What I do for fun. We have 6 NRG PT Team Members racing Ironman Hawaii this year so I came over to Kona to coach and support our athletes, but figured I would like to do something active myself, so I decided I wanted to try and climb to the top of Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in Hawaii at 13,700+feet (4200m) above sea level and measured from its bottom it is actually the tallest mountain in the world (but 5000+m is underwater, I decided to skip that part!). The ride was going to be 95km from bottom to top and ascend 4200m with about 120m of descent in that 95km, so it was pretty much climbing from beginning to end. The average gradient is not that steep but there were numerous extended sections of 15+%, pretty much all of which occurred above 2500m.
Details:
Bike Cervelo R3
Power Tap (which in an altitude brain cramp, I erased at 12000ft!)
Gearing 53×39, 12×25 (big, big mistake!!)
Tires: Vittoria Rubino Pro 23mm
3 X 1L Gatorade water bottles
20 Power Gels
2 packets of Gel Blasts
1 suitcase of courage!
Map of the ride:
I left our condo at 6am with some light high level cloud and the sun still behind Mauna Kea, it was about 27C when I started so quite nice. The initial part of the ride up past Waikoloa village was nice, hardly any cars going up the hill and a small bike lane for most of it until the last 4miles till it ends and hwy 190. For this section I just focused on getting into a rhythm and not pushing too hard, it was incredibly clear out the pictures don’t really do it justice (I was taking them while riding as well) but I had an amazing clear view of Hualalai, the Kohala mountains, Mauna Loa and even Haleakala over on Maui.
From Hwy 190 over to Saddle road was nice, smooth road, a little bike lane, limited traffic and even a little flat section to give the legs a little break. Things got a bit tougher once I turned onto Saddle Road. The road is narrow and in pretty rough shape for probably 20km and you start to get some steeper sections in here. The cars where all very friendly however, so I would ride towards the middle of the road and once I heard a car coming more over to the bumpy bit on the right. Just before you get to the Bradshaw Army Base on top they have redone the road, it starts off still being narrow but perfectly smooth and then opens up with a large bike lane. This section was nice, from 50-70km the ride was smooth with more gentle climbing and even some flat stretches and a bit of descending!!
I turned left onto the Mauna Kea access road at about 72km and 3:20 into the ride still feeling good and relaxed and looking forward to the last section. This is where I had really underestimated the climb, it starts fairly gently but then soon turns steep with lots of sections >15%, I started to regret my choice of gearing at this point. It was also hot, I was out of the wind and the sun was beaming down so I was sweating pretty good and looking forward to a visit to the visitor centre
At the visitors centre I was definitely feeling the love from the 80+km and 9000ft of climbing I had done. I got here in 4:11 and was averaging 227watts (3.5watts/kg, this type of power would get me a sub 5hour bike split in Hawaii on all but the windiest days) unfortunately my brain cramped at 12000ft and I erased my file so that’s the only really power info I have for the day! Once you leave the visitor centre there is about 13km to the top and still 4700ft of climbing, and right after the visitor centre you have about 7km of gravel road before it goes back to pavement for the last 5km. This gravel section was hard!! I was over geared, too small tires and my suitcase of courage was getting dangerously low! Thankfully Tim, my faithful Sherpa/volunteer was there with the car to provide moral support at this point. Here is a video of one of the sections that I rode (I would have walked more than I rode in the gravel section, my gearing was too hard and tires too narrow to really maintain a good grip and the corners where all steep and rutted so very hard to ride on this setup), it was between 12-15% with loose gravel and rocks and all at 10000+ft at this point! Here is some video of the fun:
Once back onto the paved road (they only pave the top section so that there isn’t any particle interference from the dirt road that affects the telescopes) it’s about 5km to the top, but still over 2000ft of climbing. At this point I am really feeling it and suffering like crazy, you can hear Tim’s comments on the video’s and I am in pretty rough shape, I was just dying trying to keep the pedals turning, and cursing myself for not being better prepared for how steep it was and how much power you lose once you are this high. Here is a video of me at 13000ft with only about 1km to go to the summit, I was completely wiped out at this point and just focusing on keeping the pedals turning over
I got to the top in a bit over 6hours of ride time and completely spent, that was one incredible ride and one I won’t forget anytime soon! I can’t thank Tim enough for helping out. My original plan was to turn around and ride home, but this would not have been fun, the dirt road would have been as unrideable as it was going up, and then it was pouring at the visitor centre so I was very thankful to have a car to climb into.
Things I would do differently:
Easier gearing: a 50×34 and 12×27 set up would have been much better
Tires: 28mm tires, these would provide a bit more traction on the dirt and along with better gearing would have made most of the gravel road rideable (but not all I don’t think)
A cross bike would have been nice on the gravel section, but it would have been a lot more work for the other 85+km of the ride, so I would trade off a little performance in the dirt in order to have a bit more speed on the paved sections.
Here is the full set of pics and videos
If anyone is ever interested in doing this climb feel free to email me for some pointers!
Nigel