How was your ride today?

Thanks for all this information !

I’ve already been to some of the places you mentioned.
What about the people going to Yangmingshan, is it possible to have more precise information about that (where, when…)

I’m back on my bike after a winter hiatus, fairweather cyclist that I am. Today I did my usual ride, climbing 獅仔頭山 for the second time this week (and the second time this year). I think I’ll just keep hitting it for the next three or four weeks until my fitness gets back up to snuff, then I’ll try some other rides. Or maybe head up past Wulai once or twice for a change of scenery.

Saw some macaques today, and an eagle.

Dawn (5am :bow:) departure up to Shakadang, Taroko. They’ve bulldozed a rough road up the riverbed to get building materials in to the top of the trail, and I thought it might take a mountain bike. I was wrong. Managed to ride about 200m of the first 1km, then gave up and pushed to the trail. Illegal to be on there I know, I know, but locals scooter along it, and it was still very early. Rode to Sanjianwu and then back down, until I hit the first coachload and got off to walk.

Once out, I achieved a long standing ambition to walk across the old railway bridge at the Taroko estuary. Had to bush whack in (a little) and out (a lot), N to S, but it was nice views along the way. They could make a superb bike path out of that, with some $$$. Hualien’s response to the Old Caoling Tunnel at Fulong.

I rode out to Wanli via Fengguizui and back over Yangmingshan via the Yangjin Road. It was good cool riding weather below about 400 meters but foggy above that and fairly wet on the north of Yangmingshan facing the ocean. Slightly cold on the downhills but not too bad. Par for the course at this time of year.

Major kudos to a Taiwanese rider David who kindly stopped and gave us a tube with a long stem for a presta valve. One of us had a flat and his stem was too short to pump up. He also refused to accept anything for the NT$300 inner tube and helped us pump up the tire with his high tech pump which was far more effective than the cheap ones we had.

Done 獅仔頭山 eight times over the past four weeks so I’m back to a reasonable level of fitness now. This summer is gonna be great. :discodance:

Rode kaohsiung-kending-kaohsiung (technically Pingdong) this weekend. I was still moving pretty good at the end but I knew i was whipped so i got a taxi for the last 20 kms. I think my computer calibration is off (maybe 700c instead of 26") because I hit 250 kms by the end but I think it should have been more like 230 kms. Regardless that is pretty close to my limit right now. theworldisnotthatbig.com/2013/04 … y-bicycle/


Stony Brook, Kending, Taiwan by abacus07, on Flickr
The Stony Brook Nature Farm with gigantic hotels and a really nice campground. It comes with an okay view also.


Hengchun, Taiwan by abacus07, on Flickr
I added an extra degree of difficulty by rounding the southern tip and going through Jialeshui on the way back. I really wanted to take this photo. Of course I will need to return to retake this photo when there are brilliant blue skies with clouds. I’m a bit of a perfectionist…

Where is 獅仔頭山 ?

Just south of Xindian.

Has anyone else ridden the farm road that goes from Shuangxi through Taiping (泰平) to Toucheng? It’s pretty prominent on a map, but it’s not that easy to find: the entrance (on the south side of Highway 2丙, a few kilometers east of the Pingshuang Tunnel from Shifen into Shuangxi) is marked only by a little wooden sign that says Sancha Valley (三叉坑). Apparently you can also go up another road a few more km to the east, but I went for the first road since I was coming from Taipei.

I’ve had my eye on that road for a long time, but today was the first time I rode it. Despite getting drenched by copious amounts of rain (which started in earnest about five kilometers into the climb and continued all the way to Toucheng train station) and hardly being able to see anything through clouds and fog, I had a great time! I’d love to go back there in clearer weather to get a better look at the countryside. The climbing wasn’t too tough except for a few steep switchbacks in the very early going, and it looks like the peak elevation is only about 500 meters, although it felt like more because I was constantly going up and down. After 18 km, I crossed the border into Yilan County, and Beishuang #7 Farm Road (北雙七號農路) became Yilan 1 (宜1); another 9 km and I arrived in the Toucheng village of Daxi (大溪). On the final part of the descent, the weather finally cleared up a bit and I got a couple glimpses of a stunning section of coast, where the rain-swollen Daxi River was flowing past a beautiful steep green hill into the sea. I’m sorely tempted to wait for a favorable weather forecast and leave the house at 3 AM with my camera to shoot the sunrise from there because I think it would be just jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

The whole ride from Taipei to Toucheng train station only took me a bit over four hours, and that’s including a stop for water and a six-inch sub I brought along. I left at 1 and arrived before 6. Faster riders could do the trip in under four hours easily.

Yeah, I’ve done that road several times. The better approach is to take 泰和街 up from around Shuangxi (look at Google maps.) The road surface is a bit smoother than the earlier approaches. I’m surprised and thankful that there are so few cars up there. There are some really nice views when the ascent starts to level off.

If you do it in the summer, which is when the best light is, you should arrive at the coast around 4:30AM.

I’ve done some great rides in Nantou and Yunlin recently. The 149-B out of Douliu is such a great road and an awesome starting point for so many rides.

Did this one just yesterday

mapmyride.com/routes/view/255891031

Fantastic roads - the 149 is always splendid, the loop above Huashan was a tough challenge in the morning heat and getting lost on the farm roads behind Jianhushan was crazy too. Luckily, I wasn’t ripped to shreds by zombie ferret badgers.

And I did this a couple weeks ago, right right before the typhoon hit. More great roads…

mapmyride.com/routes/view/245945999

Great stuff. I was thinking about getting this thread moving again but I’ve just been doing my regular 獅仔頭山 loop twice a week. I haven’t done a century for ages. I like the look of the elevation profile in that first one.

Oh, speaking of 獅仔頭山, I’ve noticed that a lot of the dogs have disappeared within the last month. Has anyone else noticed this anywhere? At first I thought that perhaps the heat was forcing them to find respite somewhere else but now I’m not so sure. :ponder:

[quote=“antarcticbeech”]Great stuff. I was thinking about getting this thread moving again but I’ve just been doing my regular 獅仔頭山 loop twice a week. I haven’t done a century for ages. I like the look of the elevation profile in that first one.

Oh, speaking of 獅仔頭山, I’ve noticed that a lot of the dogs have disappeared within the last month. Has anyone else noticed this anywhere? At first I thought that perhaps the heat was forcing them to find respite somewhere else but now I’m not so sure. :ponder:[/quote]

I still have to try that ride. I remember Haokaiyang saying he ran into dogs there about 2 or 3 weeks ago but it is very interesting that you didn’t encounter any recently. I was worried about encountering dogs on that Gukeng ride but I didn’t see any there either, even on those sketchy farm roads. I am against animal cruelty but as a hiker and cyclist I won’t ask any questions if I don’t see dogs wandering loose around the roads harassing people anymore, especially with this strange and poorly anticipated/managed rabies outbreak…

Dear All, I am new to this forum, (but I have been reading it for a while). I am coming to Taiwan next week to try and cycle as far down the East coast as possible from the North, in the 10 days I have. I’m worried about the weather, but the reports I’m looking at vary wildly, from mostly sunshine to mostly rain and thunderstorms. Which weather forecast do you guys trust?! Please forgive me if I have put this in the wrong place and put me in the right direction! :wink:

Don’t worry about the weather. Chances are you will have good weather this time of year, but the forecasts can change quickly because this is an island. You may want to to put your bike on a train for the Yilan to Hualian section (at least to Xincheng/Taroko) because that road is beautiful but dangerous. The forecasts are all the same because by law they all come from the government. Better yet, skip the north and take a train to Hualien. Try Taroko gorge early (6am) before the tour buses come in. Read this thread for more suggestions/ideas.

forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … 4&t=104122

[quote=“Feiren”]Don’t worry about the weather. Chances are you will have good weather this time of year, but the forecasts can change quickly because this is an island. You may want to to put your bike on a train for the Yilan to Hualian section (at least to Xincheng/Taroko) because that road is beautiful but dangerous. The forecasts are all the same because by law they all come from the government. Better yet, skip the north and take a train to Hualian. Try Taroko gorge early (6am) before the tour buses come in. Read this thread for more suggestions/ideas.

forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … 4&t=104122[/quote]

+1 (skip the north). If I were you I’d ship my bike to Hualien and ride Hualien-Taitung or Hualien-Fangliao. Taroko is nice too though, but is a bit out of the way if you are wanting to go down the east coast. But if you have 10 days I guess that’s no biggie.

Take a day to go up Taroko gorge if possible. You should be able to take a bus (with your bike) up to Tiansiang. In Tiansiang you can spend a couple of hours hiking the Baiyang Waterfall trail and then coast down Taroko Gorge (about 18km). After that it’s about 15-20km back to Hualien.

Here’s an imperfect map of the route. I have only been to the east coast 3 times (once each by bike/moto/car) so I’m not an expert. Both Hwy 9 and 11 are equally amazing but instead of Hwy 9 you should take Hwy 193 (small rural road instead of a highway). Hwy23 was absolutely amazing but it is a climb (not huge) and there are absolutely no businesses (almost no houses) on it (why it’s so nice). To get to Kending you should definitely take Hwy199/200 along the eastern side of the peninsula. Some small steep climbs but stunning. DO NOT GO PAST (north) FANGLIAO. It’s awful.

A day in Taroko plus 3-4 days from Hualien to Kending still leaves you with extra time. I guess I would pedal down the northeast coast with that extra time but skip the dangerous section around Suao as suggested above.

I trust you’d be starting from Taipei or taoyuan. If Taipei, ride thru Pinglin to Yilan and stop. Then ride Yilan uphill(!) to Wuling and stop. That’s the center of the island. Then ride thru lishan down to Hualien thru Taroko gorge. It’s stunning but you need good brakes. Seriously. Best descent in the island, but can be dangerous.
Then Hualien to taidong and finally down to the southern peninsula somewhere. Five days and you’re done.
South of taidong you have two choices: in the central Rift Valley or on the coast. Several roads connect them through a small mountain range that still features some nice climbs.

Follow other instructions for the far south, that’s not my territory. But pack light and make sure you’re happy with 1500 meters climbing and 150 km in a day and this is a good route that offers much of the best of Taiwan.

If you start from the airport in Taoyuan then cross the island through Fuxing and the northern cross island highway to Yilan (watch the steep descent, but stop for monkeys). next day do a little backtracking to Wuling (30 km or so but 2500 m climb).

You will need to pre book in Wuling and perhaps Hualien. Carry excess water or Gatorade for the ride to Wuling and dress warm after October.

Weather wise, just expect brief heavy thunderstorms after 3pm. Mountain weather is always unpredictable.

My plan when (not if) I circle the island is to go over Hehuanshan (maybe twice) as described but it’s a big climb. This is an awesome ride if one is interested in going up (A LOT).

But where can you go after hehuanshan? Only south to Puli then downhill taichung then you’re stuck on the crappy polluted West.

Drop down through Taroko.