More route inquiries: on the weekend, if I head from Danshui to Jinshan sticking to the coast, there are many cyclists. Passing me by the peloton at times (or at red lights, since I’m apparently unusual in paying attention to them). Where are they going? The other week I went up the 2甲 to Yangmingshan, and I thought that’s where many of them would be heading, but nope, that climb had far fewer cyclists than I was expecting. I know they’re at the Jinshan Family Mart (so. many. cyclists.), but where do they ride after that?
My guess is it’s on to Keelung and then flat roads back in to Taipei - or are they heading for Fengguizui? And, um, is that Keelung route actually nice? I admit I’m sort of biased (my main purpose in riding flat roads is to get to pretty climbs & descents), but I’m wondering if I’m missing out by not doing a big loop around to the coast to Keelung, and then home via riverside paths.
Yes, that looks right. There’s only one way up to Wufenshan. It’s a dead-end. You ride up to the weather station and take the same road back down. But it’s well worth it, especially now when the silvergrass is in bloom. Be careful on the descent down to Shifen on the 106. There are a couple steep sections.
I always take the elevator. It’s to your left after you enter the building from the main gate. Actually, coming from Danshui, Wanhua station might be slightly closer to you. One other thing, it’ll say on the bike ticket whether you’re supposed to board the first or last car. This is something I didn’t know before until I took a closer look at the ticket.
OK - I’ll try heading inside next time! I wasn’t sure if bikes were even allowed through those doors; the main floor, at least what I saw, looked more like a department store than a train station.
Google predicts 1h23m to Songshan from Danshui, versus 1h12m to Wanhua, so a bit faster but not a big difference. (And 15 minutes by train from Wanhua to Songshan.) I’d actually forgotten Wanhua was an option!
Lion’s Head clockwise is probably one of the best options @lostinasia. It’s comparable to Balaka plus 101, with the advantage of almost zero traffic. Everything said by @squall1 is true. There are some crazy steep roads there, so be aware if you go downhill clockwise.
Take a look at this route too:
It has a great view of the water reservoir.
Anyway, if you go there on weekend, do not miss KICK Burger!
Don’t let that deter you. It’ll continue looking like a department store when you walk through the underground concourse to get to the “station.” Just march on with confidence.
Just the opposite for me. I’d like to ride northern Taipei more. I recently went down the north side of FGZ on the N28-2 for the first time descending into Wanli. What a lovely road that was!
Loads will come down the YangMing highway stop at the Family Mart and then head back to Taipei via N28-1 and N28 and Fengguizui, its one of the very very popular routes.
That’s what surprised me: when I was climbing up to Yangmingshan later, I didn’t see many cyclists, and no big groups. Plus I got a flat tire and I spent a lot of time on the road, so it’s not that I was climbing at roughly the same speed as them. While all these pelotons passed me on the Danshui—Jinshan route, and when I saw many of them at the Jinshan Family mart, I assumed they’d soon be passing me again on the Yangmingshan 2甲 climb. But nope, not at all.
I’ve done that once or twice, even though it doesn’t really save time. Plus the weekday schedule is kind of annoying, in that the time I’d want to ride the train is usually before 10 and/or after 4pm.
But since my main limiting factor seems to be butt & lower back pain, I should give it a shot again.
EDIT: Oh, of course - I just remembered how meandering and slow the weekend riverside cycling can be (I’ve avoided it on weekends for years). Yeah, taking the MRT back, if it’s Saturday or Sunday afternoon, could definitely be appealing.
YangJing highway tends to have more downhill than uphill on a weekend. I think this is partly because if you plan a route that goes from Taipei → YMS → JinShan → FGZ → Taipei it gives people the option to drop out after the 1st climb. This route tends to be known as the ‘Classic 2P’ and if you do FGZ → JinSHan → YMS then its the ‘Reverse 2P’.
How’d you get home from that? For me, it’s around the coast to Danshui, or over Yangmingshan and down Balaka. But I’m still curious if there are interesting options along the coast to Keelung and then back into Taipei.
The whole ride down the north side of FGZ was unintended. I had read about this douhua vender just a little ways down that road, and I was hankering for some douhua and grass jelly as I was resting at FGZ, so I decided to descend down that road to look for it. As you may know, that beginning section is quite steep, and the further I descended, the more reluctant I was to ride back up. Turned out the vendor had gone home already. (It was mid-afternoon.) Eventually, I gave up climbing back up to FGZ and just bombed all the way down to Wanli, discovering the stunning scenery unique to the back side of YMS along the way. From there I rode along the coast to Keelung (mostly on a bike path) and then took a train to Songshan. The bike path is nice as it removes you from heavy road traffic and also saves you a climb on the main road into Keelung.
There is a cycle path from Taipei to Badu. It is not the best one and it crosses several bridges back and forth, but it is nice enough. I am not sure about the connection from Badu to Keelung. It does not look great on Google Maps, although at least it is not long.
Jinshan-Keelung is okay. Problem starts from Keelung to Yilan. That road has a lot of heavy lorries.
I’ve now pretty much ridden all the major cycling routes around Taipei with one exception–Bishanyan in Neihu. The reason being if I travel to northern Taipei (I live in southern Taipei), I’d much rather ride the much better Yangmingshan routes. Bishanyan also seems to have relatively heavier traffic. But on a clear day, BSY affords a great view of the city. So what’s a good approach to get up BSY? Is it better to go up Zhishan Rd. from the back or should I take Neihu Rd.? Seems like Bishan Rd. itself (the most direct route) has the most traffic.
I’m not sure Bishan road has any more traffic than most other “major cycling routes”. In my experience, most of the most popular roads among cyclists have more traffic than the available quiet road alternatives. Certainly the north side from Zhishan road has less traffic and it is also less steep. Bishan road itself is quite steep, although nothing bonkers. If steep gradients are a problem, then Neihu Road Section 3 is a nice alternative with less traffic too.
