Another option is Pulehu Road, although the last mile or so is reportedly steep. Since it’s a secondary road, it is relatively quiet, and has quite a bit of regular cyclist traffic. We asked around and concluded that the best way up seems to be via Baldwin Ave., which starts in Paia. The longest continuous climb on the figure-eight loop is the climb up to Kula. More accurately, you might notice on Google Earth that there is a direct and paved road, but it’s privately owned (apparently by Oprah) and gated. Note that to start the eastern loop, you have to head almost to the northern coast, since there is no direct road from Kihei, although it seems tantalizingly close. Our recommendation would be to cycle the western loop first, as we did, since it’s easier and shorter (a warmup) and in some ways less dramatic than the eastern loop.
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If you are planning to do both loops, it’s natural to ask which loop to do first. This works well since the usual tourist thing to do is to head towards Hana in the morning and return in the afternoon, so you will spend most of your time against the traffic, which makes things easier on the narrow and windy Hana Highway. For the eastern loop, this also has the advantage of reaching Hana via the backdoor (the Piilani Highway) and leaving via the more usual route (the Hana Highway). In order to keep the ocean on your right side, to have a clearer view of the ocean (and easier access for photo stops) which we’d recommend, it’s best to cycle both loops anti-clockwise. The “West Maui” (Lahaina) loop is shorter, easier and drier than the “East Maui” (Hana) loop. Maui consists of two volcanoes stuck together, and hence the route around it is logically composed of two loops, or a figure-eight if you combine them. If you are planning to cycle right around the island, looking at a wind chart doesn’t seem to do much good, since you are bound to spend about equal times in the theoretically tail-wind and head-wind areas.
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We had read that wind can be a serious hindrance when cycling around Maui, but at least when we were there, we didn’t find that to be the case. We cycled with sandals rather than shoes, which work better on multiple counts – if it rains they don’t stay wet for long, they are more comfortable when it’s hot, and if you hang out at the beach they won’t fill up with sand. We brought rain jackets and a tarp, but skipped the rain pants, figuring (correctly) that it would be warm enough to forego them.
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Prepare for warm days and nights, with very sunny days and very rainy days. On Maui the weather changes far more when you go from one end to the other, than it does when the seasons change – it rains about 20 times as much on the wet side (the Eastern side) than it does on the dry side (say around Kihei). If you are looking to get inspired, read the other post. Basically, if you are already inspired to cycle around Maui, this is the place to get the nitty gritty details. For the story of our trip, see our other blog post. This mini-guidebook should hopefully answer most practical questions about cycling around Maui. When we started planning our trip around Maui, we found it difficult to find information online.