Travis Counsell
Executive Director
Many will remember Travis as HBL’s Events Director and Membership Coordinator for several years. Originally from Vermont, Travis most recently served as the Executive Director for the New England Mountain Bike Association. Previously, Travis was the owner and manager of Bikeadelic Hawaii, a bicycle rental & tour business in Waikīkī. He also received an MBA from the Shidler School of Business at UH Mānoa. In college, he rode his bicycle from Baltimore to San Francisco as a cancer research fundraiser. His favorite bike is his mountain bike, but you’ll also find him commuting to work, riding to Makapu‘u lighthouse, or grabbing groceries on his various other bikes!
Travis brings business knowledge, non-profit experiences, and a strong passion for bicycles to HBL. He looks forward to building the community of people who ride bicycles and elevating HBL’s presence across a variety of focus areas.
Malia k Harunaga
Director of Adult Education
Malia has always loved riding bikes, and competed in keiki triathlons when she was little. She started teaching with HBL in 2013 after getting certified as a League Cycling Instructor by the League of American Bicyclists. Upon graduating from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, she joined the awesome crew that is HBL at the beginning of 2015. She is now a League of American Bicyclists Coach (one of 17 in the nation!) and could not be happier spreading the joy of cycling to everyone. She loves bicycling (fixed gear & road, competing & for leisure), trail running, photography, and pastries. Malia is looking forward to bicycles taking over the world (or at least Hawaiʻi) in the near future!
Vincent Levy
Community Engagement Coordinator
Christopher Salas
Events Director
Christopher first got into cycling when he moved from Southern California to attend the University of Hawai‘i in 2008. He bought a bike for commuting and soon found that the best way to explore the island was on two wheels. As his confidence on the bike grew, he wanted to challenge himself to greater and longer trials on the bike. Starting with the Honolulu Century Ride every year as his benchmark, he went on to complete multi-day bike tours across many states, climb up mountains from Tantalus to Haleakalā, and is always chasing segments and KOMs on Strava.
Chris has a bit of a competitive streak and was encouraged by friends to try his hand at running and later triathlons. Upon realizing his new love for running, he threw himself into the sport, completing several marathons and becoming board member of MPRRC and continues to be apart of their Race Organization Group. With many rides, runs, and triathlons under his belt, he achieved two personal goals in 2022: qualifying for both the Boston Marathon and Ironman World Championship in Kona.
Eduardo Hernandez
Advocacy Director
Eduardo’s passion for bicycling began as a child in New York City. His work as a community advocate began on the streets of San Francisco as an activist in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. He would go on to champion public policy in diverse arenas including civil rights, health care, arts education, and civic participation in Sacramento, Washington, D.C., and Honolulu. Through all these years his bicycle has been a steady companion. He has cycled from San Francisco to Los Angeles four times, helped to launch a cycling-skills building program for underserved youth in NYC, and led hundreds of riders across four islands in seven days as part of the Paradise Ride in Hawaii.
He looks forward to working closely with community stakeholders, government agencies, and other advocacy groups to identify opportunities to improve cycling infrastructure and policies, address barriers to cycling in Hawaii, as well as support broader efforts towards safer streets for all users.
Eduardo’s passion for bicycling began as a child in New York City. His work as a community public policy in diverse arenas including civil rights, address barriers to cycling in Hawaii, as well as support broader efforts towards safer streetsall users.
Taylor Clark
BikeED Manager / Instructor
He enjoys sharing the passion for riding bicycles and teaching the importance of bike safety with the keiki of O‘ahu. Taylor hopes that people of all ages, keiki to kūpuna can enjoy the thrill of cycling as he did.
Chet Blanton
BikeED Team Leader
Chet “the Jet” Blanton has taught bicycle education to 4th graders in BikeEd Hawai‘i since 1999. The founder of the triathlon team Team Jet Hawai‘i, Chet is also an accomplished triathlete: former reigning world record holder for completing the most Ironman’s in one year (27, 1998-2003), and has completed 45 Marathons, 80 Ultra Marathons, 100 Sprint Triathlons, and the Double Deca Ironman.
Shane McCarthy
BikeED Team Instructor
Shane likes commuting and working on his bike. He has also enjoyed tutoring and working in education. Shane is excited to combine these interests through BikeEd– sharing the great experience of biking with students and being a part of HBL!
Ed Prokopik
BikeED Team Instructor
With a background in teaching, and having done volunteer work for HBL, Ed jumped at the chance to share his love for cycling with keiki. A member of Tradewind Cycling Team, Ed is also an avid paddler, diver and skier.
Rhylee Wilson
BikeED Team Instructor
Rhylee grew up in a family that was always riding. From a young age she was mountain biking as well as riding on the road. In High school she joined her local NICA team and began her mountain bike racing career. When it came time for college she decided to stick to cycling competitively for a little bit longer and joined Piedmont University’s cycling team. During her time at Piedmont she was able to try the many different disciples that cycling has to offer such as track, gravel, cyclocross, road, and mountain biking. She is excited to share her passion for cycling and teach the importance of bike safety to keiki.
Sir Rufus ‘ohana Counsell
Director of Emotional Support
Sir Rufus ‘ohana CounsellWill work for treats. Provides cuddles & wet kisses, but requires pets!
Taking a cycling workshop with us? Awesome! You’re going to have a great time. All of our instructors have gone through a stringent 23-hour+ seminar to become nationally certified instructors by the League of American Bicyclists. To find more about the rigorous certification process, click here. To meet your wonderful instructors, read on!