Mauna Kea Sea to Summit Bike Climb
May 31, 2017
I completed the world's hardest climb by bicycle from the sea to the Mauna Kea summit in under 10 hours, ascending over 13,700 feet in 55 miles.
This climb can be started either from Hilo (East side of the Big Island) or Waikaloa (West side). I started from the West, which is longer and windier, but safer due to the newly widened shoulder on the main highway.
It was sort of a last-minute opportunity, and I only had a couple weeks to train at "altitude" LOL. I was able to squeeze in 5 mountain rides in 2 weeks prior to departing. The highest elevation in which to train locally was Mt Baldy, at 6500 ft and Mt Wilson at 5700 ft. By comparison, the meat of this climb begins at 6400 ft where you turn off the main highway to the Mauna Kea Access Road! Good lord.
Not only is the elevation beyond anything I've ever attempted, the gradient is relentless, and -- oh by the way -- the road turns to sandy GRAVEL at 9500 ft for 5 miles and is virtually unrideable on a road bicycle. Additionally, there is no water or services after 10 miles from the beach, but you can get water and food at the Visitor Information Station before the gravel road starts... which would be much too late. (I ended up eating half a dozen cliff bars, 2 cookies, 6 gels, a bag of chips, a coke, and a dozen liter bottles of water / gatorade. No way to carry all that.)
After researching others' attempts it was clear that a support vehicle was needed. There are a handful of bicycle tour companies on the Big Island, but none of them advertise this ride, due to the difficulty. I guess nobody wants to suffer so much on vacation. On Strava, there have been 9 completions from the west and 68 from the east.
Thankfully, I found Big Island Bike Tours, owned by an ex-pro racer, Alex Candelario, and after he determined that I had the fitness to attempt the climb, we were set. He and Sylvia supplied all the hydration, food, 2 bikes (a brand new Bianchi Intenso for the road and a Giant MTB for the gravel), plus a wealth of knowledge and encouragement.
Start: Lava Lava Beach Club 6:30 AM
My wife drove me and the Bianchi I had picked up from Alex 2 days earlier down to the beach, where Sylvia from the tour company met us and took a few photos. Sylvia would leapfrog ahead a few miles in the van and wait for me with supplies and encouragement.
Leaving the beach - 1 hr 22 min
Waikoloa Road (blue section on map below) leaves the beach with a 4% avg incline which kicks up to 6-8% in places, climbing 2400 ft in 12 miles. There was a moderate headwind, sapping my energy. And it was HOT and HUMID. You get a reprieve from the wind briefly turning onto the Mamalahoa Hwy for 2 miles, but there are goats. Crazy goats that run in front of you.
Daniel K Highway / Saddle Road
Turning left onto the highway that runs east-west through the middle of the island between the two major mountains (Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa), the incline picks up. Visually, you don't notice that it's uphill, but your legs and your Garmin tell you it's steep. I stopped a few times for food and water from the van. And bandaids for the left nipple, which was starting to chafe (TMI?). I also passed a recreation area and a military base but, unfortunately, don't have many photos from this section.
Here's a shot of Mauna Loa looking to the right from Saddle Road. It's also a 13000 foot high mountain.
Mauna Kea Access Road turnoff - 4 hr 15 min into the ride
After 40 miles and 6400 ft of climbing, this is where the crux of the climb begins. Alex met us here to swap support duties with Sylvia. He brought a Land Cruiser with the mountain bike that I would need for the gravel. That's Mauna Kea in the background on my left. Due to the scale of the mountain, it doesn't look all that high, but there is still over 7400 feet to ascend...
Mauna Kea Access Road - first part before Visitors Information Station
You can see the access road in the background below. It starts deceptively easy and then kicks up with a few steep turns to the Visitor Center at 9000 ft. There's an entire mile at the end of this part that averages 13%!!! I was still feeling strong, completing the 6.4 miles to the Visitor Center in just over an hour.
Gravel section start
Alex encouraged me to see how far I'd make it on the road bike in the gravel, so I didn't stop at the Visitor Center and plowed ahead. This stuff is SOFT, and the thin 25mm road tires sunk in if I didn't carefully choose a line and keep lots of power through the rear wheel. In the photo below, the ridable areas have the hard white spots, which are rocks beneath the surface.
I made it a quarter mile on the road bike, sunk in and had to remount. If you're not familiar, road bike shoes actually fasten to the pedals just like ski bindings do, so you need to click your feet into the attachments while beginning to pedal. It's easy on level ground, but the gravel undulates from steep to even steeper. In th steeper areas, getting back on and clipped in is impossible, since the rear wheel spins out in the soft ash/gravel. After the second attempt, it was time for the mountain bike. Even on the mountain bike, as the elevation got over 10000 ft, my legs started losing power, and I lost traction a few times and even fell over once (but it was soft). Getting back on was so hard! I had to push the bike to a less steep section, clip in the right foot and start pedaling uphill SINGLE LEGGED to build momentum before clipping the other foot in.
The first photo below is one of the easy sections at the beginning.
An hour into the gravel I started feeling slightly dizzy from the altitude and exertion, so I stopped and took more selfies and ate what felt like the 100th Cliff bar.
They say lots of water helps fight off the effects of high altitude, so I kept guzzling the water with Skratch Labs electrolytes in it. I can't even count the number of liter bottles I drank that day (over 10 for sure), but I didn't have to pee for the entire ride!
In the shot of Mauna Loa above taken from the gravel road on Mauna Kea close to 11000 ft, you can barely see part of the windy road I'd already ascended near the brown pointy mound in the middle. Then, miles beyond that along the base of the purple mountain, you can faintly see Saddle Road (view large image on computer screen) where I had turned off from the highway earlier.
Almost quit!
Nearing the end of the gravel, my legs just wouldn't deliver power in the altitude any longer, and I was really starting to feel disoriented, so I stopped and contemplated giving up.
After more water (!) and some time to catch my breath, I decided to just push it as far as possible. I took a photo of the Garmin to commemorate almost giving up.
Coincidentally, this is near where another guy "cicirider" on YouTube had quit (skip to 15:00 in his video), not knowing that the end of the gravel was just over the next rise. I have to thank him for posting that video.
Final section - last 3.5 miles with 2000 ft to go
I had hoped to get back on the lighter road bike for the final paved climb to the top, but I was feeling really uncoordinated at this point and was concerned I'd fall off. Plus the lowest gear on the road bike was 34/28, which I could normally use to blast up a section like this. At this point, I could barely pedal the mountain bike with much easier gearing back and forth across the road "paperboy" style to inch my way up at walking speed.
In the shot below, the mound on the right is where I need to go to reach the top. Can you see the road running up diagonally to the right and back to the left? It was REALLY DAUNTING.
I've blown up the mound on the right and added lines where the road goes up. YIKES!
Quitting time - again
After managing the first bit of the final pavement with the paperboy technique on the mountain bike, I rounded the corner and stared up at the next incline. I just couldn't do it. I hung out here for a while and took more photos of where I was about gave up the second time. So close to the top! OMG.
This shot is looking back down from where I'd just climbed, and one of the Garmin nearly 12000 ft to commemorate impending failure.
Remember the mound with the road running diagonally up it in the distance? Now I'm right underneath looking up to the right. Can you see the road cutting up from the left and back again near the skyline above it in the two images on the right?
IT LOOKED LIKE THE WORST INCLINE I'D EVER SEEN.
Alex assured me that it wasn't as steep as it looked, but I didn't believe him.
Pushing to 13000 ft
At this altitude, there is only 60% of the usual oxygen available in the air. If I couldn't ride, I figured I could push the bike up the wall in front of me until it leveled off a bit. This is sad. I had really wanted to ride the road bike up this part -- or any bike for that matter. But it's not as sad as quitting would have been. Actually, I wasn't sure I could continue to walk much further either.
Look how crazy steep the road is next to the 13000 ft sign.
Riding again
Just after this little impossible section, the incline lessened a bit and I got back on the bike. I rounded the next bend, and the first set of observatories came into view. At that moment I teared up a bit knowing I was going to make it the final few hundred feet up to the top! I was elated -- what a relief.
Shortly afterwards, the final set of observatories were visible at the summit, and I stopped for some cell phone photos.
It was surreal. There were 2 small tourist groups who had driven up taking the weirdest photos around me. I was disoriented and could barely work my phone but was also amused by them.
At the summit
I made it!
Obligatory bike shots next to an illegible sign. It looks like Mars up here.
Descending - not.
We had already agreed that I wouldn't attempt the ride down the mountain due to the extreme slopes and my fatigue level, so we hopped in Alex' Land Rover and headed back down. I slammed a bag of chips, a Coke and a seaweed-wrapped Spam and rice thing popular in Hawaii while trying to get some shots to upload to Instagram.
Three things I might have done differently:
1. I wish I'd brought my real camera (7D and lenses) and had the support team use it instead of their phones.
2. A GoPro would have been sweet.
3. I would have liked to have tried the climb starting from the traditional Hilo side, but it would have entailed an extra hour in the morning to drive over, plus there is a bad section of winding, high-volume road with no shoulder. We drove it the next day and I saw that it was probably ridable, but would have been nerve wracking.
Other trivia: the fastest guy on this climb according to Stava, is an ex pro rider (Phil Gaimon), who recently completed the same ride in a hair under 5 hours. There's another rider who "Everested" this mountain. Everesting is riding up and down the same mountain until you've ascended the equivalent of Mt. Everest (which isn't actually ridable). That would have been 2 complete climbs and a descent of Mauna Kea in the same day. Wow!
It's funny. For years, I had wanted to climb the famous Haleakala on Maui and wasn't even aware that this climb existed. Also, Alex tells me that Mauna Loa (the mountain in so many shots above), is actually much more fun to ascend and descend. If we make it back to the Big Island, that will definitely be on my list.