OK, Here is my first RR so here we go ! I just got back from a week long family trip from Maui. I decided to escape family duty for one day during the trip and get a bit of riding in. I signed up for a so called Haleakala MTB ride the last time I was in Maui, only to find out that the riding was done on beach cruiser type bikes on the paved road down the mountain. Feeling HUGELY let down and disappointed by that experience, I decided on something else for this trip. My original idea was to rent a road bike and climb up to Haleakala, but with 36 miles one way and 10K of climbing, I decided I did not have the fitness to tackle that. Neil, the owner of Crater Cycles in Maui found out I ride mostly MTB and suggested I do a bit of shuttling and ride the Skyline trail for some real MTB fun. He would provide the bike, helmet, and protective gear. All I had to do was bring my shoes and clothing... very cool ! So I decided to rent out a Giant Trance X 29 ( since Mike has been bugging me about getting on a Giant forever ), and Giant Reigns for the rest of my crew. Our route would be to leave our cars at Rice Park, drive up to the Observatory, shoot down Skyline/Mamane Trail, end up at Rice Park to pick up our cars. This is a 10K descend down about 14 miles of riding.. Here are some pixes..... View from Rice Park up hwy to Haleakala....many of these signs posted along the route um.... wear HELMETS folks ! heading up towards the clouds ! pay $10 bucks to enter the park. Hint..Haleakala is part of the National Park System, so if you have annual pass, bring it. It works here. Still a long ways to go to the top from this sign. Beautiful scenery on the way up. Destination up ahead ! Ray and John all geared up. 10K feet up in the sky ! The shop had the wrong size Trance X29, so I ended up grabbing a SB-95. First section of the trail is like the moon ( or Mt Ventoux ). Love the scenery. The volcanic ash is VERY loose, so watch your speed ! Ash anyone ? The middle section ( Mamane trail ) is double, then single track, leaving the ashes behind. Nice. I slipped and can't get up ! JK. All was good. Full Face came in good use. Fireroad action. This is the start of the lower paved section switchback, but there are secret singletracks that you can go on that will take you down and connect to the paved section farther down. (similar to how Lance cut across the field to rejoin the lead group after avoiding a crashed Beloki...please no Lance discussion..comment was just to paint a picture...) Just in case you were wondering.. I had 4G coverage pretty much all along the trail. Originally, I had planned to ride this by myself.. so I had asked about cell coverage.. along with "are there any cougars ( not the hi-heel wearing type ) like we do back here in So Cal ?" Luckily, the answer was yes to cell coverage, and no to the big cats.
I climbed Haleakala last year on a road bike and that was torture but the decent was insane. I hit 55+ mph speeds. I should have shuttled to the top and MTB'ed the backside like you guys. Looks like fun!
That climb is killer ! Awesome you made your way up. I will have to get more climbing in my legs before I can successfully ride to the top.
Thanks for sharing this. In the little research I did on riding in Hawaii I found that there wasn't much to find. I only heard Maui had more riding compared to other islands. This ride will be at the top of the list if we make it to Maui someday.
Awesome, Jason! I wonder if my wife will give me a hall pass to go riding while we're on vacation... What was the weather like?
Weather was great the week we were there. Warm, but not scortching. Hope you get that hallpass from your wife ! The scenery was amazing.
Great report...there used to be more "access" about 15 years ago when sugarcane fields were being abandoned but nobody came in to swoop them up. Most of the best stuff is on private/native land and used for horseback riding, or (on the Big Island) part of Hunting Areas. So much potential and so many trails/roads on the private/native lands. Had family there the same week and rented from the same shop for a more mellow ride in one of the forest reserves...positive thumbs up for that shop if you're headed to Maui.
