The Maui Mountain Bike Trail That Kicked My

Wailuku MTN Bike Trail

About a year ago a friend of mine had given me one of those “Mountain Bikes” from Walmart. If you can even call that a mountain bike. The official name of the bike was a mongoose, and I had ridden it around Wailuku quite a bit for a couple of months. To and from work, over to the gym, and sometimes to do some shopping. At any rate, I am the type of person who has always loved adrenaline. With that being said I feel the need to explain this story which transpires into the birth of my interest in Mountain Biking here on Maui.

One night after work I decided to ride my bike up the road in Wailuku, which is a super steep road. There is an area just before it with a typical mtn bike trail that is weaved through an old cane field, or a pineapple field. At some point there must have been a group of people who dug out these decent sized dirt jumps, and also cleared these mountain bike trails. Prior to this night I had never hit a jump on my “mongoose special”,  but I remember my buddy Eli telling me that speed is your friend while hitting a jump.

Listening to Eli, I decided to pick the steepest part of the trail to start my descent. In order to do this I had to first bike up the mountain for about 10 minutes. While doing so I had notice that the dirt was very fine, and in the bronze of sunset kicked up a fair amount of orangish-red smog. Glancing down the field infant of me overlooking Kahalui Harbor and everything in-between I felt like a daredevil. Stuffing my headphones in my ears with Rage Against The Machine screaming at me, I pushed off and pedaled hard and fast toward my first jump.

Just before the apex I had a realization. That realization, was that I had no business trying to launch this jump, cut out of the earth. Which had proven much too true on my landing. The take off was beautiful, I felt like freakin’ ET soaring through the sky on his bike. However the landing, was a different story.

When I landed on that red-dirt, the hub of my rear tire snapped right in half. I heard a very loud *CRACK*, and the rear tire folded in half like a taco, instantly sending me rolling through the dirt trail and into the bushes. I will never forget that experience. The taste of the dirt and blood mixed in your mouth. The rush of excitement flowing through me. I knew I needed to do that again, but my bike was toast.

Fortunately for me, Moose just started his shop Krank Cycles. Being the guy that he is, he lent me his dirt jumping bike made by Giant. Which I instantly fell in love with. I road that thing everywhere for a year. Even through Wailuku town, jumping every set of stairs, and every little ledge I could find. I had no idea that failing on my first jump like that a new passion would birth. For that I am truly grateful for my new Giant bike, and also the Mountain Bike Trail in Wailuku that kicked my ass.