Latest News!
I am happy to report that I passed my Structural Engineer II (SE II ) Test! I will soon be registred as a Professional Structural Engineer in the State of Hawaii, which will enable me to do the kind of work that I enjoy the most and in which I am most experienced at. It is a happy day!

Aloha!

Our First Anniversary.

Gwen and I recently celebrated our first year of marriage with a romantic dinner at Mama's Fish House, one of the finest restaurants on Maui. We are thankful to God for our health and for all he the blessings He has bestowed on us so far. We are also thankful to our friends and families for all their prayers and support. We miss you all!



Celebrating Our First Wedding Anniversary



Trixie at Home

In other news, Gwen's cat, Trixie, finally made the trip from Columbus to Maui, and is now happy at her new home.

Aloha!

GOBA 17

Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure
June 18-25, 2005
Findlay - Tiffin - Port Clinton - Elmore - Upper Sandusky

Once again, I had the pleasure to participate in the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure, along with my daughters, who were ready and eager for the week-long, 250 mile bicycle trip. The trip to Ohio was one full of great memories. It was my first trip to Ohio since I moved to Maui and I had a great time sharing with my friends in Columbus, GOBA and with former co-workers at SEI.

The long flights, the jet lagged days, the hectic pace of a week of bike riding, trying to visit as many friends as possible in a short schedule... It was all worth it. I had a great time in Ohio; A place with no beaches, no tropical paradise by any measure, but a place with a great beauty of its own; The city of Columbus and its skyline, Lake Erie and Put-in-Bay, the countryside of northern Ohio. I was happy to be back in Buckeye Country.

Friday, June 17: After a 12 hour flight from Hawaii, I arrived at Port Columbus to a warm welcome from my daughters Laura and Diana. After dinner, Diana and I headed to the Latino Festival in Downtown Columbus, where I saw a few of old friends, including Eugene Beer (a.k.a. "The Piano Peddler"), who I would meet again later in the week at GOBA.

Later that evening, after sending Diana home, I met a few of my best friends, Sandra, Eric and Orlando, at the Frog Bear and Wild Boar bar in Downtown Columbus, where my favorite local rock band, Jonzei was playing.

I'd seen Jonzei's show many times at the FBWB when I was living in Ohio and I was so lucky that they happened to be playing there on the one night I had to go party in Columbus. During the music break, we had a friendly conversation Portia, the lead singer of Jonzei, who was kind enough to invite me and Orlando to a shot Jägermeister. She even later called me up to the stage and introduced me to the crowd as the former Ohio resident who was visiting from Hawaii. We enjoyed a great evening of friendship, party and rock 'n' roll. You can learn more about this band at www.jonzei.net.

Saturday, June 18 - Findlay: GOBA is here! My favorite week of the year has finally arrived! Laura and Diana picked me up Saturday afternoon and it was off to Findlay for the start of the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure. Sadly, we arrived at GOBAville too late for the bike parade.

After signing-in, pitching our tents and exchanging hugs and hellos with our GOBA friends, we headed out to Bob Evans for dinner.
At Bob Evans, we joined our friends Don and his daughter Marlena, as well as GOBA "newbies" Howie (Who also happens to be my new brother-in-law), who made the trip from Philadelphia and his friend Bob, who made the trip from Boston.

The first night on GOBA has always been the toughest one for me. Never mind I only had a few hours of sleep the previous two nights, it was difficult to go to sleep in Findlay. Maybe I was still on Hawaii time, six hours behind. In any case, it was nice to walk around camp in the middle of the night and enjoy the quietness of GOBAville, as well as having a small chat with the deputies at the fairgrounds' sheriff station. I think I finally fell asleep around 2:00 AM.

Sunday, June 19 - Findlay to Tiffin: Time to ride! After only a couple of hours of sleep, I got up around 5:30 AM. After my first trip of many during the week to the coffee U-Haul to get my java jolt, we got ready, packed our bags and it was off to Tiffin!

This year GOBA was held in northern Ohio, close to lake Erie. So this year, the roads were pretty much what you would call "flat" and "flatter", the only challenge being the head wind, which did not really bother us until the end of the week.

We arrived in Tiffin in the early afternoon, where we spent the next two evenings.

Once in Tiffin, and after going through the routine of picking our luggage, staking our tents and freshening-up up, it was time to explore the town, have dinner and to party.

The dusty dirt floor of the fairgrounds pavilion was the stage for the evening's entertainment, where we danced to the rock 'n' roll sounds of local bands. Here are Mike, Amy, Me, Marijo and Martha having fun.



Monday, June 20 - Tiffin: Wanna go for the optional 40 mile ride today? I think not! Specially after the unusually cold weather of the previous night. I love riding but I'd rather relax and limit my riding to exploring the town. It is a vacation, for crying out loud! After breakfast at Chris Cakes and another run to the coffee U-Haul it was time to get on the bike and enjoy the sights of Tiffin, including the magnificent County courthouse.

We also made a stop at the local library, where the friendly local staff had reserved a room full of computers for GOBA riders, were we checked our email. The library also offered a sitting area with couches and chairs, where we sat down to relax and read the newspaper.

I want to say that I was kind of disappointed with the downtown Tiffin district because there did not seem to be much commercial activity going on. But little I knew then that on the other side of town there was a very busy commercial district, full of retail shops, restaurants and malls. Once we got there, we did some shopping at Walmart, had lunch at KFC and watched Star Wars at the mall's multiplex.

Our day off in Tiffin, coincided with my brother-in-law Howie's 50th birthday. That evening, we all went to the Mexican Restaurant at the Tiffin Mall. There, we all surprised Howie by getting the Mariachi to sing "Happy Birthday" for him and by all of us wearing matching t-shirts in honor to his birthday. The T-shirts had had been ordered by Howie's wife and smuggled into GOBAville by his friend Bob. Howie was truly surprised and we all had a great time.

Tuesday, June 21 - Tiffin to Port Clinton: More flat land and gentle down slopes ahead as
we work our way to the shores of Lake Erie. The road to Port Clinton took us along parts of the Sandusky River, including over an old metal bridge near the town of Fremont, where we had our lunch stop at the Hayes Presidential Center. I have fond memories of the Hayes Presidential Center, which hosted GOBA's opening ceremonies in 2000.

Fremont will always be a special place to me, for it was there where I first met some of my best GOBA friends when Fremont was the start/finish town for GOBA 12 back in 2000.

Past Fremont, it was an easy ride into Port Clinton, where we spent the next two evenings. We were happy to find indoor camping at the high school, which was good because that evening the rain just poured over GOBAville.

In Port Clinton, we had dinner at a local Irish Pub in the Downtown area which, as it often happens on GOBA, was overwhelmed by hungry GOBA riders and - not unpredictably - got most of our orders wrong. Thankfully the manager was a good sport and gave us a substantial discount on our food.

The downtown entertainment was pretty good, with a rock band setting the mood and plenty of establishments for food and drinks. We enjoyed a couple of scoops of ice cream at a local drug/convenience store.

Tuesday evening was not without its sad moments, though, because that evening my daughter Diana had to leave GOBA to attend a previously scheduled workshop at Ohio U. in Athens, Ohio, which would take the rest of the week. She really had a great time at GOBA and we missed her the rest of the week.

Later that evening, we settled at a local bar where we played pool and enjoyed a few cold ones. Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the time we got back to GOBAville. All we had to deal with now were the mayflies, which were swarming over Port Clinton in biblical numbers, making every surface look like a scene from a horror movie. I had never seen anything quite like that.

Wednesday, June 22 - Port Clinton & Trip to Put-In-Bay: On our second rest day of the week, while Laura and her teenage friends went to Cedar Point, the rest of us adults, Myself, Don, Mick & Marijo, Ryan, and Tom, loaded our bikes on the Jet Express II and headed to South Bass Island, better known as "Put-In-Bay". There we met with Bob and Howie, who had taken the Miller Boatline ferry. This island is known for its bars, restaurants and good night life. It is not a private island resort though; It has many permanent residents who have to do their best to co-exist with thousands of visitors every year. This was my second visit to the island, the first was in the summer of 2003, when my wife Gwen and I spent a weekend there to celebrate our engagement.

The ride from Port Clinton to Put-In-Bay takes about 20 minutes aboard the Jet Express and it drops you off right in front of the main street, by Jose DeRivera Park. The island's landscape is dominated by the 357 ft tall Perry's Monument, which commemorates Commodore Oliver H. Perry's victory over the British Navy in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. This is also a peace memorial celebrating the lasting peace between the USA & Canada, who share the longest undefended border in the world.

Although the island is very small (It took us half an hour to go around it on our bikes), there is plenty to do: We visited Perry's Monument and its visitor center operated by the National Park Service, where they have a large model showing the Battle of Lake Erie and where you can also see a short film about that event. We also stopped at several bars and restaurants for beer and food, visited the very nice state park on the south end of the island and - of course - stopped at the Heineman Winery, where we enjoyed a few bottles of the local wine, accompanied with a selection of cheese and crackers.

After a long day that included visiting the butterfly museum and having crab legs at The Boardwalk, we boarded the Jet Express back to Port Clinton and another evening at GOBAville.

Thursday, June 23 - Port Clinton to Elmore: For me, Thursday's ride marks the beginning of the end of GOBA; The day when you realize that you better have fun now because it is going to end soon. The ride to Elmore also marked the start of a very gentle climb towards Upper Sandusky as we rode further away from Lake Erie.

We began our ride along the shores of the lake and then headed inland. The landscape remained flat, making the trip very easy, with the monotony of endless farm fields broken by the several small towns and train tracks that we rode by.

My favorite stop of the day was the lunch stop at Rocky Ridge, where even though I declined to eat because of the extremely slow food lines, I got to enjoy the classic rock music, courtesy of a local DJ who was, oddly enough, getting friendly advice on what music to play from my brother-in-law, Howie.

We got to Elmore and, once again, found indoor camping at the school gym. We headed to town and were surprised by how small the town was! I was worried that the town would be overwhelmed by hungry riders, but that was not to be the case. We visited a local pizza place where we got fast, friendly service and left satisfied. (I did hear some horror stories, though: I was told that at one place, they did get overwhelmed and that two cooks had quit in discontent.)

Elmore also has a lovely public library where we were able to check our email and chill out in their air-conditioned lounge. Laura was even able to get a library card, which she used to borrow a DVD, which she watched on her laptop back at GOBAville! (She dropped the movie in the library's return bin the next morning, as we left town.)

I like to think of Elmore as "The Little Town that Could". They were by far the smallest stop on GOBA and they also put the best party of the week. Here, I found some good conversation with my friends Don, Amy and Steve.

The festivities at the downtown park were well organized and executed. The music was provided by the band "Live at Five", who played a nice selection of rock 'n' roll hits. The entertainment varied from a Log-cabin museum, civil war era re-enactors, a beer garden, to a huge motorized tricycle & even a motorized coffin!

Elmore, in my opinion, was the second best stop on this year's GOBA, only because Port Clinton included a side trip to Put-In-Bay.

Friday, June 24 - Elmore to Upper Sandusky: Rumors had been spreading all over GOBAville on Thursday evening that Friday was going to be a very hot day. Most people decided to get an early start on the trip to Upper Sandusky and we were not the exception. We got up at 5:00 AM and got on the road at 6:00 AM.

We witnessed a wonderful sunrise over a field of golden wheat as we left the town of Elmore - Here is a photo of Laura in front of it - and got to the first rest stop at 7:00 AM. After a quick breakfast, we arrived at the lunch stop at 8:00 AM. We though we were in pretty good shape to make it to Upper Sandusky before noon. Of course, we were wrong.

What followed next was not the predicted hot weather, but a fierce duel with a stubborn head wind for the next 40 miles or so.

It took us almost three hours to cover the 24 miles between the lunch stop and the PM stop in Carey, Ohio. We had to pause halfway there to catch our breath and rest our sored, aching leg muscles.

The only relief we found between the lunch and PM stops was the music of my friend from Columbus, Eugene Beer, who did not do GOBA this year, but showed up along the route to play music on his piano-bike six miles out of the lunch stop. It was great to see Eugene, since I had talked to him on the phone the previous day, giving him directions to the lunch stop and I though that I was going to miss him, since we had left the lunch stop so early. I am happy he decided to stop further down along the road instead. I have known Eugene since 1994 and I shall be forever grateful to him because he is the person who introduced me to GOBA in 1999. You can visit Eugene's website at www.pianopeddler.com

Once past the PM stop at Carey - Which, in my opinion, had the greatest lunch value of the week with $1.00 burgers and brats! - it was a final battle against the wind to get to Upper Sandusky. The almost due south route offered very little relief from the wind. But luckily, we were able to miss the rain by just a few minutes and rode into Upper Sandusky around 1:30 PM, 7.5 hours after leaving Elmore. We barely averaged over 10 MPH that day.

Once in Upper Sandusky, it was time to seek shelter and once again, found indoor camping at the school gym. After a shower and a well deserved nap, it was up to downtown to enjoy the bike races, the food, the beer, the song contest and the music. Out of those five, I got to enjoy four: The bike races were thrilling, the food was great and so was the beer, the song contest is always fun... but the music... well... I like The Doors, but the Doors-tribute band headlining that night "Mojo Risin" left much to be desired. I was wishing that "Live at Five" - the Band at Elmore - could come back for an encore.

We left the downtown area somewhat disappointed, because we always like to party and dance on the last night of GOBA. Too bad the band did not provide the right mood. I still remember GOBA 2003, when they had that cajun music band. Or when Arnett Howard and his Creole Funk band played in Marysville on GOBA 2002.

Anyway, we headed back to camp to enjoy a quiet evening of friendship and GOBA memories.

Saturday, June 25: Upper Sandusky to Tiffin: Well, It is time to pack our bags for the last time and face the inevitable: GOBA ends today. Tomorrow there will be no camping, no more riding, no more leaving the problems and the worries of the real world behind. After a week of camping and of long lines for food, showers and porta-johns, tonight we go back to our beds, our kitchens, our showers and our beloved porcelain toilets.

We left Upper Sandusky to once again, face a head wind for most of the day, but that did not worry us so much anymore. We stopped at the lunch stop, which was the only stop of the day and last rest stop of the year. There we got a chance to find our friends and say most of our goodbyes. By the time we left that stop, plans were starting to be hatched for next year's GOBA. "Yes, we must see each other again next year, take care!"

We arrived back in Findlay around noon, to the mess of finding our our luggage, taking a quick shower and finding a handful of our friends who had not left yet. This time no tents were being erected and GOBAville had the feeling of a ghost town. A few of us gathered together and decided to finish GOBA the way we started it: By going to Bob Evans for a farewell lunch.

As we left Findlay behind, our road back home took us along the GOBA route, where some riders were still making their way into Findlay. We honked the horn, we waved at them, yelling "You are almost there!" We kept driving, looking for riders. And even as we hit the main highway, we looked deep into the fields, trying to spot that one lone rider along a country road for whom GOBA had not yet ended.

TO SEE JUAN'S GOBA 17 PHOTO ALBUM ON YAHOO, CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jrivera64/album?.dir=/5fe2&.src=ph&.tok=phI.OQDBUIwaSSXl

Latest News - Trip To Ohio, Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure 2005

To all my friends in Ohio,

Hope to see you all during GOBA week and may we all have a great ride!

Come back here in a couple of weeks for pictures and memories of the ride!

Aloha!

Memorial Day 2005
Today, I accomplished my latest island adventure: I rode my bike down Haleakala from the summit at 10,023 feet elevation all the way to sea level in Paia.

The ride is a 35.6 miles long all-downhill trip, except for a stretch of about 200 yards just before Makawao. It took me 1 hr 40 minutes to ride down to sea level in Paia, averaging 21.3 MPH. The average grade is 5.33%. Thanks to Gwen for driving the car down the mountain and for taking pictures along the way.


Unloading the Bike at the Summit


Halekala Summit - 10,023 feet above sea level.


Off we go!!
Being almost summer, it was not too cold at the summit, even with the stiff wind. One thing that surprised me is that while riding above clouds level (9,000 ft elevation approximately), the winds were strong enough to slow me down considerably even on the steep down slopes, keeping my speed at a comfortable 20-25 MPH during most of the upper half of the ride.



The view from about 6,000 feet.
Once below clouds level, the wind subsided thus I had to use my brakes more often and be more careful around the curves. I paced myself to about 25-30 MPH, slowing down to about 20 MPH at the several cattle guards that cross the road at various locations below Haleakala Park. Even then, the ride was pleasant and very easy.



Riding through Makawao. 1600 feet above sea level.
Once past Makawao, heading down Baldwin Avenue towards Paia, I allowed myself to go a little faster, hitting a maximum of 36 MPH. I took it easy.


End of the ride at sea level in Pa`ia.
35.6 miles and 100 minutes later, Sea Level at Pa`ia.

Now that I have done it, How do I rate the ride? Well, I must confess that while the views were like no other ride I've ever done, riding downhill all the way was effortless to the point of boredom. In an unexpected anti-climax, I found myself missing being tired and hungry at the end, but there I was; at the end of the ride, but ready and eager to bike for a few more hours. I can see now why this is a preferred ride with visitors.

Will I do it again? Sure, but next time I will take more time enjoying the views, taking pictures and visiting the local snack stops and shops. Or maybe I will do what I've been reluctant to do... maybe I will try uphill Haleakala... Maybe...

Trip around East-Maui, Saturday, May 14, 2005.

We went on a road trip around east maui, traveling counter-clockwise around Haleakala. The goal of this trip was to explore the Kaupo Road area early in the day and to hike at the Oheo Gulch, up to Waimoku Falls. Following are a few selected pictures of the trip.


Church along the Kula Highway, Upcountry Maui.
This church is clearly visible from Maui's Central Valley when the bright afternoon sunlight reflects from it.

Tree in full bloom, Upcountry Maui
We do not know what kind of tree this is, but there are many of them in Upcountry Maui. Their lavender-colored flowers are a common - and beautiful - sight along the Kula Highway this time of the year.



Kula Highway, near `Ulupalakua.
Here we are making a stop along a portion of the Kula highway, overlooking south Maui. The islands of Kaho`olawe and Molokini are seen on the left half of the picture. According to my topo map, this place is about 2000 feet above sea level.



This stone circle is near Nu`u Bay. We have driven past it several times on previous trips to Kaupo, but never noticed it before because it is somewhat secluded and we always drove past it late in the afternoon and when we were tired and in a hurry to go back home. Now that we drove there early in the morning, and paying more attention to the road, We were finally able to notice it.

We are not certain of the origin of this stone circle, but the absence of road markers and the fact that is not mentioned in any of our maps or guide books, makes us speculate it was not built by native Hawaiians, but more recently by locals.



View of Haleakala from the Black Sand Beach (Nu'u Bay) along the Kaupo Road.
We stopped at an unnamed black sand beach near Nu`u Bay. This is a view from the beach looking mauka towards the summit of Haleakala. Our trusty Geo Tracker looks like a tiny rover on an alien landscape.


A cave on at the black sand beach, Nu`u Bay, Maui.
A short hike from the Tracker took us to this cave on the back side of the beach.


The view from the shore shows the cave, the barely-visble Tracker and Haleakala. Picture taken at the unnamed black sand beach near Nu`u Bay, Maui.

Unnamed Black Sand Beach, Nu`u Bay, Maui.
At first I thought there was a jet airplane flying above, until we realized it was the roaring sound of the waves grinding the rocks against each other. Gwen suggested we name this unnamed beach "Thunder Rock Beach" ("Hekili Pohaku Kai"?)

Stone circles made by the locals at the black sand beach.
This is the Hawaiian equivalent of the crop circles. No alien mistery here, though.


View of the stone circles at the unnamed black sand beach, Nu`u Bay.



View of an old Church, near the town of Kaupo.



View of the south-east coast of Maui between Kaupo and the Oheo Gulch.

Waimoku Falls, Oheo Gulch, Maui. Sadly, the batteries of our camera died and this blurry picture is the only one I was able to take there.

The hike to Waimoku falls was a unique experience. We parked at the Haleakala National Park's Kipahulu Area and worked our way up the Oheo Gulch. The hike took us about 75 minutes, and it is uphill all the way, but the trail was only moderately steep and with lots of shady and/or relatively flat spots, making this hike surprisingly easy and pleasant. We hiked though a rich variety of landscapes, varying from cattle pastures with lots of guava and mango trees, tropical rain forest and a very thick bamboo forest that towered high above our heads into a cathedral ceiling of sorts, blocking most of the sunlight, making the trail refreshingly cool.

Several (official and unofficial) overlooks - as well as a couple of pedestrian bridges along the trail - offer great views of the canyons, pools and waterfalls of the Oheo gulch. For those of you who, like us, are brave (Or foolish) enough to disregard warning signs, a short detour on the trail takes you to the edge of a cliff that offers a truly magnificent view of the gulch, and of the ocean in the distance. This place is referred to in the "Maui Revealed" Book as "The Infinity Pool", which is a pool of water sitting at the edge of the top of a very tall waterfall. How high? Well, we dropped a rock to the bottom of the waterfall and using my chronometer, we measured 4.6 seconds for the rock to hit the water. Using the simple free-fall formula y = 0.5g x t^2, we estimated the cliff to be about 340 feet high! Of course, we did not have to measure the cliff to know that falling from up there would be a very bad thing, so needless to say we were very careful walking up there.

The "Maui Revealed" Book suggests people to swim in the Infinity Pool, but I would not suggest that at all. First, you really don't want to risk falling over the edge to a certain death, and second, for some reason, on that day the river bed was dry and the Infinity Pool was just a pond of stagnant water that did not look inviting at all. We explored some of the deep canyon mauka of the pool and were surprised to see that the river was not running through this section of the gulch, though we could hear water flowing upriver. We think that the bedrock at this location is so permeable, that all the water seeps under, only to resurface makai of the infinity pool. Obviously water does run though the canyon when the flow is large enough, as evidenced by the stagnant pools of water and mud. We left quickly and went back to the main trail, mainly because of my fears of deadly flash floods in the area.

The end of a trail is a big reward for the trip: Waimoku falls towers high above a U-shaped canyon. We do not know how tall the fall is, but I estimate it is at least as tall as the fall at the infinity pool, or about 300 feet. Again, we disregarded the warning signs about falling rocks (As did everyone else, if that is a consolation) and went to the bottom of the fall. A shallow pool at the feet of the fall offers cool water to refresh our bodies. A gentle mist from the waterfall kept the area cool and inviting.

After spending about an hour admiring the beauty and quiet of the falls, and after resting and having our lunch, consisting of turkey sandwiches, bananas and trail mix, we hiked our way down the gulch and back to the car.

For the rest of the day, we continued our way around East Maui, making a stop at Hamoa Beach, and then driving past Hana and back to town on the Hana road. Our last stop of the day was at Charley's of Paia, for beer and pizza, before we drove back home in Kihei and called it a day. Aloha!