Herbie53

And I paid dearly for every one of them!

Climbed Mt. Hakeakala yesterday. Long story short - set a goal time of 4:30 for the climb and was on that pace until cramping severly at about 7500ft (just after the welcome center rest / water stop). Ended up taking 5:15 riding, 6 hours total.

Perhaps an over used word, but I'll go with it... Epic.

The ride
Haleakala profile

Met some friends at about 2500ft. Was still feelin' good and going well. Interview on video (may post later)


About 5000ft. noticed that the clouds were below me now.


Planned break / water refill at the welcome center (~7000ft)


No pictures of me bent over wretching in pain at about 7500..... just visualize it. Next time... salt tablets.

9000 feet. Mentally I recovered & new I was going to make it. Lunar landscape from here on.



Sweetness. I wanted to hold the bike above my head, but it blocked the sign and there was a good chance I might tip over.


The start of the decent. I have some video from the Flip brainsucker mount, but it's a bit sketchy as the zip tie / velcro mount I constructed was not all that up to the 35mph + speed going down. It was cold and took ~1:30 minutes to get from the top back to my car in Paia. Had company for most of the decent.... a fellow tall clyde (~6'5" on a Madone 5.x) named Dave. We parted ways at my turn for Paia.


Feeling victorious, but a bit like frozen death back at the car...


Edit/Add - Recovery ride... the next day



Truly a put it on your bucket list thing to do. Glad I did it.

bretgross

Thanks for the photos -- it brought back memories of our hike there 15+ years ago.

Mr. Beanz

How about a little translation here? 56 km's about 35 miles? Elevation gain in English? I don't know that meter stuff!

Herbie53

The ride starts at sea level in Paia and goes to 10,023 ft. All up for 38 miles. I have some ok video, but don't have the right music... gotta get it right.

Mr. Beanz

That's a good climb!...That sounds about right. Our home training ground (GMR) is 5000 ft in 20 miles, takes 2:05 to do it (me). Figure a second time would be close to 3 hours. I figure 5 hours is a good time.

As far a your video, I have a list lined up for my fuutre vids. I'll send you a list so that you don't use them. I got dibs!

gypz

it is on my list of things to do while in hawaii. https://www.cycletothesun.com either this year or next.

Herbie53

yeh. I was on a nice 4 - 4:15 pace until I knotted up. Even if I didn't knot up though, the last part is tough just from the altitude. Once I got my head back in the game I was feeling ok, but my pace was down and my HR was up. I ran into Dave the tall clyde / bike shop owner from BC (I recall) at the bike shop today. He is telling me clydes are especially suseptable to cramping 'cuz of all the salt we let lose... my clothes and helmet were pretty much caked. He recommended some sort of salt tablet that has 350mg of sodium. Anyone heard of that?

Music.... I think some metal for the few climbing bits, something classical for the horse interview and discussions, and something newer for the decending...

Mr. Beanz

I've ridden a few 10,000 ft gain centuires up to 8400 ft (high point) a few times but never felt any of the effects of the altitude. Not sure if 10,000 would be that much different but guess I'll never know

I've heard of zcaps and like products. Never used anything other than gatorade, never had a need. Only cramp I've gotten while climbing was caused by and exposed cold wet leg/calf.

Kid-Cycle

Curious about your bike... I noticed it was a Trek and was wondering if you rented a bike or take your own? If you rented a bike, did you happen to rent it from South Maui Bicycles in Kihei? A good friend of mine is the owner of this shop that also rents highend Trek bikes to many cyclist who want to climb Haleakala. Congrats on climbing the big mountain! I've been up there but it was by car... someday I hope to do it on a bike.

Herbie53

It is a rental 4.7 Madone from South Maui Bikes. I splurged for the extra $50/week ($250/wk) or so for carbon (I think the next level they have is aluminum with carbon stays / fork). Having at least a carbon fork is a good idea for the mountain as sections of the decent are a bit rough.

They told me they no longer rent the higher level Madone (5.x) because of fit and renter abuse issues with the seat mast thingy.

Kid-Cycle

I hope South Maui Bikes treated you well! Is this sort of a small world connection or am I reaching a bit?

Herbie53

I think things like cycling and performance sailing (my other thing) are relatively small communities and the six degrees from Kevin Bacon thing if not 3 or 4 usually applies.

Shop's been good.

Herbie53

I'm no Beanz... but, I made some videos. Just tilt your head and pretend my helmet mount was straight.

Climb video.. my original soundtrack choice was denied by the Youtube cops...

Descent

Chatting with horses..

Thoughts at 7000 feet.

Mr. Beanz

Cool vids! I don't think the dude on the right liked you man! Just kinda stared at you like he was ready to fight. Good choice in climbing music.

Were the descenders wearing raincoats?
"
SO Youtube actually denied a song? I get a message with every song I use saying stuff about copyrights,. But they say "no action required", only that since I used it, they are allowed to use advertisemetns on the video. Pop ups offering the song from itunes. Some say song isn't allowed in Germany and other countries, doesn't hurt my feelings.

But they actually said you couldn't use a song?

Herbie53

Yup. They disabled the music... odd, as it came from the same goofy mix CD the other one did. I clicked on the would you like to use some music from Youtube and selected one that sounded good.. only bummer is it over wrote the sound of me occasionally gasping for air.

The raincoats are for the cold and wet.. it's about 25-30 degrees cooler at the summit than in town and you can get a little wet in the clouds.