06/17/2026 Haleakala Ride

Well, here goes. This was quite a challenging day. I had packed my stuff up for the Haleakala ride the night before, so I got dressed, had a bread stick and a banana for breakfast and loaded up on fluids as well. Had carbs for the ride as well as Gatorade in bottles along with the powder. I was rolling around 5:37, glad that I had arranged to get the bike the day before (wouldn't have made it otherwise). I headed up Kihei Rd all the way past the barriers (there had been road flooding by a bridge but it was passable) and over to the road to Lahaina. A right turn there got me to the Maui Veterans Hwy, with I took north, using a pretty nice bike path that avoided having to ride on the shoulder. Over to Hansen Rd, by an old sugar mill (not sure if it's still operational), which gave me a shortcut to the Hana Hwy. I was on this just a short while until I turned onto the Haleakala Hwy. At this point the road wasn't really built for bikes, but its shoulder was protected by rumble strips and fairly wide. Not too long after the turn the grade started to tilt up. I stopped for a break around 7:00, ate a banana, and took a pic of the mountain covered in clouds (foreshadowing). I continued past the turnoff O to the Old Haleakala Hwy, and the road became the Kula Hwy. Stayed on this until I came to another intersection with the Haleakala Hwy. I figured I was getting close to the end of places to get water or drinks, so I backtracked on the Old Haleakala Hwy to a convenience store in Pukalani and bought a bottle of blue Gatorade. The two ladies in the store were very sweet, told me "God bless" as I left, which was a nice touch. I drank some of the bottle and used the rest to fill up NY empty water bottle and top the other one off. Then I rode back to the intersection and continued straight onto the Haleakala Hwy. This road had been recently repaved and was in excellent condition. I was at about mile 21 at this point, having climbed around 1700'. The road tipped up just a little bit and wound through some beautiful forested areas. Somewhere around this point I rode through the entrance gate to Haleakala NP, talked briefly with the ranger there (she didn't know the temperature at the top but said it was still socked in). This was the most scenic part of the ride, unless you are into barren landscapes and volcanic features. The road wound up to Kula (maybe there is a place to get water there, I didn't check) and turned onto Crater Rd. At this point I was at mile 28 and 3400'. Here is where the real climbing began. Initially it was in the form of a series of tight switchbacks with somewhat flat turns and steeper ramps, which went on for around seven miles and topped out at 5900'. This section also took me above the tree line and into the clouds, where I basically stayed, with brief intervals of sun breaking through, all the way to the top. I rode along an upward sloping ridgeline, winding but not switchbacks, that briefly went through a wooded area and lasted a little less than three miles to get to 6800'. I was definitely wearing down by this point, around 38 miles in. Probably also feeling the effects of the thinner air at this altitude. This next set of switchbacks was grueling. They weren't so steep by they seemed to last forever before coming up to the turns. Each ramp was a mile or more, and this section was a little over eight miles long, takimge up to 9200' and 46+ miles. Some folks at the last turn cheered me on and congratulated me on making the climb, but they missed the point that this last two and a half miles was the hardest. It followed another ridgeline up past the visitor center, and beyond this point it got steep again. I was gassed by this point and took it really slowly, stopping at least once to catch my breath and gather my strength. On this stretch my quads started to twitch, so I knew I was nearly at my limit without stopping for a longer rest. I made it to the parking lot just below the observation building, resting for a bit before attempting to climb the stairs there (I should have ridden up the paved path, but the thought of climbing on my bike at this point was off limits). A number of people congratulated me on the ride, one of them asked me how long it had taken, and when I told her (7.5 hours) was pretty amazed. It was overcast at the top, so not much to see down-country. Took the stairs to the observation building, shot some pics there, and recorded a get-well soon video for Audrey. Topped out at a little less than 49 miles and 9900'. I ended up riding down the path back to the parking lot and stopped to put my jacket on to keep warm on the descent. Little did I know. Started down, and it was initially fine, although chilly from the air temperature. I had drunk all of my water, so I stopped at the visitor center on the way down, went to the bathroom, and refilled my bottles. Then I was rolling on the descent again. At one pout I went through a thermal zone as it got more cloudy and the temperature rose. I thought, "This is manageable." But it didn't last, got colder and denser in fog until I had to slow down just to be able to see. At times the visibility was less than 100 yds just to see car headlights coming. Then it got worse. It started out as mist, then drizzle, then steady rain, finally roads so wet that I was riding through water. This continued, off and on, for quite a while. It would subside, the fog would lessen, and I would think/hope that I had ridden through the worst, only to enter another cloud bank. I was cold, had numb hands and toes, and shivering, definitely in an uncomfortable and unhappy state. It got perhaps a little lighter as I continued the descent but never completely let up until I came off Crater Rd around mile 70. I had stopped a couple of times at turnoffs to rest my arms and get a little break. At one point, when it was really raining, I stopped under some trees and contemplated my miserable condition. Here is where I thought about stopping and calling Ann for a pickup. But I persevered and kept going until mile 70.Then it was like a light switch, was still overcast but I had dropped below the clouds. It had started to dry out and warm up by this point and kept doing so until the end. At mile 76 or so, just above Pukalani, I turned off onto a smaller road,??, that was largely descending with few sharp turns and was a real thrill to ride. This was the most fun section of the ride, which I had hoped would include more descending like this. It took me through Makawao and dropped me into Paia. I was watching my route map on Strava and was thrilled when it showed I was getting close to the bike shop. It was less than 10 miles of descending without cold, fog, or rain, but it was glorious. I'd called Ann and let her know my ETA, turns out they were very close to where I was. Got to the shop, took my gear off the bike and checked it in, while they looked for a parking spot.

Then I walked over to where they were parked, to drop off my gear and started changing into dry clothes. We walked from there to a Mexican food restaurant for lunch. I was not hungry at all,but the two happy hour margaritas (not too much alcohol in them) really hit the spot. Chips were pretty bad, I had a couple of them. We walked back to the car after lunch and drove a little further east to Turtle Beach, got out and walked to where there were a bunch of sea turtles resting on the sand. A guy also had his pet goat tethered up, which was an attraction in itself. There was another guy spinning records on a portable stereo, so it was a minor scene apart from the turtles. Emily drove us back to the Airbnb after that, and the hot shower felt pretty wonderful.