Any cyclists in the Sinjhuang District

Just moved up north from down south.

Any cyclists in the the Sinjhuang District, who want to meet for a ride?

Current fitness is pretty low, but have cycled for years and once the fitness is back I’m up for 100k+ rides.

I mostly ride road, but have mtb too, so happy to try any trails in the area. Although I’m only really a XC, easy-ish routes kind of guy.

Other than that I’m easy about what riding, ability etc…

Also, if anyone has any good recommended routes around the Sinjhuang District and beyond, let me know.

Thanks.

Well you have some of the best cycle paths around, as they are wide clear and generally not busy. The sanchong loop is a good one especially at night (one sections cuts across a canal and then connects with the riverpaths). Riding down to Yingge and all the way to Shimen Reservoir (and apparently to Hsinchu as well) is really beautiful. Heading over to Xindian/Bitan is excellent and you can continue on the roads to Wulai, Pinglin, or even Maokong, the tea growing hills behind the zoo. All excellent combinations of cycle paths and roads. Oh and if you head to Xindian you can ride the south bank there and the north bank back which always makes for a better trip than returning the same way you went.

The bridge at the junction of the Xindian and danshui river just north of Xinzhuang is a hoot to ride as they actually have a caged path under the bridge.

Thanks MM, the above sounds great! Must go cycle through that.

Xinzhuang? Then youre just down the river (and the bike trail) a ways from Sanxia. Lots of riding around here. I’m going to go ride tomorrow morning (maybe 70-80km), let me know if you want to join.

Hey Paddy,

Just looking at Sanxia on the map. The riding from there looks good and Sanxia is not too far from me. Excellent.

Busy until Monday then I’m back on the bike. You only ride weekends? Will PM you for a bike ride next weekend.

Cheers

[quote=“Steviebike”]Hey Paddy,

Just looking at Sanxia on the map. The riding from there looks good and Sanxia is not too far from me. Excellent.

Busy until Monday then I’m back on the bike. You only ride weekends? Will PM you for a bike ride next weekend.

Cheers[/quote]

I technically live across the road (literally) from Sanxia in Shulin, which neighbors you to the SW. I often ship my bike to and from Shulin station, which is less than a 30 min ride from my house. So definitely under an hour for you to get out to Sanxia. Anyway, I generally ride Saturday or Sunday mornings when I’m in town. The only weekday riding I do is the occasional commute to Taipei when the temp is under 32 and the weather is somewhat reliable (so not often lately).

I’ll send you a PM if I’m around next weekend!

If you’re into 100km plus rides then this circuit (21km according to google) south of Xindian is really good. I’ve been hitting it twice a week for about the last month. I don’t know how accurate the veloroutes profile is but I take it anticlockwise and there are a couple of seriously steep bits about halfway up. I suspect it would be much easier going around it clockwise but I haven’t tried it that way yet. The surface is a little rough in places and the road is narrow but there is practically no traffic. Keep an eye out for monkeys on the southern face.

That loop looks good. Will eventually explore that.

Going to head for Sanxia tomorrow and see what I can see.

Fitness needs to be gauged right now. Have no idea what I’m like after two months off the bike.

Skip read that, and thought you were hitting a 100km loop twice a week. I was in awe. What stops you doing it clockwise?

[quote=“Steviebike”]That loop looks good. Will eventually explore that.

Going to head for Sanxia tomorrow and see what I can see.

Fitness needs to be gauged right now. Have no idea what I’m like after two months off the bike.[/quote]

Where did you end up going?

[quote=“PaddyB”][quote=“Steviebike”]That loop looks good. Will eventually explore that.

Going to head for Sanxia tomorrow and see what I can see.

Fitness needs to be gauged right now. Have no idea what I’m like after two months off the bike.[/quote]

Where did you end up going?[/quote]

Went out to Sanxia and up the first hill I could find. It was bloody steep. I’m unfit! Not a very interesting ride, but I know nothing about the area so I don’t expect much as of yet. It was a little far to get there so if I can find some hills a little closer that would be great, time for some more google maps research. Here is my ride on strava app.strava.com/rides/20661141

Will go out again either tomorrow or Wednesday. You about at the weekend?

Skip read that, and thought you were hitting a 100km loop twice a week. I was in awe. What stops you doing it clockwise?[/quote]

Ha, no, I only live about 15km from the loop, so it’s more like a 50km ride for me. There is nothing stopping me doing it the other way, I just seem to have gotten into the routine of climbing it this way. Plus, there is one steep section about three or four hundred meters long that is quite testing, which I like. I’m still getting fit after a long break.

The riverside paths are great but a bit monotonous for my liking. I haven’t ridden much at all out past Xinzhuang ( never to Sanxia ) but I’m pretty interested in anything involving mountains. Hope this thread keeps active!

Those are some of the best routes, if not the best. The west side is not that interesting until almost at Yingge. The east is better, huge parks and wide paths, but hard to switch over to the other side closer to Sanxia (and past Yingge the paths are only on the west siode).

But past Yingge you ride along a large reservoir, along country lanes, and through parts of the Dahan River that seem so remote and rugged.

If you are interested in mountain rides how about Maokong?

Hello from Songshan district!

Could have been interested, but I’m riding road bike for the moment, mainly on the riversides, from the airport to Damshui up north, or sometime south toward Datong.
I hope to try a ride on mountain roads soon.

Hope to get some kind of XC bike soon, though.

Not much point in the north, mate.

Far too few decent XC tracks in the north, and most of the XC trails I can ride on my road bike with no problem.

and then there’s downhill: short and savage, much of the time.

Road riding in Taiwan is absolutely world class, especially in the mountains, so don’t bother going off road and concentrate on working out reasonable gearing for your bike (depending on your fitness) and then add some strength training to make the mountain roads easier (try sprint intervals or twice a week ride a steep hill as hard as possible until you’re experiencing tunnel vision and puking).

Or just stick to the river paths!

Difficult to stick to riverside.

I’m going there for the moment to regain my fitness, but I must admit that I’ll be quite quickly fed up with riding there.
Those tracks are mostly made for families for some saturday or sunday afternoon promenade along the Keelung.
It could be really dangerous. Everytime I go there I’m afraid to bump into a child.

I really want to try the mountain roads, and the sooner the better, as I feel nearly ok, at least for a short ride (no more than 50km to begin with).
I don’t really know where to go, but I’ll check this from close-up as soon as I get back from holidays in a few weeks.

Any advice about a circuit welcome.

You are in Songshan. Continue east on the riverpaths to the end then follow the signs through Nangang and Academia Sinica until you end up on a quiet mountain road. This takes you up to a massive cemetary and then down through muzha around the zoo. This is all well signed so you won’t get lost. In Muzha there is some stellar riding in the hills but if you don’t have the stamina you may need to turn around and head back. But just the route I’ve described has two good hills. Returning up through the graveyard is very tough as you will know when you are going down it. :slight_smile:

Many thanks.
I think I can materialize this track on google map.
I’ll check next time.
:wink:

If you’re into 100km plus rides then this circuit (21km according to google) south of Xindian is really good. I’ve been hitting it twice a week for about the last month. I don’t know how accurate the veloroutes profile is but I take it anticlockwise and there are a couple of seriously steep bits about halfway up. I suspect it would be much easier going around it clockwise but I haven’t tried it that way yet. The surface is a little rough in places and the road is narrow but there is practically no traffic. Keep an eye out for monkeys on the southern face.

[/quote]

I tried going up that route counterclockwise and there are some bits that are indeed crazy steep. The several times I’ve done it clockwise, the ascent was pretty easy, but the descent was too fast considering the curves that I basically had to ride the brakes the whole way down. I prefer being able to get some decent speed going downhill without feeling like a car is going to come around the corner any second, so I usually do the road out to Wulai (before the Wulai old street the traffic can suck, but once you’re past Neidong waterfall, it’s quite pleasant) or the Bei-Yi highway.

[quote=“Steviebike”][quote=“PaddyB”][quote=“Steviebike”]That loop looks good. Will eventually explore that.

Going to head for Sanxia tomorrow and see what I can see.

Fitness needs to be gauged right now. Have no idea what I’m like after two months off the bike.[/quote]

Where did you end up going?[/quote]

Went out to Sanxia and up the first hill I could find. It was bloody steep. I’m unfit! Not a very interesting ride, but I know nothing about the area so I don’t expect much as of yet. It was a little far to get there so if I can find some hills a little closer that would be great, time for some more google maps research. Here is my ride on strava app.strava.com/rides/20661141

Will go out again either tomorrow or Wednesday. You about at the weekend?[/quote]

Hahaha. You rode up Yuanshan eh? That’s pretty much a walking road, although I have seen people trying to get up it on MTB’s before. Kudos if you made it even close to the top!

You should cross under freeway 3 and try the west side of the mountain (Maobu Rd.). It goes along that reservoir that MuchaMan was talking about before cutting through some pretty little farms and then up a long and rather brutal hill. Its shady most of the way and has a viewpoint in the middle (where I always stop and try to drink water while panting like a dog). It’s really a brilliant training hill!

It’s the first part of this ride that I partially mapped, the bit going counterclockwise before Highway 3 and Daxi.

mapmyride.com/routes/view/128676651

As for this weekend, I’m trying to get out of town for some camping and riding elsewhere but I’ll let you know if those plans fall through.