16 Jan 2023
Not knowing quite what to expect in a downhill guided tour, the company does a lot to prepare you at the offices with a safety video and with a lot of pre-amble instruction on the van ride up to the top of Haleakala. We went in early January 2023 and wore pants, long sleeved shirt, runners. I brought my purse but left it in the van. In retrospect I would wear bike shorts and long sleeved shirt and short sleeved shirt underneath. You don't need anything else except your phone for some photos and a credit card for some lunch. The cycling is quite nerve-racking at first (maybe the first 3 to 5 mins. since I was not prepared for how fast we went. Once I got used to the excellent brakes and turned my head for turns and stayed in the lane by looking ahead a few metres, I was comfortable. We stopped a few times for traffic to pass us and a few times for some scenery. We had 3 hills to climb - two were on foot. They weren't difficult. We ate at the Ohana Island Grindz halfway down for lunch break (45 min.) - recommend the ramen soup and the awesome cheese burger. We checked in around 9:30, started the ride around 10:30 and were done by 2:30pm. Would do this again and likely do it guided again, since the van followed us and held the traffic back making me feel safer.