Maui Downhill, The Ride - Tom Barefoot's Tours
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Maui Downhill, The Ride - Tom Barefoot's Tours
After watching the sunrise at the rim of the crater in the Haleakala National Park and then looking at the Big Island of Hawaii from the summit of Haleakala we drove down to the visitor center of the Haleakala National Park to begin our ride just outside of the perimeter of the park. From here we went through a section of grassland that the Haleakala highway meanders through with a series of banked corners linked together by gentle straight away sections with perfect views on the downhill side of the road of the valley connecting Haleakala to the West Maui Mountains that Maui is nicknamed "The Valley Isle" because of. The clouds cleared after the sun came up and the islands of Lanai and Kahoolawe became visible beyond the southern shore and the island of Molokai became visible beyond the northern shore a bit later. After we got through the fields we entered a eucalyptus forest that gave off an amazingly fragrant aroma that was clearly distinguishable even at riding speed. We continued down through the town of Kula before we ended our ride just above Pukalani. The crew of Maui Downhill did a fantastic job blocking the traffic with their van the entire way down, periodically the van driver would radio the cruise leader in the front of all of the bikers and we would slow and pull to the side to allow traffic to pass. I enjoyed this bike ride, it was relaxed but I still got some thrills laying it down and speeding through some of the corners. -Jake Barefoot
