawaiian language, was grateful for Uh at Hilo’s ‘Work Hard Play Hard’ club, who’s members volunteered at the event, “They were super friendly” he states, “they helped with registration, score keeping of the poker hands, and were all in all really enthused and nice people.”
UH at Hilo alumni, Adam Busek, who works at the Hilo Bike Hub and has participated in the Fun-Ride for the past 4 years, commented on his experience, “Although I made good time in the course, I didn’t win anything in the poker run. It was strictly a fun ride with maybe a few races between friends.” With regards to the course itself, Busek confidently states, “I’ve been riding mountain bikes for nearly 26 years, and Kulani trails is the world’s best technical single track.”
Kulani trails is a well-known trail system off Steinbeck Hwy, right at the turn-off to Pana’ewa Zoo. Many devoted riders were grateful for the Fun-Ride, as it inspired Seymour to clear the paths and make it safe for all riders, “The trails were better than ever. All the time Chris and volunteers invested in clearing up the trails really made a huge difference” Says Busek.
Seymour’s passion of bringing cycling into the community is not hard to miss, “I had been busy with school myself, so it was nice to clean the trails up during exam time, get back into the forest, and have our clientele back on their bikes as a community again.”
Ryan Mason, a philosophy major at UH of Hilo and mechanic at the Hilo Bike Hub, was grateful to get out with his fiancée and ride the trails, “Being able to ride on the mac-nut roads, struggling to climb up to near 500 vertical feet, then descend through mist and fog between the pine trees was a very surreal experience.”
To add to the fun there was a bike toss and draw prizes for riders to claim, “A lot of people think it [the bike toss] is about the bounce, but really, its all about the skip. I threw it low and spun it hard, so it hit ground and skipped like a rock on the pond” Busek humorously states. As a side note, Busek de-throned two-time bike toss champion, avid cyclist, and professor of geology at UH of Hilo, Steve Lundblad.
Dr. Mike Tanabe, professor of agriculture at Uh of Hilo and one of Kulani trail’s regular riders, was also at the fun ride. Tanabe teaches a mountain biking course at University, which generally fills up rapidly. Skills, theory, maintenance and course safety around the UH trail system, as well as a technical course he’s made at his house, he later graduates students to the Kulani trails system.
Seymour, gave a pre-ride meeting on the course and the rules of the poker run just before the start gun went off. Saying a prayer and thanking riders for coming out and sharing in his passion, with a blessing to the forest that holds the hearts of so many mountain bikers on this island.
Fun-Ride winners:
Mike Brown, Bernice Hwang, Maureen Vierra, Jerry Lau, Nathanial Fray, Karen Brisson, Jeannie Rusell, and Dale Sales.
Chris Seymour, owner of the Hilo Bike Hub and a Uh at Hilo student in Hawaiian language, was grateful for Uh at Hilo’s ‘Work Hard Play Hard’ club, who’s members volunteered at the event, “They were super friendly” he states, “they helped with registration, score keeping of the poker hands, and were all in all really enthused and nice people.”
UH at Hilo alumni, Adam Busek, who works at the Hilo Bike Hub and has participated in the Fun-Ride for the past 4 years, commented on his experience, “Although I made good time in the course, I didn’t win anything in the poker run. It was strictly a fun ride with maybe a few races between friends.” With regards to the course itself, Busek confidently states, “I’ve been riding mountain bikes for nearly 26 years, and Kulani trails is the world’s best technical single track.”
Kulani trails is a well-known trail system off Steinbeck Hwy, right at the turn-off to Pana’ewa Zoo. Many devoted riders were grateful for the Fun-Ride, as it inspired Seymour to clear the paths and make it safe for all riders, “The trails were better than ever. All the time Chris and volunteers invested in clearing up the trails really made a huge difference” Says Busek.
Seymour’s passion of bringing cycling into the community is not hard to miss, “I had been busy with school myself, so it was nice to clean the trails up during exam time, get back into the forest, and have our clientele back on their bikes as a community again.”
Ryan Mason, a philosophy major at UH of Hilo and mechanic at the Hilo Bike Hub, was grateful to get out with his fiancée and ride the trails, “Being able to ride on the mac-nut roads, struggling to climb up to near 500 vertical feet, then descend through mist and fog between the pine trees was a very surreal experience.”
To add to the fun there was a bike toss and draw prizes for riders to claim, “A lot of people think it [the bike toss] is about the bounce, but really, its all about the skip. I threw it low and spun it hard, so it hit ground and skipped like a rock on the pond” Busek humorously states. As a side note, Busek de-throned two-time bike toss champion, avid cyclist, and professor of geology at UH of Hilo, Steve Lundblad.
Dr. Mike Tanabe, professor of agriculture at Uh of Hilo and one of Kulani trail’s regular riders, was also at the fun ride. Tanabe teaches a mountain biking course at University, which generally fills up rapidly. Skills, theory, maintenance and course safety around the UH trail system, as well as a technical course he’s made at his house, he later graduates students to the Kulani trails system.
Seymour, gave a pre-ride meeting on the course and the rules of the poker run just before the start gun went off. Saying a prayer and thanking riders for coming out and sharing in his passion, with a blessing to the forest that holds the hearts of so many mountain bikers on this island.
Fun-Ride winners:
Mike Brown, Bernice Hwang, Maureen Vierra, Jerry Lau, Nathanial Fray, Karen Brisson, Jeannie Rusell, and Dale Sales.
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