Climbing Haleakala
 

We were in Maui last week to celebrate my wife's birthday and I took a day to check off an item on my cycling bucket list, climbing Mt. Haleakala. I rented a bike from West Maui Cycles.

Normally they rent out Cannondales but they didn't have one in my size, so they put me on a very nice Specialized Roubaix with a compact double SRAM Rival group and Fulcrum 6 wheels. $60 per day or $150 for 3 days. I brought my own saddle, pedals, bottles, and computer.

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I intended to start at the beach, but we got a late start so I started from the side of the road across from the KMart. Still, it was roughly sea level, so I wasn't concerned about not breaking the 10K barrier. Hot and humid to start.

Turn on to the Haleakela Highway. This part is deceptive. It appears to be flat, but the computer showed a 5-6% gradient. That and the quartering headwind made for slow going when I expected to be motoring along.

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For the first 10 miles and 2000 feet, it's sugar cane and pasture land. Reminded me of Sonoma County

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At 3000 feet, you get to the little town of Kula, where there's a nice restaurant and store. I got a cookie and a Coke there. Which was a mistake--I should have gotten a Gatorade and some nuts. Then you turn up the hill towards the National Park.

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As I was taking a picture of the sign I noticed a group coasting down on single-speeds. There are a number of outfits that will haul you up to the park boundary and let you coast down. I tried to wave to each group because I worried that if I didn't one of them would get on BF and post a thread about the snobby rider on Haleakela who wouldn't wave.

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Continued.

Between 4 and 5 thousand feet you see the grass getting scrubbier and the sky getting cloudier. Actually, you're in the clouds.

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About this time I started tightening up. I'd gone through a bottle of water and a bottle of Heed. I sweated a lot more than I realized and I should have had much more sodium. I did have some SportBeans, and those helped a bit.

Finally made it to the park itself. Costs $5 to get in on a bike.

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At this point, every switch back offers an incredible view, even if it's just the top of a cloud. Was cramping a bit in both quads at this point. Made a mental note to stay seated if possible.

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But the road just keeps going up. 6%-8% relentlessly. No flats at all.

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Tried to take a picture of myself but this is as good as I got. Actually, I was really just taking a break. Above 8500 ft I was beginning to suffer. I could go for 5 minutes and then I'd just have to stop. Finally, finally, finally, the top!

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A nice couple from Arizona took my picture with the elevation sign. I'd seen this shot several times on BF so it's nice to be part of the club.

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The totals:

Time: 05:17:11
Distance: 37.26 mi
Elevation Gain: 10,023 ft
Calories: 4,098 C
Avg Temperature: 75.0 °F


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/57387587

All in all, a very long day in the saddle. Next time, I'll train more for it. I'd intended to do some of the Auburn Century route in preparation, but because of a last minute business trip I wasn't able to much of any riding in the two weeks prior. And I'll drink more electrolyte drink. But it's definitely worth it.

Great pictures!

Fantastic job. One day I hope to be in that same photo below the elevation sign.

Wow! Sounds like a great "bucket list" item to check off your list! Now you have me thinking about doing it someday!

a good thread going on in the PNW forum...
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...from-Haleakala

The only way to get in the same photo is with the liberal use of photoshop (or equivalent) :D (obviously, I've taken this far too literally). I have the same hope Nacho.

caloso - great pics! How do you get to go riding overseas so much? Hawaii (your wife must be pretty understanding to allow you to ride on HER birthday holiday - must be true :love:); Italy earlier this year if I remember some other fantastic photos recently.

Very cool. Wish I had a pic of myself at the top of Mt. Evans with the elevation sign but nobody else was dumb enough to be up there when I was. Haleakala is definitely on my list of mountains to climb. Probably heading to Argentina next week to hang out but don't think I'll have the bike with me. Anyway, nice work and thanks for sharing the pics.

Just turned out to be a lucky year. Italy was a family trip--my dad announced he was going to spend our inheritance while he's still alive. And we'd had Maui planned for a year. I'm very grateful.

Congrats, one heck of a route. Pretty similar to Mt. Lemmon that I did last week, just 3k more feet elevation! I've driven to the top of Haleakela and it's a heck of a climb. Hope I get another opportunity to go and ride my bike up, so I can get the pic too!

Nice work! Looks I did my Haleakala ride on Sunday, the 14th... the day before you did. And it was all kinds of hard! As hard of a ride as it is, it really is a pleasure, privilege and blessing to be on Maui on your bike and have the physical capability/health to tackle such a huge feat.

How long to get back down?

For me... about an hour and 22 minutes back to Paia and the fish market. :) Didn't much care for their idea of "coleslaw" but the mahi mahi was outstanding!

Thanks for sharing that. My wife and I celebrated our Honeymoon back in 2000 on Maui and we did one of those tours down the mountain. All I can recall is getting picked up at 4:30am by the shuttle and thinking it took an hour BY CAR to get to the top. Once at the top it was the coldest I had been in 20 years.

Shedding clothes as we barreled down is an experience I'll never forget.

You've given me something to shoot for!

well done! Thanks for the info on the bike shop because I'd like to do that climb and not have to take my bike.

Very cool accomplishment! Great pics too!

Congrats!!

Thanks for posting!!

Great pics and report. Thanks for posting.

Congrats again on making it to the summit. Did you find out what elevation was the visitor's center?

Very nice that you got a 2011 Roubaix to ride :)... I made the mistake of renting from Go Cycling Maui :(

Did they rent you a 2004 Motobecane?

I went in Jan of this year, they gave me a Scott Speedster with one Ultegra shifter, and one 105 shifter.... with a triple, and a saddle that looked like it was taken off a beach cruiser :( I posted my ride report somewhere here on BF...

I brought my kit and saddle along with shoes (they said they had SPD-SL pedals, turned out they were the entry level R540 ones), and as for sizing they told me to just ride it around the really tiny parking lot in front of their store... -_-

Nice report. Is there enough water along the route?

Good stuff, thanks for sharing!

Great ride and pix! I have this climb on my list for next August and will begin Latigo Hill repeats in the Spring hoping to be ready for it.
I noted your Garmin showed temps no lower than 55. What clothing gear did you take with you and what did you actually wear?

Also, I'm thinking HEED and gels. Anything else?