In general, the islands of Hawaii are anything but a road biking paradise. The roads are narrow, shoulders small if they exist at all, and traffic can be surprisingly bad. Given the spectacular scenery and year-round perfect weather, this is unfortunate.
Because of this, I rarely think to bring a bike with me when I visit, even though I do have an S&S coupled travel bike. Between snorkeling, hiking, and swimming, there are just too many other amazing outdoor adventures in Hawaii for me to bother trying to road bike during the brief time I have here.
But if you are going to do some riding here, why not ride down a volcano? Paleo Velo in action.
Haleakalā is a massive shield volcano on Maui. The road to the Haleakala summit holds the world record for climbing to the highest elevation in the shortest distance (38 miles). I would love to have a road bike here one day and actually ride up the 25+ hairpin turns from sea level to its 10,023 foot summit. But you’d have to get up pretty early if you wanted to ride up to the top in time to see the sunrise, which is one of the most spectacular things I’ve witnessed.
Fortunately, there are tour companies that specialize in taking people to the top for the sunrise, and giving them a bike for the ride back down. The two AM wake-up call necessary to get to the bike shop and then up top in time for the sunrise was brutal, but the payoff was worth it.
You’ll find below a few pics of the sunrise, and the ride back down aboard a craptastic Gary Fisher singlespeed mountain bike. (If you are listening bike tour companies of the world, the bike you give someone for a 2 hr ride down a paved road should not have big honking knobbies!).
If you are ever on Maui and are thinking about doing this, do not hesitate! It’s worth the 2AM wake-up call.
May 14, 2010 at 21:01
Dustin:
My wife & I did that ride (not the dawn one!) with Cruiser Bob (or something like that) over 20 years ago. Looks like the main “improvement” to the bikes is front suspension (??) & disc brakes. We were on similar paleolithic MTBs that had been fitted with drum brakes. Don’t recall the tires but a fun ride.
A friend who’s in most excellent shape rode his own road bike up and said it’s one of the hardest rides he’s ever done. He considered laying in the road, hoping someone would pick him up. Oxygen molecules are in short supply 2 miles up. You’re young & tough; you can handle it.
dougP
May 15, 2010 at 18:57
The bikes we were on were pretty silly given the nature of the riding. I think the hot ticket would have been a Rivendell Hunqapillar set up with albatross bars and Fat Apple tires. Alas, probably a bit expensive for most rental fleets, even if it would be one of the only things besides cockroaches to survive a nuclear holocaust!
May 14, 2010 at 21:06
The trick for mainlander tourists is to book the trip for your first day in Maui, when your body’s still on mainland time. Then the 2 AM wake-up shouldn’t be as bad.
May 15, 2010 at 18:57
Good call. Then I would have had something to do those first few nights rather than lie in my bed with my eyes open!
May 14, 2010 at 21:17
Photos looking down on cloud cover are always some of my favorites, and these are no exception!
Bill, GREAT advice!
May 15, 2010 at 06:58
I’m sure the pictures don’t do it justice. Spectacular!
May 15, 2010 at 18:15
[...] 15, 2010 at 18:15 (Uncategorized) Sunrise on Haleakalā was stunning, but since we had to leave immediately afterward as part of the bike tour we were on, [...]