Hi All,

I'm going to Maui in November and will be climbing up Haleakala after the wife drops me off in Paia. The resources on the net for climbing are extensive, but advice on riding down the mtn and riding back to Wailea after the climb are not so much.

Could anyone offer advice on the best way to get back to Wailea?

Tony

Dropping from Haleakala to the coast is on my list but I haven't done it yet.

There's only so many paved roads on maui.

ride the main roads back to the Pilani Highway. from Kula you can take either Omaopio Road or Holopuni Road--- turns into Omaopio/Pulehu Raod to the 350, the mokulele highway in the central region, and back to the beaches.

or you could try and find a more direct route.

I've got the best agricultural map of the island right here, and the only direct drops back to Wailea from the Kula Highway look like 4WD jeep tracks, doable with a cross or mountain bike. there's a few of these marginal roads worth exploring on a cross or mountain bike between the coast and the kula highway.

If you're staying in Wailea, do an exploratory with your car and check out: Kamaole (aqueduct) Road and the road inland from David Malo's Church and behind Silversword Golf Course. you might be able to ride the 370 to waiakao road, or down directly from rice county park on the Kula Highway, but i suspect that is going to be dirt roads.

What day are you doing this? I'll be arriving the 5th of Nov. and riding to the peak the 6th. I may be able to do it on the 5th but can't do it any later than the 6th as I'll be diving throughout the week.

but riding up the mtn on Wed the 17th (weather permitting), probably starting at Paia around 630-7am.

If anyone is interested in joining let me know!

re: the earlier post, yes I was starting to think about non-paved ways to get to Wailea easily. I saw one possibility on a map- taking Ulupalakua Rd/Kula Hwy south to Old makena rd. Taking Old Makena until it dead ends and hiking the 2000+ feet to get back onto makena rd. However, I don't know if those parts of old makena are paved, whether that 2000 foot section between the dead ends of both roads are on private property, or how to navigate around the golf course that surrounds (new) makena rd.

I'll be on Maui with my bike from the 12th to the 17th of November. (Click here for my post about the trip.) Unfortunately I'm flying out on the 17th, so I can't join you that day. I expect my buddy and I (and whoever else) will be going the Haleakala climb on Sunday 14th depending on weather.

The official "expert" on bike routes would probably Donnie @ Go Cycling Maui. From what I can gather looking at satellite imagery, there are dirt roads and/or paths from Old Makena Rd down through/around/near the golf course area to Makena Road but I don't know exactly which way to go or if I'd wanna attempt it on a road bike. If I recall correctly, I saw a route on Map My Ride that goes through there but I'm having trouble finding it at the moment.

Bradley

OK, I think this is the crazy route I remember seeing that went sorta "off road" in that area:

https://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...24771657166897

By the sounds of it there will be several riding up Haleakala in Nov, it would be good to hear how they went while we're shivering in Seattle.

Regarding riding back to Wailea: If you ride down stay on the Haleakala highway, its down hill almost all the way to the airport, take the highway back into Kahului (cyclists generallly avoid Hansen rd due to roughness of road and trucks driving fast and no shoulder). Then go south after riding through town on sr 350 (most of it is a trail on the east side, and then take the Piialani hwy to Wailea (better than going through Kihei rd), would be a long day and most would be downhill or tailwind (trade winds, not sure how they are in Nov)

Regarding the short cut to Makena, everyone says there is no short cut, if there was it would be crossing private ranch land.

we have not been to Maui in about 5 years... But, when we were last there, the main roads were wide. Most often with decent shoulders and cyclists were quite common.

Thanks guys. Sounds like going back via the airport (total mileage >100mi) might be pushing it for me, tailwind or not. I got the wife to agree to meet me for lunch in Paia. That'll make it easier anyway if I end up returning my rented bike to Donnie's shop. Best of luck and weather to everyone going up in a few weeks.

Yeah, you've got the right idea there. My friend/coworker/cycling buddy was thinking to ride from Kihei all the way to the top of Haleakala and back, but I'm not so keen on the idea. 10,000 feet of climbing is challening enough without adding extra miles and getting hammered by the trade winds on the way there. I want to attack the big hill with a fresh pair of legs!

Speaking of which, I'd invite you to come along on a group ride on Tuesday the 16th but I realize you may not have the time and want to save your legs for the big climb on Wednesday. If your plans change or you'd just like to compare notes and/or B.S. with some fellow cyclists, my # is (two five three) 951-4712.

Here you go...

I summited today. Due to a varieity of circumstances didn't actually leave the Paia beach until about 11:30. A bit breezy at times and a drizzle from about 5K feet to 6K feet but otherwise fine. However, I didn't care about riding down and my wife picked me up at the top. If you're riding back down and aren't a bit faster than I am climbing it, you'll want to start earlier.

A couple things that have been covered in various posts but I'll re-iterate. Heading up Baldwin to (R) on Makawao, to (L) on Haleakala Highway (there is no street sign but it is the first major intersection with traffic lights and 2 lanes of traffic each direction) to (L) on Crater.

Last stop for water and such...Kula market. I had 2 water bottles that I filled with gatorade and a camelback that I filled with Smart water. 1 large bottle of smart water and a sport bottle of gatorade were sufficient for me at the store. Although I did have a pretty severe cramp at 9K feet. Immediately hoped of the bike, stretched it out and no more issues. For the first 5k feet I sweated pretty profusely but don't think hydration was the issue.

@7K visitors center there has got to be water, there are a few houses/offices there but I didn't stop.

5 bucks for park entry

I did this ride with a standard crank and 12/27 cassette.

For the most part the grade stays between 6% and 9%, every once in a while it goes up to 11 and drops to 4 or 5%, anything below 4% is a very rare treat.

My time reflects that of a non-climber as I weigh 190#'s and am a Cat 3 crit racer, but a Cat 5- hilly road racer.

The bike I used was actually a brand new Fuji full carbon with full 105 I rented from Boss Frogs for $200 for the week. The bike is fine, a bit softer than I'm used to as it pogos some, tires or frame, not sure but I'm used to very stiff race frames. Boss Frogs doesn't know **** about bikes, I got it, flipped the stem, adjusted the bars, pt my own saddle and pedals on and I was ready to go. They included a seat bag with 2 CO2s, a spare tube, a patch kit, and 2 tire levers. I brought my own allen wrenches and extra tubes.

On a side note, the West Maui Loop is a great ride, will probably do it again on Friday.

Also, in Paia, I recommend the Fish Market at the corner of Baldwin and Hana Highway, it was a great post ride meal and pretty reasonable...$13.95 for Mahi Mahi fish and chips with 4 pretty large portions of battered fish.

That's about all I can think of. Good luck with your rides!

My data (unfortunately no power data)

Awesome! Thanks for sharing this.

Very cool! I weigh about 185 right now and I'd be real happy if I can reach the summit in under 5 hours. I'm off to Maui on Friday with my bike. Probably attack the big hill on Sunday! Hope to get started early and be back down to Paia in the early afternoon for some of those mahi mahi fish & chips.

Speaking of mahi mahi, we reeled a couple in this past September on a charter boat out of Kailua-Kona. That sucker was on my plate 2 hours later. Talk about fresh! It's an ugly fish but damn tasty. This pic is of my brother-in-law holding the catch:

Nice...I've caught a few Mahi out of Cabo. Have a great trip..

Here's a few pics from yesterdays ride and a couple from this mornings dives.

Nice ride!
I did the ride last June and had great weather. IIRC I did it in about the same time with a standard crank & 12-25. At 8,000' I was really wishing for more gears (a 27 would have been nice). That last little bit to the actual summit pitches up to at least 15% (I think) and just about killed me.
I had to laugh at one point (just past Makawao) where the road actually went downhill a little, I met a group of oncoming downhill 'coasters' that were walking their bikes up the one short little hill of their ride.

Thanks Stevejaz. I'm doing the climb tomorrow. Just got in last night. Weather.com says 30% chance of "scattered showers" up at Haleakala park, but dry in Paia. Hopefully the rain will be just a small segment of the ride like yours was. Will post after the ride.

Great pics, stevejaz!

We attacked the big hill this past Sunday (11/14), rolling out of Paia about 9 AM. Man... it was hard! All kinds of hard. But I just kept chugging away and got up there with about 5 hours 11 minutes of saddle time, moving average of 6.9 MPH. Next time I hope to be better trained and roll out earlier (7 AM) to beat the heat on the first 1/3 of the climb. It was the middle 1/3 of the climb that was the most difficult, though, as fatigue starts to get in and the grade tips up to an average of 6.2%. The extended intervals of 8 to 10% really made me wish I had even lower gearing than 34/25. Thankfully the last 1/3 wasn't as steep (except for the very end) but the altitude, fatigue, and some wet/cold/blustery weather took their toll.

How'd the Haleakala climb go for you, Tony?

My buddy and I did the West Maui loop yesterday morning before I had to pack it up and head to the airport. Actually a much more enjoyable ride than Haleakala! Quite scenic and highly recommended. We left from North of Kihei (Sugar Beach Resort) and logged about 66 miles round trip over the course of 4 1/2 hours elapsed.

Wish I was still there. When I left Maui yesterday it was 82 degrees & sunny. When I got off the plane at Sea-Tac it was 40 and raining!!

Bradley

Here are a few not-so-spectacular-but-proves-I-was-there pics.

at 5900 feet:



reaching the summit:



5 digits of elevation on the Garmin! won't see this again any time soon:



my buddy, Jason, and I at the summit:



on the descent:

This thread is great. I'll be in Maui at the end of January visiting family and I plan on renting a bike for the week. This climb sounds epic, and I'd like to think I can handle it, but I'm not sure I'm in good enough shape for it. We'll see come January.

Nice job guys. I made it in about 5:45 on Wednesday, which was slower than I had expected. The bike i rented didn't have a computer so I couldn't tell my avg MPH, so I paced myself only by using the HRM. The weather ended up being perfect, but the heat really started getting at me once I got past Hanamanu Rd and started riding under direct sunlight. By the time I got to the lower vistor center at 7000 feet I was pretty cooked, and the final 10 miles was just survival, and thanking the Maui Cyclery the whole way for renting me a triple crank bike (I used every bit of that triple I may add).

But I'm happy I made it. Lots of friendly people gave me cheers on the way up. Altitude didn't seem to be as big a deal as I thought it would be, maybe because i was going so slow. Descending was fun, especially passing cars on the switchbacks (all were kind enough to move out of the way). Met up with the wife at the bottom after returning my bike, and we went to the Fish Market where I promptly devoured a mahi mahi sandwich and fries, barely making a dent in the 5600 calories burned!

Awesome, that mahi mahi sandwich is worth just the drive even if you dont ride. Drew, there are several other rides if you dont end up going up all the way, but hey you can just turn around and go back down (downhill all the way). Here is a bike map of the island https://www.westmauicycles.com/Maui-C...cycle-Map.html
As far as switchbacks here is a picture from when I was riding
back down,

I just posted a thread about my climb last week.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...3#post11823933

That's a great map of Maui, thanks for sharing. I can definitely plan some fun routes with this. Know where I can download get a hi-res PDF of it?

And all the talk about the Mahi Mahi sandwiches —*it's reason #1 I can't wait to get back on Maui. Fresh fish galore.

Great Job you guys! Tony, I actually like the pics you took yourself, nice job with the 9K elevation sign.

Already looking forward to doing that hill again but attacking it this time. Maybe in the spring or fall of 11'

Good luck to those heading up in the near future.