One of the coolest experiences of my life. The sunrise from the top of Haleakala was spectacular. It was cold, but you should already know that going into it if you actually did your research. I brought my winter coat, gloves and beanie for the top(it was about 35 degrees). I wore a windbreaker for the bike ride down and was pretty comfortable. Be sure to bring a backpack for when you’re delayering. Backpacks are provided at the bike shop, along with raincoats and rain pants if you don’t feel like bringing your own(it didn’t rain on our trip, but we brought rain gear just in case).
We are from Ohio and did the tour two days in into our 8 day trip in Maui. We were still kind of used to being six hours ahead, so it really wasn’t that hard getting up at 1:30 a.m. Maui time.
If you can help it, try to get on Eddy Buddy’s bus when being transported from the bike shop to the mountain. He is so knowledgeable and his jokes are great. Just an all around cool guy. We didn’t ask much about his past life before becoming a guide with the bike shop, but wouldn’t be surprised if he were a retired history teacher.
The only con that I wish I didn’t have to mention(and the only reason I gave 4 stars) was the fact that we felt rushed at the end of our bike ride. We were told by both Eddy and the other guide that we should stop and shop around, take in the scenery and not to rush too much to get back to the shop. They asked that we try not to be back any later than 3:30 and. If we were, it would be a cause for concern for them. We stopped at “Cow Boy Town”(about 5 miles from the shop) at about 9:30 a.m. to eat breakfast and shop around a little bit. We then decided to continue on towards the shop at about 11:00 a.m. We thought we were making pretty decent time, but, much to our surprise, we actually weren’t. The other guide(I feel bad that I don’t remember his name…the “safety” guy that has worked for the company for thirty years+) stopped us as we were getting ready to head back to let us know that we were the last group still out. Because of this, he would be driving his bus behind us with his hazards on, allowing us to ride in the middle of the road to go a little faster the last leg back to the shop.
When we got back to the shop, we noticed other riders pulling up right before we did, so we felt a little better knowing that we weren’t the ones holding them up entirely, but is that something we should’ve been worrying about, especially since we arrived back well before the suggested time? Probably not.
Despite that one con, we had a blast and would do it again if we ever make it back to Maui. Worth every penny.