Kona Fantasy Camp (Maui).... Big Tri Week
Family vacation this year is a return to Maui. I was pretty stoked when the idea of a "Hawaiian Island Big Tri Week" popped into my head. I so was in love with the idea that I dubbed it "Kona Fantasy Camp". I don't see myslef going to Kona anytime soon, even as a spectator, so this was my week to work with the island gods, boost my fitness and have some fun.
First plan was to ship my bike, but that went out the window. Getting my bike to Hawaii was just gonna be tough. I am traveling HEAVY already with a 2 year old and 5 year old, plus three other adults. The logistics of flying and driving with it were just to too much. I researched shipping it, but is was cost prohibitive. I own a small business that has a great relationship with both UPS and FedEx and even with my business rates it was rediculous. Plus, I was worried about shipping my babies - either road or tri bikes, so I was going to be sending my old, spare road bike anyway.
Since I wasn't racing and was using a spare, I decided to just skip the thing and rent rent. Cost versus benefit made it a no-brainer. Enter the Specialized Secteur. I was able to rent it for $200 for the WEEK. It came all squared away with compact crank up front and and 28/11 in the back. Just like home... Bummer is that both Quarq Cinqo and Powertap G3 didn't make the trip tho....
So, today was DAY 1. We arrived late last night so the morning was a bit of a throw away. We had a lot of admin to do for the kids, plus pick up the rental Specialized. The afternoon was poolside with the kids, but did kick off the event as planned with a 7 mile tempo run through the little town of Kihei. First three miles were strong, fourth was ok and then I started to fade a bit - humidity, wind and full belly were conspiring against me. It was more up hill on the way back too. Pretty stoked I nailed the plan of 7 miles in 56" tho.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/179302793
Tomorrow should be a good one. It is going to be me versus the volcano! Plan is to ride out of the hotel and ascend Haleakala - house of the sun. About 50 miles to the summit from Wailea. Plan is 38 miles of climbing with an average of 5% to summit at 10,000 feet after starting at sea level. Should be a barn burner!
Comments
Good luck on the Haleakala climb. Make sure you bring $5 for entrance to the park. The climb is relentless. All 4-5% but very long. Supposed to be 3rd hardest in the world. I rode the crater last year and only made it up to 9K. When I go back, I want to ride counterclockwise on 340 from Kahului to Kapalua. That would be awesome. Have a great trip!
Dino - I hope you're swimming off Wailea - the BEST part of any West Hawaii trip, IMO. Those islands out there to the west, and the prevailing winds from the east, and a series of protected bays, mean very little wave or swell action. Just say away from north Kihei - that's where they dump the sewage out to sea.
Try running on Big Beach (south of Makena) and or along the lava rocks - used to be part of the Xterra world's course, and another big challenge
Nice! I went on vacation with my parents to the big island a few years back, and I had an opportunity to bring my bike with me. Agreed that bringing a bike is a pain, much smarter to rent. I remember spending lots of time riding along the Queen K highway (smooth roads with really wide shoulders) and cruising through Kona. Heat and crosswinds were definitely present. I was still a noob cyclist then, and hadn't started doing triathlons (didn't run or swim yet). This was in December, and I remember seeing all this IM-related merchandise being sold in various shops in town. No idea what it all meant back then, but I'm kicking myself for not buying a Kona t-shirt when I had the chance.
It's really not that bad. Just a constant grade for a long time. Nothing really steep. Just a grinder.
I know you are already there, but if anyone else is thinking about doing it, I rented a bike from Mauii Cyling http://www.gocyclingmaui.com/schedule.html and joined one of their tours. Full support. Just bring shoes, pedals, clothing and helmet. If you forget anything, they can still get you suited up.
Epic fun.
Joanne and I are going to Maui next week also, Wed thru Monday, I think. Any suggestions for what we should do, go, eat, etc? This is our first "destination vacation," ie, staying in one place vs a road trip, snowboarding, etc.
I hadn't thought about renting a bike, and I don't feel the "need" to, but pretty easy to bring some kit. My plan was to run ~30-60' every day...and that's about it. Haven't yet taken the shoulder for a spin in the pool so dunno about swimming.
Anyway, a bit of a hijack but I'm sure you could give Dino some ideas as well.
Not sure if you plan to hang out on a beach all day long or be busy all day seeing the sites and doing stuff. For us it's mostly hanging at the beach with kids.
If you don't feel like riding up Haleakela, you can always drive up and see the sunrise. Fun and romatic - all in one!
Probably the most expensive restauarant on the island, but exceptional food and service. http://www.mamasfishhouse.com/
We've stayed up in the Napili Bay area. Very calm water. Great for snorkeling, not so much for surfing.
Taking a cruise out to Molokini to scuba dive used to be really cool, now just kinda fun. In the old days you were allowed to feed the fish so the island scuba areas were filled with thousands of fish with tons of colors. Now, no feeding and no fish. The boat ride is still fun and you get to see and swim with a bunch of huge turtles.
More ideas if you like to give a thought to what you like to do.
@Rich: Where are you staying? I also recommend Donnie at Maui Cyclery like Tom said. Last time I went, they had Ryder's bike from his 2:32 record Haleakala climb in the window. Plus Paia is a cool town too. I just put together a Maui tip guide for a buddy that I can send you.
1) go to the Old Lahaina Luau. Outstanding evening. Try to get tix reserved in advance.
2) go to Barnes and noble, and pick up the book 'Maui Revealed', and then plan out a drive of the Hana highway. The book is so ridiculously awesome, Kristin and I bought one for each island during our honeymoon. I've made that reco dozens of times, and every one has come back thanking me for it.
3) it's probably not whale season there anymore, but when we were there (in January), the whale watching tours were amazing.
How did the climb go ? Legs left for more biking?
am from maui. Mail me if questions.
Yes the "Revealed" books are good.
All, that's just the thing, we don't have a plan so all suggestions are welcome. I'll try to find that book this weekend, thanks!
Great day yesterday on Haleakala! I had a great time. First thought is that that climb is no joke. It's for real. To quote others, it is a serious grind. If you are gonna do it, pack a lunch and get ready to punch a clock. The ride is long and steady. The views and scenery are just beyond gorgeous. The sites of Maui's "Up Country" are very different then you see along the beaches, but it is work. The climb is just relentless and seems to just go and go and go....
I mounted up at The Grand Wailea, at 6:30 AM for the 16 mile commute to Kahalui before I could start the climb. The commute takes you through the middle of "the valley island" with Haleakala looking down from the Southeast while West Maui Towers off to the left. The commute was made tougher due to pedaling into the teeth of the Easterly trade winds already blowing 15-20 mph. As a result, the relatively flat commute took just over an hour. I wasn't working that hard, but I wasn't noodling either.
Here is a picture of Haleakala from the valley while commuting along the 311 Mokulele Hwy. The volcano is of the shield variety rather than the classic shape built by kids in science class. It is massive! It looks like half of an egg laying on its side. This makes the climb challenging as well. because you keep climbing and can't really see the top.
Once I got to the Airport area of Kahalui, I made the right hander on onto Hana Hwy and the climb "up country" begins. From here it is steady 38 mile climb to the top. Garmin reported it as an average grade of 4.9 percent. After a couple miles it's another right onto the Haleakala hwy and you are on your way. This is where I made it hard on myself. According to ALL the locals, everyone starts the ride from Paia or Makawao. Not where Ryder started his record 2.5 hour ascent, but think it was from one of these towns. They are two little towns on the shoulders of the volcano. This would have saved me about 20 miles at the beginning AND the end of the ride and would left me with just a 5 hour climb rather than the 90 miler it turned into. Note to self - take car to Paia next time. 5 hours of climbing with a 1 hour decent would have been fine. For context, all the "ride down the volcano" operators end the decent, with zero pedaling at one of those two towns.
The road to Haleakala is amazing. The thing is like butter and really steady and well engineered. It was built with a primary purpose of moving MASSIVE equipment up to "Science City", the observatory and scientific station at the top of the volcano. They moved highly sensitive, heavy, oversized gear up there for the telescopes and the road was purpose built to unsure a smooth steady ride to the top for the equipment and building supplies.
The road will take you through a few little wide spots with housing and the occasional market. It is really very different than the coast. It is often called "Cowboy Hawaiian" because of all the ranches and horse farms. Then you go onto a massive, massive ranch that rings the entire top of the mountain. I was told by a tour operator that is the largest private cattle ranch in the US. The government must have an easement through the ranch to access the Haleakala National Park and the observatory. The pasture lands are amazing and the road went right by a pasture filled with spring lambs.
One interesting thing about the ride is the steady stream of BMX and Mountain bikes headed down the mountain. I did this two years ago, but it was fun to see the other side of things. Tour operators take groups to the top in massive vans and then send them down to Paia or Makawao. The ride is not that fast. It is only 5% downhill on average and zero pedaling is required for the 30 mile decent (then begin the decent outside of the national park). On my way up I probably past 100 downhill riders. They are easy to spot - tour leader in the front, 10 riders, then a van. They are also wearing FULL helmets. You get a lot of strange looks from the downhillers, plus the occasional "wow" and many, many "hang loose" signs. The good news is it keeps the road pretty safe. These little signs are everywhere:
After 16 miles you turn onto Crater Road and it is still 22 miles to the summit, but only 12 to the gate to the National Park where, yes, they charge a guy on a bike $5 to come in. Cars are $10. From the gate it is 1 mile to the visitor center, from there it is another 10 miles to the summit. You can get water at the visitor center and that is it. There is no other food or dink to speak of once you turn on to Crater road for 22 miles of 5% climbing. So, nutrition planning is key.
After leaving the visitor's center, I was starting to crumble. The ride had been massive to this point and I was starting to worry about the ride home. I was also doing some painful math. Two miles from the visitor's center I still had 8 miles to go. At that point, I had been climbing 5 hours on top of 1 hour commute across the island into the wind. Eight miles seems like nothing, but my speed was only a measly 6 miles per hour up hill at that point. Not having a power meter was also a bummer. Those numbers and pacing would have been fun. 6mph meant another 1:20:00 to the summit for a total one-way of about 7.5 hours - then the ride home. The ride home is rough because you gotta go back to Kahalui then cross island to commute to Wailea. Plus, my kids were poolside and daddy's 6 hour ride was becoming an all day affair. So here is me at the turn around with 8 miles to go to the top:
The ride down is a blast! I was doing 36-40 mph down Crater road, passing cars and making time. The ride down is also cold! The turn around point was in the high 60's, add the wind chill and it gets cold. Ride through a cloud between the top and the bottom and it gets really cold. Good thing for the little wind breaker. Also, the air on top is thinner, cooler and far less humid. On the way down you can feel it warming back up, getting thicker and more humid. Such a trip....
Ride home after the turn around was another 2:15:00 to go 45 miles. See the attached Garmin link for the map. It is just wild that you can't get from Wailea to Up Country without going through Kahalui first. The issue is a massive sugar plantation sits in the way.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/179603871
Feels really good to hit the South shore after being at 9,000 ft 2 hours and 45 miles before:
Ride was 90 miles in just over 8 total hours - slightly over 7 hours were on the move. It was really lucky that I packed well with nutrition. I ate everything I had plus a little snack stop in Kula half way up the mountain. I had two bottles of Perpetuem, 1 bottle of Sustained Energy, three bottle of just water, three gels and a protein bar. Convenience store stop was carbohydrate bar, apple and water.
Rental bike was awesome. I used my pedals, helmet and shoes. I didn't bring my own seat, but it was wasn't an issue. Seat was great and so was the bike set-up - compact crank and 28/11 cassette. I was also impressed with the Shimano 105 group and am wondering why I have two bikes with Dura Ace. The shifting was crisp and responsive. Braking was also good. It was a really well tuned and maintained bike. The 56 fit me like a glove with a just little saddle adjustment.
If I shoot for the summit again on this trip, I will start from Paia. That will save over two hours of admin time and focus on the work. But, before I handle my unfinished business with Haleakala, I am riding to Hana and doing the West Maui loop.
Today.... I swim.....
Yesterday was a little tight with vacation activities and I think I sort of blew it. I had planned a 60 minute open water swim, but the day just got away from me. I wound up getting in the water at about 4:15 with the goal of swimming back and forth in Wailea Bay right in front of the hotel. Big mistake. The wind was blowing that late in the day and it made the swim just impractical. I hopped in the water thinking I could get a little rough water practice, but is was just no good. I am a strong swimmer and really comfortable in the water after working my way through college as a SCUBA instructor, so safety was not the issue. The issue was that the water was so choppy with such a pronounced swell that I just couldn't concentrate on my stroke. I was just rolling up and down and side to side like a cork.
In 22 minutes I was only able to go 0.58 miles. I was not tired or anything. It was just a bust. Next time, I gotta go early and definitely try the more sheltered beaches up the road in Makena.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/179930349
That was yesterday... Let's talk about today.
I was able to get out the door about 7:30 with goal of a long run. I was thinking 10 miles and was going to head toward the East and Makena versus to the West and Kihei. The run to Makena is fantastic! The road is really lightly traveled and feels like you are out in the sticks. Once you get a few miles down the road you hit Malena State Beach (Big Beach) and the route drops right onto the water.
There is really calm water on your right and sort of interesting properties to the left. The road gets very narrow and eventually opens up on to a lava field and moves inland from the water. The lava field is not the Queen K, but it is very cool and sort of other worldly. At this point I am running really well. Not fast, but consistent and smooth and I decide to go for a 1/2 marathon distance. Here is shot of the road. Just 6 miles from the Grand Wailea and it looks like the moon.
You can just see Molokini on the ocean over my right shoulder. Here is another great shot if you ignore the ridiculous hair....
I hit 6.6 miles on the GPS at about 1 hour and decided to flip it and make for home. The run back was also really strong. I ate the only gel I had on me at the turn around and realized about mile 11 how great it is to have the occasional aid station on 1/2 marathon run. Oh, well, almost home.
I got back to the hotel lobby with 13.2 miles on the Garmin 610. It was a really great, fun, long run and my first solo 1/2 marathon. I really enjoyed this part of Maui and will do it again.
Sorry for all the self portraits, but I really like what pictures bring to a thread.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180326831
However, yesterday was massive and one of the great ride of the year so far. Sunday was a big run day doing 13 miles, but I elected to go for the West Maui Loop around the Western mountains anyway. The guide books recommend starting in Maalaea Harbor on the Southwest side of the valley. I opted to add a few more miles to the standard 60 mile loop by starting from the hotel in Wailea instead. It took me about 12 extra miles to get the harbor, but it was flat, pretty zippy and I enjoyed the commute through Kihei at about 6:30 AM before most were awake.
I jumped onto the VERY busy Hwy 30 at Maalaea and started toward Lahaina. There is wee bit of climbing here, but nothing heavy. My legs, however were reminding me of the 13 miles run from the day before. Once over the rocks it was about 15-20 fast, flat miles to Lahaina. The ride is pretty because it is along the water, but the traffic takes away from the feel. It's like riding down a major highway in anywhere USA, but right on a gorgeous beach. This section was down in the drops focusing on riding ABP-style.
The ride begins on the Western tip of the island at Kapulua. This is where the Ritz Carlton sits on the opposite side of the road from the Plantation golf course. Once you drop down the back side of the hill in Kapalua, you are off the map and in the sticks. It is really pretty amazing. It's like some just flipped a switch and the city stopped. This is like mile 35.
The ride has been really flat to this point, but here is where the gain starts. This ride follows the coast, but at the end of the day, my Garmin had 4.1k feet of climbing. At one point you climb up a steep section that puts you up 1,000 feet over the sea.
The road is pretty empty other than the occasional rental car with fellow tourists out to the see the sights. After Kapalua, other one little town with a few road side stands about 16 miles before Kahului, there is NOTHING on this side of the island except great views and rolling hills. Make sure you fill your bottles before you leave Kapalua, or you will be sorry.
The road also gets really narrow. Down to one lane at many points. The up and downs are also interesting. This side of the island is full of bays and small coves. At each one the road crashes down to the water in the back of the bay and then climbs up and out the other side. Most of the climbs are pretty mellow, but there is one called "Mr. Steepy" by the locals that will have you out of the saddle for a quarter mile.
Here a few pics to let you see how remote it is.....
The little road side stand.... There are three or four of them and they all seem to be selling Banana Bread, Water/Drinks and Shave Ice. Stock up, because it is 16 up and down miles to Kahuli....
And, it's not the Hawaiian sticks without the chickens in the road. Also, check how narrow it is...
This ride is really epic, but is the miles between Kapalua and Kahului that make it cool. Once I got to Kahului, I filled my bottles again and then it was back to putting my head down and grinding out the 15 mies or so back to Wailea. Total ride was just about spot on 80 miles.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/181148543
Dino ... Courageous, man. I'd always been scared to ride the road up to and along the resorts in West Maui ... Traffic. No wind at Maalaea? No side trip to Io valley?
Dino. Cool. Might counterclockwise work for West Maui? That way no road between you and water side.
A big adventure would be loop around East Maui. Kahului to Hana to Kaupo to Ulupalakua to Kahului. Dirt road some of the way so unclear if road bike would be ok. Need car support. Small store in Kaupo that may be open. Rental companies may not like it but that loop is fine in a car. And gives the full climate spectrum in one day. Kahului to Hana busy and windy road so may be problems with cars seeing bikes. And cliff, dirt road between Hana and Kaupo with not much traffic but still car visibility issues.
Wind at Maalaea can be brutal. You knew it must be a bad spot when you look on the ridge above you and wind energy generators. But, I got an early start and made through while the winds were relatively still. What was there was also more of a quartering tail wind.
No side trips this time. After my run the day before and Haleakala earlier in the week, I had my hands full with the loop.
Joanne and I got back yesterday morning after taking the red eye home (sucked!!). We didn't get on the first flight and had to wait 8hrs at the airport to just barely get on the 2nd one. We fly for free so probably shouldn't complain
.
This was a vacation / see it all trip for us so no riding, etc. Just relatively short daily runs from the hotel and a ton of sight seeing.
We drove around West Maui one day and around East Maui (Hana Hwy, etc) the next day. Hana Hwy would be an AWESOME ride with a very, very early start to stay ahead of the tourists on such a narrow road. Like riding through an arboretum. Same with West Maui, but not as dramatic.
Not sure if I'd want to ride the south side of West Maui. The dirt road wasn't that bad but some of the "paved" sections were a joke. Like two monkeys paved the road with buckets of asphalt and a hammer. Very bad riding surface, hot, windy, totally exposed to the sun, etc. Would be better to ride to Hana, with a couple side trips down to beaches, have BBQ and "Braddah Hutt's BBQ" then ride back.
We also drove up Haleakala to the crater...which was totally socked in with clouds. That would be an awesome ride up and bitchin descent on great pavement.
Anyway, a good trip all in all and I was scheming how I could do a training camp out there.