Paradise Ride Kauai Returns

     Malama Pono Health Services presents its annual Paradise Ride Kauai on August 3 and 4^th. The Paradise Ride features a fifty mile ride on the east side of Kauai on Saturday the 3^rd and another fifty mile ride to the south side on Sunday the 4^th. Ride director Alison Neustein bills the event as Kauai’s only fully supported bicycle ride stating, “It’s a ride through some of Kauai’s most beautiful areas, not a race. Riders need only bring their bicycles and helmet and we then supply three meals a day, snacks and beverages, gear and mechanical assistance, safety escorts, post ride massages and showers, and opening and closing celebrations and entertainment.

  “For less experienced cyclists Malama Pono offers “design your own ride” options for both days thereby allowing short distance riders to enjoy the festivities . “Not everyone is up for the fifty miles in a day that many returning Paradise Riders seek so five or ten miles rides may be the perfect introduction for others,” says Neustein. “ A 100 mile ‘century ride’ is offered on Sunday the 4^th to Kauai’s long distance cyclists who seek to be challenged. They will ride the entire south side route and then continue on up to Moloa’a.  Rest stops for day riders and century riders will include Kauai Coffee Company, Moloa’ Fruit Stand, Smith’s Tropical Paradise, Scapegoatz Farm plus community centers.”

This annual event is Malama Pono’s biggest fundraiser and was first launched in 1998. Approximately one hundred riders from Kauai, neighboring islands, the mainland and Asia will participate and each one commits to raising a minimum of $250 for Malama Pono’s mission to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases on Kauai. The goal is $75,000 to continue the highly effective prevention programs for Kauai’s youth and to augment Malama Pono’s project to address the main cause of liver cancer on Kauai; hepatitis B. The three year project plans to eliminate hepatitis B as a transmissible disease from the island.

     With one hundred bicyclists on the road volunteers to help on the bicycle route and at the headquarters are needed and there is plenty of room for new riders. To register to ride or to volunteer or to be a sponsor please call Malama Pono at 808-246-9577.