When I heard that Alex “Cando” Candelario had retired from pro cycling to the Big Island to establish a bike-tour company geared towards serious amateurs, I decided to see for myself what his new life was like.

It’s pretty fantastic.

He’s negotiated access to many of the vast tracts of privately held land on the Big Island, which means that he can go places no other tour guides can go. There was no way I was going to keep up with him and his tour group on a bike—I contented myself with photographing the action—but I didn’t want to miss out on all the fun. And Cando? He likes his detours, his remote corners of island life.

Those include a makeshift diving platform perched over the Pacific (that’s me sailing through the air) and a secret underground swimming hole that can only be accessed via a concrete trapdoor. I saw a side of Hawaii I’d never seen before, laughed a lot, swam, talked late into the night, and decided that if this was retirement, Cando had it figured out.

Thanks to Tim Schamber of Peloton for running a great piece on my trip. Read more here:

http://pelotonmagazine.com/pages/from-inside-peloton-ride-in-hawaii/