Hanging out in Waikoloa

The interactions of the residents, their age, the stacked in nature of the living units, the number of gardeners, the types of shops, the expensive maintenance fees  and the other flavours of the area suggest condos at Waikoloa are a fancy name for retirement villages.  
Inside out condo.  Lucky the rules for tidy can't be enforced inside your unit - at least as far as we know.

 Although it's a bit hard to get the average retiree out of their unit and rent it for a holiday in any retirement village in Australia.

 Strict rules to maintain decorum.  No washing on balconies (lanai) no noise, park you car straight, no splashing, making waves or pool toys in the pool.  There's even an officious self elected pool monitor with a clip board recording unit numbers as you enter, listing the don'ts and recording infractions without warning.  We were lucky enough to escape with minimum warnings and no infractions but I invested a good five minutes buttering up the dragon with the clip board on my first visit.
The view across the pool at sunset(ish)
We've been going on separate rides.  Kim doesn't want to ride many long climbs, preferring to battle her way in the strong winds on the undulating Queen K and on the stepped climb to Hawi.  Apart from one day the winds haven't been as strong as I remember but figuring them out is impossible.  You can ride off in one direction with a light tail wind and 10ks later you are grinding your way in the same direction into a strong headwind or being buffeted across the road by gusts.  We've found a wind map that shows the way the island changes the prevailing wind direction as a result of its high mountains and saddles between them.

 But it's hard to beat the road surface.  The smooth hotmix is like riding on cotton wool compared to the coarse gravel we have at home.  There are odd bits where the surface is cracked but not much.  In addition many of the roads have wide shoulders, easily wide enough for two bikes to ride side by side.  Still the odd bogan driver who finds it necessary to hoot the horn or drive unnecessarily close but drivers are generally courteous.

 The choices for riding are better in Waikoloa than in Kailua.  
Early morning start on the way out of Waikoloa resort
A couple of circuits that include long climbs - either to Waimea and over to Hawi and back along the coast for 100ks and 1500 metres of climbing or up to the belt road, Hawi, Kawaikae and home for 70 and 1000m. 
Top of the climb.  This in about 30 ks from sea level.
None of the climbs around here go above 7% for more than a hundred metres or so.  If you head over the middle of the island you can go up at 8-10% for 10s of kms without respite.  If you go straight up from Kailua you can be 15% for several kms.  Just not enough gears. It is possible to ride to the top of the island - over 13000.  Corrugated dirt road for the last 8-10ks and grades of 15%.
The view from 3500' up between Waimea and Hawi.  Only another 10000 to the top of the hill.
In Kailua it's either a busy ride up to the belt road or out and back along the Queen K, with the Queen K south busy and with narrow shoulders.
The view towards the ocean from the Queen K Highway.  For much of the 60kms from Kailua to the Hawi turnoff the highway is built across recent lava flows.  The hotmix surface and the lava at the sides make for pretty hot riding.  Then add some wind.

The view along the Queen Kaahumanu Highway.  Not much wind this morning but not hard to figure out which way it usually blows.
But there's plenty of company at this time of the year as hundreds of athletes ride out and back along the Queen K practising for the big day.

 Before we left Waikoloa we had to walk a little of the King's Trail.  Donkeys and Horses used it to carry travellers up the coast between Kailua and Kawaihae.  It runs ruler straight through kilometres of lava flows and is a tough grind.  
The King's Trail

 It was so difficult for the animals to veer off track that the riders often fell asleep while the animals trudged on.

We've moved to race central now.  Had our first swim on-course this morning.  Thousands of fish and a large pod of spinner dolphins.

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