Day 6: Bike down Haleakala, Mama's Fish House

You might think a self-proclaimed "true" cyclist, who likes to brag about climbs like that ones I mentioned earlier in Day 3, would find the popular tourist activity of biking down Haleakala unattractive. Well, it certainly isn't challenging and doesn't require much biking skills but it still sounds fun to me (and to the couple who did the challenging bike tour with me on Day 3 as well) I decided to do it and this day started early, I mean, really early, at 2:30am! I was picked up at the hotel by Cruiser Phil's van to its HQ in Kahului. Then their bus drove the group up to the visitor center near the summit of Haleakala. The driver who also served as tour guide told us quite a few Maui and Haleakala related stories from Hawaiian mythology to entertain us during the long drive. I got a bit more sleep on the way though. It was 5:20am when we arrived. The goal? To watch the sunrise! (Yup, the same sunrise we decided not to take the wife and kids to see. I wore my bike jersey, a long-sleeve tee, a short-sleeve tee, a windbreaker and finally the jacket provided by the tour operator to stay warm. It's actually around 15 degrees Celsius. Not that cold but I just want to be on the safe side. The tour has provided wind pants and another jacket that I didn't use) Is it worthwhile to get up so early? I'll let you judge:

Because of regulation, the bike ride couldn't start at the summit. The bus driver drove us back down to 6300 ft. After some instructions from the ride leader, the ride finally began at 7:30am. We were all given a single speed bike with drum brakes.

The folks from Cruiser Phil's didn't even bother to adjust seat height because we were not expected to pedal for any significant distance. Well, that was applicable to every riders on the tour except me! The bike given to me was probably the worst bike I've ever rented. Maybe it had some bad bearings or brake rub, it just couldn't go fast, even though I pedal it as fast as I could to catch up to speed with the group, while no one else had to pedal, confirmed by the guy behind me, who rode the last one in the line of bikes. I had to heightened the seat by almost 3 inches or my knee would have hurt for pedaling hard with improper seat height. The average speed was ~20 mph, which was actually not that bad considered that the group doesn't solely consist of hardcore bikers. (For comparison, I estimated the speed would have been between 25-30 mph if I use that Titanium road bike from Day 3. BTW, the tour I joined was the type that has "no passing (the bikes in front of you)" rule, which did not worsen my ride with that poor bike anyway. I saw another tour company providing Trek mountain bike with disc brakes to their customers. I gotta find out what company does that if I were to do it next time. Oh yeah, it must not enforce "no passing" too)

The ride finished sooner that we thought. By 9:30am, we were driven to Paia (my 3rd time there) for breakfast. The driver recommended Moana, which was pricey but the food was good. I had a Mahi Mahi egg benedict.

It's lunch time when I was driven back to Wailea and we had burgers and wings at Cheeseburger Islandstyle there:


There was no better activity to burn off those calories than more swimming fun at the pool in the afternoon. And we gained them back by visiting this nice restaurant, Mama's Fish House at Paia (my 4th time there) It was probably equally well known for its high-end seafood and its unrivaled view of the beach:

Day 3: Road biking at Kula, Lahaina

One of my top priorities at Maui was road biking. There were 2 famous bike routes: (1) up from the shore to the 10000 ft summit of Haleakala, (2) the road to Hana. I ended up biking a less traveled but still scenic and challenging (incl. a category 2 climb) route around Kula, guided by Maui Cyclery at Paia.



I booked the tour way before my trip and have been eagerly waiting for this day! I brought my own jersey, shorts, shoes and pedals while Maui Cyclery provided the most high-end bike I've ever ridden: a Titanium Litespeed with Ultegra gruppo! This was the first time I did a guided bike tour. Even though I lost some bragging rights because the route wasn't as famous, I was still glad that I joined the tour. The leader from the shop was a really good rider so I have never ridden harder than this in order to keep up. Bikers get better by riding with better ones. In addition, I just don't feel brave enough to ride on my own in unfamiliar territory. The whole tour minus the leader and the driver were just me and another couple on their honeymoon (which were nice folks BTW. Both were very fit.) The bikes were loaded to a truck which also serve as SAG (support and gear) at the shop and we were driven to our starting point, Kula Community Center. We actually drove by the town of Kula the previous day as it's on the way to Haleakala. However, instead of biking towards that, we rode down Kula Highway and then Kalama Park Rd towards the south side of Haleakala. It was very windy but we got an awesome view of the islands (Kahoolawe and Molokini) We took the same route back and the final few uphill miles required quite a bit of work. The rewards were pastries at the end point, Grandma's Maui coffee.
I rejoined the family back at the hotel around 1:30pm and started our trip to West Maui. The kids will probably remember Lahaina for the shave ice place.

Maybe the big banyan tree too:

I will remember Lahaina because of Betty's Beach Cafe. I love its signature dessert, which is a huge mud slide (mango ice cream with brownie) This restaurant is probably more well known for being able to watch luau (performed at the restaurant next to it) without paying the price of luau than its food though.