Maui
Bicycle Tours
Sunrise
Bike Tour
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List
price: $170
Internet
Special: $114.95 plus
4.17% tax and a $29 national park tour fee
(Minimum
biking age is 12 ...due to high elevation no pregnant women are allowed
on this tour, either as a biker or a van rider .
Maximum weight approx. 280lbs. Minimum height 4' 10")
-
Pickup
at your hotel / condo / cruise ship between 2:30am and 3:15am
(depending on your location)
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Van
tour of Haleakala National Park including viewing the sunrise at
the summit
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Continental
breakfast at the summit
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Guided
29 mile downhill bike tour beginning just outside the park at
6700 feet
-
Our
tour price INCLUDES the cost of the breakfast
(currently served at the Sunrise Protea Market) during the ride ... an exclusive benefit
for Adventuremaui.com clients and saves you another $10 or so
-
Our
tour covers the entire distance all
the way to the ocean. Many other companies have cut miles off
the bottom of the ride!
-
Includes
Columbia Sportswear windbreaker and pants, gloves, helmet, and
state of the art volcano chrome cruiser bike with heavy-duty
brakes.
-
This
ride is designed for people who have average bike riding
abilities. If you haven't been on a bike in 20 years, the top of
a volcano is not the place to remember how to ride a bike.
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Special
Note: Due to national park restrictions which recently went
into effect, capacity for this tour has been severely
limited. We recommend reservations be made at least a
month in advance of your date, especially during holiday
periods and summer months.
The sunrise
journey is our most popular tour and seating is extremely
limited. Your tour begins with hotel or cruise ship pickup and
a van tour to the summit of Haleakala. Certified tour guides
provide you with a history of Haleakala, its geology, and an
explanation of rare plants and animals only found on Maui.
Upon arrival at the summit you'll be escorted to the crater
rim to view the often-spectacular sunrise. While at the summit
you'll get a continental breakfast (hot coffee, juice, and
pastries) and receive a comprehensive safety briefing and an
informative tour of the park. Your tour proceeds to the 6700
foot level just outside the park boundary where you will be
expertly fitted to your bicycle and begin your 29 mile ride
down the slopes of Haleakala, including the famous series of
switchbacks and upcountry Kula. You will stop for breakfast which is included in the price of
the tour (an Adventuremaui.com exclusive). Following breakfast
you will finish your ride through the sugar cane and pineapple
fields ... continuing on to the Pacific Ocean and ending at
Paia beach park. Return to your resort or cruise ship will be
about noon.
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NCL
cruise ship passengers are able do the sunrise bike
tour on their second day in port in Kahului. The bike
tour company will pick you up at the dock. This tour can
also work for other cruise ship passengers who have a
two-day stay in Lahaina on the morning of their second
day. |
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3/21/2008
LATEST UPDATE:
As you may already
know, back in October of 2007 Haleakala
National Park suspended all
bicycle tours in the park indefinitely. For the
first month bike
companies could not even take clients to the summit
to watch the sunrise using the bike tour vans. Well, where there's a
will there's a way ... Mountain Riders
teamed up with another tour operator and
together they began taking clients to the summit of Haleakala
back in November. Just this week the park has
announced that they are going to continue the
current restrictions on bike tours in the park.
The good news is that Mountain Riders will now
have a daily capacity of 50 riders for the sunrise
tour and 50 riders for the day tour. This is still
a large cut in the number of people per day who
can do this tour, but it has eased demand
somewhat. Here are the implications of what
it means to those of you who are planning to do
this tour.
1. Mountain
Riders will often sell out during peak holiday
periods and during the summer months about a week
in advance. We recommend advanced reservations
at least a month in advance for those who are
coming to Maui during busy periods. Teh
sunrise and day tours will include a visit to the summit of
Haleakala Crater and a van tour of the park. Your
bike ride will begin at the 6700 foot elevation
just outside of the park's boundary and you will
bike the entire rest of the mountain from
that point, all the way to the ocean in Paia, a
distance of 29 miles. This is the longest bike
ride of any of the tour companies on the mountain.
Many other companies have cut miles off the end of
the ride. This extremely limited availability
means that YOU MUST RESERVE NOW if you hope to
participate in the longest, most fun, most
spectacular downhill bicycle tour in the world!!!
2. Because of
the small increase in capacity our rate for the
bike tour has just been lowered by $10 per person.
The base rate for the sunrise tour has been
lowered from $124.95 to $114.95 and the base rate
for the day tour has been lowered from $109.95 to
$99.95. While this is still more expensive than a
year ago, this is due to the bike tour company
having to contract with a a second tour
company to legally get their clients into the
park. In essence, you are buying TWO tours which
have been carefully timed and coordinated so that
you can overlap them in one trip up the mountain.
The bike company is charging a $29 surcharge for
the Haleakala National Park tour in addition to
the base rate for the bike tour.
We expect the
current situation to continue indefinitely ...
we recommend that you make a reservation NOW for
any date in 2008. Summer dates should be
reserved right away!!! We do not
charge your credit card for your tour until 5 days
before your vacation, so you can reserve now and
pay later. Get your name on
the books NOW while you can!!!
During this time ALL BIKE TOUR COMPANIES
must start their rides outside of the park at the
6,700 foot level of the mountain. If you see
a bike tour advertised on other websites that
suggests you are going to bike the entire
mountain, you are dealing with a website that is
not being maintained! We suggest you bookmark
this page and check back often as we will keep our
site updated with the latest information. For more
information on the biking situation within
Haleakala National Park, read our "Activity
Tips" section at the bottom of this page.
|
|
List
price: $154
Internet
Special: $99.95 plus
4.17% tax and a $29 national park tour fee
(Minimum
biking age is 12 ...due to high elevation no pregnant women are allowed
on this tour, either as a biker or a van rider .
Maximum weight approx. 280lbs. Minimum height 4' 10")
-
Pickup
at your hotel / condo / cruise ship between 6:00am and 7:00am (depending on your location)
-
Van
tour of Haleakala National Park including viewing the summit
crater
-
Continental
breakfast at the summit
-
Guided
29 mile downhill bike tour beginning just outside the park at
6700 feet
-
Our
tour price INCLUDES the cost of the deli lunch at the
Sunrise Protea Farm during the ride ... an exclusive benefit
for Adventuremaui.com clients and saves you another $10 or so
-
Our
tour covers the entire distance all
the way to the ocean. Many other companies have cut miles off
the bottom of the ride!
-
Includes
Columbia Sportswear windbreaker and pants, gloves, helmet, and
state of the art volcano chrome cruiser bike with heavy-duty
brakes.
-
This
ride is designed for people who have average bike riding
abilities. If you haven't been on a bike in 20 years, the top of
a volcano is not the place to remember how to ride a bike.
Is
2:30am a little too early for you? Well, check out the
day tour option. All the same feature of the sunrise tour
only without the middle of the night pickup. While you don't
get to see a sunrise, you do get to see inside Haleakala
Crater a little later in the morning when the sun has filled
the crater and the amazing natural colors of the many red
cinder cones can be seen more clearly. The
day tours also have extremely limited seating so book early!
Your tour begins with hotel or cruise ship pickup and a van
tour to the summit of Haleakala. Certified tour guides provide
you with a history of Haleakala, its geology, and an
explanation of rare plants and animals only found on Maui.
Upon arrival at the summit you'll be escorted to the crater
rim for spectacular views of the most colorful dormant volcano
in the world. While at the summit you'll get a continental
breakfast (hot coffee, juice, and pastries) and receive a
comprehensive safety briefing and an informative tour of the
park. Your tour proceeds to the 6700 foot level just outside
the park boundary where you will be expertly fitted to your
bicycle and begin your 29 mile ride down the slopes of
Haleakala, including the famous series of switchbacks and
upcountry Kula. You will stop at Sunrise Protea Farm for a
deli lunch which is included in the price of the tour (an
Adventuremaui.com exclusive). Following lunch you will finish
your ride through the sugar cane and pineapple fields ...
continuing on to the Pacific Ocean and ending at Paia beach
park. Return to your resort or cruise ship will be between 2pm
and 3pm.
|
|
NCL cruise
ship passengers are able do the day bike tour on their second day
in port in Kahului if your ship is staying until at least 5pm. The bike tour company will pick you up at the dock.
This tour can also work for other cruise ship passengers who have a
two-day stay in Lahaina on the morning of their second day. |
|
Activity
Tips
|
Haleakala
National Park - what led to the current suspension of biking
inside the park?
What's going on??? Well,
here's a a little background on the situation for you.
Bike tours in Haleakala National Park began twenty years
ago. It's become an extremely popular adventure on Maui
... that's the reason why you are reading this page!
During the course of the last 10 years there have been
over 1.2 million people enjoy this ride by some
estimates. While the ride isn't difficult or inherently
dangerous for a person with average biking abilities,
there have been some serious accidents, including 4
fatalities during the last 10 years. Unfortunately one
of these deaths occurred in the park at the end of
September 2007.
While any loss of life is
truly tragic, the number of fatalities from this event
is completely in line with other outdoor recreational
activities that people engage in while on vacation ...
like snorkeling or surfing in Hawaii or skiing and
snowboarding in colder climates. Most serious accidents
have involved older riders or people who haven't ridden
a bike for many years. We have always said that
"the top of a volcano is not the place to remember
how to ride a bike." Not everyone who sells these
tours makes this point clear.
Haleakala National Park's
long-time superintendent retired in 2005, and the new
superintendent declared shortly after moving to Maui
from the mainland that "change is coming" for
the bike tour industry. Her first action was to limit
the number of tours each company could operate starting
in 2006. Now, following the September 2007 accident, she imposed a 60
day suspension or as she calls it "a safety
stand-down" while park safety and operating
procedures are being reviewed.
We are very much afraid
that the issue isn't really "biker safety" as
much as it is the park superintendent's agenda to get
rid of these tours. Concern for biker safety does not
fully explain why she will not even allow the bike
companies to take their clients to summit in the bike
tour company vans to watch the
sunrise and then leave the park before beginning the
bike ride. Instead they have to use other tour operators
to get their clients to the summit, which greatly
increases the cost of the tour. We do hope we are wrong on this point, but we
wonder if this is an attempt to drive some of the bike
tour companies out of business. Yes, obviously there are
lawyers involved.
Our theory is that when
bike tour operators are allowed back into the park,
there will be dramatic cuts on the number of tours that
are permitted and if that is the case, these bike tours
may start selling out MONTHS in advance. If you are
coming anytime within the next year we recommend you get
your name on the books NOW and reserve your tour date.
We do not charge your credit card until a few days
before your vacation, and if anything changes in the
status of your tour between now and your tour date we
will contact you with the details.
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The most helpful piece of advice for doing the sunrise
bicycle tour is to make your reservation in advance for the first full day
that you are in Hawaii when the time change is working in your favor. The logic is simple. Due to the time change, you
will find yourself waking up at 4am on the first day that you are here
anyway.
Since you are already going to wake up early that day, you might as well
get up a little bit earlier and start our your vacation by doing something
fun and exciting!
Remember, it gets cold at 10,000 feet, especially in the
winter months. Yes, the bike companies provide a wind breaker, wind pants,
and gloves, but you will still want some layers underneath, especially for the sunrise
tour. As your group heads down the mountain, it gets warmer. You will
pause along the way for photos and "strip stops." Everything
you don't need anymore goes in the van.
Many bike tour companies have
dropped meals from the price of their tour. Please note that
with our tours breakfast on the sunrise tour and lunch on the
day tour are still included in the tour price! Most companies
do not include the meal cost in the price of their tour but we
do!!!
One other advantage of Mountain Riders;
their breakfast stop during the sunrise ride is right along the
bike tour route in the middle of the ride. Some companies wait until the very end of
the ride (which is pretty late for breakfast) and one company
loads you into the van part way through the ride and drives
you several miles out of the way to their breakfast
spot.
A word about
the unguided option ... personally I much prefer the guided
tour because of the extra measure
of safety it provides. The guide sets a safe, comfortable pace
for the group (about 12-15 miles per hour on average) and the van follows your group back down the mountain.
This "chase vehicle" prevents cars from passing you
at times when it is not safe. You
don't have to worry about looking over your shoulder to see
what's coming from behind you. If there are cars backed up
behind the chase vehicle, the driver talks to the guide on his
walkie-talkie and they arrange for a place to pull over to the
side and let the traffic pass. Three of our staff live near
the bike tour route and we can tell you that the unguided
people make us cringe ... we have decided the risk of injury
is too great to offer this option to our clients.
While
29 miles sounds like a long ride, it really isn't when you are
coasting downhill almost the entire way. There is literally
only 400 yards of peddling spread out throughout the entire
ride! I am often asked if you can get off the bike if you get
tired. It rarely becomes an issue, but if at any time you
don't feel like riding anymore you can pull over and get in
the van (on the guided tour of course). You can ride in the
van for a while, and even get back out on the bike at a future
stopping point if you like.
Many
people ask about the brakes. They are hand-operated brakes but
they aren't the kind of brakes you see on typical mountain
bikes or road bikes. They are heavy duty drum brakes built
into the hub of the front and back wheel, not a pad that grabs
the side of the wheel frame. It's the same kind of brake as
the foot pedal brakes on the old style bikes. In this case
they are operated by hand controls so you can brake the front
and back brakes evenly. This style brake STAYS DRY and isn't
compromised by wet roads like the pad brakes found on the kind
of bikes that most people have in their garage. The seats are
well padded, and you ride in an upright position, not hunched
over like a 21 speed racing bike.
The
road that you bike is completely paved, and while there are
lots of 180 degree turns and it is 5-6% downhill grade, it is
not inherently dangerous AS LONG AS YOU KNOW HOW TO RIDE A
BIKE!!! I can't emphasize this enough ... while there are occasionally
accidents on this ride (and on rare occasions those accidents
have been fatal), they are almost always the result of
someone who lacked confidence (and/or ability) at riding a
bicycle. If you are riding a bike and you fall, or you run
into a guardrail, you ARE going to get hurt ... whether you
are doing it on a mountain on Maui or on flat ground in
Kansas! My best advice is this ... IF YOU HAVE NOT RIDDEN A
BICYCLE IN 40 YEARS, THE TOP OF A VOLCANO IS NOT THE BEST
PLACE TO TRY TO REMEMBER HOW TO RIDE A BIKE!!! Borrow a bicycle from
someone and ride around your neighborhood before you come to
Hawaii. A few hours of peddling will refresh your mind
about steering and braking and give you the confidence you
need to do just fine on this ride. If you are uncomfortable
riding a bike in your neighborhood, then you should sit out
this activity or just go along in the van for the ride.
All-in-all, this is one of Maui's must-do activities ...
don't miss it! Currently the ride isn't as long as it usually is, but the
ride with Mountain Riders is THE LONGEST downhill bike tour
available anywhere in the world.
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On-line
Biking Reservations
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We
are a true activity company; we do not promote timeshare sales in any way.
