Tripleshot Cycling

OK gang--13,500 ft up to that white dot in the distance. That's the top of Mona Kea. Not even Lance made it to the top when he was on the big island training before the Tour down under. Maybe Bruce Schlatter did?

I wonder how many people have ever done a repeat of that?

Hey Brian,

I'm going to the big island on Wed - any other sub 10,000 feet rides that are worth checking out? Did you ride on the Saturday with the hammerhead club?

I believe Bruce was going to ride up to 9,000 feet - after that point the road is unpaved and dangerous for road bikes. There is supposedlya 1km stretch at 17%....

Steve

Here is one loop we did from Hapuna beach--you can park at the state beach access and go from there. Bonus that this is one of the best beaches on the island, but bring food/water etc. The climb out of Hawi is brutal, but glorious once up amongst the ranch land. The descent down to Waimea and then to kawahai is very fast. Don't take the road to Waikaloa.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-st ... 2604073137
The ironman route from Kona, straight out along the Queen K for 90 km is stark, continuously rolling and the wind gets you in one direction or the other.
the guys at http://www.bikeworkdskona.com also have some ideas for rides. That is where i rented, and they were great.

Thanks Brian,

Thats great - Im really looking forward to riding the island.

Steve

The Mamalahoa Highway is a nice ride. Just watch out for stinky road kill. It's everywhere, even giant-sized pigs, just lying there for days. The shoulder is not as wide as the Queen K (which is almost as wide as a traffic lane) but it's plenty wide enough all the way from the top of Hina Lani St. to Waimea. Riding into Waimea it's uphill and usually a brutal headwind, so that builds extra character. There's a Chevron at the main intersection in Waimea where you can get a can of coke and two $0.99 Arizona fruit punches to refill les bidons.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15216404

Actually climbing Hina Lani St. to get to the Mamalahoa is interesting. Nice easy 5% grade for the first 2 km or so, then 1 km at about 9% which gets your attention, then a quick drop and about 400m at around 18%, grunt, ugh-ness. Palani Rd. would be a nicer grade, but the road is very sketchy with limited shoulder availability unless they've improved it in the last year.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/15309496

I did the Hammerhead ride a few times. Good group. Standard easy start, then a sprint and a regroup, then some paceline hammering. There are some grizzled bastards who'll try to drop you, which is cool.

Shortish ride, breakfast at U-Top-It (yum, best breakfast place ever, behind Lava Java): http://connect.garmin.com/activity/3236018

Brian mentioned skipping the Waikaloa road between Queen K and Mamalahoa. That is a good idea. I did the climb on one of my rides to Hawi and it was really sketchy. No shoulder and nasty cross winds. I also completely bonked, it got dark and I had no lights. Oops. Then I ran over what felt like turkey-sized road kill but fortunately didn't bail.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/17810973

I never did the mountain highway from Hawi towards Waimea or anything south of Kailua-Kona.