Quite a few years ago I saw some Hawaii Ironman TV coverage where some guy cooked an egg on the black lava. Corrie and I quite enjoy watching the Myth Busters show on Prime, so I thought its was an opportune time to try my own experiment. But first, training.
Yesterday I cycled the other half of the course; Waikaloa-Hawi-Waikaloa. This is the 'notorious' part of the cycle. Most of the landscape is pretty bleak, but in a Waiouru - Desert Road sort of way, quite striking. The lava flow areas are certainly stunning, but up closer to Hawi its ranch country, but very brown and dry.
From Kawaihae to Hawi (a distance of about 30km) its just a gradual climb. That in itself is fine - the gradient is very easy. Its the wind that makes it mark. No longer is there a gentle to moderate on-shore breeze, up here its gale force. From about 10km out of Hawi, there is a wicked gusting crosswind, with enough velocity to move you sideways 2-3 m. Its scary enough to make you get off your aero bars and use the conventional grips for security. Fortunately (?) about 4km out from Hawi you turn into the wind so that it is head on. Whilst its hard work, at least its not intimidating. Turning around at Hawi its great to have the wind behind you, and going down hill its easy to go 50-60 kmh, well, at least for the first 4km. When I hit the crosswinds again, I slowed right down, as I had two scares, nearly leaving the road both times. Bugger that!
I think that the wind is a product of the weather being squeezed between Hawaii (ie the big island) and the next island north of us, Maui. A bit like Cook Straight I guess.
The rest of the ride was great, but obviously hot. After 3 hr 20 min on the bike I got off and ran for 15 min. That wasn't so nice in the heat of the day. A marathon after the bike still feels a bit daunting.
Eggs. Well, I decided to try the experiment on the side of the road, as the tarmac was just as hot as the black lava, and it was hard to find a flat bit that would contain an egg. The egg was duly cracked, and I waited to see what would happen. Not much, actually. Well, if anything, the egg just seemed to evaporate, rather than cook. I decided that scrambled eggs might cook quicker, so I stirred it up a bit. It was definitely cooking, but slowly. The road was certainly hot enough - I couldn't keen my bare hand on it for more than about 20 seconds. I didn't eat the egg.
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