Thursday April 10 - West Maui

We were a bit concerned about the weather but we took a chance and did it pay off. This was a great ride, maybe my favorite on the island. The north side of West Maui is wrapped with a road that winds in and out of each bay. It goes up and down over ever mountain. And it narrows down to a single lane for about 8 miles. This ride is remote.
 
The ride around Kanaha Harbor is a bit industrial and the traffic is bad. Go Cycling Maui starts on the west side of the harbor to avoid this. As we rode north the scenery change quickly and it wasn't long before we were climbing. The fist part of this ride climbs fairly steeply to the high point of the tour which is just over 1,000 feet. This is a bit misleading since the rest of the ride climbs and descends steeply without much in between. In the roughly 60 miles that we did, the total elevation gain was just under 5,000 feet.
 
Just before the high point, this road narrows to a single lane. It remains a rugged single lane thread winding through the mountains for 8 miles. Just past Kahakuloa the road grows another lane and a bit of a shoulder. The surface is excellent as well. We rode out to Keonehelelee or what we think is called Punaha Beach which makes this ride a just little less that 60 miles. We saw whales, a blow hole, Olivine Pools, dead pigs, a little town that is truly paradise and many spectacular views.
 
There are a limited number of places to get water and food but there are enough. Curly's Fruit Stand, Julia's Best Banana in the World, the smoothie bus, etc. Take lots of cash. Water can cost $2/bottle. The best deal is the banana bread. It really is quite good and at $5/loaf it's a power food bargain. Here's a view of the area that we're biking to today (distant shore across the harbor). I've always wanted to check out this remote part of the island. These mountains way off in the distance have always looked so surreal to me. Here's a view of the mountains from just above. This area was settled by ranchers in 1932 so it has a different feel from the next section of road that is more wooded and tropical feeling. Where are we? We stopped in at the ranch house which is now a gallery for over 100 local artists. The view from up here is spectacular. On one side is the lush valley of Kahakuloa. On the other side is the grasslands that produce the fattest cattle I've ever seen. Here's Laura in Kahakuloa tasting the worlds greatest banana bread. Julia's bread stand has (expensive) ice cold water, banana bread (of course), candied coconut and candied papaya. Climbing out of Kahakuloa. Kahakuloa Coastline along the north shore. My camera couldn't capture the whales surfacing so um.... Here's Laura pointing at them. ;-) Nice climb. This is how we felt at the top.... Seriously, I'm not sure what the pigs are here for. I just hope I'm not cursed or something for taking the photo. Here's our turn-around point. We relaxed on the beach before heading back. This is my new summer aero look. This is the best bovine view in the world. We passed this sculptor's gallery and home. I like this piece. As for his view, I think he may have outdone the cows.

Other Stuff...

On this trip, I may be alone in thinking this but there's more to Maui than just biking.
 
Is it safe to buy tuna off the back of a pickup? Stand-Up surfing seems to be taking off. I'm still uncomfortable with the thought of a head high wave jacking up behind me though. Here I've manage to get just enough wind under the board to launch myself over the boom. It would be cool to be good enough to think that it might be fun to hire a helicopter to follow me around while I sail... Sometimes we just watched the canoes go by.

Wednesday April 9 - Rain & Rest Day

Today it rained. We heard that Maui Cycles squeezed in a nice ride on the Hana Highway but we got rained out in under an hour by heading west. It looks like there's a very large storm over the islands and it appears as if we'll have wet weather for a few more days. Unfortunately the biking is dangerous because of the very slick roads; the trade winds have shut off because of the storm; the snorkeling is hampered because of the visibility and low light and the swell that we had earlier in the week is completely gone. Maybe we'll do some hiking? We tried the bike path that goes along the edge of the airport. We saw the Kanaha Harbor and the industrial side of town. It rained but not all that hard. The jacket is just to keep the white kit from being destroyed. ;-)

Tuesday April 8 - HALEAKALA!!!

If you want to see the best website devoted to this climb check here. ...and I thought I was a geek. Seriously, he did a great job. There's also the annual Race to the Sun. The weather changed today. According to the weatherman, the winds have shifted more SE, bringing additional moisture to the islands. We were a bit concerned about the rain in the forecast but as we head out it seems to be just hazy and humid. I've heard that this ride has the most vertical rise of any paved road and I've also heard that it has the second most rise. I don't know which is true. I don't know if either is true but I do know that that the total elevation gain is 10,023 feet (I have pictures to prove it). To get some perspective Laura and I thought in terms of canyons. "This ride is like Little Cottonwood, Big Cottonwood and Emigration all in one climb", we said. So as the day rolled on we would calculate how much of each canyon, in terms of elevation and distance, was consumed. When things would get tough, Laura would ask, "OK, where are we?" And I would say, "We just passed Storm Mountain." To which she would say, "That's it?" We got a bit of a late start. We were told that we should not be on the road between 7AM and 8AM because all the buses and parents taking their kids to school make the roads treacherous. Maui has undergone a bit of a baby boom apparently as all the GenX fun hogs have decided it's now or never. Anyway, I also left a washer out of the mix when I swapped my 11-23 for a 12-27. So after some rattling and a quick trip back to the house we got a 9AM start.

Here's a shot looking back (North) toward Paia and the ocean. Looking South up the road is a church just outside of Paia.

The climb up to Makawao is steady, winding and narrow.

We got some nice views of the cane and pineapple fields.

We went straight at the light in Makawao towards Olinda and cut over to HW 377. In this section we ran into Mike and Paul from.... wait for it..... Salt Lake City Utah. Here Laura is pulling away but these guys later dropped us (only to be caught again as Paul had some refueling issues). Actually it was great running into someone who had done this ride before. Plus it made us feel a bit more comfortable with our decision to ride in questionable weather. Paul's comment was especially comforting, "It always rains on this ride."

We stopped at Sunrise Market for a snack and some water. It started to rain as we got back on the bikes. Laura put on her jacket but soon took it off. We paused on a hairpin turn where a man was selling fruit from a stand. This fruit peddler and submarine driver (for a Lahina tour company) stuffed a guava in my pocket and gave us a couple loquats to try. His generosity and good humor powered us for the next few miles. Shortly after that, we entered the clouds.

Note the horses in the distance.

As the road snaked its way up the volcano we drifted in and out of the clouds. Note the road at the bottom of this shot.

We saw wave after wave of "bikers" riding down with guided tours. These outfits provide BMX style bikes with drum brakes, raincoats, a ride up and a guide. Most people pay for a ride up but I would have paid for a ride down...

5K = Half Way!

Finally, the park entrance - and a $10 fee. A pheasant jumped off the road right here but I just barely missed the shot. Laura almost hit two of them on the descent.

Bad sign...

Once we're in the park the views become more desert alpine.

Sun!

9K!

Up here the landscape seems lunar.

Just to make sure you can still feel your legs, the road kicks up to 14% for the final half mile. In addition, as we rounded the last switchback, we got the full effect of trade winds at 10,000 feet.

Nice view but it's getting a bit chilly.

It isn't the Hidden Peak but it is over 10,000 feet (just barely).

Very nice view. Note the blurred car and that Paul is in the photo twice. I love stitched photos.

Behind the observatory is the lunar rover.

After stretching and hanging with Mike, Paul and their wives for a bit it's time to head back down. The top third was teeth-chattering cold but as we dropped to around 5,000 feet life entered our hands and the descent became quite enjoyable. The grade isn't all that steep and the road is relatively wide so the descent was fine. Something about the moss and mud all over the roads here had us a bit freaked out about descending 10K feet. Luckily the road to Haleakala is not at all like the road to Hana.

So when everyone was at 11,000 feet last Friday getting their picture taken and performing snowy feats on TT bikes, Laura and I were sitting on a plane at 32,000 feet. Feeling just a bit left out I went ahead and added ourselves to the Hidden Peak photo. Can I get a T-shirt now?