Bike 5:30:00 [2] 99.5 km (18.1 kph) +2175m
When we were in maui several years ago and drove the East Maui loop I thought it looked like an amazing bike ride. The biggest challenges are traffic and length. To manage both we decided to break the ride into two days which meant paying an exorbitant price for a place to stay in Hana (though it was worth it). Our Haiku accommodation was very well situated to start/finish the ride. The busiest section of road was just after Makawao although it had a very broad shoulder and after 4-5 km we were able to deke onto a quiet side road which paralleled the hwy. In Kula we stopped for some refreshments at Grandma's Cafe and then continued around the island on the Plane Highway. This section was super nice - quiet, perfect pavement, swooping, little wind and nice views. Once we turned the corner the views changed to wild windswept coastline - the same wind would now be in our face for the rest of the ride. The next hour was the worst although the first few km were downhill so the headwind was less of an issue. An occasional vehicle passed us but otherwise we felt way out there. Once back at ocean level we had a couple very stiff climbs that were exacerbated by the headwind and then we started the rough pavement section. Luckily the wind was not as bad here and the rough sections were never longer than a few hundred meters (though did continue for a 5 km section). We had plans to refuel at the Kaupo store but it was closed. The next 5-6 km were gravel (which was actually easier to ride than the broken pavement) and our 28c tires handled it with no issues. The road is again stunning as it weaves in and out of valleys just above the crashing surf. Past Kaupo everything starts to get lush again and the waterfalls were flowing at a very high rate (it must have rained heavily up high). There were a couple very impressive cascades - it was also very impressive to see how far out into the ocean the brown runoff extended. The final portion of the ride has many more houses with well tended gardens, and then finally near Hana there is some pastureland. I think everyone was happy to be done the ride as despite only being 100 km there was a lot of climbing and many punchy hills in the last half (though the first 800 m of climbing were super easy).
