Ride around Maui (Long, not 56k friendly) - Ducati.ms

DesmoBob · Sep 29th, 2008, 1:37 am

This past weekend a couple of companions and I took the new Hawaii Superferry to Maui. This was to be a 2 day ride for me, and 2.5 day ride for the other two guys. I was expecting to do a lot of twisty canyon carving, but about a third of it ended up being a touring ride. That can be fun, but I won't get into that here.

This was my first trip on the Superferry. I ended up being placed amidst a pack of fellow Italian machines... of the 4 wheel variety. Among them an F355 spider, F355 GTS, 360 F1, GTO (!!!), 308 GTS, and a few other Ferraris. There was also a Pantera and an Aston. Ohh the sound of all those motors.

DesmoBob · Sep 29th, 2008, 1:38 am

Sunrise from the first class lounge.

View from the aft deck. That's Diamond Head crater in the distance on the left, the lesser seen eastern face. Goodbye Honolulu.

DesmoBob · Sep 29th, 2008, 1:39 am

After about 3 hours we arrive at Maui. Look just to the right of that tall outcropping, that's the village of Kahakuloa. It's a tiny little village in a tiny little valley, secluded and isolated in the north shore of the West Maui Mountains. More of this village later.

DesmoBob · Sep 29th, 2008, 1:40 am

We based ourselves in Kahului, which is a good staging point for branching out to see the different parts of Maui.

Our first touring stop was Rice Park overlooking southern Maui.

DesmoBob · Sep 29th, 2008, 1:41 am

Then we took a twisty, but f@cked up, cow shit spattered road called Waipoli Road, which is basically 99% comprised of asphalt patches. After several miles, it turned into a dirt road, where we stopped for a cool Kodak moment.

DesmoBob · Sep 29th, 2008, 1:42 am

After that we went up to the summit of Haleakala. This is my favorite road on the entire island. It's 22 miles long, here's a Google Earth shot of a portion of it. It has virtually every type of turn imaginable.

DesmoBob · Sep 29th, 2008, 1:43 am

We ascended at a casual pace, which is good because you need time to acclimate to the altitude (this comes into play on day 2). This is at the summit, elevation 10,000 feet.

A portion of the road near the summit.

At the lookout just below the summit.

DesmoBob · Sep 29th, 2008, 1:44 am

On day 2 we went south to Makena. There is a nice twisty road there, then it becomes very bumpy & patchy. The bolts securing my rear brake caliper vibrated loose (my fault during the previous DIY). My buddy riding behind me brought it to my attention before anything happened. I'd say he saved my life. I then borrowed the bolts from my other buddy's passenger footpegs to hold it in place while we rode back into Kahului to some motorcycle dealer for new bolts & Loctite. For future reference, passenger footpeg bolts from a 2005 Kawasaki ZX10R will work (albeit temporarily) with a Ducati 999 rear caliper.

After that, we went clockwise around the West Maui Mountains. Remember that tiny, secluded village I pointed out from the Ferry? This is overlooking that bay...

DesmoBob · Sep 29th, 2008, 1:45 am

...and this is the village, Kahakuloa.

This is the Kahakuloa church which is the subject of many postcards.

In order to get to this point, you have to take a long winding road around the West Maui Mountains. The beginning of the road is great for canyon carving, but the rest of the road is a bumpy one lane road.

DesmoBob · Sep 29th, 2008, 1:46 am

We then rode to Makawao for the locally famous cream puffs from Komoda's shop... but they were closed until the end of the month for renovations!!!! DesmoBob very sad.

Then we went to Haleakala (again). Remember I mentioned how you need to ascend slowly to acclimate to the altitude? I didn't know this at the time. We did a very brisk pace this day. I didn't notice it at all while riding, but when we dismounted, oh god I felt ill. It took me a while of resting to recover. My Kawasaki buddy gave me half of his foot long sub sandwich, which helped. I didn't get food before embarking because I was expecting to get cream puffs.

Normally, the locals bikers stop at the first lookout, which is only a few thousand feet in elevation. You can full throttle (figuratively speaking of course) canyon carve to that point with no worries of becoming sick. We (being dumb tourists) did that three quarters the way to the summit. We did slow down for the last portion, but I think most of the damage had already been done by then.

We then went down about 500 feet to another lookout.