MAUI

We have arrived safe and sound to the Valley Isle.
The first day we slept enough to wake up 10pm BIsmarck time. 5am Hawaii time. There was no way I could have stayed in bed any longer. Fresh and ready I thought I can tackle the whole day. We didn't  leave the hotel until past 9am.
Drove to Kapalua where I planned to ride the course. Registration and packet pick up didn't start until Wednesday and strict rules prevented me from riding the course in advance. Instead I swam and ran some on the beach at the DT Fleming beach where the swim will take place.


We also toured the west part of the island. We drove in some areas where the road narrowed down to have enough room only for one vehicle. No wonder that the road was fairly empty and only the occasional oncoming cars caused some "hot" moments when they appeared out of nowhere from behind a wall of rocks and one of us usually had to reverse to areas where the other car could squeeze by.

Kahekili Hwy along the rugged Maui shore line

Windy and narrow road on Kahekili Hwy

On Wednesday I was finally able to ride the course. After picking up the race packet I jumped on the bike and I was ready to go but.. forgot to attach my race number on the bike.. A course marshal sent me back luckily enough not too far into the ride..

The next thing was when I noticed that after a smaller jump my handlebar was about to fall out of its place. The bolts were lose. Even with that I caught up to a rider and asked for an ln wrench. Bolts tight, off I went again. I had to be back by 1pm so I basically had about 2 hours to complete the entire 19 mile course. The course was super tough. it included a lot more uphills and mainly steep uphills with wither  lose sand, gravel, leaves or all of the above. The course is hot, dry and made me sweat like I was in a sauna or something. I survived it but only because I took 3 pouches of the complimentary recovery fluid form registration instead of the 1 that we were supposed to. Sorry XTERRA but thanks for saving my life! 

The rest of the day was just about survival. It's hot here on Maui. I love it!

Thursday was the day of our long and exhausting trip.

We first conquered the Piiholo Zip Lines that included an awesome 2800ft long cable during which we were some 600ft (200m) above the valley of some native Hawaiian battlefield. That was a fun way to spend about $300 for the two of us. Ouch. 

This might be one great way to increase adrenaline .. I have fear of heights but nothing here. 

Next up was a quick trip to a waterfall. I did expect a little bigger show from a famed waterfall but it was pretty cool regardless. It's on a private property so all my kudos to the owners who let visitors walk though their land to check out this fall.

Just before we braved up and got in the pretty cold water.. 

Last but not least. We had some time left so we headed back on the mountain and didn't stop until it disappeared. We drove all the way this day from sea level to 10000ft (10023ft- 3055m), to the top of the Haleakala National Park. It's one of the most visited places on Maui even though it takes a huge amount of feat not to get sick while driving on the windy and sometimes steep road. The last time I was up there was in 2006 August and my buddy, Attila, and I rode our bikes up there. We slept half way through at about 6000ft elevation in a shrub (in separate shrubs) while the temperature dropped to about 40 degrees in the morning. That was a fun  day. This time around our rental car made things way too easy. The Big Island's two biggest peaks were visible on this day, the Mauna Kea and the Mauna Loa. Those peaks are 80 and 100 miles away but even from here they seem like they are giants emerging out of the water.

The Haleakala National Park and the volcanic crater. 

Today was a phenomenal day. We sure took advantage of our time and saw everything we could possible see in one day.  I am more tired than ever so the rest will come when I reenergize myself with a good night sleep. Tomorrow's plan is bike, run and swim but easy with all.