Statrix Redux

I’ve just received my test model Brooks Cambium C-17. I haven’t mounted it yet, but I have filled out the initial survey and managed to make a few images.

I’ll be mounting it later and giving it a go a bit later, but first I have to run an errand…doesn’t that always happen!!

Most of the time I’m pretty anonymous when riding around town on my bikes. There aren’t a lot of Rivs in Honolulu so they do stand out, but truthfully most folks don’t pay much attention. Sometimes, however, you run into a bunch of folks that do…
On the last Friday of the month here in Honolulu we have a semi-organized holoholo ride (holoholo loosely translates to ‘going out no place in particular for fun’ usually driving, riding, whatevahs). Think Critical Mass without either the critical or the mass and leavened with Aloha:
“Holoholo Ride takes place every last Friday of the month and is open to anyone who wishes to join a fun, cycling, law conscious group of cycling enthusiasts for a cruise around Honolulu. The route starts at the State Capitol and ends at the Eat The Streets Food Truck event.”
Back to the story…I’d headed out after work for my own holoholo ride, just taking in the sights, grabbing a bite, having coffee, viewing the waterfront, that sort of thing and ended up at our local Eat the Street monthly event. Basically it’s a monthly street food event. Lot’s of folks attend.
Well being Bike Month our local bike org (hbl.org) had set up a bicycle valet service.
I cruised by for some dinner and to visit a friend working the valet service when the Holoholo Ride folks showed up. They had a great collection of sensible bikes for the most part with fenders, lights, baskets, and such, along with the requisite fixies and such.
They saw my Hunqapillar and…well I wasn’t so anonymous anymore. I spent a good twenty minutes showing off the bike and answering questions, and even got photographed by a fellow named Sau who has a blog of bikey stuff. You can see his photos of my bike on his blog, You Are Only As Fast As Your Next Elevator Trip.
I’m including them here…linked to Sau’s blog, but you should really go check out all his great images of the local scene.

[All photos ©Sau Hsu 2013]
One of the guys (and it was a mixed crowd) whose name I don’t recall (sorry), says he’ll be getting Hillbourne sometime this year and asked what I thought of them. As I almost got one myself but opted for the Hunq I just had to say go for it.
Mostly the folks on the ride were in their 20s and 30s so it looks like lugged steel has a great future.
I think I may have promised to show up at the next ride on my Quickbeam. 🙂

May is Bike Month. I love Bike Month. Of course I also ride daily the other eleven months of the year, but Bike Month is special. Mostly that’s because it’s May and the weather bounces back and forth between wet and dry. Of course it’s also special because there are a lot of events going on around the country and even here in Hawaii.
This year I’m participating in “The Cycle 100 Challenge” which is the Hawaii Bicycling League’s bit of the National Bike Challenge. The 100 runs just during the month of May, the National runs from May 1st through September 30th. Basically the idea is to get folks to track their riding and accumulate points. Both of the challenges are using Endomondo as the tracking tool and the social interaction platform.
The challenges are just about accumulating miles or going faster over the same course like Strava. Here the idea is go encourage people to get on their bike more often. The point system is weighted towards riding daily rather than lots of miles – though they count too.
If you ride a mile on a given day you’ll get 20 points just for riding, and, if I’m not mistaken (a frequent occurrence) another point for the mile. Thus riding just one mile every day would net you 147 points over the course of a week. That’s just 7 miles. If you rode 100 miles on Saturday but didn’t ride the rest of the week you’d have 120 points. Better to ride every day. Of course if you ride 100 miles everyday…well…good luck with that, folks do it, I’m not one of them.
So what’s my point here? Well in a very non-competitive way I’m doing pretty well in the standings. I ride pretty much every day. In fact during the month of May I didn’t ride on two days. I was in the hospital on those days if my memory serves. In fact, at the moment out of 139 or so riders who signed up in Hawaii i’m in 4th place on May 30th, with most of 2 days to go.
I will not finish 4th though. I’ve been neck and neck with another rider for the last couple of days and as soon as he hops on his bike today he’ll pull ahead. Still it’s highly likely I’ll finish 5th. Not bad for an old fat guy. What’s my secret. I ride every day. That’s it. Just get those daily points consistently. Now I’ll admit I have a few long rides in there as well, the JBK Haleiwa Metric Century, a ride to Ewa Beach, and last weekend’s ride to Haleiwa, but mostly it’s just an accumulation of daily points and the 10 to 20 miles I ride. Good stuff.
Since I probably won’t be in 4th by the end of the day, nor tomorrow, here’s some proof…as Manny A. says, “pictures prove it happened.” [Knowing something about photography I’d argue the point, but hey, for the most part he’s right.]

If either of you who read this blog have been following for a while you’ll know I ride to Haleiwa from Honolulu from time to time. It’s a lovely ride and really, when you get right down to it, isn’t particularly difficult. It only about 70 miles from Makiki to Haleiwa via Hawaii Kai, Waimanalo, Kaneohe, and the windward and north shores. Good stuff.
Well it was time to do it again this weekend when I discovered I had nothing planned for Memorial Day. Yes!
The day dawned clear, blue skies in most of the sky and some cloud cover over the mountains, nothing unusual there. The trades were blowing strongly which is great for the most part…except that part that requires riding into them…sigh.
I chose to ride my Hunqapillar. My Bike Friday is still in it’s case. I need to pull it out this weekend and start prepping it for RAGBRAI it wasn’t yet available. I’ve got some work to do on it as nothing has really been touched since my Oregon ride over a year ago. Yes it’s been out of the case and used for a few things, including my Haleakala descent, but I haven’t really worked on it…new cables, so on and so forth.
I’ve done the Haleiwa ride on both the Friday and my Quickbeam before but I wanted gears for a change and my Hunq hadn’t yet done the full thing. It’s been as far as Waimanalo, but no further. So the Hunq it was.
My 700×38 tires seemed filled enough for the ride. I’d pumped them up a week or so ago so they’d softened and were ‘just right.’ I love comfortable ride. I filled up two insulated water bottles and promised I’d hydrate better than usual this time (and I did), and managed to get off around 6:30am.
I wanted to get the bulk of the ride in before the sun reached it’s peak. I ride slowly so I figured I wouldn’t be to Haleiwa till afternoon. I was right, but not by so much.
The first part of the ride is always the slowest. I have to get out of town which involves city streets from Makiki to Diamond Head. Since the streets were empty it was pleasant, cool, and stress free, but there still stops signs and traffic signals to deal with.
Once I got up the slope to the lookout over the ocean on Diamond Head I worked out the kinks in my still sleepy body. I took a quick water break and slapped on some sunscreen as the sun was now beginning to break free of the mountain clouds. Then off I went…into the wind.
Yep, the first part of the ride from Honolulu to Makapuu is the worst when trades are blowing. It seems to be pretty much straight into the wind and, given the general nature of the trades and the direction one must head it pretty much is. Still I didn’t feel the need to stop at my usual second stopping point and just continued on.
The Hunq was smooth today; no annoying clicks or pops, creaks, or shimmies. In truth that’s its usual condition, smooth as silk, but I’m always grateful for it.
Now as I said today I had gears and I’m going to give them credit for the fact that once I got to Makapuu I didn’t stop either. Normally the hill up from Sandy Beach, into a blasting wind, is cruel and unusual. Today the wind was in force and slope was still there as well, but I got to the top and didn’t feel I needed a break at all so…down I went.
I didn’t stop at the bottom of the hill either. Two water bottles negated the need to refill right away. I could wait for a bit. I continued on into Waimanalo, stopping at the first 7-11 to get a cold drink, a banana, and one of my favorite bike foods, spam musubi. It must be the seaweed because though I love rice there’s nothing really special about rice and “meat” (or whatever SPAM actually is made from).
Then I was off again, though the back roads of Waimanalo. The wind dies down back there which is a blessing because at this point one hasn’t “turned the corner” yet and it’s still coming at you. Then it was time to climb the hill past Kailua to Castle Hospital. It was finally time to fill up my bottles but that’s about all I did. Normally I rest here for a few minutes but…wow…the Hunq was taking care of me. I didn’t feel I needed a break. This could also be because I’ve been upping my mileage each week as I pretend I’m getting ready for RAGBRAI.
Even the hill from the Kapaa Quarry Road to Castle Junction didn’t seem as hard as in the past. Yes I was using my granny gear and yes I was slow, but my heart never pounded and at the top I simply kept going after a good pull on my water bottle.
From there it was a short ride into Kaneohe where I did finally take a break at a Starbucks for my morning coffee. I made a couple of phone calls while I caffeinated and then I was off again. Wow. I was third of the way there and didn’t really notice anything. There was only one rise resembling a hill left and it’s really pretty easy. It looks big from a distance but is one of those deceptive hills that seems smaller once you actually get there.
And now my favorite part of the ride. The wind was no longer head on, but coming in from the side and not has heavy as earlier in the day. The air was cool, the sun bright, the land green and pleasant. What more could you ask?
Really if there’s one ride I love on this island it’s the part of the island between Kahaluu and Kahuku, the true windward coast. It’s lush and green, the mountains are steep, the ocean generally clear and blue, the folks extra nice (and we are pretty nice folks here on Oahu to begin with) and the shoulders good enough for a bike with cooperative traffic when they aren’t. Oh a few tourists can be trouble, as well as a few kids with their hot rods in a hurry to get nowhere, but I’ve never had a problem out here.
I did stop at Swanzy Beach Park for another 7-11 break; another cold drink and a Clif bar. I didn’t want to overeat because I was already planning lunch in Haleiwa…it was looking like I’d make it in time for a normal lunch hour. Yes.
Back on the bike I continued on my way till I got to Kahuku and their famous, but shut down, sugar mill.

After another cold drink and a quick break I was off again for the final 17 miles or so. Now the wind had shifted to be mostly a tailwind and I was managing to keep my speed above 15mph most of the time. In fact I went past some tourists on mopeds at one point near the Turtle Bay Resort and noticed that I, old and overweight riding a bike with racks and a basket, was doing about 22mph with ease on a flat. Thank goodness for tailwinds. Yes, I know many folks are capable of that normally. I’m not. Nor do I care to train enough to be that fast on a regular basis. I like the way I ride, but I also like a little assist from time to time.
Waimea Bay was crowded but stunning…the water was oh so clear. What a day.
Traffic picked up after that and did have to pay attention to keep from getting hit by cars pulling out from various places or pulling in to park but on the whole I was passing traffic by now. It can really build up out here with all the folks going to and from the beaches.
And all too soon I was in Haleiwa. If you don’t know the town it’s an old place restored a bit and made into a tourist attraction. It has a lot of funky art and clothing shops, surf shops galore, and any number of places to spend money or get a snack.
The first thing I did was get a great fruit smoothie and then went across the street to Haleiwa Eats Thai and had a bowl of Tom Ka at Haleiwa Eats. Hmmm….just what I needed. Soup turns out to be surprisingly good food after a ride on a hot day.

And finally I hopped TheBus back to Honolulu. The driver remembered me from a previous ride when I’d been riding my Bike Friday NWT. This time I think he was even more impressed. The Hunq is a beautiful bike and today it performed like a champ. I can’t wait to do it again…next weekend? Hmmmm????

For those who’ve read my blog for a while, and I do mean both of you, might recollect that I ride Brooks saddles pretty much exclusively. In point of fact, I ride the B-17 model more or less exclusively. It just fits me, short or long distance, slow or slower, I’m happy with them. I’ve got several bicycles and so I’ve got a number them…
B-17 Standard: I have these on my Bridgestone RB-1 in Hilo and my Fujiyama ATB. These are my most broken in saddles, in fact I’ve had to tension one of them a bit, though I can’t remember which one.
B-17 Special (Green): This one is on my green Bike Friday. It’s one of my oldest and it’s the one with them most long distance miles on it.
B-17 Special (Honey): This is on my Rivendell Quickbeam and has turned a lovely shade of brown with use. It’s still in great shape and I have no problem riding mile after mile on it.
B-17 Select: This is my newest B-17 and sits on my Rivendell Hunqapillar
And now…maybe a Vegan Brooks?
It seems Brooks is coming out with a new saddle which isn’t made of leather. I’m not sure exactly why they’d do this but they’ve named it the Cambium and are set to debut it on June 17th.
The first model is the C-17 which certainly suggests it’ll have the same shape as the B-17. Let’s hope so, for my sake.

And here’s the cool part. Back in April Brooks let it be known that they were going to send a new Cambium to 100 lucky folks who signed up to test the new saddle and give them some feedback. Their idea was to send it to three different sorts of rider:

• 33 will be long-time users of Brooks Leather Saddles
• 33 will be cyclists using both Brooks Leather Saddles and other saddles
• 34 will be cyclists who have never used a Brooks Leather Saddle

I fit in the first group btw.
Well the first 100 have been determined and it seems there’ll be 50 more chosen:

We’re going through the applications again to find 50 more riders. For 50 more saddles, obviously. Hooray! So there’s still hope…

So you can still sign up at their registration page…good luck! To sweeten the pot they’ll also give everyone 10% off in the Brooks Store even if you aren’t chosen.
REGISTER HERE!
So why am I mentioning all this?
It has to do with a bit of mail I got this morning…
Does this mean I’m in? Well I suspect it does, but it could a be an accident.
Do I really need this saddle? No. Am I looking forward to riding it? You betcha. Would I buy one if I weren’t getting one for free? I’ve no idea at this point.
I don’t have the saddle yet, and indeed may never…but if I do get it and the instructions allow me to post material here I’ll let you know how I like the new Brooks Cambium C-17.
Wow…it may not be the big Powerball jackpot, but I’m feeling like winner.
Aloha!

I got great news today as far as RAGBRAI 2013 goes…I’m in.
Selection is by lottery and for the second time it seems the RAGBRAI gods that be have decided that I’m either fit company to have around or perhaps that i should be sacrificed to the corn bears. You do know about corn bears don’t you?
Okay, that sounds like a real bear and not a corn bear. Here’s the scoop. I heard the story while on a SAG truck one day in 2011 when my knee was troubling me. The old-timer driving the truck related that exact story. Good fun.
Now for some more fun. The list of overnight towns has been out for a bit and generally each one has their own website. Many have logos and themes and whatnot associated with their bit. Some sites have been built just for RAGBRAI, other’s use a page from their regular town site.
RAGBRAI 2013 Overnight Towns
Council Bluffs – This is the start town and host of the big bike expo
Harlan
Perry
Des Moines – The capitol of Iowa and home to The Register!
Knoxville – The real Knoxville, not like that other one
Oskaloosa – Absolutely the best logo and theme!
Fairfield
Fort Madison – Adieu Iowa!
As I mentioned, the best logo and theme so far (though I may change my mind later on) is from the Oksy’s…you just can’t do better than a pig in a tutu:

Great or what?

I received my marching orders from all of you, ride the Quickbeam you said, and I did.

View My 2013 JBK Haleiwa Metric Century Ride in a larger map
The 2013 JBK Haleiwa Metric Century Ride was a blast this year. I’d signed up with my friend Keith a few months ago after we’d had a discussion about what sort of rides were around. Keith had never done this ride before (or any?), I’d done this one before and knew more or less what to expect. I’ve also done multi-day tours with distances about this length (usually with far more hills), so I’ve some experience at this distance.
The day started reasonably early. The ride was to start at 7:30am at Kaiaka Beach Park in Haleiwa and we had to drive there from Honolulu. We’d agreed to meet at 6:30am but both of us had the same idea and I was over at Keith’s place at 6:15am having ridden a couple of warm-up miles. Actually they weren’t so much of a warm-up as simply ‘riding over to Keith’s place.’ The morning was beautiful but promised to be hot with light southerlies and Kona conditions (read vog and humidity).
Keith was ready to go and we headed out. Keith asked if I wanted breakfast but I turned down the chance. I find I do better if I don’t eat a big breakfast on a ride day and simply stick to snacks along the way. Heat, exercise, and too much food don’t work well together for me.

We arrived in Haleiwa quickly as there was little traffic this time of morning on a Sunday, found a parking place near the park serving as the starting place and got ourselves organized. Mostly this consisted of me hurrying things and hoping I could make it to the restroom. I did. I was ready.

We joined the throng of starters, at least those who wanted to ride out with the pack, and listened to a few minutes of announcements – most encouraging us not to crash as we left the parking lot as that would mess things up. No one did to my knowledge.
The starting groups were organized into the groups A,B,C,D. The first, of course, was for the racy types, those who think about splits and wattage. Here’s the list:

• Group A If your distance per month is over 300 miles (482 km), average more than 19 MPH. (30 km/h), and you are used to riding in a group.
• Group B If you cover more than 125 miles (201 km), average more than 13mph (20 km/h), and have experience participating in long rides.
• Group C If you average 6-7 MPH (14 – 17 km/h) and your goal is to ride slowly while enjoying the scenery.
• Group D For parents with keiki under 5 years old.

Now I’ll be honest, my monthly average is just shy of 300 miles in general. I’m close, probably 50-60 miles a week which means some months I do get 300 and some I don’t. But these aren’t “training miles,” I’m a commuter so mine are mostly town miles with some recreation rides thown in. Keep in mind all my rides are fun. I also only ever hit 19 MPH when there’s a wind at my back or I’m headed downhill.
Indeed while I’m well over the mileage for the B group, my average speed isn’t generally more than 13mph. Town miles are like that and I’m afraid to say my tour mph isn’t anything to write home about. I’m slow and okay with that.
I’m really a ‘goal C’ person in my heart.
Still I have bits and pieces of A, B, and C (and no keiki so D is out).
Keith was open to starting anywhere so we went to the back of B, just ahead of C. This turned out to be more or less about right for us. There were, I’m afraid to say, rather a number of folks ahead of us in B who should have really been behind us…and soon were.
After a last check of things and some wiring issues (I used my solar panel to keep my phone charged up – worked good though without direct sun it just keep phone even – no loss, no gain – good deal though) and we were off.
Riding in these mass starts can be a bit trying as many, many folks really have no idea of how to keep going in a straight, predictable line. This time it was good and I saw no trouble, though there were some close calls. Soon though the peleton had stretched out and just as soon it wasn’t a peleton anymore – just folks riding in smaller and smaller groups.
Keith and I had agreed to stick together for a while with the caveat that if one slowed or one simply wanted to go faster they should do that and not worry about the other’s pace. Having ridden with others before I’ve found that for me it’s best just to ride at my pace and not overwork trying to keep up with younger, fitter folk or wait for them either. I rode a few miles together than then Keith took off.
We both, as it turned out, by-passed the first aid station, the 25km turnaround. After 12.5km, or just 7.75ish miles, I certainly didn’t need a rest and neither, as it turned out, did Keith. At this point it was still morning with some of that freshness still in the air. The vog was apparent but really the views were lovely.
The first part of the ride rolls past the famous beaches of the North Shore and we could tell the surf was beautiful. The beaches weren’t yet crowned and traffic was light (later in the day the former would remain true, the latter not so much).
Keith was waiting for me down the road near the 2nd aid station where we did stop. As I was getting off my bike and grabbing my water bottles I heard an “are you Statrix?” Yep, tis me. And there was a gent in MUSA pants I know only from online. We chatted for bit and I discovered I’d actually been his pace ride for that leg. Later I would see him going in the other direction which means I’d definitely ceased being a pacer and had become out-paced.

Keith and I rode together for a while taking a couple of turns at drafting each other. We also picked up a fellow on a folding bike who, by virtue of being somewhat smaller than either Keith or I didn’t create a pocket to ride in quite as large as ours. After a bit their pace got a bit much for me so I dropped back and rode on my own for the last couple of miles to the halfway point.
It was here I realized I’m mortal. It seems I’d let myself get a bit dehydrated and was experiencing some rather unpleasant symptoms including a bit of dizziness and clammy skin. Of course I could have been having a heart attack as well but my pulse seemed fine and dropped to a resting rate pretty quickly. Something to ask my doctor next time I see him but a lot of water, some fruit, and a peanut butter Clif bar fixed me up. I also increased my fluid intake on the way back and had no further episodes or strange feelings. I thought I’d been drinking enough, which is to say it seemed like quite a bit, but as I didn’t have to pee when I got to the halfway point I realized I was wrong. When I got to the finish it was a different story so there’s a tale, eh? Drink plenty of fluids isn’t a recommendation, it’s a necessity.
The ride back was fine for me. I’ve been riding a lot so I didn’t feel tired or even stressed, at least once I’d eaten a bit and hydrated fully. This time we stopped at both aid stations for a few minutes, but they were already almost deserted and getting ready to close up.
There were a lot of riders on the way out…but as we got further and further from the start it seemed many turned around. I don’t know how many turned at each rest station as records aren’t kept, this is fun ride, not a Randonneuring event or a race. I do know there were few riders on the way back which makes me thing some did the right out to the end and got picked up there…not a bad idea really and one I’ve done with the Honolulu Century Ride.
With little wind during the ride the trip out was easier than the last time I rode the JBK (2010), but also less of a tail wind on the return. Still the return was surprisingly easy. I never bonked or wanted the ride to be over.
I more or less stayed ahead of Keith from the midpoint to the aid station at Sunset. On the leg from Sunset to Kahuku we were more or less even…I drafted longer than I should have methinks. And on the last leg Keith got out ahead an stayed there, though I picked up a rider who almost drafted me for miles. I wish she had as it would have been a good break for her but she stayed just wee bit too far back for much benefit. Still it was nice to have company of a sort visible. It had really thinned out by now.
Coming in to Haleiwa was like hitting a rush hour traffic jam. Traffic was bottled up through town and even on a bike I ended up having a bit of a wait to get over the ‘Rainbow Bridge.’ I could have gone on thep pedestrian side path except there were…yep, pedestrians.
And then it was over. Keith was waiting for me, though it hadn’t been too long. This time I’d made it back with plenty of time to spare of the refreshments and events at the finish. I had a steak plate which was simply ono and then it was back to the truck and home.
My only regret is that somewhere along the way, most likely on the truck ride home or in taking my bike out of the truck I lost my Garmin 850 Oregon. It’s on the expensive side and, while I didn’t use it a lot, I’m sorry to see it go. I don’t know if I’ll replace it though.
Oops, I do have another regret. It seems one of the stays for my fender was uncapped and somehow during the truck ride manage to pierce the sidewall of Keith’s front tire. Sigh. It didn’t flat the tire, but he’s got a hole in the side wall which…um…will probably cost him the tire soon. He should be able to patch it internally though…maybe I have a sidewall patch from Park…I know I ordered some once.
In any case, it was a great ride and I’m super glad to have done it with my good friend Keith. He’s a great rider…a metric century on a fixie is no mean feat, and he was cheerful at the end to boot! Go Keith!
Here’s a flyover of the whole thing! If the iframe isn’t working, here’s a direct link: http://goo.gl/JP6zS

Aloha, Bob

A while back I asked the community which bike I should ride in this weekend’s JBK Haleiwa Metric Century ride. The choices were to ride either my Bike Friday NWT, my Rivendell Quickbeam, or my newer Rivendell Hunqapillar.
The Quickbeam won out by one vote. One.

So I’ll be riding the QB. I’d pretty much figured that was going to be the bike based on the early voting but as you can see by my prior post it was 16 to 16 till very near the end when a final vote tipped the balance to the QB.
I’ve been riding the QB a lot recently, upping my mileage every week for the last few weeks to over 100 this week and adding hills I don’t normally ride into my routine. I should be good to go – the JBK is mostly flat, wind being more of factor most of the time. We’ll see.
I did this ride on my QB back in 2010 with a lot of excess baggage (to keep stuff from being stolen at my teen spirit). It was great, especially the extra miles I had to ride on top of the 100 kilometers. This time should easier. I’m older, but probably stronger, my bike is few pounds lighter (no luggage) though I’m not (though I’m not heavier either).
So thanks for voting and letting me know which bike I should be riding.
Aloha! Bob

It’s that time of year again…the JBK Haleiwa Metric Century is just around the corner. I’m actually going to be riding this with a friend who is planning on riding it on his fixie. That’s a little too much for me I’m afraid, but then again, I don’t have a fixie so it’s a moot point.
I did, however, put up the choice of what bike I should ride to a vote. So far the results are inconclusive…which may be a good thing as I can pick my own.
Here are the results at the time of this post…

It’s looking like I’ll ride the QB, at least that’s my plan at this moment – the ride is relatively flat and I’ve ridden it before on the QB. Of course the Hunq is nice too and…I’ll be riding the Friday a lot this so…hmmm….
Which bike do you think I should ride?

Aloha All…I figured you’d probably want to know if Erich and I survived our ride down the slopes of Haleakala. In truth, no, neither of us survived. We froze to death at the top of the volcano and are now placed outside the visitor center with our bikes, frozen in place, as grisly monuments to poor planning and insanity. 🙂
We had a blast. We also thought we were going to freeze to death for a bit up at the top (near 9800 feet – don’t have the exact number at the moment).
We started our journey separately on Sunday morning. I was with my friends who live in Makawao, which is a town in ‘up country’ Maui. I’d cunningly sent a text with the wrong address to Erich in hopes he couldn’t find their home so that I could avoid the ignominy of being discovered as the slower rider, even downhill. Sigh. Erich still managed to get close enough to their place that I didn’t have the heart to shoo him away.
Erich met my friends and we prepared our kit for the ride. Both our bikes, folded, fit nicely in the trunk of my friend’s (Coleen and Bob) economy car and they graciously drove us up the hill. Bob, who chauffeured kindly went a bit out of his way to show us the three for four choices we’d have to make on our journey down. Most of the choices boiled down to, “when you must turn on to a different road, choose the downhill path.” Seems pretty obvious but hey, I’d never done this ride before so it was helpful. At one of the four turns we’d have to make there were several horses at the corner of their property and we debated calling their owner and seeing if he could make sure the horses were still there a few hours later when we passed by. We didn’t call but as it turned out, they were.
As we drove up the hill we past a few groups of bike riders who were on the commercial tours and headed down. Mostly they were stopped at places I wouldn’t stop – and didn’t later on. While they looked happy, sort of, our host Bob said that he’d done the tour and would never, ever, go with a group again (meaning a commercial group).
The weather, which had been cool but pleasant at Makawao, an elevation of a couple of thousand feet, grew increasingly wet and cold as we went up the side of the mountain. We moved above the tree line in areas covered only in grasses and lava. The wind blew with increasing fury. Erich and I began to doubt our sanity. We suspect both Coleen and Bob doubted it as well but as they know my pretty well I’m not sure there was really any doubt about it.
We stopped at the visitor center just after the park entrance for a restroom break and, if I’m not mistaken, for a chance to tell our hosts that we’d decided we’d rather go back down, buy them lunch, and be done with it all. But no, a few minutes later we got back in the car and headed up the remaining 2500 feet or so, zigzagging back and forth on the many switchbacks.
At the top we were in the clouds completely. On some days I’m told you do breakthrough into the clear and, even if you only have a view of the top of the clouds, you get some view. Not this day. We were in a rain which, because the wind was howling, came in pretty much sideways. The temperature was about 40F so it wasn’t technically freezing (there was no ice or snow around though I’m told there had been snow at some point that weekend) the ‘feels like’ temperature must have been about -115F. That might be an exaggeration.
We pulled out our bikes, had a couple of pictures taken, and our friends bagged out quickly, in a hurry, I suppose, to grieve our passing and consider informing our next of kin.
That’s when we realized how ill prepared were really were. We didn’t have gloves that covered our fingers, just fingerless bike gloves. We also both discovered a couple of mechanical problems, Erich right then and I not till I was downhill a bit. In addition my camera mount broke and I wasn’t able to video the whole thing which had been my plan. Oh well. I’m not huge video person anyway, nor, in fact, do I ever manage to take a lot of images.
It took us at least 30 minutes to sort out our various problems and really decide to go. I retreated to the men’s room a couple of times to use the air blowers for hand drying to warm up a bit.
I did discover that I’d brought along a couple pairs of disposable plastic food service gloves I use to keep grease off my hands when doing repairs on my bike’s nether regions. We put them on as ‘better than nothing’ and I guess they were as I’m typing, not dictating, this missive.
Off we went. Slowly, or so it seemed.
The beauty of howling wind and rain is that you can be pretty sure you aren’t going to overheat your brakes. You’d be wrong as you can, but it’s a nice thought. We didn’t actually ever overheat our brakes, though I do need new pads before I ride my Friday much (and I did bring an extra set with me but never needed to put them on). Erich discovered at one point that not only where his rims hot but so were his spokes!
The initial downhill was into the wind and quite wet. It’s a constant downhill with no uphills till later in the ride (and even those are few and minor) so it wasn’t much work in that sense, but it is, I have to admit, still draining. I attribute that both to the cold and to my fear. I probably wouldn’t feel that way if the weather had been nicer, but in the wet and cold, the constant downhill and the sharp corners on switchbacks I realize that I really should have prepared my in a much more thorough way. As it turned out it was just fear, my bike was (almost) fine. It really did well…I was just worried it wouldn’t.
And that was just the first 500 feet. 🙂
Actually when we hit the first switchback down the hill a bit we discovered something that was make us very happy and made the rest of the ride enjoyable. As soon as we made a turn we discovered that the wind and rain was now blocked and the warmth of the Sun, meager as it might be, hit us. We took a quick break to compare notes and decide whether we should just stay there until someone offered us a ride.
We pushed on, hit the next switchback, and ran straight into the wind, rain, and cold again. This went on, back and forth, as we dropped about 2500 feet back to the first visitor center and park entrance. We made a few mechanical adjustments and thought about heading out again. As I recall I found Erich taking pictures of a couple who’d asked if he could take their picture and was begging them to drive him down, though I will admit that by the point the cold was causing me to hallucinate a bit. I recall thinking that I was bicycling in howling wind and rain and that it must be a dream.
And in fact, it soon was. Once we got below the park entrance the rain mostly let up, the wind died down and it was merely cool, not cold. We were, in fact, prepared for cool. The ride then started becoming fun. We stopped few times for photos. My camera had pretty much fogged up so I don’t have that taken with my camera. Here they are:

At this point I discovered that my derailleur was out of adjustment and I didn’t have any top end gearing. Erich could pretty much pass me at will if he actually pedaled while heading downhill. As our coasting speed was above the gearing I had I was basically relying only on gravity.
Now here’s where something really odd started happening to both Erich and I. Even on downhills roads are going to vary a bit, sometimes being a bit steeper than at other times. In addition it seems the mind adjusts pretty well in trying to normalize what one sees. What was happening to us was this, the road started looking flat in front of us. In other words, even as we sped along at 20-25mph downhill it seemed like we were cruising on a flat. Thus, when the grade became a little shallower it actually appeared to both of us as if there was going to be a bit of an uphill grade ahead of us. We’d both start pedaling ahead of the climb only to discover there was no climb, just less descent. Erich would, of course, pull way ahead of me at these points because I no gear able to engage.
The view wasn’t always great because while we were out of the high clouds there were clouds below us, not a complete plain of clouds, but enough to block some views. Later on and further down that would’n’t be a problem but by then were back in tree line.
At the first cafe, which is a roadside attraction with a zipline ride, we stopped and took off most of our cold gear. It was still cool, but not cold and definitely not wet. We’d get hit by a couple of sprinkles further down, but nothing one would bother stopping to change gear for.
This part of the ride was like doing a lovely country ride. We were ‘off the mountain’ and back to farm country. Soon we had were back to where we need to make our first turn…uphill or dowhill, which was it to be. I half hoped Erich would head back up to slow him down a bit as I was having trouble keeping up…with no high gear I still couldn’t pedal to any advantage, but down it was.
This went on for a bit till we got near the turn with horses. They were still there! At this point we stopped again and I checked my derailleur…
Of all the stupid things…folding bikes are great. They really are. But when they are folded and unfolded one of the things that can happen is that cables can get pulled out of connections. There has to be a lot cable to allow for folding (which also means you usually don’t have crisp action in gearing or braking – nothing to worry about, but it does take a wee bit of getting used to at first).
Well it seems because of the cold up above I’d neglected to really go over my bike. I’m forgiving myself because at 10,000 feet in the cold you pretty much want to head down no matter what your bike is like at the time. That’s sadly what I’d done.
It seems my rear derailleur cable had come out of the socket holding it in place and because of that exposed the wire wrapping a bit it had caught on the edge tightening the whole thing and keeping me from using my three smallest cogs. In five seconds, reseating the cable, I had my gears back.
My Friday has a single chainring, a SRAM Dual Drive, and an 8 speed cassette/derailleur. the whole system gives me 24 speeds with a range from about 19 gear inches to about 105 gear inches. That means I’ve got a great spread. I can climb a wall or hold my own with some pretty fast bikes. True it’s not a racing machine, but it has a higher gear than I usually use.
Now I had that gear back and were still headed downhill.
Erich has an 11-speed Alfine setup. I’m not sure what his gear inch range is but mine is wider, at least at the top end. Erich, who is definitely faster uphill than I am was not in position to keep up with me if I pedaled in high gear while headed down and we still had a lot of ride and downhill to go.
I kicked his butt the rest of the way down. 🙂
We came into Makawao and pedaled slowing through town taking in the sights. Then we were off again for the last few miles between Makawao and Paia on the ocean’s edge. This part of the ride is lovely as well for the most part. The roads are good, though not quite as good as those higher up, and drivers are very courteous (and fairly few and far between – most traffic being at sea level). In any case, I kept Erich behind me by calling out “Car Back” whenever it looked like he was going to catch me and we pedaled into Paia.
Our next step was to get our pictures at the beach dipping our tires in the Pacific. We did, must to the enjoyment of folks who were at the beach. We explained and it appeared that they ‘got it.’ But you could still tell they thought were a little crazy. We were. We are.
Finally it was off to Ono Gelato. Ono is Hawaiian for delicious. And the gelato was definitely ono.
The rest of the day involved getting a ride from Coleen and Bob back to their place to break down our bikes, get cleaned up, and make ready to go. We took Coleen and Bob out to a really nice dinner to pay them back for their hospitality. They really went out of their way (10,000 feet up in fact) for us and are really wonderful folks.
We left them at the restaurant with their desserts as we had to get Erich’s car back to the rental return. We made it with minutes to spare. After that we checked in, went through security, waited for our plane, and flew back to Oahu.
Wow. It what a ride. We got to see pretty much everything from winter weather to a lovely day that might almost be summer in other parts of the world. We got to ride folding bikes really fast and carve some lovely lines around corners. We survived (and Erich even bought me t-shirt to attest to the fact).
I do it again in a heartbeat, winter and all.
Anyway, that was our ride down Haleakala. Erich may tell a different tale, but the part about me breaking down, falling to my knees hugging his legs, weeping and begging for him to find someone to drive us down, did not happen. No matter how convincing he is about that part, it never happened. 🙂
tl;dr