Bicycle Rental Helps Overcome Island Claustrophobia on South Maui

There are worse places to be trapped, but Maui IS a fairly small island.  A mainlander who is used to wide open Idaho spaces, I tend to feel confined after three to four days.  On this last trip, it was good to rest after a intense summer of triathlon training, but my mind and body still craved some exercise.  Running on the beach was fun, until the ocean began to seem like a barrier to escape; and swimming in the ocean was frequently followed by reports of nearby sharks and sting rays.  Thankfully, my husband was willing to share his rental bike with me.

I was kind of surprised the husband let me out on my own.  He did want to know exactly where I’d be going and for how long, points he tended to be vague on when he went out for his rides…  but I appreciated his concern and was actually able to enjoy the rides more knowing that he was on alert.

The bike helped to make my rides fun, too.  He had rented it for a week from South Maui Bicycles. (located on S. Kihei Road, barely south of the Foodland grocery store, on the east side of the road.)

• This was the second time to rent from them.
• The bike frame was more like a mountain bike, with a wide seat.  I thought, after spending so much time on a ride bike, that this would feel awkward.  On the contrary, it was comfortable and as speedy as I needed it to be.
•  The gears shifted well and the brakes were strong.
• Once, when Greg was riding it, he got a flat and the shop fixed it right away.

South Maui Bicycles has a helpful website, with a link to a bicycle map that categorizes routes according to features like terrain, presence of bike lanes, and traffic patterns.  I will add some tips based on our rides while there:

1. Early morning rides are best because there is less traffic and many of the city streets in South Maui don’t have much shoulder space.  The locals were friendly overall, but I found that many people passed at fast speeds within inches of me.
2. Early morning rides are best because most tourists are not out and about yet.  When 75% of the drivers don’t know where they are going, riding can be more dangerous.
3. Early morning rides are best because the wind tends to blow more strongly in the afternoon.  On one afternoon ride, I fought being blown sideways into traffic passing within a couple of feet of me AND being blinded by sand gusting under my sunglasses.

Next time we visit Maui, we might rent two bikes, for general transportation.  It only took about 45 minutes of biking for me to go by most of the nice beaches along the southwest coast of Maui.  Specifically, from the junction of the 311 and South Kihei Road, down just past the Kihei boat ramp, a bit south of Kamaole Beach Park III.  A bike is easier to park, but harder to carry snorkel or beach gear... Still, it would be nice to have the option to just jump on a bicycle and ride to the other side of the island, or in a circle around South Kihei, or whatever I need to do to combat the feeling of being stuck on an island.