Climbing Mount Haleakala On Maui

[little.man]

i recently got back from Hawaii and got to climb Mount Haleakala while there. That had to be one of the hardest rides that I have ever done in terms of cycling. If you ever end up in
Maui, I would highly recommend that you give it a try. Donnie Arnoult has recently started a bike shop on Maui that rents high end bicycles fitted with triples. Donnie also offers guide tours and vacations. Check his place out at http://www.gocyclingmaui.com/

I started the climb from Donnie's shop. From there it is 36 miles to the top and all uphill.
Took me 5.5 hours to get to the top. The trip back was a short 1.5 hours. I made it to
the visitors' center at the top, but was too whipped to do the short, very steep, climb to
the very top. Great view of the crater from the visitors center and an awesome view of Maui.

Donnie had told me that it would be unlike anything I had done before and he was right
about that. Donnie had lots of good advice on how to do the ride, what to eat, drink, etc.
Definitely take his advice if you do it. Donnie provided a route map from his shop and
the route back was marked on the road.

Living in New Orleans I seldom get to climb anything higher than a bridge, so this was
a must do experience for me when I found out about it. Thought I would pass the
information along here since it seems that at least some of you try to squeeze cycling
into your vacations.

I did the downhill tour thing with my wife and, while that was fun, the downhill was much
sweeter after having made the climb.

Be sure to bring warm clothes because the top is cold. I had: arm and knee warmers,
long fingered gloves (light ones are fine), a vest and a rain jacket. With that on I was fine
coming down. You can do the climb in a jersey and shorts - and be wringing wet after
the first 5 minutes.

Other items to bring: pedals, shoes, helmet and seat.

Met an older guy up on the top who said that he does 6000 feet of climibing twice a week
up the mountain. Said the trick was to "Go real slow on the steep stuff". I think it was
slow all the way for me.

A really great experience (after I got over the "think I'm going to puke" feeling)

Donnie can also put you in touch with a good massage therapist.

Mark

[SayHey]

Haleakala is a great ride. At an average of about 5.5% it's not real steep, but at 36 miles it's relentless. I've been on that mountain many times and did the annual Cycle to the Sun, which is a benefit ride from sea level to the top observation deck above 10,000 ft. What's amazing is the elite riders finish in about 3 hours.

As you mentioned little.man, there are a number of companies that bus people up to the top to allow them to ride down. Many times when I was training for the Cycle to the Sun, some of the tour companies would have their riders taking a break at a turnout. When I would ride past them on the way up I'd often get comments. I kept a list of the "Top 10". The two most common were, "You're going the wrong way" and "You da man!". The funniest one was "You must have forgotten your Prozac today."

I suspect Kahuna has many stories too about that ride or comments he may have received while riding up.

Cheers

P.S. Donnie Arnoult is a great guy and has a neat tour business as well as new bicycle shop (www.gocyclingmaui.com). Look him up if you're thinking about riding on Maui.

[little.man]

I got the "You're going the wrong way dude." once and right before the end got a thumbs up
from a girl in a car coming down - which was really nice. I think most of the ones coming
downhill are just amazed anyone would try to ride uphill.

Mark