Maui Ride Report

[hev]

So after getting settled and shaking out some kinks in my ride I was finally ready to take on something substantial. A path less traveled off the island volcanoe became my focus. The ride starts at 10,000 foot summit of Haleakala and fortunatly my parents were down to act as tour guides and shuttle me for the adventure. It was indeed adventure riding at it's finest.

The ride started out with a landscape akin to the surface of mars. Loose sharp volcanic rock all over the place but occasional oppurtunities to open it up on the double track. Amazing views down the ocean breaks below and helis with tourists buzzing above made for a pretty surreal experience.



Eventually plants turned the volcanic surface into soil and the riding became less alpine and slightly more enjoyable. Still above the clouds taking in the sites.




The lower sections were made up of single track that I fantasize about. Lush green vegitaion, lomy soil, burmed corners and nutural jumps and airs, all on a mellow downhill prime for wide open ripping.




Eventually I entered a more jungle like environment and more tasty and rooty single track was awaiting.



The ride ended with an exilirhating road descent through pastures with burmed wall rides and cool poacher trails cutting off switchbacks. Quite posibbly the most exciting road I have ever ridden on a MTB. Deserving of more photos but it was too much fun to stop and take any on this section. At this point I was passing through clouds and on a cloud of my own. Overall an epic ride and a great way to get away from the Maui tourism mania that is pretty prevelant on the island. If you have the means to get a bike here, DO IT! When all was said and done the ride was about 7k of vert and 16 miles of distance.

[canyonrider]

looks like some solid riding, thanks for the photos. I've been thinking about riding there ever since I saw the collective....

[postman22]

looks awesome

collective is in kauia not maui though

[canyonrider]

whoops, I guess by "there" I meant HI in general....

[hev]

looks awesome

collective is in kauia not maui though

bzzt. wrong. collective is on maui. (or atleast that's what they imply)

[fondigley]

Looks sick man.

[homerjay]

That's some good shit right there!

[Big E]

Regardless of where Collective was filmed, anyone know about any riding on Kauai? Thinking there must be some fun stuff in Waimea Canyon.

[Crinkle]

SAAAAAAAWEEETNESS

[hev]

Big E - there is riding there. I picked up a good book. available here: http://bikehawaii.com/order.html - definately is some wamaia canyon stuff in there

ja_surf - the route is legal. there is a very short section of paved road with a rather discouraging sign claiming the section of road is for maitence vehicles only (there is a large astronomoy observation center at the top) but it's only about a quarter mile and the literature I had said it was ok to ride. really I think it's just discouraging touritsts from getting in over there head.

[CS]

Sweetness.

I won't lie. I'm a bit jealous. I've been jonesin to get on the bike of late.

[lph]

excellent, Hev!

I am heading to Maui in may and don't like 'laying on the beach' maybe i will take my mtn bike instead of my golf clubs. much better way to see the island.

i am gonna buy that book, but, are there a good number of rides on Maui?

[funkendrenchman]

Tres cool!

[altagirl]

Very nice! It looks like Mr.AG's bike went on a trip to Hawaii all by itself. It's the TR to show the other bikes in the garage. "Here I am chilling on the side of the trail in Hawaii. It was sweet."

We wished we had brought riding gear last time we were on Kauai. Glad to see you took advantage!

[shirk]

That looks sweet. Sounds like a fun ride.

[Particle]

Nice Hev! looks sweet...got me drooling.

[onehotchili]

ok 15 years ago, i did this ride... when no one was MTBiking on Maui. in fact i almost got to do the same ride with Greg Herbold (former DH champion) and Paul Turner (founder of RockShox) as a "grunt" since they were doing a photo shoot for MBAction magazine. but i had to work that afternoon (we were good friends with Paul's former in-laws).

in any case, glad to see you enjoyed the ride. Poli Poli (the state park where you ended up in with all the Eucalyptus trees etc.) is really cool. i spent many weekends camping and hiking up there.

to really "earn" your vert, you need to ride up to the top of Haleakela .

[bagtagley]

Nice hev, thanks for stopping for pics.