Kip Cline is not much for planning or worrying about competition. Spontaneous challenges are more his thing.
Kip Cline is not much for planning or worrying about competition. Spontaneous challenges are more his thing.
The 26-year-old was walking through the Hilo Target one night when he saw trail mix and an idea popped into his head.
“A subconscious cue for an adventure,” he said.
Cline tackled Mauna Kea on his bike last year, so he thought, why not just turn to the left?
“I was looking for something big for my weekend,” Cline said.
The next day — Sept. 12 was picture-perfect like most have been recently in East Hawaii — he found it.
The approximate 45-mile bike ride from Hilo to Mauna Loa is listed as the 19th most difficult climb in the world by the website climbbybike.com — but there’s a kicker. After reaching the Mauna Loa Observatory at 11,200 feet, Cline had to ditch his bike and hike another 2,500 feet or so to the summit.
All in a day’s work for Cline, who is used to walking four to five miles a day as a surveyor at Pohakuloa Training Area. He was on his bike by 6 a.m., left Hilo Bayfront at 6:20 a.m. and was home before 10 p.m.
As he did when he ascended Mauna Kea, Cline had driven to Mauna Loa Observatory the night before and placed bags of snacks along his route.
The ride from the Hilo Bayfront to the observatory was easy enough, and his only worry during the hike was making sure he left himself enough sunlight for his descent.
“A little wobbly starting off the hike, but I got a second wind after the first mile or so,” Cline said. “I felt I was getting into my groove.
“As you’re hiking up there it’s so broad and flat it seems like you’re never quite going to get the the top.”
And the view from the top is — well — of the top.
“The top is so broad, most of what you’re looking at is just the top,” he said.
The highlight going down was riding one-lane access road at night.
“You just stay between the two white lines and cruise,” Cline said.
The lowlight was when he hit a rock on Saddle Road and got a flat tire, but he was happy he wasn’t launched from his bike.
Cline said he fell asleep eating pizza in his chair that night. But in his typical spur-of-the-moment way, he was awoken by a friend early the next day and went kayaking in Waipio Valley.
The ride from Hilo to the top of Mauna Kea is ranked No. 1 on climbbybike.com., and Cline agrees. Mauna Kea was the tougher challenge, even when considering Mauna Loa’s hike.
“I was a lot more tired after Mauna Kea,” he said. “A pretty big bear to get up.”
Cline says his next adventure could be Haleakala on Maui.
As for competitive races, he doesn’t run or swim much, so triathlons are out.
The inaugural C2 Mauna Loa cycling race was held earlier this month, starting in Waikoloa, but that’s not Cline’s style either.
“I don’t like to worry about training or competition. A lot to plan for,” he said. “I’m always trying to do things people have never done before. I can challenge and push myself.”