Not an area I’m really familiar with, but I remember descending a very steep concrete road around there. It was many years ago.
It’s a bit like my old friend’s smile, they had wonky teeth, since had them straightened with braces but they’ve lost their slightly goofy smile and a fair bit of charm.
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Am I the only one who haven’t joined the sportive today? This is crazy.
Well that was … interesting. Is it a big ritual day for visiting tombs, or is that just what people do on the weekends? Climbing the 101 out of Danshui at 8:30am was OK - busier than I’d like, but not a huge deal. The part of Qingshan Road that I did was gorgeous and empty. Then, since I wanted a shorter ride, I made the mistake of descending to the 北11 / Qingxi Road to loop back to Danshui, and that was just a traffic jam with the inevitable stupidities that entailed (“No, there is no space between me and the car in front of me, and you are NOT going to overtake me when we’re all going 15-20km an hour.”). Descending the 101 around 10:30am was mostly better, but still a couple of traffic snarls.
I confess I do always like those days I can coast by a long line waiting to turn at the light, and get to the turn box right at the front of the line. Or, of course, somewhat outside the turn box because it was inevitably occupied by a bigger vehicle.
For quite a few years I very seldom rode in the hills out of Danshui because I didn’t like the traffic. Then I started riding on a more strategic schedule, and wondered if I was misremembering how bad (and dangerous!) the traffic could be. Today, well, nope, I didn’t misremember. I’m glad I was home by 11am, and I wish I’d set out 90 minutes earlier. I assume it’s better if you ride farther out - but anything near the columbaria / cemeteries, ouch. Not pleasant today.
Lovely weather, anyway.
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One day weekend this week and with this amazing weather we’re having. Bound to be a bit busy up there.
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Tamsui sucks big time on weekends.
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I’d been feeling a little lazy about seldom riding on weekends lately. I no longer feel bad about that. I suppose that’s the “good” side of the summer heat making me start rides at 6am; I’m often home before the traffic gets bad.
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I never ride out on weekends, to busy roads, riverside paths forget it.
I’m not a 4am starter on weekdays so nonstarter for me.
Ubike to local bar is my limit on Saturday, Sunday.
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I was living in Shipai when I started cycling in Taiwan (I didn’t have a bike when I was living in beautiful Yonghe) and yesterday I wanted to climb my most common climb during those days. First time on this climb since 2018 and also first time doing it with the road bike. I’m pretty sure it was my fastest time of all.
There was an unusual amount of slower (than me) cyclists both at the beginning and at the end of my climb. Then I noticed most of them had race numbers with the words Neverstop Yangjin, so I thought they were in an endurance race and that’s why they were going so slow. Then, during my descent I started seeing cyclists with the same race numbers going uphill. But these guys were going FAST because they were the head of the race. I saw hundreds of cyclists during my descent and I had to be extra careful with the cars overtaking them. It made me feel like I was the only cyclist who didn’t join the race in Taipei. When I got back home I’ve found the race was the 3 peak challenge.
Final climb to Bishan mountain and back to home from Neihu, where I saw a very rich people wedding car parade. Worst cars were the Cayennes, then tuned AMGs, Lambos, Rolls, McLarens…
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Weekends are fine on smaller roads. There are many roads where you hardly find any cars, even during that weekend day of the month without rain. Just avoid (as much as you can) main roads and roads that go to tourist places. Most of the hikers go up to the mountains very early, so their cars will be already up there when you get there. Even riverside paths are fine in many segments
But, yes, early starts help.
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I can admit my navigational skills are not that great, not good at finding new routes.
Seems like I have go through lots of busy parts get to quieter parts.
I’m in central Taipei city.
I have found that central Tamsui roads and drivers are quite hairy, more than central Taipei.
I do need to be more adventurous.
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Ditto that.
Funny enough, I find that roads on weekdays tend to be a bit busier in the city since you have parents dropping off kids and lots of trucks for delivery and more construction on roads. There’s also a huge difference between 7AM, Mon-Fri vs Saturday and even Sunday where even more people are “resting”.
I do see that there’s traffic closer to touristy places on weekends though. That’s a no brainer.
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Exploring small roads sometimes backfires. This segment is a proper concrete wall.
https://strava.app.link/bAsWdmFJzwb
I also took a wrong turn towards the temple, had to check the map and walked the last 2/3 of it. Even pushing the bike uphill was hard.
Descending Fengguizuie I saw a bizarre tricycle with tiny wheels (6 inches or so?) in a hairpin. I admit I got distracted and a taxi appeared. The taxi was doing a tighter trajectory to overtake the tricycle and I had no choice but going straight in front of both and to stop in the border of the road. They were still a few meters away from me, but admittedly not my best riding. A good save though.
Original plan was to climb Lengshuikeng. I didn’t feel great and it took me a few minutes in the crossroad to finally decide to start the climb. In the first tight hairpin to the right I almost got squeezed by a taxi that turned like if I wasn’t there, he kept coming closer and closer. Just a few cm away. It was just luck that my toe didn’t touch my front wheel because I just had to maneuver closer and closer to the the end of the road to avoid the asshole. My closer call in years. At least the speeds weren’t high. I kept climbing a few hundred meters more but I was just furious and decided to turn back and go home with my family.
I will report the hideputa. Hopefully there were cameras pointing to the hairpin.
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5 days since our amazing (what felt like) 30 degree Saturday and barely no posts. Everyone caught up un the CNY frenzy?
Here’s a pic from Shamao Rd in YMS. The one road on YMS that I exclusively ride before 7AM.
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Just unfortunate timing with the weather in my case. Too much end-of-semester stuff to go out last weekend; yesterday was lovely too, but we already had plans.
I’m a little annoyed by the weather today. It looked miserable when I got up a few hours ago so I didn’t go anywhere. Looking better now, but since today basically counts as a weekend I suspect it’ll be too busy to head out at this stage.
I admit that weekend traffic-jam-in-the-mountains-ride a couple weeks ago has spooked me. For any holiday, I’m currently in “leave by 7am or not at all” mode.
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Ahhh, Linkou. Whatever you think about the city, a paradise compared with the “countryside”. A wasteland of scrapyards, cemeteries, dogs and degraded ecosystems.
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Cherry blossom season is starting, although the weather today is trying to slow it down a bit. I guess the wind direction has changed because going up there were many gusty sections with a touch of rain. There were 3 moments where I wanted to turn around. Low visibility at the top and just plain cold descending.
I headed to the riverside for some headwinds and tailwinds, but good temperatures. I was pleasantly surprised that most people stayed home or were at work so pretty clear paths.
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My wife and I came to Kyoto for our honeymoon and rode around the North Eastern part of the city and along Kamogawa 
I used to live in this area, so I’ve been able to show her all my favourite spots.
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¡Felicidades!
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Gracias!! 
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