Biking up Haleakala

After a few days of biking around the west side of Maui I was finally ready for my ascent of the volcano, Haleakala. This was one of the reasons I rented the bike in the first place. I had read a few ride reports and decided that I would give it a try. Worst case I just turn around and coast down. The plan was for Linda to meet me at the top with the car. I wanted to spend time on top of the volcano instead of riding down. It's not the interesting.

Haleakala is the largest mountain on the island at a towering 10,000 feet above sea level. It is not uncommon to get snow up there. The neat think about climbing Haleakala is that you can do just that, go from the sea to the top. It's a total of 35 miles to the top at an average 5-6% grade with a few up to 8-10% just to keep you awake. The road has a nice shoulder most of the time up to the national park. Inside the park is a little bit more challenging.

I arrived in Paia (same town where I met Laird) at about 8am. I was running a little late so I skipped sticking my foot in the ocean as many do before going up. Besides I didn't want to deal with the sand between the toes for the next 5 hours. I had my camera along with 2 water bottles, 4 pop tarts (couldn't find any powerbars), dried mangos, cell phone, ID (to identify the body, just in case) and some money for the entry fee to the national park at the top. Like every day in Hawaii, the day was sunny and warm - with little wind, which was a bonus as it's always blowing on that side.


For the first hour I wound through pineapple groves that were being harvested. Then it was into the ranching area with lots of fields with cattle and horses. It took a while to get used to pedaling along in a very low gear and crawling along at 10mphs. But I was comfortable and I knew this was about patiences.

Along the way I saw that someone had spray painted the vertical distance on the shoulder. Soon I was starting to see 1500 ft, 2500 ft, and so on which really made me feel good. I was wearing my GPS which also measures altitude. It was only off by about 50 feet. Amazing! In hindsight I was watching the vertical more then the distance in miles. I guess that was the hurdle for me. My neighbor Jeff can testify to my no-love for climbing hills.


At around 3000 feet this is a well know market. It's a good place to take a break off the bike to fill the water bottles and maybe buy a snack. I spent about 10 minutes here.

After the market the terrain started to get more mountain like. The foliage was changing and beginning to thin out till it started to look like Ireland. At this point I was also getting into the cloud layer which added to the moores feel.


I had now been pedaling for 3 hours and was half way up the mountain at 5000 ft. Surprising to me was that my legs felt great. It was my lower back that was starting to stiffen. I was taking more 'photo breaks' all the time. I decided that the park entrance at 7000 ft would be a good place to finish as I just didn't see myself riding for another 3 hours. I called Linda on my cell to tell her my revised plan. It turned out that they were already on their way and only 3 miles behind me. Perfect. They soon passed me on the road and 15 minutes later met me at the park entrance with beer and Doritoes. I love my family. We loaded up the bike, I changed into some clothes, then we spent the rest of the afternoon at the top. It was a clear day at the summit of the volcano. We could clearly see the snowcapped tops of Moana Kea and Moana Loa on the big island of Hawaii. I took loads of photos.




I didn't reach the top, on bike anyway, but I'm still thrilled and proud. 3:40 total time, 25 miles, 7000 vertical feet. Given that I had done only a couple 3 hour rides all year and only 1 hour trainer workouts for the last 3 months, I thought I did great. There were long stretches where I was all alone along the road. The Maui countryside was so peaceful and beautiful. It's something I will always remember. I highly encourage any bike ride to give it a try when they get to Maui. Don't make it about getting to the summit, make it about the ride!

Here is the route in Google.

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