This was my 2nd time in Hawaii. I took my Madone with in the Bike Box 2 thanks to Dan's recommendation on this site :) Worked just fine, but since I spent time on 2 islands I had to unbuild / rebuild a lot. I arrived home with an undamaged frame and undamaged HED V6 wheels. Thanks TSA :) I do have to negotiate my shipping fees back from Delta darn it. First pic is the swim start IM World Champs viewed from the Kona Inn. I even brought some Christmas decals for my bike to bring some snow to the islands :)
Why might Hawaii be the greatest place to ride? Perfect temps. Always. Never too hot (even the Queen K isn't real hot at 85+ and sunny). It's never cold. I never rode with anything but a standard road kit and was never uncomfortable. Most of my rides started at 5AM or earlier. One mid-day ride on the Queen K and that was borderline hot. The rain is even warm. The pavement is almost always 100% perfection, but the shoulders do have quite a bit of "trash." I rode tubeless. No punctures on GP5000.
Maui. The west loop has it all. Beautiful views and climate from rain forest to dry desert like terrain. Lots and lots of elevation but no major climbs. Much of it is highly technical for road riding with super fast hairpins, and for me huge wind. I hear my wheel fairings scream. I've never had that happen. I got passed by the wind at 40mph. That's never happened. Disk brakes are awesome on the west loop. Pic after riding the west loop and a lot of wet roads. I did not ride to or drive all the way to Hana on this trip. Next time :)
Haleakala. I've done most of the "top 10 USA climbs." Haleakala is #2. It was epic as I'd expected. I actually rode to the mountain from north of Lahaina in the dark for a nice warm up. 3 hours later at full gas in perfect temps and mostly light head winds I reached the summit. It was much steeper than I figured but being relatively "low" made it manageable. There were 2 especially steep sections and of course I made one wrong turn. One of those steep kickers was the final 1/2 mile. For what it's worth Going to the Sun Road in Glacier is still my favorite USA climb.
The big Island. The Queen K is a super speedway. I believe I did my fastest ever road training ride there but did so at a hard pace. After day 1 I thought the cross wind hype was over hyped. After day 2 and almost phoning a friend from the road above the Queen K on Kohala I will never say that again. I remember that being a legit climb but never recalled it being beyond category. Jeepers an hour full gas after 2 hard hours is.....hard. I could barely ride my bike from the crest of the climb at 3600' down to Waimea. I've ridden down mountains at 60mph and this one at 15 mph at times was scaring me to death. Gusts maybe to 50mph. It was crazy. Disk brake rub while not braking. Another first. From Waimea down to the Queen K I believe I spent 6+ miles at 42mph. Mostly straight tail wind thankfully. Pic from nearish to the bottom of descending Hawi. A little Hawaii gravel :)
Due to the several month closure of Mauna Kea I did not ride that because I didn't plan to ride it! :( It crushes me, but it just opened Saturday and I was not prepared. I rode Haleakala with 53-39 and 11-28 and knew that was real bad for Mauna Kea. I don't know how Mauna Kea is best done logistics wise as it's almost impossible to get a rental car legally to the summit. Getting one to the visitor center at 9200' is mostly legal, but riding a bike back down to 9200' unsupported sounds terrible. Even for guy that loves to go stupid fast and rides any surface.
This was our greatest family vacation and I've been blessed to go many wonderful places and ride bikes in most of those places. I even left Hawaii with a couple Strava KOM's as a bonus. No....no I didn't get the KOM on Haleakala darn it :)
24 Hour World TT Champs-American record holder
Fat Bike Worlds - Race Director
Insta: chris.s.apex
Why might Hawaii be the greatest place to ride? Perfect temps. Always. Never too hot (even the Queen K isn't real hot at 85+ and sunny). It's never cold. I never rode with anything but a standard road kit and was never uncomfortable. Most of my rides started at 5AM or earlier. One mid-day ride on the Queen K and that was borderline hot. The rain is even warm. The pavement is almost always 100% perfection, but the shoulders do have quite a bit of "trash." I rode tubeless. No punctures on GP5000.
Maui. The west loop has it all. Beautiful views and climate from rain forest to dry desert like terrain. Lots and lots of elevation but no major climbs. Much of it is highly technical for road riding with super fast hairpins, and for me huge wind. I hear my wheel fairings scream. I've never had that happen. I got passed by the wind at 40mph. That's never happened. Disk brakes are awesome on the west loop. Pic after riding the west loop and a lot of wet roads. I did not ride to or drive all the way to Hana on this trip. Next time :)
Haleakala. I've done most of the "top 10 USA climbs." Haleakala is #2. It was epic as I'd expected. I actually rode to the mountain from north of Lahaina in the dark for a nice warm up. 3 hours later at full gas in perfect temps and mostly light head winds I reached the summit. It was much steeper than I figured but being relatively "low" made it manageable. There were 2 especially steep sections and of course I made one wrong turn. One of those steep kickers was the final 1/2 mile. For what it's worth Going to the Sun Road in Glacier is still my favorite USA climb.
The big Island. The Queen K is a super speedway. I believe I did my fastest ever road training ride there but did so at a hard pace. After day 1 I thought the cross wind hype was over hyped. After day 2 and almost phoning a friend from the road above the Queen K on Kohala I will never say that again. I remember that being a legit climb but never recalled it being beyond category. Jeepers an hour full gas after 2 hard hours is.....hard. I could barely ride my bike from the crest of the climb at 3600' down to Waimea. I've ridden down mountains at 60mph and this one at 15 mph at times was scaring me to death. Gusts maybe to 50mph. It was crazy. Disk brake rub while not braking. Another first. From Waimea down to the Queen K I believe I spent 6+ miles at 42mph. Mostly straight tail wind thankfully. Pic from nearish to the bottom of descending Hawi. A little Hawaii gravel :)
Due to the several month closure of Mauna Kea I did not ride that because I didn't plan to ride it! :( It crushes me, but it just opened Saturday and I was not prepared. I rode Haleakala with 53-39 and 11-28 and knew that was real bad for Mauna Kea. I don't know how Mauna Kea is best done logistics wise as it's almost impossible to get a rental car legally to the summit. Getting one to the visitor center at 9200' is mostly legal, but riding a bike back down to 9200' unsupported sounds terrible. Even for guy that loves to go stupid fast and rides any surface.
This was our greatest family vacation and I've been blessed to go many wonderful places and ride bikes in most of those places. I even left Hawaii with a couple Strava KOM's as a bonus. No....no I didn't get the KOM on Haleakala darn it :)
24 Hour World TT Champs-American record holder
Fat Bike Worlds - Race Director
Insta: chris.s.apex