 Welcome to Think Tech on Spectrum OC16, Hawaii's weekly newscast on things that matter to tech and to Hawaii. I'm Elise Anderson. And I'm Emmy Ortega Anderson. In our show this time, we'll take a drive out to Haleiva and see the annual metric century ride organized by the Hawaii Bicycling League. The ride was 100 kilometers or 60 miles along the North Shore on Sunday, April 28 and also featured a fun ride for the keiki. The Hawaii Bicycling League is a community sports non-profit, organized more than 40 years ago to support and advocate for cycling in Hawaii. It has strong leadership and thousands of member cyclists and friends. Its two principal riding events are the Century Ride in September and this metric century ride in April. Haleiva metric century ride and a little fun ride. So great day. We've got the Royal Hawaiian Band here. We're back at Kaka Bay Beach Park, which is the start and the end of the ride. And welcoming riders back and we're having a good time. The riders set off, most of them set off at 7.30 a.m. and they're riding up to 100 kilometers. So they're starting to come back in greater numbers now and we're welcoming them back. You know, we've tried to make this as festive as possible. So they return. They have some fun. In addition to the music and you know, we have some massage going on. We have various kind of things of interest like the bamboo bikes. People are here. There's a program, Imua Cocoa Trikes. They create specialized trikes for children with disabilities. So really great program giving basically to kids that otherwise wouldn't be able to bicycle and experience the joy that every kid should have. And we also have Wailua High School here and I think this is the fourth year in a row. We've had them fundraise. So we always want the, I mean, obviously this is a fundraiser for Hawaii Bicycle and Leg. Yeah. So it supports all of our work and we're of course a local non-profit, but we try to give back as much as possible to other entities within the community. So one of the partnerships is Wailua High School. Each year they figure out which of their programs they want to benefit. So previously it's been kind of their after-school A-plus program. This year it's in relation to their baseball program. In the world of bicycling it's looking up. More people are bicycling, particularly transportation cycling. So if you've been in Honolulu, you live in there, you've noticed there's been an increase in bicycling in the last few years. And the numbers of the census collects really robust numbers on people's commute. It tells us that's occurring, that we're seeing significant bump in people writing. And I think that's translating into our events. We're seeing more people and in our membership we exceeded 2,000 members for the first time. The reasons that's important, of course the members, they financially support us, but also it kind of gives us some voice when we go to advocate, when we go to lobby for projects and policies that will make it safer for people to bicycle and just generally make our roads more welcoming to people walking bicycling and safe for everyone. This session it passed, but there's a lot of dirty tricks going on and it could have failed. There was no money involved in the bill, but the money committees have to still give a release. So Ways and Means gave the release, but Finance didn't give it. And if Finance didn't finally give it, it would have died. And that's the same thing that happened two years ago. Finance inexplicably did not release on a bill that had no money in it. And so two years, we could have had red light cameras. How many people have died because of red light running in those two years? For this year, it will not change anything because the only thing the bill grants is a committee to work out the details for how a red light system is going to work. Next session, January, the committee is going to present the report. It says this is how the photos are going to be taken, whether it's going to be the photo of the person or just the license plate. This is how the HPD is going to run it and all the different islands is how the money is going to be handled. If somebody wants to appeal the fact that they got a ticket in the mail, how they can appeal. So all those details will be worked out and presented to the legislature next session. If they approve, they have to approve another bill, then it will take effect probably in July of 2020. And even from then, they'll still have to be procurement and so forth. So I would think the earliest that we'll see something at the best is going to be 2021. 700 people came out to ride a bike along the Natchur from Haleiva to Kahuku and Haula and back. And it's just to celebrate biking, celebrate health, celebrate being outdoors. When you have a large ride, the drivers see a lot of people biking. So it's in general safer for everybody. They know that they got to be careful and we hope that that will translate to every day that drivers got to look out for cyclists. And cyclists have to behave properly too, ride single file, stay on the right, unless the lane is too narrow for a current bike, then sometimes you got to go in the middle of the lane. That's what it is and more and more people are doing it. We have a short ride today. You can go six kilometers, that's two miles, you can go 10 kilometers, that's six miles or you can go the whole hundred kilometers, which is 62 miles. So something for everybody and like you know, riding a bike is fun. There was plenty of preparation for the metric century. In the weekend of April 6th there were workshops for trikes, tandems and bikibikes at Aloha Tower. That evening there was a light up the night ride with HPD in Waikiki and there were cycling workshops at the Croc Center in Kapolei. This ride was an opportunity for cyclists to enjoy a great day of cycling along Oahu's North Shore and to meet new friends and cyclists of all levels. Cyclists could choose to ride 30, 50, 80 or 100 metric kilometers. Really great riders out here. I saw the first group look like it was being led by Ray, who works at Boca. He's just a world-class rider. This frame was cracked by the airline when I was traveling. About a $15 carbon parricade at Home Depot. Things held up for a year. Solid as rock. So no, I'm not an equipment freak. There's a bike computer on the front, a Garmin Edge and then we've got these pedals that measure our power, some sensors to measure cadence and speed and distance and of course the heart rate monitor. So we're getting a lot of data. I don't know if it helps at all, but when you look at it afterward, you look at it after and during the ride to make sure we're pacing ourselves right. It was very good. The weather was good today. It was overcast most of the day. The road was overcast is good, isn't it? Overcast is good and the road was flat and there was no wind. So the stars lined up. And the traffic, how was the traffic? Not bad at all. And most of the drivers were pretty respectful for the riders and that's why I ride in groups because it's much safer. When I say riding groups, I mean large groups, the entire group for the metric century. The more riders on the road, the more aware drivers are. It was awesome, but it was a little tough. Like my feet go numb and your back starts to hurt and it's really not about the riding. It's like how much can you withstand the pain of your body? How are the aid stations, what role did they play in helping you? Oh, they were amazing. I mean all the good carbs and healthy carbs that you need and good fats and the peanut butter. I definitely helped myself plenty of times. Does this encourage you to ride more today? Yeah, absolutely, because it's something like I haven't ridden this far. I just moved here in January so this is something I was training for. So I'm looking forward to something again. Ritz Crackers with Peanut Butter, that'll make you live forever. Are you part of the aid station or just? All my family is. This is my wife and my son. Family son. Smiling. We live in Jaliva so I do the race every year and so it's really close to the house and then they jump in and do the aid station too. And we loaded trucks yesterday too. It's actually kind of fun. You know, you get to meet a lot of people, get to know a lot of people, so it's been fun. I did well. So because I've been staying up here for four months, I've been training on these roads. So I had the unusual experience of riding a long ride like this on roads that I'm actually familiar with. It was really a lot of fun. I joined as a member four months ago when I first got here. I joined as a member so I could follow along. That's how I learned about it. I wouldn't have known otherwise. Registration for it was very easy, very good email communications back and forth to keep us informed. It's a great turnout here. It was good at the start, good at the finish. I love the fact that they got the Royal Hawaiian Band up here. It's just terrific. To me, biking will always be dangerous. We have so few streets, I mean, all the streets are congested. Everybody's in a hurry. Just something we kind of have to live with. Even if you put up bike lanes, you know, people get impatient. As far as the city council goes, clean the bike lanes. We have some good bike lanes out there and they never clean them. And then enforce the traffic rules when cyclists, pedestrians are harassed. And enforce the rules. That would help us a lot. But yeah, each rail is doing a good job. It's perfect weather for walking, riding, yeah, it should be fewer people in cars and more people enjoying the beautiful weather. I learned how to ride a bike when I was only 18 years old. Three months later, I then did the century ride, which was 100 miles. And I'm 19 right now, so here I am today. Okay, you're going to continue to do this then? Yeah, and since I started cycling, I literally lost 25 pounds, 25 pounds. So literally shaved off the belly fat. That's a message for all of us, isn't it? Yeah. From what I kind of learned, you got to do something you like to be able to do, make those physical changes. I enjoy riding so much that since I live in the town, I can't really ride out, ride out because of all the traffic and lack of bike lanes. But a good substitute is that I can either mount my bike up, I can mount my bike up to spin or I can just use a stationary bike. Either way, I do about two hours a day. Okay, we can do the century in September. Okay, remember, this is on camera here. So we have a commitment, yeah? Yeah. All right, we'll be there and we'll look for you. We have pictures of you and we have you making these statements. Sounds good. Take a picture of that guy, too. He's the one that got me into cycling, so it's all his fault. Good job. We kind of just, we got something to say. We kind of just go up to each other and say, hey, communicate. Yes, marriage counseling. It's hard to hear because we were going so fast, though. So it's a problem, yeah. Yeah, so it's a lot of nonverbals and yeah, it's good though. My first distance ride was about 10 miles when I was about 10 years old. I started riding seriously when I was about 68. I did a cross country at the age of 70. It's a race. Everybody starts together on the West Coast and have a set point that you got to meet on the East Coast and you got to get there without help. I would tell them that they should work to make Honolulu the Amsterdam or the Copenhagen of the Pacific. So that, you know, get all the cars off the road and all the bikes on the road and make it healthier and a nicer place to live. How was your ride? It was great. You know, the volunteer staff was great and gave really good aid stations. And the weather was good. And you know, what can you say about the scenery? I'm not really a regular rider, but I came out for this. Yeah. Did you train for it? Sadly, no. But I do some spinning, so. I really put out a challenge. We need some riders from Hawaii to come up to Michigan to try some of the trails out there. If the man director was telling me at the beginning that the royal horseman The one called the Iceman Cometh mountain bike challenge. And it tracks like 3,500 people, maybe up probably 5,000. Where is that in Michigan? It's really such an awesome institution. It's close to Traverse City, Michigan. It's 30 miles through the woods. Beautiful single track, double track. Beach park? We have some awesome mountain bike. You have pros all the way down to amateurs, fat tires, tandems, et cetera. But it'd be great to have some riders out there. Well, it sounds like riding is alive and well in Michigan, eh? Oh, it's very good. I did four rides last year in Michigan. I didn't know we're there when I left there. They could also join the shorter family friendly five or 10 kilometer Aloha fun ride on the Wailua bike path, starting and ending at Kayakabe Beach Park. For both events, cyclists were fully supported with aid stations, mechanical help and rider support along the way. And at the end, riders enjoyed ono food and music and got a chance to hang out with their new cycling friends. There were more than 200 HBL volunteers who lent a hand to make the Hale'iva Metric Century ride successful. Parent's organization, it's a national organization that provides tricycles for people with special needs. And we are the local Hawaii chapter. We're called Imiwa Kako Trikes. And we fit kids, especially kids, but people of all ages, see with physical disabilities. We see what limitations they have and what abilities they have. And we get these tricycles. We order them and design them just for them. We got all of our new jerseys. We got our super awesome new three feet. It's the law jersey. We got the awesome Metric Century ride shirt. And we got all of the old Century ride shirts as well. Basically. We're giving out bike lights, safety bike lights today and statement of investor rights. Bamboo is available here in Hawaii in Plentiful. So we go with what is available on the island. And it's super strong. So it's kind of just asking to become a bike, really, growing straight out of the ground. Well, the Rauhauai Band is in existence to perpetuate its legacy with the ruling monarchs. At that time, during the monarchy, the band was alive and well and supported the government or community events. We are still doing that today, 183 years later. We were formed in 1836. We have studio out. We have the Sweet Star spirits, like the Sweet Star rivers. So the plug is all like drenched with the flavor of Hawaiian salt. And it's delicious. So you guys have to try it when you come back. This is my third year doing this. And I was volunteer of the year award last year. I get to volunteer a year award last year. I actually had a really good crew this year. And they worked extremely hard. HBL has made such a difference in cycling. So whenever they call for volunteers or email me specifically, I'm happy to help out. Because events like this help to raise money for HBL. And that helps to make cycling better for all of us. There's usually amazing events that need amazing volunteers. And that's why we're here to keep all of that good, happy exercise, living well, supporting bikes, supporting our community, just rolling, rolling and rolling. They said, you know, today we're out having fun. We're celebrating how great bicycle is. But this event is a really important fundraiser for Hawaiian bicycle-leading education and advocacy work to make Hawaii more bicycle-friendly and make our streets safer. Of course, Hawaii, with its fabulous weather and flat peripheral topography, is perfect for recreational cycling. Cycling is good for urban transportation and ameliorates automobile congestion. Indeed, it's part of the Complete Streets Initiative, which is so important to good planning for our community. Cycling is great exercise physically and mentally and is wonderfully healthy for riders. It's one of the best sports activity you can find for competition or personal, family or group fun. It's a study in high technology materials and kinetic efficiency, which some tech and equipment freaks really love. Bicycles don't use carbon fuels or emit carbon, and that should give comfort to riders and all of us. If we would all cycle to work and around town, we would be making a material contribution to limit carbon emissions and do our part to limit global warming. Hawaii could be the biking capital of the world, but it isn't yet because the roads are not sufficiently safe for cycling. To incentivize riders, we need to build ubiquitous, well-designed, and maintained bike lanes, and make the roads better and safer for riders. Better, safer roads lead to more riders, and more riders lead to the political will necessary to build better, safer roads. We also need to train cyclists to be careful and respect the right of way of cars, and we need to train drivers to be careful and respect the right of way of cyclists. Remember the law of the broken paddle, where Kamehameha made it clear that everyone had a right to be on public roads? Remember that cars are deadly instruments and cyclists are completely vulnerable. Drivers should always yield to riders, even if, and especially if, the riders are not riding well. We should always keep that in mind. Here in Paradise, there have been entirely too many cycling injuries and death. Want to know more about HBL and its riding events and programs? Check out hbl.org. Better yet, contact HBL and go to a riding class, or go for a ride. If you didn't ride or volunteer for the metric century in April, why not ride or volunteer in the century ride in September? And how about joining and becoming a member of HBL to support cycling in Hawaii? HBL actively advocates for better cycling conditions in Hawaii. Thanks to HBL's advocacy last year, the three-foot safe passing requirement became law, and that truly improved safety for cyclists. To learn more about HBL Wahoo Pedestrian Plan, Vision Zero, and Red Light Safety Camera initiatives, see HBL.org slash Advocacy April 19. And now let's check out our Think Tech schedule of events going forward. Think Tech broadcasts its talk shows live on the internet from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Then we broadcast our earlier shows all night long and on the weekends. And some people listen to them all night long and on the weekends. If you missed a show or if you want to replay or share any of our shows, they're all archived on demand on ThinkTechHawaii.com and YouTube. For our audio stream, go to ThinkTechHawaii.com slash audio, and we post all our shows as podcasts and iTunes. 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Remember, you can watch ThinkTech on Spectrum OC16 several times every week. Can't get enough of it, just like Yemi does. For additional times, check out oc16.tv. For lots more ThinkTech videos and for underwriting and sponsorship opportunities on ThinkTech, visit thinktechhawaii.com. Be a guest or a host, a producer or an intern and help us reach and have an impact on Hawaii. Thanks so much for being part of our ThinkTech family and for supporting our open discussion of tech, energy, diversification and global awareness in Hawaii and of course the ongoing search for innovation wherever we can find it. You can watch this show throughout the week and tune in next Sunday evening for our next important weekly episode. I'm Elisa Anderson. And I'm Yemi Ortega Anderson. Aloha everyone.