Need to stop rain rides, cleaning bike today was a nightmare, rims, tyre sides black from braking blocks braking in rain (I miss rotor brakes).
Grit and dirt shite everywhere took freaking ages to get clean.
My landlord apartment below has a hosepipe, I need to suck up to him and be able to use occasionally.
2 Likes
Got restless after a week out of the saddle. When I saw that the ground was dry this afternoon, I decided to go for a spin along the river despite weather report telling me it would rain all day. I first rode up the platform next to the Hakka park to eye the cloud cover. From this vantage point you can get a pretty good sense of where the rain is, so I went in the direction where there were fewer clouds. The strategy worked as I remained dry most of the way. When I started feeling drizzle on my face, I turned around and rode back to the dry area. Just a bit over 10k over all, but it was refreshing.
8 Likes
No dry areas in Tamsui.
1 Like
Indeed. These lines from @Incubus made me particularly sad:
Not here.
Couldn’t tell for the clouds.
Which happened as soon as I stepped outside.
And, sigh, forecast looks much the same for the rest of the week.
3 Likes
That’s a good ride.
This is my tactic. Find high points along the river from which to see the sky in all directions, and head towards the area that looks less likely for rain.
This is of course after checking all sources for current rain status including satellite, etc.
1 Like
A fellow cyclist once told me that the Guandu/Beitou area is usually drier than the rest of Taipei because it’s on the leeward side of the northeast monsoon. The area is essentially protected by the Yangmingshan mountain range, so Tamsui denizens, if you want to go for a ride on a day like today, I would ride up the river toward Guandu plain instead of go up the north coast or up YMS. The chances of finding dry land are greater.
1 Like
Don’t worry, we don’t need higher elevations to guess were is less likely to be raining. The answer is almost always: go south. 
Sometimes, Zhuwei is already dry.
1 Like
Exactly this in it’s full glory, Last Sunday.
The bank of rain over Tamsui very visible, but actually not bad at all around the Guandu bridge.
Recharged my batteries with some hours of nice sailing.
5 Likes
Sometimes those rides are really the most refreshing after you’ve been off the bike for some time. Short and sweet.
3 Likes
With the rain finally taking a break, I decided to layer up and embrace the chilly weather this morning. I was anticipating a few wet roads going up, but it was surprisingly dry.
Heading up you are mostly sheltered from the wind but once you hit the Lengshuikeng visitor’s center the wind was unrelenting. I went farther up to the other parking lot and found a reporter having to suffer through the wind that eventually took down my bike when I was taking some photos.
I kept heading up and around YMS and the north side was even colder. I was wearing some decently thick gloves, double socks, shoe covers and even stuck those little heat pads in my toe box, but my fingers and toes went numb immediately. I was in need of some shelter and stepping in the 7-11 up there felt like being placed on Santa’s lap next to a fireplace. Of course I asked for a new bike for Christmas.
The reporter spiked the camera lens.
Taking off my glove for this shot risked frostbite.
Barely lasted 1 hour 
10 Likes
Did you notice the adoring gaze she was casting at you?
2 Likes
I just came back. Destroyed. This was, with some minor changes, my route. No energy to write more now.
P.S. I still have all my fingers.
6 Likes
I didn’t notice. She was in full reporter mode talking a mile a minute, so I thought I could sneak in a photo. But I was just her ‘prey’…as she came over to interview me about why I would ride my bike up the mountain with this weather. I doubt my face for radio would have made the 6 o’clock news 
4 Likes
I had finally warmed up before hitting the LSK parking lot entrance and it immediately went away when I turned the corner. That wind was brutal!
This is the only shot I took yesterday. Not pictured: 3.8C and what felt like 100kph windshield.
Mad kudos @best_intentions for going up, I was not brave enough to attempt Meng Huan Lake and Zhong Hu.
5 Likes
Man this here thread be for super human cyclists it seems
How about a cheer for a cyclist who basically last rode about 20 years ago who is starting out again with baby step 4 milers on a low step girls bike trek verve 2 with 3x 8 shimano Altus
Riding in the lowest gearing to tackle hills and the heck with RPM
It’s a question of walking the bike up hills or high rpm at this point
Maybe riding down the the beach and walking up actually is good as walking and cycling don’t seem to work the same leg muscles ?
Do they even sell this bike there ?
7 Likes
That’s how I felt when I first saw this thread 10 years ago. (Is that how old this thread is?) I was riding a mountain bike and just couldn’t cover the same distances and elevations all the roadies on here were sharing. A few years ago I sold my MTB and switched to a road bike, and then I started to appreciate road riding. Though I’m still nowhere near some the stats shared on here by the super humans, I can identify now and I plan routes and set goals for my future rides. Doesn’t matter if the last time you rode a bike was 20 years ago. Just go out and ride.
5 Likes
Argh, too busy today, too busy tomorrow, should have time on Wednesday afternoon but the rain is supposed to come back!
Things look better for Thursday and Friday, however.
I don’t know how to dress for cooler weather. I’ve got a cycling windbreaker but last time I wore that I felt too hot going uphill. I’ve got layers that are great for hiking but I’m not sure about cycling - and cycling, I don’t have a backpack to store layers when I don’t want them.
2 Likes
I use a fanny pack. It won’t get in the way or encumber you like a backpack will. I can even stuff a banana in there. Roll up your windbreaker and stuff it in the pack on the climb. Whip it out at the top and stay warm on the descent.
4 Likes
Great ride yesterday, but I didn’t sleep well after it. Good thing is that my legs aren’t as tired as I thought they’d be.
162,92km with 1.869m elevation. Min. temp. of 3ºC
I started later than I wanted, but a very nice tailwind pushed me to Shimen Dam sooner than I was expecting. I had three options planned for going back. The previsible headwind automatically discarded retracing my steps, and since the weather looked ok in the mountains, I decided to go to Sanmin and decide about the other two options then.
After a quick stop to grab something to eat, and since I wasn’t too tired, I decided to take the harder option to Xindian instead of going directly to Sanxia. It looked like a wise decision until I started climbing towards Dongyanshan. The climb reminded me of Balaka. Mostly gentle slopes but they felt to me much, much harder. Maybe it was the wind, but I suffered a lot during the climb and decided to look for a shortcut to Sanxia to skip the 北109. So, I stopped at the top, found and alternative route to Sanxia without any more climbing, ate a banana, refilled my bottle with isotonic powder and put the rain coat on for the the descend.
I’ve never felt as cold in Taiwan as descending from Dongyanshan. I was just freezing and it must affected my reasoning because, in the end, I climbed the 北109 anyway. I just used my 30-40 for almost all the climb, which is super steep, and kept a slow pace (which was about the faster pace I could sustain). I justified myself saying that I was going to take the metro in Xindian. Of course, I didn’t.
I really should have taken it easier. Because now I am going to need a few rest days, and the weather is too nice.
A wave of clouds
9 Likes
Can´t agree enough.
Long descends are a problem. On Sunday. I never felt cold except in the two long descends. In the longer one (from 800 to 200m) I was freezing.
My gear was:
- Top of the line, but 15 years old, thermal base layer from Quechua (Decathlon)
- An even older long sleeve cycling jersey from B´Twin (Decathlon) that I removed mid way.
- A 20 years old cycling jacket with windproof from Inverse.
- A rain jacket from Craft for the descends.
- Long winter bibs bought last year here in Decathlon (Van Rysel).
- My cycling shoes with winter cycling socks (B´Twin).
- A hat with windstopper from Trangoworld.
- A Van Rysel neck warmer, that I removed mid way.
- Bontrager gloves with windshell. They worked well for the whole ride, except in the descends. The higher speeds plus all the freewheeling were too much for these gloves.
I do have a backpack. But, if you are not climbing and descending, then you should not need to take off anything.
3 Likes