Pi'ilani Highway kicked my butt!

I set off from the campground at the Y after a late, lazy start because of sitting around talking with a family from Calgary.

I continued riding up and down all day past nice water falls.


There were some right by the road that I stood under to cool off.

I passed some taro fields.


Taro is a plant that the Hawaiians brought from Fiji. They cook the tuberous root and mash it into this stuff they eat like potatoes called poi.

I got to Hana and called ahead to reserve a B and B for the following night in Kula.

I rode a few more ridiculously steep hills to Kipahulu campground in Haleakala National Park. This part of the park reaches all the way down to the ocean and is a legacy, in part, of Charles Lindburg, who lived the rest of his life in Maui and is buried here.

My phone battery was dead the next day so I have no photos of the crazy Pi'ilani 'Highway' on my phone.

The road started out right on the ocean with fantastic views. Then, the road turned to dirt, which wasn't too bad. Then came the hills. These things were crazy steep with some around 20%! They were scary to ride down because I felt like I would fall over my handlebars so I hung my butt off behind the seat to put my center of gravity farther back like I've seen them do in cyclocross races. That really helped stabilize the descents. Of course, it was impossible to ride up these monsters so I pushed the bike, which was also really hard. And, When I got to the top, I rolled straight back down again to the ocean. This on a day that finished in Kula at 3500 feet elevation.

Then, things got bad. The road switched back to 'pavement'. This stuff was the most god awful surface I've ever ridden on except for Dempster Highway mud. It was all patches with no original pavent visible. And the patches weren't smoothed out at all so there were little humps and divets about every six inches all over the entire road. It felt like both Sam and I would be shaken to bits. I named it Pele's Pavement, Pele being the Hawaiian fire/ volcano goddess, since the road was about as smooth as a lava flow. And, of course, the ridiculous hills continued, pushing up, and slowly, rattling back down. I rode up some of the less steep (12-14%) ones, but it made my legs and arms scream after a few of them.

Then, it got really hot. This part of the road is back on the leeward side of the island, so the jungle with it's nice shade is gone, replaced by scrubby, brown bushes. By noon, I felt like I was riding in an oven with the heat radiating off the asphalt. Several passing cars gave me water, fruit, and lots of encouragement. Finally, the road became normal pavement as it began the climb up the side of Haleakala to, what they call The Upcountry.

I always find it hard to eat when it's really hot and I made the mistake of not eating sooner. By the time I stopped on a ridge for lunch, I was well on my way to bonking.

Bonking is basically running out of energy during a long distance run or bike ride. It feels like my legs have turned to jello, I can't really catch my breath, and every hill is next to impossible to get up.

I crawled into Ulapalakua Ranch, the first bit of civilization, ate some snack food, and pushed on uphill another 10 miles to Kula. I crawled in after dark, scarfed down a nice sandwich the owner prepared for me, showered, and slept 12 hours straight. I can't remember the last time a road kicked my butt that badly.


-- Post From My iPhone

Hana highway

It took two days to ride the Hana Highway. I started from the hostel in Wailuku and rode along the famous north shore. I stopped in a few spots to watch the surfers, though the break wasn't all that big.


Overall, the road was quite a bit easier riding than West Maui since the hills aren't quite as steep. The road is quite windy, curving in and out of valleys and crossing countless little one lane bridges and lots of water falls. The vegetation is very jungle-like with vines and dense trees and there was a bunch of shade so it was a bit cooler.
I stopped at lots of fruit stands to eat and had apple bananas, passion fruit, guava, starfruit, lychees, pineapple, coconut, and lots of citrus.


They also had lots of home made banana bread and fruit smoothies made with cane juice.

I ended up camping at a YMCA because the state park reservation system here is the most asinine thing I've ever experienced. Youhave to pay for your camping permit in Wailuku, on the other side of the island. Even though there is a full time person working at the campground itself, they will under no circumstances issue permits there. And, the permit place in Wailuku is only open limited hours due to budget cuts.

Besides brutal hills, finding places to stay has been the hardest part of this trip. They don't have little motels either, like they have on the Oregon coast. Instead, they have B&Bs which I have to get reservations for ahead of time. I'm used to being able to pull in to a town and find a room really easily. This place requires way more planning.

-- Post From My iPhone

Climbing Haleakala

After The crazy grind up to Kula, I needed a day off and hung out at Sandlewood B and B for an entire day, sitting in the sun and napping. My body really needed a break after four straight days of near constant hills in the tropical heat.

The owners of the B and B gave me a ride to a grocery store to stock up for the two day climb up Haleakala, the big shield volcano that dominates East Maui. It is substantially cooler in the Upcountry, which was a nice break from the heat down by the coast.





The next day, Christmas Eve, I headed up to 7000 ft to camp inside the National Park at Hosmer Grove.




It was quite windy and cool so most of the folks in the campground congregated around a nice campfire for most of the evening. It was a rather eclectic group with some locals from Paia and Makawao, including a semi-homeless Vietnam vet, and a big group of Canadians.

The next morning, I left most of my gear and headed for the summit. The climb was a nice gradual grade and, riding light with only a bit of food and warm clothes, I was able to comfortably climb several gears above Granny gear. The road switchbacked up and the views became more and more spectacular with some views towards the Big Island and Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in the distance.




The 1000 ft markers slowly passed by and after about three hours of steady climbing, I got to the summit at a bit over 10,000 ft. The Haleakala climb is supposedly the shortest road to this altitude in the world.




The views were fantastic as the sun was going down.




It gets dark very quickly in the tropics so after a few photos, I put on warm clothes and started the coast back down to camp. The clouds were below me, all lit up by the sunset. It felt like I was riding on the top of the world.

On my way down, a man in a red Mustang stopped me and asked if I wanted to test some high tech cycling clothes for his Swiss company. I told him I did but I needed to get down to camp before it got totally dark. On that curvy road, I was able to keep up with the cars and the Swiss guy ended up driving behind me, lighting the road for me with his brights. It was a spectacular descent, with the last of the light fading on the clouds below and my very own chase car. When I got to camp, I gave the Swiss man, Bruno, my address. He said he had seen me several times riding on the island and would send me some bike clothes to test. I hope it pans out; it would be interesting to help with gear design since I sure use my stuff pretty hard core and in some fairly rugged conditions.

Back at camp, the wind had died down and I had a nice dinner with a local couple camping on the mountain for the weekend.

I spent the next two days slowly making my way back to the coast and hanging out on the beach near Paia. Then it was back to the Banana Bungalow for my last night and a quick ride to the airport this morning. The hostel had stored my bike box and one of the employees was nice enough to drive it to the airport for me.

So, my two week adventure in paradise is over and it's time to get back to the real world.
-- Post From My iPhone