I spoke from 9am to 3pm here in Honolulu today, and then managed to sneak in a very quick ride up the mountain shown here (as seen from my hotel room about three miles away). I really had no idea what I was in for on this ride. I had gotten just over 6000 ft. of climbing in in Hilo, but the steepest grade I hit there was 14%. As you can see from the graphic below, I set a new record for the steepest ascent I have ever ridden, grade-wise, at a whopping 24%. Let me tell you, when you are on a 24% grade, you just keep pedaling, as hard and as fast as you can (which will be quite hard, but not very fast). Pushed my heart rate to within 3 beats of “get ready to head to glory” speed all the time going, “man, coming back down this is really going to be fun” in my mind. Thankfully, I found a windier, less steep way back down (by mistake, I must admit).
On the way down I stopped and took this shot going the other direction toward Waikiki. The weather has been quite unusual, even according to the Hawaiians, with lots of storms and cloudiness. Of course, it is supposed to clear up the day after I fly home, but the weather has indeed been quite interesting since I got to Hawaii.
I would like to sincerely thank Shane Sowers and the folks at Central Baptist Church for making this ride, and, Lord willing and weather allows, one on Monday, possible.