It’s a vision island Keiki would surely call a dream. ADVERTISING It’s a vision island Keiki would surely call a dream. Acres upon acres of lush green play-land in the heart of beautiful Waimea for some exhilarating cycling and running
It’s a vision island Keiki would surely call a dream.
Acres upon acres of lush green play-land in the heart of beautiful Waimea for some exhilarating cycling and running events over safe, kid-friendly, single-track trails amidst gentle rolling hills.
Alongside that, maybe some creative and fun face painting sessions, dressing up in a favorite Halloween costume, or an adventurous Pumpkin Hunt throughout a beautifully manicured garden? With stunning vistas of Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai in the backdrop, this certainly has all the ingredients for a remarkable dreamscape.
But it’s no dream.
On Sunday, Oct. 30, Big Island Bike Tours – in partnership with Mountain Road Cycles, LavaKids, PATH, and Bike Works Beach & Sports – will present the Inaugural Waimea Bike Fest at the historic Anna Ranch Heritage Center starting at 9 a.m.
And the best part? It’s all free.
Event organizer Alex Candelario said the idea to create a fun event for families with young children began from his own inspiration of wanting to get his two sons (ages 5 and 2) riding their bikes in a safe environment.
“Living in Waimea there’s not a whole lot of places for them to ride and be safe,” Candelario said. “One of the objectives for the event is to create a safe place for kids to ride and to cultivate a cycling community. A lot of places that I’ve lived over the years have all been cycling focused and I think that really good things can evolve when you have that kind of community and culture. So it’s just trying to bring that awareness to our area and hopefully the island.”
While locating the Anna Ranch Heritage Center off of Kawaihae Road may be the easy part, the hardest challenge for parents may be controlling the excitement of their young ones. The Waimea Bike Fest is geared to provide plenty of fun activities that will most certainly unleash their inner adventurous spirit and boundless energy on two wheels — or two feet if they choose.
“I think that cycling presents a lot of opportunities for kids and it’s a way to be healthy, a great way for families to exercise, and a great recreational sport,” Candelario said. “We will have the LavaKids trail runs – a mile run and 100-meter dash. PATH will do a bike rodeo, where they will set up a course that will make it fun for kids to learn about riding a bicycle, safety, and bicycle handling. We will have a little bit of a Strider course (ages 2-12) from Anna’s Ranch, and do a certain amount of laps based upon their ages.
“Then we will have an adventure mountain bike course that will go around the ranch, through obstacles, up and down ramps, so kids will be able to learn how to use different skills to navigate the area while having a good time. We will also have some Pumpkin Hunts at the beautiful garden at Anna’s Ranch where the kids can run around and find the pumpkins. It’ll be a fun day.”
About Anna Ranch Heritage Center
Nestled in the heart of historic Waimea sits a 110-acre ranch renown for its deep roots in Hawaiian culture, ranching history, and unsurpassed natural beauty.
The Anna Ranch Heritage Center, listed on both the National and State Registry of Historic Places, began with the story of a remarkable woman known as the original Hawaiian Cowgirl and the “First Lady of Ranching” in Hawaii, Anna Lindsey Perry-Fisk.
Born in the year 1900, Anna was raised in the island ranching lifestyle – learning to ride, rope, mend fences, and tend cattle at a young age while also mastering the decorum and etiquette necessary to young ladies of her day.
Anna lived a long and exciting life to the age of 95, and it was her dream to develop a heritage center on her ranch property to celebrate the history of ranching in Hawaii and the widely acknowledged legacy of her remarkable family.
Toward the end of her life, Anna set aside her land and ranch house as a gift to the community, insuring that Hawaii’s ranching history be shared, would never be lost, and the younger generations would always know how it all started.
And now, Anna’s legacy is perpetuated through her historical home and ranch that is open to the public – inviting visitors, tour groups, senior groups and school groups to this amazing and breathtaking landmark.
Candelario said that he has a special relationship with Anna’s Ranch through his business with Big Island Bike Tours.
“This is where we are located, where we meet our guests and start our bike tours – it’s just an incredible spot,” he said. “We have actually built 5-miles of mountain bike trails behind the ranch and it’s been a daily offering for one of our feature tours that we do.
“And part of the deal with us being here is that we try to spread the word on the history and culture of Anna’s Ranch. Anna herself was a really remarkable woman, very iconic Cowgirl, she was the first female butcher in the State, she did a lot to preserve the ranch and keep it in tact before she passed away. So we want to honor that tradition and educate people about the ranch and it’s a really beautiful location.”
Q&A with Alex Candelario
Only when pressed during the interview did a humble and very modest Candelario open up about his prolific racing career as a professional cyclist.
Touted as “a legend of the domestic peloton” by Velonews cycling magazine, Alex Candelario was team captain and rode for Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies – ending his exciting career on a high and retiring to the Big Island in 2014 after 14 years in the pro peloton.
The 41-year old shared some of his thoughts on retirement, the importance of raising his family on the Big Island, and starting a new business with his wife, Hannah, with Big Island Bike Tours.
Q: You recently moved to the Big Island after 14 years racing as a professional cyclist. Tell me a little about yourself.
I had a fairly long cycling career. I started mountain biking early on then got into road racing in college (University of Colorado), won the Collegiate National Championships, then started racing full time once I graduated. I raced professionally for 14 years and lived in Europe for a time. I was primarily a domestic pro racer but we raced all over the world – Australia, Asia, all over Europe. Though I’ve never done the Tour de France, I’ve placed pretty high in races such as the Tour of California. On my good days I could get close to (Peter) Sagan and those guys. I retired in the Fall of 2014.
Q: What was your calling to the Big Island?
My wife is born and raised on the Big Island and comes from an old Hawaii family (Hind) so we would come over here to train for a few months in the winter time which I’ve done for about 9 years. So we’ve always talked about moving here once we have kids because she comes from a big family and they are so supportive. We thought it would be great for our kids to grow up with their cousins, aunties, uncles, grandpa, grandma, so that’s been our big focus for moving back. We moved back two years ago and started our business, Big Island Bike Tours, March of 2015 and it has been going pretty well.
Q: Has the transition been an easy one?
(Laughing) I’m working harder than I have ever worked in my life! I think saying I’m retired is a bit of a misnomer. It was a difficult transition for me in terms of going from riding 5-6 hours a day training wise in a solitary environment and being on a team where you have lots of camaraderie, then traveling constantly, and you are the center of attention for a lot of things. And now it’s the exact opposite of that. Our guests (of Big Island Bike Tours) are now the center of attention and we are focused on providing them with an exceptional service. So it’s been an interesting transition. I’ve hurt my back pretty bad last year so it’s taken me about six months to get back on track and healthy again. So it was a tough transition for me but I think we’ve come through the hardest parts and the business has done well for the last few months. I’m really looking forward to this winter. We are getting the mountain bike tours going and our road camps are starting to fill up and I think things are going on the right track now.
Q: What kinds of rides do Big Island Bike Tours offer?
It’s about 50/50 but we offer more road rides than mountain bike rides. We do weeklong road tours that circumnavigate the island, highlighting all of these quiet roads that I used to train on over the years. There are some incredible rides on the other side of the island that allows one to see the island’s diversity, climates and geography.
Q: What do you hope to achieve from the Inaugural Waimea Bike Fest?
The biggest thing is that I just want to create a safe environment for kids to come and ride and learn about bikes. I’d like to start that cycling culture with the hope to create more cycling awareness within the community and island and to promote cycling on the Big Island in general.
My personal biggest objective is that I’d like the Big Island to become one of these international cycling destination areas like Mallorca, Colorado, Northern California – where people travel from all over the world just to come ride. We have some amazing riding here but I don’t think a lot of people know what we have. I think kids are the first step toward building that infrastructure to allow them to ride safely to school, work, and just in general. You just learn so much and see so much when you are on a bike. It creates a lot more understanding for our culture and all of the things that we value in Hawaii when you ride a bicycle and experience those things first hand.
For more information on the Waimea Bike Fest visit LavaKids.org.
