The Kohala mountain road

Honokaa to Hawi
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/57371880 87kms 4400ft total climbing.
Just kicked out the stats for the week of cycling so far: 500kms, 20,000ft of climbing, supposedly 18,000 calories burned! Just one more day to come - 85kms back to Kona, likely hot and undulating. Tale tomorrow.
But back to today: Big climbing day today. Started right out of the hotel with an 18% grade hill up to the old highway and continuing on from 1200 ft to 2800 ft. That woke everybody up. The reward though was a gorgeous spin through rolling open cattle grassland across the tops before descending into Waimea. Coffee time. Right out of Waimea the road rose again, the famous Kohala mountain road, cresting at 3500 ft. Incredible views of the Kona coastline off the side of the mountain. Made all the more impressive by the storm clouds rolling in to envelope us as we hit the top. The wet might have made the 3000 ft descent into Hawi treacherous but the sun came out again, letting us take our hands off the brakes for a truly exhilarating drop down to the north coast. Feeling really good at the bottom we opted not to head straight into Hawi, instead doing the extra 28km round trip to go out the Pololu valley lookout. And it was well worth it. Generally agreed: best day of the trip for scenery, cycling, achievement and another personal best for Cathy (climbing).