shona

I posted this in the regional section and did not receive any replies so I thought I would try here:

My husband and I want to road cycle in Hawaii this summer. We don't want to go with a tour group so we will have to figure out where to make our base and routes on our own. Can any of you help? We would probably stay in one place and ride from there for about 5 days. We will bring our own bikes. We are not familiar with Hawaii so if you make suggestions please don't assume I know anything. I have planned a few great cycling vacations with the help of people from this forum. Thanks everyone. p.s. Is it possible to avoid riding in the rain and see green? We also like to snorkel.

rangerdavid

We're going on the 17th of this month. To the big Island. Lots of bike rental places there. They rent really good too, the kind I can’t afford to buy. Which are you going to?

shona

Rangerdavid, if you re-read my post you will know that we don't know where to go.

rangerdavid

I thought you already had an island picked out. my bad.

Homebrew01

I went to Oahu, where Honolulu is, and brought my helmet, pedals & shoes. When I saw the limited roads & traffic, I said forget it and went snorkeling instead. Other islands might be great, I don't know.

StanSeven

Funny you say that because I stayed in Honolulu and had great riding. I rented a bike (there are lots of places with great bikes including high end in a variety of sizes) and went around Diamond Head to start. It was tough. Then I joined up with some people and they stayed along the raod near the coast so I couldn't get lost when I turned around. I got about 40 miles in the first day.

After that I learned my way around and only got lost a couple times the rest of the week. I used my phone to figure out how to get where I needed to be.

The traffic wasn't bad at all. Even when I ended up on busy roads, drivers were very courteous. I ended up seeing a lot of the island and really enjoyed it. The mountains are tough though. I'm used to gradual hills but once I got away from the coast, some were brutal but worth the scenic landscape

scott967

You do kind of have to decide which island you are going to. Personally, if I was going mainly to road ride I would go to Maui or Hawaii Island. Not so sure about Kauai, but I think maybe more of an MTB (or at least something that can handle rougher roads). Same can be said for Molokai or Lanai. Oahu I am probably jaded about. There certainly is plenty of riding available.

We currently are in our wet season until around end of March. Otherwise weather tends to be dominated by the NE tradewinds, which results in the east side of the islands (windward) being wetter (and greener) than the west side (leeward). Most resort areas tend to be on the leeward side (Kihei / Lahaina on Maui or Kailua-Kona on Hawaii). Poipu on Kauai and Waikiki on Oahu are mainly dry.

I think for the most part you would want to use a hotel as a base to ride from. Not sure if you are touring, but I can't think of a good way to tour. Maybe from Poipu to Princeville on Kauai, or Kona to Hilo via Waimea (Kamuela) on Hawaii. Kona, because of the Ironman, has a bit of a cycling culture.

I've never ridden on the neighbor islands, so it's just what my impression is. In fact inter-island flying has gotten a bit expensive and it's been a few years since I've visited.

scott s.
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johnny99

This looks like a real cool place to ride: https://vimeo.com/8962637

cthenn

You probably should do a little more research first before posting here. Just saying "I want to ride in Hawaii" without even knowing what island you are visiting is getting a little ahead of yourself IMO. Are you basing your island choice solely on where to ride? If so, I'd personally choose Maui. There's a lot of places to ride there and there are a lot of riders there. Maui also has some great snorkeling beaches (though I've been reading about a lot of shark attacks on Maui in the past several months...)

f4rrest

That's too bad. When we stayed in Waikiki, I rented the same model road bike I own for a week.
the Tantalus climb (a convenient 15 mi climb/descent loop with almost no cars)
https://app.strava.com/activities/89430543

and around the end of the island to Waimanalo Bay (more traffic, but most of it had dedicated bike lane)
https://app.strava.com/activities/89430630

Pics
Here's one of the more traffic heavy spots without bike lane as you get into Waimanalo Bay.

ChanceG

I have been to Maui, and I think that would be a cool place to ride! Especially or specifically the road to Hana. There is even a nice BnB in the middle of the ride. Hana is like a 40mile distance of nice turns and senery.

Nachoman

I like riding the north shore of Oahu.

caloso

Maui is great for the road: West Maui loop, road to Hana, and the granddaddy of them all, Haleakala.

jrobe

I have spent a lot of time in Maui and have ridden Haleakala (great ride with very little traffic) but I would cringe if I had to fight the traffic on some of these other rides like the Hana Highway and some of the stretches on the West Maui loop. The first picture above would be pretty common on a lot of Hawaii roads except with more traffic.

Personally, I would go to Hawaii to enjoy the beaches and just rent a bike for a day or two to ride Haleakala or one of the classic Hawaii rides. I travel a lot with my bike but Hawaii isn't too high on list of cycling destinations.

johntrev

Some day I'd like to circle around the Big Island. I've ridden a fair bit there, but not on the eastern or southern sides. Kauai is lovely (I've done most of my riding there around Poipu), but there typically isn't a lot of shoulder around many of the roads surrounding Poipu; some riders may be more uncomfortable with that than others. The 60 mile loop around the West Maui mountains is one of my all time favorite rides. Yes, the road width on the west side trickles down to maybe 10 feet here and there, but cars are quite infrequent - you might see 5 or 6 cars in the most remote 20 miles. I've yet to tackle Haleakala... I've run but not biked the Tantalus loop on Oahu; it's pretty awesome - passing underneath the fragrant fruit tree canopies covering much of the road, I was struck there that the beauty I was enjoying was something the teeming masses in Waikiki would never experience (and that they would not likely truly appreciate the way in which I was experiencing it, on foot).

Latif

I rode Hana Hiway a lot this past fall. The trick is to go early and go against the flow of the rental cars if possible. You can see and hear well with all the twists and turns and often keep up with the slow rental traffic. Most delicious riding I've ever done and will be back in May for more.Would like to do the big loop as well as the west Maui loop.

jsutkeepspining

I'm heading to the Big Island in a month with my Girlfriend and her family. Anybody have some premade ridewithgps/mapmyride rides to share. I will most likely need some big long loops.

RacerOne

You really do have to choose an island, I've been to the Big Island, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai.
You can have Oahu, big city with a beach, yuck. Kauai is the least populated, least trafficked, but less roads to choose as a result.

The Big Island is just that, big. It has the Kona Ironman routes and lots of roads with places to go / mountains to climb, shores to explore. But a lot of it is also very exposed to the wind.

I have only ridden on one Island, Maui, and then only the climb/descent of Haleakala. However, I've met a lot of people who have ridden there alot. Here are the rides I can think of:

-Climb / Descend Haleakala Volcano from the small town of Paia, 0ft above sea level to 10,021ft above sea level in about 35 miles to the top, 70 miles for the day. My ride report from the first time I did this:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...imbs-Haleakala

-West Maui Loop, start anywhere on the loop and circle the West Maui Mountains with something like 6000' of climbing total. Goes through the towns of Kahalui and Lahaina. Great views the whole way, a little highly trafficked on the south side but pretty lonely on the north. Watch out for the bridge troll selling fresh pineapple (though it was worth the $5). About 60-65 miles I think.

-Road to Hana, you could start in Paia for this as well, ride the winding cliffside road to Hana and back. Simply gorgeous. Traffic can get a bit heavy but I saw plenty of people on bike who seemed to be having more fun than I was in my car.

-I ran into a couple (man and wife who were spending a few days circumnavigating the island and camping from their bikes I think they started in Lahaina, rode to 1/3 up Haleakala, stayed at a B&B, finished Haleakala and went back to the B&B, then rode to Hana around the south side of Haleakala (quite a bit of gravel on that route), stayed in Hana, rode back to Paia or Kahalui, stayed there, then back to Lahaina. If you look at a map of the island, that will make sense.

Hope this helps. I'd be glad to go as your guide if you pay to get me there and back.

shona

Thank you RacerOne for the very helpful reply.

StanSeven

I rode this and it looks much worse in this picture than it is. Cars stay well to the center when going around and pass safely and slowly. Plus it's just a few miles like this.

patrickgm60

Another vote for Maui. We spent 10 days there, 2 summers ago. I rode every other day (nice rental road bike) and, in terms of scenery and challenges, couldn't have asked for more. We stayed in Kihei (south Maui), which is not near as busy as the west end (Lahaina, etc.), but still a good starting point. With the exception of the Paia-Haleakala up/back, I always rode from the condo. West Maui Loop (CW and CCW), the lava fields along the southeast, Haleakala, and the start of the Hana Highway were each excellent routes. The only issue were the winds, which, in the summer, can be brutal, particularly in the afternoon.

Bob Ross

The missus & I went to the Big Island (Hawaii) last Spring and stayed near Kona, brought our bikes and did a lot of road cycling all around the north-west quadrant of the island. Hooked up with a local shop ride one day, grabbed a cue sheet for the Kona Ironman route to try another day, put in several hundred miles over the course of a 5 day vacation. Would do it again; highly recommended

...though a bit windy.

Tunnelrat81

My wife and I have rented bikes in Kona (Dry, sunny side of the Big Island) and it really is a very pleasant place to ride. There are lots of fun roads to explore right out of the town. You can easily ride south of Kona through Captain Cook on the Mamalahoa Hwy, Then drop down Napoopoo Rd. toward Kealakekua bay and follow it past Honaunau (City of Refuge, and excellent snorkeling spot btw) and then climb back up to the Hwy for the return ride. Then stay right to hit one of my favorite stretches of road, Hwy 180 paralleling Mamalahoa Hwy through the heritage corridor. It drops you North of town by a few miles, but is a great way to finish the loop before heading back to kona.

You can also head North and park in the Waikoloa resort area and ride north from there toward Hawi. Continue up toward the Pololu Lookout. Very pretty and quiet roads. After turning around and heading back down, turn left onto Hwy 250 to take Kohala Mountain Road...one of my all time favorite roads. Stay on this road heading south up and over the beautiful grassy hills and it will eventually take you to Waimea, where you can make another right turn onto Hwy 19 that will take you back toward Waikoloa where your car is parked. My wife and I did this loop and it has established itself as one of my more memorable days of riding. Realize though that if the winds are up, this could be a challenge from nearly start to finish. Even without the wind, you need to enjoy climbing to really get the most out of it. There was plenty of climbing.

I haven't ridden at all or even spent much time on the other islands.

Oh, and Kona Bike Works has a great rental program and Grant is a great guy, he even changed out a stem and saddle for me to get the fit a bit closer to what I was used to.

-Jeremy

beatlebee 

Cycle the perimeter of the Big Island. It is amazing.

Mayday328

Agreed. Even better if you get a chance to ride with Laird.