On October 26th 2001 Channell Wasson took his Brompton to the top of
Hawaii's Maui Island Volcano, Haleakela, which rises steeply from the sea to 10,023 ft
(3,056 meters). Attached here you see a 5:30 am sunrise photo of Channell with wife
Jan and friend Stuart from London on the mountain top. The temperature was close to
freezing and the wind was blowing quite hard!
Right after the photo Channell started his ride down the mountain to the
sea. It was a magnifcent coasting ride of 35 miles. At first there was
concern about overheating brakes, but this proved to be no problem. The design of
the roadway allowed for maintaining a good speed. Some straight patches allowed for
full speed ahead where a maximum speed of 47 mph was acheived. The
changing altitueds showed diferent plants trees and flowers which were sometimes
shrowded in fog and rain. At sea level it was warm again. A further twenty
mile ride through sugar cane fields and along the coast ended the ride in Wailea.
Finally a photo of Channell with his Brompton by the sea at Laperouse Bay. This
bay was formed by Maui's last volcanic erruption ending in 1790.
For this trip The Brompton with pannier and some clothes were dropped into the
Envirotote canvas bag and was then checked as luggage onto the Boeing 767 plane for a
5 hour jouney back to San francisco. Although the cloth Envirotote bag does not
offer much protection from rough luggage handling, the Brompton came through the round
trip unscathed."