Day 5: “Rest Day”
Rest day (like last year) consisted of an optional swim with the dolphins and a hike down and up Waipi’0 Valley - a 1.25km hike (not including the walk to and from the black sand beach at the bottom) with over 25% grades.
Rest day does come at just the right moment. At the moment we all need to be OFF the bikes and have no pressure to complete any set workouts. Many laughs were had and once again, the bonds grew stronger 
Early this morning, only four of us decided to wake up early and set off in the dark on a mission to swim with the dolphins at Captain Cook Bay. However, upon our arrival, we quickly realized that getting in and out of the ocean would prove to be a very dangerous task that none of us thought was smart and none of us was willing to attempt. We could see some dolphins jumping in the bay but we decided to drive to “Two Step Beach” instead, to see if the dolphins were also there and to see if we could enter the ocean more easily with the high surf. Nope. The view was spectacular and we had fun watching a local guy confidently swim in from his morning workout as well as watching two non locals head out into the ocean not so gracefully.
Whenever I am here, I never seem to have the time to go to my favourite coffee shop called the Coffee Shack so we stopped there on our way back. The view over the valley to the ocean is beautiful. So was the cinnamon bun and latte.
Next stop was Lava Java, then Bike Works and on to our hike. The hike down took 11:30 and I hauled butt on the way up (walking steady - running up would be a form of torture) and made it in 15:50, dropping David once again Sweat was pouring off us as we all summited the top. While on the black sand beach we ate our packed lunches and watched Etienne play in the CRASHING waves. He sure did look so small in that huge and powerful ocean.
A big dinner of pesto pasta with chicken and salad and fresh bread was inhaled – I need it for a huge ride tomorrow. 213K is the plan, up the Kohala’s so much carbo loading is essential.
Bring on Day 6!