I will hopefully be racing Honu this year, living and training in Florida where you can’t find a hill even though you can face some head and crosswinds mostly all the time. I am used to the humid and hot weather but definitively not a good climber, although I am working on it, and I am a bit concern about the hilly or rolling hill bike course since most of my training is on flat course or on a stationary trainer. Anyone who have raced Honu can give comments on what to expect on the bike or how is the course ?
Windy and hilly on the Queen K, then you hit the climb up to Hawi. Also, there’s a suprisingly nasty hill on HWY 19 going back up to the Queen Q on the way home. It doesn’t look like much but lasts longer than you’d like.
Here’s the profile from the web-site, but as always it’s nice to have reports from those that have done it. I’ll be there this year. Anyone seen a Computrainer course of the route?
It’s the back half of the IM course. T1 is in the parking lot at Hapuna Beach and you have a decent little climb back out to the Queen K. You head South for a little over four miles or so and there are a few rollers in this stretch and then you turn around and go North on the Queen K as if you were riding the IM course. There is one last little hill that doesn’t look like much at the Mauna Kea and then you catch about a two mile fast downhill into Kawaihae. You make a righ hand turn and then start heading up to Hawi. IMO the worst of the rollers are at the beginning of the climb and the steepest is in the frist couple of miles at the Kohala Ranch entrance. It is not all uphill to Hawi. There are some downhill stretches where you can recover. In the morning the wind tends to be a crosswind bllowing from the Kohala’s out towards the ocean. Whem you see the sign that says 7 miles to Hawi is usually where it gets interesting. The wind almost always switches from a cross to a head wind ad this point and it pretty much is a grind up to Hawi. Not huge hills by any stetch, but pretty much a solid grade the rest of the way.
Then it is just the reverse coming back to the Mauna Lani. A previous poster mentioned the climb back to the Queen K. I think that’s the worst of the bunch and usually very hot through that section. When you turn into the Mauna Lani you get at least a mile downhill/flat section to get ready for the run. I find that in general if I am pacing it evenly that comning back will be at least 20-25 minutes faster.
What he said…
And when you come back down and make the turn and are heading out of Kawaiihae, you’ve got an uphill (doesn’t look as bad as it is) and a headwind. This is what made that 2 miles so fast on the way out. To me, it’s always one of the hardest parts of the ride, because (especially if you’re not expecting it), it doesn’t look very bad, but you slow way down.
As the morning goes on and into the afternoon, the cross winds pick up, and the winds on the way back along Queen K can turn into a head wind. To me it seems, the longer you are on the bike course, the harder it gets because of the changing winds.
I did 2005 and 2006 Honu and never got our of my large chain ring (53T). The Hawi climb is very moderate IMO.
In 2006 on the downhill from Hawi to Kawaihae it was easy to top +55 mph on the longer/steeper sections.
But that is because you are a stud on the bike. On the other hand, I used all of my gears for the ride.
I thought Will gave an excellent description of the course but keep in mind it’s all relative to what you’re used to. In your case, it’s probably going to appear to be a fairly hilly (as in lots of rollers) and a reasonable, steady climb to Hawi. From where I come from I wouldn’t even consider the climb to Hawi, well, “a climb,” it’s more like a “slow grind” but a headwind seems to be inevitable no matter what. Of course, it’s pretty flippin’ fast coming back from Hawi…
I will say this: Honu is an absolutely awesome race – extremely well organized. It is by far my favorite Half-IM. I’ll be there again this year so I hope to see you there.
Thanks, Chris
All good posts. Better start riding some bridges!
Aloha,
Matt