Biking in Paradise

The owners of the condo we stayed at in Puamana graciously let us use their two bikes. And so Joel and I rediscovered our love of bike-riding. The town of Lahaina was only about a 15-2o minute walk away, but sometimes even that was too long in the hot Maui sun. On bikes, however, the distance shortened dramatically and so we used them often during our vacation.
Our first time trying to ride them was comical. Having no tools to lower the seats, we were forced to ride uncomfortably high on both our bikes. We also could not sit on the bike seat with both feet touching the ground, a luxury previously unappreciated. This meant that when we wished to go from a state of rest to one of motion, we had to perform serious acrobatic maneuvers: one foot would kick off the ground while the body would jump onto the bike's seat, causing it to veer back and forth as we desperately sought balance. Then one foot had to make contact with whatever pedal was high enough to push on, until hopefully the bike was moving consistently in a forward motion.
We caught the hang of things after a while and will fondly remember our bike-rides into Lahaina for ice-cream or lunch or to explore the town. Please take note of the delightful Wizard-of-Oz baskets on the front of each bike, as well as the strangely curved handles, which made steering interesting.