Ride to the top of the world

I realize that this is nothing compared to Jaroslaw's recent conquest of the world's highest peak on foot, but I thought I'd share a couple pictures of my recent ride up the country's longest continuous climb that you can do on a bicycle. The ride up the Haleakala volcano on Maui starts at sea level and climbs to 10,000 feet in 36 miles of road. The overall average grade is between 5% and 6%, but that is deceptive because the first 14 miles of the ride are more "rolling" than climbing, while the last 22 miles are unrelenting, switchback after switchback, with not a single break in the climb. And it gets progressively steeper as you go, with the last 3/4 of a mile at 12-13%, which is absolutely brutal after 4+ hours of nonstop climbing into thinner and thinner air.

The ride back down, however, is a blast.

The first picture is me with my riding buddy Toby, whom I met the morning of my ride when we both rented bikes from the same bike shop. The picture was taken in front of a little food shop at about 3,500 feet, which is the last place to get any food or drink (not quite - there is a lone water fountain about a mile from the summit). Alas, Toby did not make it - he was probably the smarter one, and bailed at about 5,000 feet. The next 5,000 feet were pretty lonely.

The second picture is me at the summit (wearing a surfing rash guard under my jersey, as it was about 45 degrees up there at 10,023 feet, and I had not brought any cold weather cycling gear to Maui, so I stuffed a rash guard in a jersey pocket).

Third is "Science City", the USAF radar station that is the only thing at the summit besides a tiny national park ranger station.

Fourth is the peak of the big island of Hawai'i poking above the clouds, as seen from the summit on Maui.

Last is the start of the road back down. You can see that the terrain looks very much like the surface of Mars, with the barren red volcanic dirt and the scattered volcanic rocks.

Best,

Jim (member of the TARGETRAINING Cycling Club)