Haleakala, Hawaii

November 26, 2010 7:53 AM

If you stand along the road by Sunrise Market in the hamlet of Kula, on the island of Maui, you'll first hear the buzz, then with a whoosh the bicycles come around the bend. They're riding 27 miles, following about two dozen hairpin turns, rolling past hardened lava and cane fields, fruit stands, lazy livestock and three small towns. And 99 percent of it is downhill.