On 25 November 2008, I rode my bike from the balmy shores of Maui to the summit of Haleakala, a (near) uninterrupted climb of 10,023 ft over about 37 miles.
The blogosphere is full of accounts of other brave souls who decided to try the bike ride up Haleakal, so I will not give a blow-by-blow of my trip. Instead, here is a summary of the ride followed by some links that I found helpful in planning my challenge.
About Me
I am a strong rider. Weigh 185lbs at 6'1". I had never climbed higher than 3,500 ft previous to this ride.
The Route
You can check out my route on www.mapmyfitness.com. They have a cool site that now shows elevation and grade in a really clear manner. You can also find the entire route embedded at the bottom of this post.Weather
The weather for my trip was beautiful and sunny all the way to the top. Being able to see how big the mountain is makes it challenging at the beginning of the climb! It's a long way up.
Here is a shot of the mountain, with the sea in the bottom right and the summit in the top. This isn't the side that I climbed, but it gives an idea of how big the mountain looks and what type of weather I climbed in.
The Experience
In a nutshell, my total trip time was about 8 hours, the climb 5 hours, which included multiple fueling stops. Average speed while climbing was about 9.2 mph. I stopped to refuel at the Sunrise Market at 3,500 feet. In all I probably spent an hour there resting and eating their great tropical treats.
In a nutshell, my total trip time was about 8 hours, the climb 5 hours, which included multiple fueling stops. Average speed while climbing was about 9.2 mph. I stopped to refuel at the Sunrise Market at 3,500 feet. In all I probably spent an hour there resting and eating their great tropical treats.
The Gear
I rode my Calfee Designs Tetra Pro nude carbon travel bike with a standard 53/39 chain ring and a 12/23 cassette. I used the lowest gear in the steepest grade.
I also brought with me pumps, food, rain jacket, gloves, arm warmers, cell phone, camera, 2 tubes and tools...and three water bottles that I refilled four times.
I wore a summer kit that included a light bib and cycling jersey. I should have put warmer clothes on for the descent but I didn't feel cold at the 50 degree F summit, so I ended up never using the extra clothes and dealing with the cold by rushing down the mountain -- each thousand feet was about 3 degrees warmer.
My Route
- Paia shore to Makawao via Baldwin Avenue (9.2 mi). In Makawao, I should have continued up Baldwin beyond Makawao Avenue, but I was intent on not making the same mistake that Mike of Chain Reaction warned about in his very amusing and informative report. I accidentally turned right on Makawao Avenue, which gave me a very quick break in the climb. You can see this plateau in the grade reports below.
- Kula to Haleakala National Park Entrance (10 mi). This is the hardest segment of the climb.
- Park Entrance to the Summit (11 mi). This part of the climb is still difficult but it gets really bad the final 200 feet or so to the summit. You can't see this grade in the chart, but it's around 10% I guess.
- Summit to Kahuluia via Kula and the new Haleakala Highway (36 mi). This was probably the highlight of the ride. I was prepared for a monotonous descent but ended up with a fast-paced, powered ride down the switchbacks. When I got to the new Haleakala Highway, I kept up with the traffic at 45 mph. If you like to go fast and can handle a hefty cross wind, you may like this route. The shoulder is nearly two lanes wide! I felt completely stable and in control on my Tetra Pro.
- Kahului to Wailea (17 mi). This was pretty much a recovery ride until the final 400 ft climb up to the entrance to Wailea.
If You Do It...
- Follow instructions on the Chain Reaction website that you can find here. It helped me tremendously.
- Remember that it is a steady, sometimes steep climb. See below for a breakdown of the grades that you will encounter. I didn't find this anywhere on the web, so I am adding it here.
- Contrary to what you may read, there are plenty of elevation signs above 3,500ft. See my slideshow below for proof!
- Don't go fast downhill if you are not an experienced downhill rider and are riding on your own bike.
- If you can't stand the cold and feel fine at the top, try to remember to put on your warm clothes before you descend. I probably should have done that!
Links that Helped Me
- Riding Up Haleakala from Mike at Chain Reaction.
- Haleakala 7-Day Forecast from the U.S. National Weather Service.
- VeloAsia's Report.
- Brian de Sousa's Report.
