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 Waikiki. He also received an MBA from the Shidler School of Business at UH Manoa. 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 Makapuu 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!
Christopher Salas
Events Director
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. Finally, 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.
Lauren Lee
Events & Marketing coordinator
Lauren grew up playing competitive golf, but one of her favorite childhood memories was learning how to ride a bike without training wheels. Once those suckers were off, riding bikes became her favorite thing to do as a child. She would ride wherever and whenever she could. She even tried to go through the drive-thru at Taco Bell (unfortunately they still made her go inside). Until this day, her passion for biking still stands as she fights for fast-food drive thru rights for cyclists (jk, she wishes).
Janel Sterbentz
Advocacy Team leader
Janel uses the bike as her main mode of transportation. She sees the potential and power of bicycles to positively transform people and communities. She has a master’s in Urban Studies and six years of professional transportation planning experience. She founded and was the director of Bike San Antonio in Texas. Photography and videography are also other passions of hers and she founded the video production company GreenEdge Studios. See you in the streets!
Andrew Ouchi
BikeED Manager/Instructor
Andrew enjoys riding bikes, but finds hills to be a problem. He found a great solution to this when he heard about electric bikes and proudly owns a couple DIY bikes. Andrew has been working with kids for over 10 years and now gets to teach them how to be safer and smarter commuters.
Chet Blanton
BikeED Team Leader
Chet “the Jet” Blanton has taught bicycle education to 4th graders in BikeEd Hawaii since 1999. The founder of the triathlon team Team Jet Hawaii, Chet’s 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.
BikeEd Part Time Instructors Taylor Clark, Maxine Forbes, Lynn Kubo, and Jess Molinare coming soon!