I had been riding through and around WuLai for the past couple months of Sundays and thought it would be a kick to try something different. This past Sunday, a couple of friends and I biked from Xindian to PingLin on Route 9.
That is not a mountain road, but a race track for heavy motorcycles and sports cars. We were terrified. The speed limit in most places was 50kph, but heavy motorcycles and groups of sports cars flew by at easily twice that speed, never mind the blind corners and barely in control trucks also speeding both directions.
[quote=“CraigTPE”]I had been riding through and around Wulai for the past couple months of Sundays and thought it would be a kick to try something different. This past Sunday, a couple of friends and I biked from Xindian to Pinglin on Route 9.
That is not a mountain road, but a race track for heavy motorcycles and sports cars. We were terrified. The speed limit in most places was 50kph, but heavy motorcycles and groups of sports cars flew by at easily twice that speed, never mind the blind corners and barely in control trucks also speeding both directions.
It’s back to Wulai for me…[/quote]
yeah best to avoid that road. Most cyclists avoid it by going via Muzha/Shenken/Shiding then up County Road 49 which joins Route 9 for about 1 km. You can then circuit back down via 49A which is a great road for practicing fast descents. (The destination is known as Xiaogetou and features Helen’s Coffee where people with more money than sense sit around their NT150,000 road bikes and brag about their cycling exploits. )
That used to be a killer road on account of the heavy vehicles. Now its a killer road because of the light vehicles. Driving that road on the weekend is testament to why heavy bikes should be much more heavily restricted.
Not just the motorcycles, but speeding in general. Besides the motorcycles, there was a group of about 15 Porsches going at least twice the speedlimit, roaring their engines and squealing their tires around the corners. A truck passed us barely holding on to the pavement going around a corner.
Put in 50 of those speeding cameras and pay Taiwan’s NHI bill.
Yeah the Beiyi Highway (Highway 9)should be avoided. Actually, the Wulai Rd. is also pretty dangerous although not as bad as the Beiyi. Scooters and cyclists die on it every year. Be careful.
There is a semi-alternate route to WuLai from the JhongHe side of the river called something like GuiShin Bicycle Trail. It’s much less heavily trafficked. It meets up with 9 just before WuLai.
I saw a young girl with her head split open on the riverside paths around Jingmei a few days ago. And that’s where the paths are at their widest; about 30m. Must have collided with the other idiots she was with and cracked her helmet–less head on the pavement. Ambulance had to take her away.
[quote=“CraigTPE”]I had been riding through and around Wulai for the past couple months of Sundays and thought it would be a kick to try something different. This past Sunday, a couple of friends and I biked from Xindian to Pinglin on Route 9.
That is not a mountain road, but a race track for heavy motorcycles and sports cars. We were terrified. The speed limit in most places was 50kph, but heavy motorcycles and groups of sports cars flew by at easily twice that speed, never mind the blind corners and barely in control trucks also speeding both directions.
It’s back to Wulai for me…[/quote]
I ride on Route 9 quite often and I have never found it particularly dangerous. I think it is often a matter of one’s perceptions. I should add that I am quite safety conscious and never ride in a careless manner.
The Wulai Road should definitely be avoided on weekends after 11am. Route 9 is probably also better on weekdays as you avoid the heavy motorcycles that way, but I find the motorcycles annoying mainly for their noise.
Route 9 is an insane road at weekends, nights and basically all the time! I have seen a car flipped over with the occupants hanging upside down, I have also been chased Mad Max like by a truck doing about 100k/hr which resulted in me having to do a turn at almost the same speed…ouch. Trucks come from Ilan loaded with produce along this route as they are barred from the XueShan tunnel. Then there are massive groups of bikers along with the speedsters.
There is a very nice river off of route 9 before PingLin town though…it’s good for walking/cycling/swimming.
Hi, I’m trying to locate this road on the map, but I’m not sure I got the right one. Does this road go east from Hsindien or does it go south towards Wulai (I couldn’t find Pinglin on the map obviously). I was thinking about taking a bike trip in that area, but may reroute to avoid that particular road. It sounds quite terrible.
Ok, I was planning to take number 9 road from Shiding to Xindian (mainly to go around Taipei city coming from Xizhi). Does anyone know if this part of the road is infested with heavy motorbikes?
If you are in Xizhi I think you can take the practically deserted 31 over the mountains to the 106. Follow this down to Shiding and then head back to taipei zoo. From here follow the riverside bike paths to Xindian.
Or if you want to go to Pinglin, head east on the 106 until you pass Shifen. Take the highway going right toward Fulong and follow up, through a tunnel, down a winding road until you see the sign for Pinglin via the gorgeous 42 route.
From Shiding there is also the 47 and the 106z that take you up to the No 9 and Pinglin. Much less traffic on these though they are steeper.
The no. 9 and the Wulai road are not great on the weekends. It’s been a while since I’ve taken that route during daylight hours, but at that time there were no big bikes (just before legalization), but it was filled with all the wannabe scooter racers and honda boys passing cars around blind corners and along the solid yellow line.
I did ride the no. 9 out to Toucheng the other morning so was on the 9 from 1:00-4:00am and there were very few cars or trucks (surprise, surprise). However, there are very few street lights between Pinglin and the peak before going down to the coast. Heading down to the coast the glow of the city provides adequate light.
Finally, the East Coast has those bloody trucks 24-7, even really early in the morning they were all there. The problem has less to do with the trucks than the particularly crappy roads. Sharing with trucks on a single lane road with very narrow margin does not feel safe.
@MuchaMan that is a fantastic route for a relaxed and challenging ride (I stay in Xizhi)
An alternative I tried a couple weeks ago was to take the river path through Muzha and get on 106 by the zoo. Take 106 to Shiding where it splits; left goes to the coast and right goes to Pinglin. 106 from Muzha to Shiding is pretty flat and just has moderate and safe traffic. From Shiding to Pinglin, though, you ride over a pretty challenging mountain. The incline is not too steep, but seems to go on forever. There were some spectacular views on both sides and on the Pinglin side you ride through some cool tea farms. From Pinglin back to Xindian, I took 9. This was on a Tuesday and there were still quite a few motorcyclists and lots of trucks driving too fast. The circle trip took me around 5 hours, including pit stops in Shiding and Pinglin, plus a few photo ops along the way.
Has anyone taken 106 the other direction to Pingxi or to the coast? How is it?
[quote=“CraigTPE”]An alternative I tried a couple weeks ago was to take the river path through Muzha and get on 106 by the zoo. Take 106 to Shiding where it splits; left goes to the coast and right goes to Pinglin. 106 from Muzha to Shiding is pretty flat and just has moderate and safe traffic. From Shiding to Pinglin, though, you ride over a pretty challenging mountain. The incline is not too steep, but seems to go on forever. There were some spectacular views on both sides and on the Pinglin side you ride through some cool tea farms. From Pinglin back to Xindian, I took 9. This was on a Tuesday and there were still quite a few motorcyclists and lots of trucks driving too fast. The circle trip took me around 5 hours, including pit stops in Shiding and Pinglin, plus a few photo ops along the way.
Has anyone taken 106 the other direction to Pingxi or to the coast? How is it?[/quote]
The split isn’t at Shiding. Its at the intersection with the 7-11. hilife etc. Shiding is 3 kms further on. The 106 to Pingxi is much easier going. Even better is to go onto the other side of the river; take the left just before the intersection I mention above. That road has no traffic and is very nice. It also meets the road coming over from Xizhi before rejoining the 106. Once you get to Pingxi you have a choice of destinations. Last time I went up Wufenshan. You can also go to Ruifang or Shuangxi or even Fulong.
You could also do the whole thing as a loop if you’re really keen.
[quote=“the bear”]The split isn’t at Shiding. Its at the intersection with the 7-11. hilife etc. Shiding is 3 kms further on. The 106 to Pingxi is much easier going. Even better is to go onto the other side of the river; take the left just before the intersection I mention above. That road has no traffic and is very nice. It also meets the road coming over from Xizhi before rejoining the 106. Once you get to Pingxi you have a choice of destinations. Last time I went up Wufenshan. You can also go to Ruifang or Shuangxi or even Fulong.
You could also do the whole thing as a loop if you’re really keen.[/quote]
On the map, the split is labeled as “Shiding Interchange” but I do see that the town is a couple km farther on.
Anyway, thanks for the route suggestions. My limitation is that my partner only wants 4 - 6 hour rides. Can they be done in that time?
[quote=“CraigTPE”][quote=“the bear”]The split isn’t at Shiding. Its at the intersection with the 7-11. hilife etc. Shiding is 3 kms further on. The 106 to Pingxi is much easier going. Even better is to go onto the other side of the river; take the left just before the intersection I mention above. That road has no traffic and is very nice. It also meets the road coming over from Xizhi before rejoining the 106. Once you get to Pingxi you have a choice of destinations. Last time I went up Wufenshan. You can also go to Ruifang or Shuangxi or even Fulong.
You could also do the whole thing as a loop if you’re really keen.[/quote]
On the map, the split is labeled as “Shiding Interchange” but I do see that the town is a couple km farther on.
Anyway, thanks for the route suggestions. My limitation is that my partner only wants 4 - 6 hour rides. Can they be done in that time?[/quote]
The popular destination is to the Monet Cafe past Pingxi a coupla clicks. That should be 5 hours round trip at a casual clip with a latte thrown in. But you can gauge it yourself. Your first destination would be Jingtong which is fun to poke around anyway and has cafes, mining museums etc. The hills on that side don’t get above 6% grade which is why more serious cyclists add on the Wufenshan bit (650 meter climb to nowhere).
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