Coffeeneuring 2016 - The 6th and final cup
Yep, that's right, the 6th and final cup for this year's coffeeneuring challenge. I had a good start to the challenge, but as vacation time got closer and closer, and the work load of my 9-to-5 increased within the same timeframe, coffeeneuring got to be more and more of a challenge.
This bikecation, as I call it, has been in the works for quite some time. It was planned as both a friend's birthday celebration and an end of season victory ride for another. The goal? Ride up a volcano, for fun. The full ride emcompasses about 8400' of climbing over 60 miles. Though technically, it's 8400' in 30 miles, since the last 30 is just the reverse and completely downhill.
We started our ride in the town of Makawao, elevation 1600'. Kula Lodge and Marketplace is at elevation 3000', 7.3 miles from our start and just before the Haleakalā turnoff (see second pic below). When heading up, this is the last chance to fill up water, use the bathroom and get a snack for the next 12 miles. Hawaiians are super friendly and nice. The people at the Marketplace are no exception, just honestly nice. They have a bike rack and lots of picnic tables overlooking the valley. They're bike friendly because many bike shops/tour companies offer a sunrise tour where they shuttle you to the top at 4am to catch the sunrise then you bike down on a mountain bike provided. The Marketplace has coffee, snacks, fruits, premade sandwiches and souvenirs. I had a coke and chips to energize my ride up.
By this point my 2 friends were about a 1/2 hour ahead of me. I knew ahead of time I wouldn't make it to the summit being quite undertrained for this. My goal was to make it to the Visitor's Center about 1 mile past the Entrance, elevation 7000'. I saw lots of people going down giving me funny looks, as if I were going the wrong way. LOL!
5 hours later, I made it! I had just enough time to use the bathroom and reapply sunblock before my friends met me on their way down from the summit. The air up there was definitely thin, but more than that, it was cold, so we couldn't stay long. We layered up for the ride down, which took just over an hour.
Before going all the way back to our start, we made a 2nd stop at Kula Marketplace for a much needed lunch. One of the cashiers who was there during my morning stop said "you made it back!" and another said she saw me riding up this morning while she was driving to work. We got sandwiches, I got an iced tea, and we all got a well deserved break after all that climbing. Unfortunately, with my bike brain, I didn't get a picture!
Though I didn't get all 7 coffeeneuring rides in for the 2nd year in a row (I only made it to 4 last year), it's been a blast and I will continue to Always Be Coffeeneuring. Cheers!
Kula Marketplace - morning stop
Haleakalā turnoff
Entering the National Park at 7000'
