Hello there!
I will be going to Taiwan for sightseeing at the end of December, my friend and I plan to cycling up to Tarako & Wuling. I would like to ask for advice following these :
will road surface at the top of mountain be full of ice or will it be snowing?
Are there anybody go cycling there at that time?
Please tell me if you have any advice, thanks.
No, but there might be snow and ice in some places. I think I always saw it on the grass in the shadows and not on the road, but…
Road closures are sometimes in place, or at least chains must be fitted in order to proceed. But tbh I think that’s more likely in Feb/March.
taroko and wuling, there’s only 1 possible route,
Yilan -> Wuling -> Lishan -> Hehuanshan -> Taroko -> Hualien,
possible snow condition during winter in Feb/March -> Hehuanshan, Shiyuan (between Wuling and Nanshan), just check the weather forecast before going there, the police won’t let anyone pass without snow chain
Wuling in December is quite do-able. If you’re visiting from Europe or North America, you should be quite used to the cold weather. Nonetheless, what goes up must come down. So, be prepared for a very chilly (and long) descent.
If you plan on doing the Taiwan KOM route, which is Hualien to Wuling, there’s not too many places for food/drink after the Tian Xian area. So make sure you plenty and ration your water.
If you plan on going up via Wuling farm, there’s actually plenty of mom and pop shops going up, so you do not have to worry too much about running out of food.
Whether you’re starting your journey from Yilan and taking a rest at Wuling farm or Hualian via Taroko, I highly highly suggest you start your journey early in the day as weather can get very unpredictable at the peak once it hits noon. No idea why, that’s just how Mother Nature is up there.
Don’t worry, if no one in this forum is not going up, you’ll meet other cyclists along your route.
Best of luck!
Hey, everyone. What is the earliest in spring this could be done? I’m less concerned about the cold than dangerous, icy, snowy conditions.
And is riding down in a van considered cheating? Or is this just stupid since it’s so much fun? If conditions are bad maybe we could consider this.
It can be done year round, just depends on weather.
Coming down via van is nothing to be ashamed of.
Is there not a dedicated Wuling thread? Found a Puli to Wuling one, but no discussion. I have many questions.
Apparently many people go down in van. Indeed, there are people who you can hire even for taking your group to the Farm and then picking you up on the top and going back home. Or so I heard. I would do both climb and descent on the bike but I’m kinda scared about doing a so long ride downhill… probably super tired, and with regular caliper brakes, which I guess will get hyper hot after so many kilometers braking.
But I haven’t done that ride yet, so I can’t tell…
So I have decided on the climb for early summer of next year. I’ll be going with someone who has done the climb from Xishingtan (the KOM climb) and also from Puli, and he also did the KOM before. The plan is to ride down in the van- for the braking and getting tired reasons you mentioned, and also in case I’m slow and the weather has changed by the time I’m done.
My biggest question at the moment is whether different gearing is needed. I have the stock gearing on my Giant TCR 1 bike. Things get difficult for me at around 15% gradient so I’m sure Wuli will kill me. Anybody have any thoughts on this?
some people change cogs (usually along with derailleur, need to match), but it’s probably more advisable than needed 
)
Stock cranks in giant bikes can differ - are you on semi-compact?
If the stock gearing is the old 24 cog granny gear then absolutely switch out the gearing. Ever since Froome dog strapped on a 32 cogger two years ago people have woken up to the fact churning a 24 up steep hills is under-gearing pure and simple (unless your last name is Sagan and your first name Peter). Why risk a coronary if you can spin up hill in MTB gearing?
This is the best picture I have (new wheels from a friend while I figured out my noise issue- I bought them at a very low price). When I went riding with him, he kept mentioning “30” while he has a “32”.
Changing the cassette to a 32 may require changing the rear derailleur as well.
Edit: and changing chains as well.
29?
Can’t really see from the photo, count the number of teeth of the largest cog at the back, and the smallest cog at the front.
Edit: though it should have the number printed somewhere on the cogs themselves.
34 for largest cog in back, 30 for smallest cog in front. Am I good to go for Wuling, or is this not ideal?
Your groupset looks like the 4600 so I’ll guess that you actually meant 34 at the front and 30 at the rear instead? That would make sense for the compact 4600’s and also means that you have the easiest combination for the 4600 groupset already with the 12-30 cassette.
It seems that the 4700 groupset has a cassette with 34T that you could investigate, but I am unsure of whether your rear derailleur will be able to fit it even if they both are 10 speed. And while I personally always enjoy as much help as I can get, I reckon if you can’t make it up with the 30, you won’t make it up with the 34.
Edit: typed 32 instead of 30.
Yes, that’s right. Sorry for the confusion.
The guy I rode with before did mention that I would need a longer bar (longer rear derailleur).