Maui--Friday, February 27, 2009

One of the big attractions on the island of Maui is catching sunrise from the top of Mt. Haleakala. The island's mountain slopes and ocean winds cause the area near the top of Mt. Haleakala to be shrouded in clouds, but the peak itself rises above the top, so in sunrise, you get to see the sun poke up through the clouds while you look down. From the photos we had seen, it was pretty cool. The first risk however is that sometimes the top of the volcano is covered as well and the sunrise is a dud. The second risk is not getting to the top in time. Most people make an attempt to catch sunrise early in their stays, so if it's a dud, they can re-try, and some people start the journey at 4am. Well,

Jean and I are NOT most people. We waited until our second to last day, and we waited until the last second to get out the door. I'll take the blame on the latter part, as I underestimated the drive time. I forget what time exactly we left, but I do remember seeing that early morning glow get brighter and brighter, and still thinking of how far we had to go. The road up the volcano is narrow, winding, and sometimes treacherous, but I was not about to miss a photo-op. We passed the gate (the volcano is in a national park) and didn't get optimistic information from the ranger in regards to our estimated drive time and the predicted time of sunrise, but still, we kept driving up. And up, and up. We pulled in to the parking lot at the top of the volcano (which, incidentally, it's weird to write a sentence that includes the words "parking lot at the top of the volcano") and leapt out of the car just in time to hear the crowd of people (maybe 100 or more, many wrapped in blankets) grumble about the fact that the sunrise was late. What luck! We had enough time to turn the cameras on and start snapping away... yeah! The sun rise was VERY cool! With that item checked off on our list, we jumped back in our ride and made our way back down the volcano. Jean had an appointment with the spa, and I had an appointment with some mountain bike trails.

I went to Poli Poli state park which was on the slopes of Mt. Haleakala, and this area appeared to the best (if only) mountain biking on the island. Now, as far as mountain biking goes, I'm pretty committed to this whole singlespeed movement. I'll allow myself gears on my road/commuter bikes, and my cyclocross bike (for now), but for mountain biking, one gear is the way to go. The bike I had with me in Hawaii was geared though, with a 1x8 gearing. I allow this because the bike truly is multi-purpose (road, off-road, touring, commuting). It didn't really matter because soon enough, it was a de facto single speed--I dropped it into the largest cog and just started climbing. I only got up to about 8000ft, about 2000ft shy of the volcano's peak. I really had wanted to get to the top, but I really didn't know how far I had to go, and I just kept pedaling and pedaling and pedaling, hoping to be able to see the peak to guage the distance. Every turn in the trail gave me another spot to say to myself "I'll just get to that next turn...". Eventually, I was starting to get a little tired (i.e., out of shape), and whipped out the GPS to see what my elevation was, knowning that my goal was about 10,050. When it said that I was only at about 8,250 I decided to turn around. Am I weak? Yeah, sadly, I'd say I am. Although, 3,000ft of climbing on a 30+lb in February was still a great work out.

With the rigid cromoly fork on the front, I think I got more of a work out on the way down though. Ouch. I do love the hardtail, but give me some front wheel travel. Anyway, on the way down, I took some of the side trails for some singletrack bliss. All in all, this day of riding was worth bringing the bike.

I made my way back to the rental car and then made my way back down the twisty road to the state park.

In retrospect, I did LOTS of up and down switchback driving--first UP to the top of Mt. Haleakala, then back down Mt. Haleakala to Makawao, then up the twisty road to the cottage, then back down the twisty road to Makawao, then up the twisty road to Poli Poli state park, then back down that same road, then back up to the cottage, then back to Makawao and over to Kihei, then back up to the cottage... Oy!

Kihei? Yeah, we went for sushi again. That killer sushi restaurant, Sansei Seafood Restaurant and Sushi Bar had two Maui locations so we figured we'd try a different one. Bad idea. We waited nearly an hour after placing our order to get our food, and it wasn't worth the wait. We were very disappointed, but it's better than a chop stick in the eye.

Anyway, once back at our cottage, sadly it was time to start the bike disassembly and time to start packing.

Mahui--Thursday, February 26, 2009

We woke up to more rain, but we decided to take a shot at getting some hiking in, as the weather was often vastly different just a short drive away. We packed clothes for various climates and headed down the winding road and across the isthmus to West Maui for more whale viewing and hiking on the Lahaina Pali Trail trail. This was a great trail, but wow, was it windy. And I don’t mean a little breezy, I mean 40+ mph gusts, enough to actually push you off balance. Jean was clinging to rocks as times (fortunately, my mass kept me a little more stable).

After our hike there, we made our way back to Kahului for lunch at a great health food store, Down to Earth, then it was back to more hiking, or so we thought. We went to the Iao Valley State Park to see the Needle, a rocky prominence we later learned was felt to be a phallic symbol, however, we were disappointed to learn that the only "hiking" was 0.6 mile paved loop. Bummer. We still went, took our obligatory photos, and also walked around another nearby garden.

Now, truth be told, I'm writing the actual text of this post almost two months after the fact, and I'm going off of:

• my pathetic notes
• my pathetic memory
• a pathetic review of my photos from the day

So, I don't remember what else we did this day, but I'm sure it was Hawaiiriffic. Enjoy the pics.

Can't she read?

The Needle.

March Maledictions (sounds more fun than March Madness).

So here it is, almost a month out after being back from Hawaii, and I still don't have everything posted. What's wrong with me? And, I haven't posted anything about my trip to Florida either. Lame. Okay, so you can see from the posts below, I've got a few days listed. You *could* just jump to all of the photos here.

I'll be working on getting this wrapped up SOON. In the interim, this is the first week I've had off, and actually home, for a few weeks. Although, my week is cut a bit short as I'm heading in to work a day early to pay back for my Hawaii time. You'd think that with a good solid six days off, that I'd be able to get caught up on everything. We'll you'd be wrong.

First, I spent a considerable amount of time trying to get my taxes all wrapped up. After several hours in a Starbucks with files and folders of receipts, the package is now in the hands of my accountant. In addition to that, I did some spring yard cleaning, took loads of yard waste to the dump, got a haircut, spent a few hours with the Geek Squad getting some computer issues squared away, took a Photoshop class, went riding and running a couple of times each, did lots of bike work (including building up a new Rig), spent some quality time with the dogs, boosted the economy (in my own special way), and tried to save money by calling Verizon, AT&T/Cingular and Comcast to reduce my home phone/DSL, cell phone, and cable bills. Add in to that, getting caught up on logging CME hours in with the NCCPA, washing my car and Jean's car, AND of course, contributing a photo a day to our 365 Project, and it's easy to see how a few days can fly by in a blink of an eye.

Oy. Let's see what I can get done this coming week!

Maui--Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Yep, up to the birds again, although this time, they were accompanied by the sound of gentle rain. Hmmm… weather.com didn’t mention rain. Maybe it will pass? No. We took a leisurely approach to the morning as we had riding planned. We wanted to see if the rain would stop. As we were sitting in the cottage, Jean noticed a rainbow. Dutifully, I got up and photographed it.

Well, about 15 minutes later, the rainbow was brighter and thicker. Okay, I took some more photos, then it was gone… or so I thought. About 20 minutes later it was back, this time even with more vivid colors and closer too. Damn—how many rainbow photos was I going to have to take? I actually felt like I was being stalked, or at the very least harassed by the rainbow. After that, I refused to take anymore rainbow pics—and there were rainbows all God-damned day.

Once we realized that the day would be a constant mix of sun-showers, drizzle, clouds, and annoying rainbows, we made our way down to Paia for lunch at the Paia Fish Market, then hit the road for some riding. It was WINDY, but again, it was good to be behind handlebars rather than a steering wheel. We just explored some dirt roads in sugar cane fields and other dirt roads in the area. As the official “finderer” of Maui, I found a set of keys (which because they held a PO box key, I returned to the Post Office). I’m working on some good Karma. The ride was not epic, but when you’re turning over pedals, and knobby tires are rolling on dirt beneath you, it doesn’t have to be epic to be fun.

After we had had enough of being buffeted by the Pacific Trade Winds, we made our way back to the car and headed back to Makawao, then up to our cottage for chilaxing. And NO MORE raindbow photos.

Maui--Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Yep, up again to the sound of birds—much better than a blaring alarm clock! Our day’s agenda had some driving on it, although at the outset, we didn’t realize that it would be the whole day! We had been planning on the doing the “Road to Hana,” which is a popular and scenic drive of about 50 miles. Actually, we had thought about riding the road, but we had heard mixed reviews on the quality and safety of the road so we thought we’d drive it first. I’m glad we did. As I’ve mentioned, Maui has an affinity for narrow twisty roads and the Road to Hana is the epitome of this transportation design. We were literally hugging the steep right side of the road with the car (as in, almost scraping the side mirror), in an effort not to hit mirrors with oncoming traffic. Add in to this super narrow road some distracted tourists, some impatient locals, and regular business use of the road (i.e. oil trucks, etc), and you get a road that bikers are probably not wanted. Now, I’ll probably hear from plenty of people who say they’ve done the road and how wonderful it is, but for me, it's probably outside of the comfort zone. I ride to get away from cars, not to put myself directly in their way. There were hundreds (no exaggeration) of tight right turns that I’d make ever so carefully in case a cyclist was riding just around the bend (and out of sight), and I don’t think other drivers were doing the same. Okay, so we didn’t ride the Road to Hana, but we did drive it, and it was a long, slow drive, especially when we’re stopping every few miles to take more photos.

One of the first photos stops was at a grove of trees called “painted eucalyptus” trees. Jean and I had first seen some photos of these trees in a gallery, and we both thought they had been retouched in Photoshop or artisticly enhanced in some way—until we saw the trees! They were amazing.

From there we made countless stops at black sand beaches strewn with volcanic rock, including Wai’anapanapa State Park where we got to watch some locals risk it all while cliff diving.

We also devoured some local home-made banana bread at Aunt Sandy’s roadside spot. Delicious.

Then, of course, it was time to get subterranean to explore Ka’eleku Caverns—lava tubes that were once filled with more than 17,000lbs of cattle bones from a local slaughterhouse. Yikes.

After more miles of incredible beaches and tropical vistas, we finally made it to Hana. The Hotel Hana Maui is a beautiful resort that’s got four dollar signs in our travel book, so if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. We browsed some art in the gallery and gift shop, then made our way to another roadside food stop for a fresh handmade sandwich and salad, and got to meet a feral cat named “Piggy” because of its curly tail.

While it’s called the Road to Hana, there’s actually much more to see if you keep going, such as the famed Seven Pools og Oheo Gulch in Haleakala National Park. The water was a bit too chilly for swimming, but warm enough for photos.

So, the national park was essentially the turn-around point, as our books and maps made the rest of the road (which would have completed a total of about 100 mile loop around east Maui) sound rough, impassable, and perhaps closed because of mud slides, earthquakes and other dangers. Fortunately, a quick question to the Park Ranger cleared that up as he said that the road is open to all vehicles with no restrictions. I didn’t know what was ahead of us, but I knew to head back the way we came we’d be going about 15mph—this time clinging to the edge of the road (as opposed to the side of the mountain), ever wary of oncoming traffic. Besides, I really HATE going out and back, and I’ll often go way out of my way to do a loop. We took a left out of the park and had another 50 miles of—you guessed it, narrow, winding, twisty, steep roads. It certainly made for interesting driving, and I’m glad that abuse was on a rental car’s suspension, and not my car’s. The drive was fun—although long—and beautiful. This of course meant more stops for more pics.

Before we left civilization again for the desolate southern slopes of east Maui, we hit yet another roadside food stop, this time for some coffee. This little café/smoothie bar had a bicycle powered blender that customers had to use if they wanted a smoothie. That’s living off the grid. As we were leaving, one of the locals scooted away on her moped with her dog sitting on the deck…
Up until this point, the only dangers we had encountered on the road were steep cliffs, narrow one-lane bridges, steep hills, falling rocks and tight turns, but soon we had a new obstacle to impede our progress—cattle in the road. Burgers anyone? Actually, the cattle were fine, the road wasn’t that bad (although I still don’t think it would be a fun road unless the cars were gone—then it would be killer), and as I mentioned, the scenery was spectacular—which is interesting because all of the books made it sound like a barren wasteland.

We FINALLY made it back to our cottage at about 8:00pm, after about 12hrs in the car.

Maui--Monday, February 23, 2009

We woke up again to the sound of tropical birds, while gazing out of our massive picture window that looks out over pastures, to the mountains of West Maui and the beaches on both sides of the isthmus.

While enjoying coffee, breakfast, and a great music CD that we found in the CD player, Jean noticed a giant mushroom cloud ascending from the valley below. Hmmmm…. We didn’t hear any explosions, and there were no sirens in the background, so we just sat and watched. Shortly thereafter, there was a second but larger mushroom cloud. We later found out that this is part of the local’s way of burning off cane fields.

Once we were fairly certain that a nuclear war hadn’t commenced, we loaded the bikes up and headed for West Maui for some road riding. Along the way, we stopped at a scenic overlook to watch humpback whales frolic. Yeah, that was kind of cool.

We found a great grocery store with fresh sandwiches and soups for lunch, and while I was in negotiating an exchange, a local tried some pick-up lines on Jean. She replied with the “my husband will be right back…,” which apparently stumped the would-be Casanova.

Anyway, after lunch, we made our way to West Maui Bike for a little info, some air, and a “Y” tool (which I should have packed). Finally, it was time to ride.

My Maui County Bike Map recommended Rt 30—and even the local at the shop said it was an epic ride—especially when done in its entirety (about 60 miles with 4,000ft of climbing). Our plan was for about 20 miles, just to get the legs moving. Well, it was 20 miles of head winds (How does it always work out that way?). There was a good shoulder to ride on, but it was almost like riding in the breakdown lane on a highway. Cars were flying by.


We rode past all of the huge resorts that most people associate with Maui and I’m so glad we didn’t stay there. I love the cottage we stayed in. The Kapalua resort, which ironically triggered the idea behind this trip because of a full page article in Men’s Journal that extolling the thousands of acres for mountain biking (doesn’t really exist), was a super-swank resort with a Ritz-Carlton. I was so close to booking our stay there, but the thought of hanging out in a resort with people whose idea of adventure is playing the back nine without a golf cart really skeeved me out. I used the Kapalua resort as our turn-around point, and after checking out the “Adventure Shop” we made our way back to Lahaina by a slightly different route.

The way back was much less crowded and made for an enjoyable ride. Once back in Lahaina, I even found a wallet with $42 in cash in it. It also had some identification so I brought it all (cash included) to the local police station. It appears the owner was traveling from Switzerland, so I hope she gets it back.

As our schedule often revolves around our bellies (and how empty they feel), it was time to think about dinner. We actually made our way back to Kapalua to the Sansei Seafood Restaurant and Sushi Bar for some of the best sushi we’ve ever had. Mmmmm… mmmm….mmm.

Maui--Sunday. February 22, 2009

Yeah, we were up at about 4:30am. Our bodies had no idea what time it was… I took a walk out to the deck and it was like I was immersed in a relaxation CD. There were tropical birds chirping while a gentle wind blew through the trees and wind chimes softly rung off in the distance. Simply amazing. We woke up to this audio sound track every day.

We lounged about for a bit, and then it was time to build the bikes and plan our day. As for the first trip with the travel bikes, I have to say, the whole disassembly and assembly process is pretty quick and easy. I’ll make a few changes for next trip (for example, I spent WAY too much time trying to untangle the chains—next time, I’ll just take ‘em off).

After getting a little lost, we made our way down some winding narrow roads to Paia. A group of “ride down the mountain cyclists” passed us… Oy. If there was ever an activity I wanted no part in, it’s that. I got my official Hawaiian shirt in Paia, and had a great lunch at the fish market. We supported the local economy with some shopping, then it was time to point the Torrent back up the mountain to the top of Mount Haleakala.

Interestingly, you can go from sea level to the top of the mountain, which is just over 10,000ft, in about 40 miles—making it one of the only places in the world that you can go so high so quickly. I would have loved to attempted this on the bike, but I fear I know how it would have ended, and no one would want to see an out of shape mainlander crying on the side of the road begging to the volcano gods for forgiveness.

The drive was pretty epic as it was, passing through the “mountain lea” a band of clouds that obscures the peak of the mountain from view below. At the top of the volcano, a wide landscape that seems more Martian than Earthly opens up before you, with cinder cones, volcanic rock, and lingering clouds interspersed with the ancient geologic formations. We hiked out on the sliding sands trail to one of the cinder cones… the trail was incredible with expansive vistas, eerie quiet, random bits of tenacious life and two random hippies from California, one who spent lots of time trying to tie the bottoms of her shorts up. The view from the very top was incredible—looking down on the clouds is something that I’ve previously only done from a small airplane window.






Finally, it was time to retrace our steps and make our way back down the narrow, winding mountain road to our perfect cottage.

Maui--Saturday, February 21, 2009

I don’t remember any trips that I’ve taken that didn’t involve late night packing and EARLY morning alarms. This trip was no different, despite the fact that I was about 90% packed by Friday night. It’s always the little last-minute things... Anyway, Jean and I were up at 3:30am on Saturday and off to the airport by about 4:15. We had dropped the dogs off on Friday, so our morning was without the usually dog-chaos.

I’ve only been to Logan Airport about one hundred times, but sure enough, I missed the turn. Duh. I guess three hours of sleep will do that to you. We still made it to the parking lot in time, grabbed our shuttle, and checked in at Logan. Our bike cases weighed in at 49lbs and 50lbs—talk about no margin for error. I think I’ll put the cranks or something in my other bag just to give me an extra pound or so leeway. Anyway, the boxes were unceremoniously tossed on the conveyor belt and we were on our way to our gate. Our three-hour flight to Chicago was pretty uneventful, which is really what you want a flight to be.

Once in Chicago, we had some time to kill because our outgoing flight was delayed because of snow. I hate snow. In any event, the delay wasn’t long and soon enough we were packed in the back—and I do mean in the BACK of the plane for the long flight to Maui. We were in row 200 or something like that—the last row in the plane—an area usually reserved for families traveling with loud colicky children.

We had packed plenty of things to keep us occupied on the flight, and to be honest, the 9+ hour journey wasn’t that bad. I did have an annoying issue with my iPod though (user error). I planned ahead and downloaded the next audio book in the series that I’m listening to, however, I failed to realize that I was actually missing the last chapter in the current book. AND, I forgot to upload the movies I had converted for iPod use as well… double duh. I had more than enough journal articles and other stuff to read. Jean snoozed.

Our flight landed, and we made our way to the luggage carousel to find our beaten bike boxes… hmmmm… I was actually concerned that our bikes were damaged (they weren’t). We tossed everything into our Pontiac Torrent and made our way to a grocery store to get supplies. HOLY CRAP food is expensive on the island: three dollars for a gallon of spring water, six dollars for a half-gallon of soy milk, four dollars for a can of soup, seven dollars for a box of Grape Nuts, and on and on and on…

Anyway, stocked up and nearly broke, we pointed our Torrent up towards Haleakala to our accommodations. The road up to our cottage was steep, winding and narrow—a common theme of road design on Maui. We met a guy that looked just like Cesar Milan (but without a pack of dogs) who first saw us driving about with some confusion and tried to direct us into to a driveway to a home that was having a party—we love parties, but we were looking for our cottage. He then directed us into a different driveway, but that was the wrong house too… we finally found the correct driveway—a narrow, steep grade down in to… paradise.

Our cottage was exactly as seen on the Web site—but better. Quaint, cozy, romantic, clean—perfect. I was blown away by the night sky, with its thousands of stars, unaffected by light pollution, and I could have spent hours staring up—if it hadn’t been for the fact that we had been up for almost 24hrs and had flown halfway around the world (almost). We crashed asleep.

Coming Soon...

Yeah, I've been lax when it comes to posts recently... why? Well, because not a whole lot has been shaking... but, I WILL have some stories to post soon. Stay tuned!

Seasons.

It's coming... Spring is coming.... dry trails, windbreakers, shorts, longer days... I can't wait...

I'm sick of riding the rollers.
I'm sick of "bundling up."
I'm sick of ice/snow.
I'm sick of "wind chill factors."
I'm sick of running on the road.

Spring is coming...

Hmmm... that almost sounded poetic, huh? Or, perhaps, pathetic. Anyway, I'm really itching to get out on the trails for some long rides and runs. Pics like this one remind me that I didn't spend NEARLY enough time up at Kingdom Trails... Closer to home, I'm looking forward to Willowdale, Bradley Palmer, Harold Parker, Lynn Woods, and doing some more exploring on the Bay Circuit Trail. I *guess* I'm looking forward to getting out on the road bike too, but not at much as I'm looking forward to some good dirt time. Besides, the roads I've seen are trashed, and with municipal budgets being what they are, it will probably be years before we see any patching or paving. Okay, I just had to vent.

iShuffle Playlist...

Name	Artist
1000 Points Of Hate	Anthrax
Wth>You (Chairman Hahn ft. Aceyalone)	Linkin Park
With You	Linkin Park
Wild Side	Motley Crue
Welcome to the Jungle	Guns N Roses
Voices	Disturbed
Vietnow	Rage Against The Machine
The Trooper	Iron Maiden
Track 02	Guttermouth
Track 01	Guttermouth
The Threat	Skid Row
Testify	Rage Against The Machine
Symphony of Destruction	Megadeth
Survival of the Sickest	Saliva
Sleep Now In The Fire	Rage Against The Machine
Slave To The Grind	Skid Row
Sin	Nine Inch Nails
Shout at the Devil	Motley Crue
Seen Through Time	Cellador
Runaway	Linkin Park
Run To The Hills	Iron Maiden
Room For One More	Anthrax
Remember the Name	Fort Minor featuring Styles of Beyond
Rainbow In The Dark	Dio
Pts.Of.Athrty (Jay Gordon)	Linkin Park
Potter's Field	Anthrax
Points Of Authority/99Problems/One Step Closer	Jay - Z / Linkin Park
Points Of Authority	Linkin Park
Place For My Head	Linkin Park
People Of The Sun	Rage Against The Machine
Papercut	Linkin Park
Painkiller	Judas Priest
Out of Control	Hoobastank
The Only Time	Nine Inch Nails
One Step Closer	Linkin Park
The Number of the Beast	Iron Maiden
Numb/Encore	Jay - Z / Linkin Park
Nothing	Stabbing Westward
Nobody's Listening	Linkin Park
Nighttrain	Guns N Roses
Miracle Man	Ozzy Osbourne
Lying From You	Linkin Park
LIVE-For Those About to ROCK	AC/DC
Like The Way I Do	Melissa Etheridge
Last Resort	Papa Roach
Kinda I Want To	Nine Inch Nails
Kickstart_My_Heart	Motely Crew
Jigga What/Faint	Jay - Z / Linkin Park
Jealous Again	Nick Oliveri
Invisible	Anthrax
In The End	Linkin Park
In My World	Anthrax
I Am The Bullgod	Kid Rock
Hy Pro Glo	Anthrax
Hit The Floor	Linkin Park
Head Like A Hole	Nine Inch Nails
Guerilla Radio	Rage Against The Machine
Got The Time	Anthrax
Given Up	Linkin Park
Give Me All Your Love Tonight	Whitesnake
Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie	Dean Ween
Get The Fuck Out	Skid Row
The Game	Disturbed
Forgotten	Linkin Park
Fist of Rage	Kid Rock
Figure.09	Linkin Park
Fight Fire With Fire	Metallica
Faint	Linkin Park
F*****g Hostile	Pantera
Enemy	Sevendust
Empire	Queensryche
Down With the Sickness	Disturbed
Down In It	Nine Inch Nails
Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying From You	Jay - Z / Linkin Park
Die MF Die	Dope
Devil Without a Cause	Kid Rock
The Devil Went Down to Georgia	Point blAnk
The Devil Went Down to Georgia	Charlie Daniels
Depression	Casey Chaos
Defy You	The Offspring
Crazy Train	Ozzy Osbourne
Crawling	Linkin Park
Crash	Methods Of Mayhem
Cowboys from Hell	Pantera
Control	Stabbing Westward
click click boom	Saliva
Children of the Grave	Black Sabbath
C11 H17 N2 O2 S Na	Anthrax
By_Myslf (Josh Abraham & Mike Shinoda)	Linkin Park
By Myself	Linkin Park
Bulls On Parade	Rage Against The Machine
Boom	P.O.D
Bleed It Out	Linkin Park
Black Coffee	Henry Rollins
Big Pimpin/Papercut	Jay - Z / Linkin Park
The Beautiful People	Marilyn Manson
Bawitdaba	Kid Rock
Anarchy in the UK	Motley Crue
Ain't My Bitch	Metallica