In spite of my screen name, I am not Hawaiian. I'm Canadian and got the nickname because I windsurf and spent some time living on Maui when I was in my early 20's, before I started coaching or was fit enough to ride up Haleakala. This pretty much makes me the closest thing to Hawaiian that many Albertans have seen.

Fast forward about 18 years or so and now I am a multisport coach. I currently have a client whose big goal is to climb Haleakala in late May while she's on Maui for vacation. I'm writing up her training plan and I was wondering if anyone on the board has riden up the Mountain and if you had any insights on things to work on training wise.

The climb is 38 miles and the elevation gain if she does it from sea level is more than 10, 000 feet. I've driven up the road and I seem to remember it being a pretty steady climb without many truly steep spots. So basically, I'm planning a lot of longer steady efforts to simulate a long, steady, but not steep climb. My client is mostly riding indoors right now, so these are on the trainer for now. When we can get her back outside, we have a really nice 22 mile climb and another 15 mile steady climb that she can get to work on.

If you've ridden up Haleakala, were there things that you did in your training that were particularly helpful? Were there things that you wish you had done more of?

TIA for suggestions.