Started out in Waikaloa and went up highway 19. Like I said about my last ride, highway 19 isn’t entirely too interesting.
Fortunately for me though, there was a half-ironman going on that day, so I got to ride in with a bunch of triathletes on nice aero bikes. It made the ride more interesting, and gave me some different photos to take.
My image of the ironman course was that it would be pancake flat, but this wasn’t true. There were some pretty large rollers which sapped the energy out of me, especially because all the other riders on the course were going faster than me (they also all had aerobars…). After the turn onto 270, the scenery got better, more trees became visible, the temperature dropped a bit and there were nice views of the ocean.
It’s maybe a 600 foot climb into Hawi, but nothing too steep. Then I turned onto 250, and things got steeper.
There’s no shoulder on 250, but nor was there much traffic. If the mapmyride elevation info can be trusted, it’s 7-8% for about 1200 feet.
The climb gets less steep after that and eventually opens to the ridge of the mountain, where things are flatter, but also very windy.
The views up there are excellent and the coast far below could be seen.
It’s uphill rollers on the ridge, which eventually gained trees for protection from the wind.
I was really hurting at this point though, and had to stop once as my legs were almost cramping. I had also exhausted the better part of my three water bottles. Needless to say, this sign was quite a relief:
It was mostly all downhill from there. Descending into Waimea was a blast, maybe 1200 feet that flew by, with the mountain on the left and open views to the plain below on the right.
Steephill.tv has a prettier picture of the view than I do. After going into Waimea for drinks and a snack, it was back down 19, back onto the Half-Iron course, now less populated and I actually passed people this time, and back to the hotel.
Ride 3: Hina Pali Lookout
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