LIHUE — Evening breezes welcomed bike riders Thursday as they took off down Hardy Street, bound for the Ninini Point Lighthouse. The riders, part of the “Ugly Aloha Shirt Bicycle Ride,” ranged in age and skill set. A dog sitting
LIHUE — Evening breezes welcomed bike riders Thursday as they took off down Hardy Street, bound for the Ninini Point Lighthouse.
The riders, part of the “Ugly Aloha Shirt Bicycle Ride,” ranged in age and skill set. A dog sitting in a bicycle trailer was even along for the ride.
Scott McCubbins, a member of the Surf Rider Foundation and the Friends of Kamalani and Lydgate Park, was another.
“It always fun to get out and about,” he said.
The Missouri transplant who moved to Kauai about four years ago tries to bike about 45 miles every week. His preferred bike trail is a 16-mile round-trip route from Lydgate Park to Donkey Beach.
“I like to be able to feel the fresh ocean air,” he said.
McCubbins and about 20 others were decked out in Aloha shirts who biked from the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall to the Ninini Point Lighthouse.
The eight-mile trip was organized by the Kauai Path, a nonprofit organization that works to preserve, protect and extend bicycle paths around the island. Organizers wanted the ride to be easy, giving people of all skill sets a chance to participate, said Tommy Noyes, executive director of Kauai Path.
“Bicycling has become a popular way to get around, but people think you need equipment, expensive gear and spandex,” Noyes said.
That’s why Noyes asked participants to where an Aloha shirt.
“I wanted to promote a relaxed way of biking as a way of practical transportation,” he said.
Some people are intimidated to bike on busy roads, so Thursday’s bike path was a good way to introduce novice bicyclers to the ways of the road, he added.
Cheryl Underwood was one of them.
Underwood, who comes to Kauai for four months during the winter, said she enjoys biking, but not on busy roads.
“I’m not used to biking on highways,” she said.
But last year, she attended a class put on by Kauai Path about the basics of bike safety.
“Everyone’s been very encouraging,” she said. “And I saw an advertisement for the ride, I decided to try it out.”
During the ride, seasoned bicyclists educated people about the rules of the road, Noyes said.
“We want to promote basic bicycle safety rules like riding with the flow of traffic, being visible and predictable and signaling,” he said.
This is not the first bike ride Kauai Path has planned.
In December, rides in Anahola and Lihue attracted about 20 people, McCubbins said.
On Feb. 21, the Ugly Aloha Shirt Bicycle Ride will take to Wailua Homesteads Park. The ride starts at 9 a.m., and a potluck lunch will follow.
