West Maui. Up. Down. Left. Right. Repeat for 40km. After a quick drive around the bay we started our ride in Maalaea. The first 40km or so is along the shoreline on a nicely paved highway with a paved shoulder. We cooked along in a double pace line letting Tyler and Ryder set the pace and break the wind for most of the ride. I rode directly behind them until we turned off at Lahaina. I think a few of our campers are new to group riding, and being in the back didn’t feel safe. I was wearing my team Garmin shorts and ECC jersey – and as a gap opened up between the three of us at the front and the rest of the group I felt like a real pro. When the pack caught up Donnie said it looked like a team ride, with me in a national champions jersey being protected by the others! Here’s a video from the ride.

As the highway turned into a country road our group took a final rest stop to fuel up and fill our bottles. The next hour of riding was incredible and challenging. The road follows the gnarly coastline in and out, up and down, and never flat or straight. It’s a real thrill to ride.

Three quarters of the way around we descended into a little village where we had shave ice, banana bread and a Coke. Just what we needed to tackle the 15 minute climb out of town. The road surface for the next 10km is awful. Potholes, cracks, stones and other debris, etc. it’s a challenging stretch but you rewarded with a terrifically fun descent back into civilization. We regrouped at this point and pacelined it south across the island. Tyler and Ryder battled with a few sprints – leaving the rest of us gasping for air. And me lamenting the compact crank and climbers cassette on my rental. The group reformed and the kilometers passed quickly on the way back to Wailea. Seamus paced us in at a steady 37km/h until the final climb and hotel were in sight. You could feel the tension as riders started jockeying for position at the front. We’re not here to race but the competitive streak is strong. I didn’t want to get caught in the sprint so I dropped to the back. At this point one rider took off from the front prompting some jeers from the pack. He got a sizable gap and looked set to take the “win”. And then the paced quickened. The pros can amp it up fast. At this point I joked with Andreas that I should take a shot for the win. After all I was wearing my ECC jersey and established on day one that I was a breakaway rider. So I geared down and gave it all I had… Forgetting that there was one more climb before the finish. I bridged to the first guy and passed him as he looked over the wrong shoulder to see me coming. As I rounded the final bend I saw the hill and looked back. Ryder was in full flight. Uh oh. Had there been 5 more metres of road he would have caught me – but today was my day.

At lunch I sat with Ryder and Tyler and had a really great discussion a out life as a pro, things we’ve seen in the news about them, planning for next season, Vaughters, Tom Boonen, speaking Flemish, and more. It was a great way to finish the day. As an aside… I mentioned to the pros that there is a segment of cyclists who think wearing team kits is ridiculous unless you are a paid pro. Tyler’s reply was, “No one thinks it’s wrong for a Seahawks fan to wear their jersey. Why is cycling different?” He also talked about training in Belgium where almost every amateur rider is out in a full-on Quickstep kit on every ride. It’s their home team. Tomorrow I’m rockin’ my full Garmin kit. And will get a team pic.

This is how the plan for the day is presented. It really needs to be more detailed – in the way that explains that the downhill portion of the ride is tons and tons of fun. The uphill portion, in the searing 40 Celsius heat is not. Other than riding directly on the surface of the sun, I cannot imagine it being any hotter. The first 32.5km were amazing. Flying downhill chasing Tyler Farrar was a real thrill. The next 32.5km were gruelling. 40 Celsius. Uphill. Ugh. My adventure in a solo breakaway yesterday came back to haunt me today as I really did not have the legs to climb. So it goes… (Here’s my ride profile on Strava and Garmin Connect.)

And I had to ride a rental bike because the derailleur hanger on mine somehow broke last night. (I think it must have gotten damaged during at some point in the last month, and the hard ride I did yesterday, with a few hard shifts, pushed it to the limit. The club mechanic noticed it wasn’t aligned and attempted to fix it – but it snapped off in his hand.) In many cases this is a minor issue and the local shop can fix it or order one in for the next day. Since we’re on an island in the middle of the ocean the ordering process is a bit different – the cost to get a single piece here overnight is crazy high… So today I rode a Felt with DI2. A nice bike but it didn’t fit very well and as a result I’m suffering from some chafing.

Overall the day was terrific. Great roads, great people, great weather. Looking forward to more fun tomorrow!

I was up at 5am and ready to ride. By 9am I was still wanting to ride but my excitement was replaced with a bit of anxiety – how would my legs be? Who are the other campers and how would I compare?

As usual my anxiety was unfounded. Once on the road I felt great and had an awesome day on the bike. We drove out to a starting point east of Paia on Hana Highway. This was a new ride for me – it was not included in the camp last year, although we did ride the return stretch as part of our East Maui Loop.

The Hana Highway for me, is as close to a road built for cycling as you’ll find. dozens of hairpin turns with single lane bridges at the apexes. The bridges traverse rivers that come down off the slopes of Haleakala forming impressive waterfalls and swimming holes.

The sights, sounds and smells of the jungle take over your senses and the ride becomes much more than just a ride. Listening to the locals that ride it all the time they have the same excitement that us newbies do – it speaks to the awesomeness of the route.

Riding east was fun, we moved along at a steady pace and I pushed myself on a few of the climbs. At the turnaround point I decided to try and push harder for the entire ride. Across one of the many gorges I spied a steady climb and made my attack. Pulling away from the group felt good; last year it was the group pulling away from me! I steadily grew my lead (although they weren’t really chasing) and was working out how awesome this would look on TV – the helicopter zooming in on me and then pulling back, showing the incredible scenery, before zooming in on the chasers. The road is a seemingly never ending series of hairpin turns that provide ample opportunity to see your chasers, or the chasers to see the escapee, It was a lot of fun until I saw the only rider dressed in blue pull to the front of the group. At the point I knew my time alone was limited. Very quickly Ryder brought the group up to me. As he pulled along side I joked that I thought I could make it alone to the finish. He simply smirked, laughed, and was gone as I lamely attempted to keep up. In the pro vs joes battle, it’s pros 1, joes 0.

We rode most of the remainder of the ride together – back to Maui Cyclery in Paia. There I was met with an icy cold Longboard Lager. A great ending to a great start.

After making our way back to the hotel in the trucks – this year Ryder was the only rider with the legs to ride back – we enjoyed our massages before everyone went their separate ways for the evening.

Another day spent with family. We rented an Escalade so I could finally live my Tony Soprano dreams… Breakfast at Kihei Caffe was amazing. The best breakfast we’ve had in ages. Just awesome. After breakfast we hit the road and drove the West Maui loop counterclockwise before stopping in Lahaina for a swim at Baby Beach, shave ice at Local Boys, and pizza at Lahaina Pizza Company. Deep dish gooey goodness. Some more driving took us to Paia to check out Maui Cyclery – the shop that supports the camp. A quick drive back to Wailea with a stop at a roadside coconut stand completed our afternoon. I could write a few pages on the experience with Randy at the coconut stand. He is a real gem – great with the kids and the machete! He took us through the whole growing, harvesting and eating process of coconuts. And he shared loads of history and stories. Definitely the highlight of a great day with my family. The evening featured the welcome reception – that we missed last year because of a delayed flight. This was our chance to meet the other campers, the pros and the support team. It’s a smaller group this year but everyone seems friendly and fun. Team meeting tomorrow at 9:00am; riding starts at 9:30. I can’t hardly wait.

After more than 14 hours of travel we arrived in paradise. Our plane from Vancouver to Maui was brand new which meant it didn’t have in-seat entertainment. According to the in-flight attendants that is an after-market option!! Luckily West Jet had tablets to rent for $5 – loaded with a dozen movies and a bunch of TV shows. How did people travel before this kind of technology. What did people do to survive really long flights?

Back on topic – we were met at the airport by a couple members of the camp crew – Cody & Seamus. It was a great site to see familiar faces after our day of travel.

With our gear loaded up we made the 20 minute drive to the beautiful Four Seasons Wailea. This is a hotel that knows how to make you feel good.

As our internal clocks are set to 4:30am it’s time for bed. Tomorrow is a family day – celebrating Thanksgiving US-style!

Camp starts in two days. Bike is packed in my BikeBoxAlan from Efraim at BikeBoxRentals.ca. Clothing and everything else is all packed and ready to go. The kids are more excited this year than last – they know what to expect and what kind of fun is just days away.

I’ll post daily updates here and to Strava. I’ll also try to post regular photos to Instagram but it all depends on my data connectivity via cell.