The is a long 20 minute video documenting some of my ride up Haleakala. I decided before going to Maui on family vacation this was a challenge I wanted to accomplish. I've been training for a couple upcoming half ironman's and the Death Ride in Markleeville so I thought this would be a good training run for these events. I started off from Wailea at the Kea Lani Hotel packed with two water bottles, mix of gatorade and water. 8 Gu roctanes and two pack of cherry honey stinger chews. My first stop to refill water was in Kahului not to far from the start of the climb. The first part of the climb up Haleakala is very gradual. My next stop and only one available to refill was at approx 3200 feet elevation at Kula Lodge. I bought two powerades, 1 bottled water and a coconut water and pounded down a Turkey Sandwich in about 4 minutes :-) I continue on up the climb and started to feel the thinner air and increased heart rate at around 6000 feet. At around 7000 feet elevation you officially enter Haleakala National Park and their is an entrance fee of $5.00 for cyclists. Just inside the gate is the visitor centre, the only thing you can get here is water from a fountain, no food or gatorade etc. At 8000 feet when I stopped for the video update I felt a little dizziness for a split second but it quickly went away. At this point you are riding well above the clouds, it is surreal. The better the views the more motivated you get to reach the top. 9000 feet was also a challenge. The last part of the climb up Haleakala was by far the toughest. Their is another visitor centre just before the summit which I passed up and kept going up to the observation center. The grade is the steepest at this point when you are exhausted. It was such a relief to make it to the top of Haleakala that I even let out a little emotion just before the top. It was a tough ride doing it completely solo. There wasn't one other cyclist heading up the mountain to hang with. Lots of group bicycle tours going down and two other roadies that I saw descending. When I got to the top, the tourists were very supportive and congratulatory as many of them passed me during the climb up. I walked the bike up stairs another 23 feet to the observation deck and was able to see all the way over to the Big Island. Spectacular views and it felt like I was on the moon. During the climb I just wore my capo cycling kit bib shorts and jersey and a Skinfit base layer. While it got a little colder as I went up it was still comfortable. The descent down Haleakala was totally different. I started down from the 10000 foot sign and turned into the vistor center because I was already getting chilled. I put on my arm sleeves and that helped the chill factor. At around 6000 feet or so I entered the clouds. I got so chilled and it was not as much fun at this point but still exhilerating and I must say I was concerned about cars coming up on me from behind in the clouds because its basically riding in a dense fog. Doing it again I would have brought a rear bike light for safety. On the way down I stopped at Kula Lodge again and had another Turkey sandwich quickly and got more water and powerade. The rest of the ride was more comfortable although I was still pretty chilled. The lady on the lodge says people get chilled in the clouds all the time on the way down. Towards the bottom of the descent you are basically on the shoulder of a two lane highway, this is where I hit my higher speeds. Hit 48.7 miles per hour according to the Garmin 500. Didn't want to push it two hard on my Boss Frog's Fuji rental bike which worked out fine. During my ride up I forgot to mention I saw some long boarders ripping down the mountain, now that was crazy. I can honestly say this was the ride of my life. I got into triathlon about 2 years ago and love the cycling aspect of the sport. I continued back to the Kea Lani hotel in Wailea for a grand total of 107 miles for the day. The night before the ride I carbed up at Capische restaurant at the Hotel Wailea. They have the best risotto and of course I had to have the Baked Haleakala dessert. This is a ride all serious cyclists must do, its challenging, the views are spectacular and the motorists seemed to be very respectful of my space. There are some spots where there is virtually no shoulder to ride on so you have to keep that in mind but all in all it felt safe. Most of my updates were to keep my family updated on my progress while they were on the beach. Celebrated with steak and mai tais at Monkey Pods in Wailea after the ride.

• published: 12 Feb 2012
• views: 12882