Had a decent ride today. I really see what people mean about crashing into others, I had to slow down from full speed to a standstill a few times because of people taking up both lanes. I can handle narrow lanes, I can’t handle groups of 6+ uBikes side-by-side or walking groups utilizing the entire road when there’s a sidewalk nearby.
That was my bad, you’re right. And I agree, Yongfu is a much better choice. Fuhe bridge really is narrower and the cobblestone isn’t really fun to ride on. That said, I’m never going to refer to either side of a river as “right” or “left,” regardless whether or not the locals do, because that is completely based on perspective.
The right/left thing is a pretty universal method for river travelers to reference sides of a river. Always based on knowing which direction is “downstream” though, so with a big lazy river that doesn’t look like it’s moving at all, it might be hard to reckon sometimes.
How about North and South? that river separates Taipei (North) from NTC (South). Sometimes is hard to say what direction that stagnated dirty water is moving to.
If you’re referring to a specific point of a riverbank, you can use north, south, etc. But like I said earlier, rivers bend and turn and the perspective changes with each turn. The right/left bank designation will stay constant as long as you know you’re facing downstream. Around the Gongguan/Yonghe area, there’s no mistake which way the water is flowing. Only when you get downstream to around Zhongxiao bridge might you have a hard time telling the flow direction.
If you know approximately where you are, this is mostly for Taipei, you can also use the district name. For example, going down the Keelung river, which at some points flow in different directions, you can say the Neihu side or the Song Shan side.
I’d like to branch away from the bike parks, I’m quickly getting sick of nearly crashing into flash mobs of elderly folk. Does anyone know of some decent trails/paths without too many pedestrians or traffic lights around Taipei City or New Taipei? Couldn’t really find any results that specific on Google, perhaps I’m not good at searching. I’m fine with mountains.
Took some pictures a couple days ago of Wanban Bridge.
This is the ride I’ve been doing lately in the mornings. 2-hour round-trip from the rental bike station on the riverside nearest to the Water Park on Shui-Yuan Road (closest MRT station is Gung Guan):
I rent a decent (considering it’s rental) Merida mountain bike. Adjust the seat higher. Fill up 3 water bottles for free. Take off, after handing over an ID.
Go south towards Hsin-Tien, but then take the left veer towards Mu-Zha. As you get near to NCCU, get off the bike path and get yourself onto the Heng-Guang Bridge 恆光橋 over the river. It’s easy to get to the bridge, as there’s a path up over that left wall that puts you in a neighborhood street. As you pass over the bridge, you’ll see the south entrance to NCCU. Go past that 1st street on the right after over the bridge (that parallels the river) and then veer to the right on the 2nd street (there’s only 2 of them). You’ll take a left turn quickly within about 20 meters. The road is 老泉街45巷 (Lao Chuan Street, Lane 45). In about 100 meters, you’ll start climbing and climbing and climbing. Views get better. You’ll come to your first and only “Y” to make a turn decision. Take the left turn (going straight looks like you’ll go slightly downhill). You’ll start climbing climbing climbing. Eventually at km marker 2500 or so (the marker starts at 000 again after the “Y”), you’ll hit a small temple where bicyclists stop as you’ll get the best view of Taipei 101, Shin Kong building by train station, and lately, all the way out to Tamsui. If you keep on going past the temple, the road starts going downhill quickly. You can ride those hills, too, but for me, I turn around at the temple, ride down that hill I just climbed to the bottom and climb it 1 more time. Gets you 8km of hard-core climbing on those 2 round trips. On second time to temple, I take a picture or 2 on a good day, turn around and head back to the bike rental station. Fill up the 3 water bottles again for free and drink til I’m full. Total cost NT$90.
Going up that hill climb into the tea hills, at most a few cars will pass you, and you’ll see 1 or 2 of those minibuses. You’ll see a few bicyclists, and after a week or so, you’ll see the same ones and nod your head, ha.
I’d do it with my own bike, but that’s a whole other story.
Hey guys, thanks for sharing! Glad everyone is getting out there to ride and don’t forget to stay cool and bring water in the upcoming weeks!
My ride last night was a painful one. I am just getting back from injury and decided to take out my 52/36 crankset out for a spin. Bad idea…every muscle was crying in pain. I rewarded myself with some macha snow ice afterwards…
@throwaway Where you heading out from? @CTaitung suggestion is pretty good, but you do have to go through a good amount of riverside or traffic to get to that climb. Nonetheless, don’t fret, there’s probably an endless list of mountain roads you can be riding aside from the riverside and once you get addicted, you’ll never go back to the riverside…ever.
This is one of my favorite climbs in the Taipei area. You can continue from the temple down to Maokong Station (last station on the gondola) for a cold drink from Hi Life and then continue further past the teahouses and Tea Promotion Center until you hit the main part of Zhinan Road, on which you take a left and then it’s all downhill until you pop out at the commercial area by the front gate of NCCU, basically closing the loop.
I highly recommend 古早味蛋餅 for a post ride breakfast.
Why work so hard to get to the top and then roll back down? haha
Head over to to the Cat With Nothing to Do Cafe (貓空閒), on the way to the tea promotion center, and enjoy a nice cold coffee with a sweet view of the gondola and Taipei.
I’m coming from Jiangzicui, I think I’ll try @CTaitung route next time, just need to leave early enough and plug the points into my phone. Sounds like a good one
Perhaps a dumb question, did you buy it that way or upgrade? My current set isn’t big enough, and I’m currently using straight bars. I was considering either upgrading both (sounds expensive) or just saving up for a better bike entirely.
The Maokong ride is really really nice too. Stick to CT’s suggestion. It can get crowded if you take a main road towards the gondola.
I guess it was more of a purchase than an upgrade? I put my new bike together part by part and decided to give 52/36 a try. If you’re mostly doing flat rides, 52/36 is perfect for that, but if you’re doing mostly hills from here on out, I’d go with 50/34.
I think 52/36 was one of the reasons I got injured. I don’t think my physical ability was up for the challenge.
I had a really awful ride today, partly my fault. I’m not very technologically efficient and can’t get Google maps to recognize local park paths unless I’m directly on them. Nonetheless, I’ve actually never used Strava and decided to give it a whirl.
The results were pretty embarrassing.
Got half way, going a decent cruising speed around 23km/hr. Suddenly the bike route signs disappeared, I tried going down the nearest bridge but that lead nowhere. And I really didn’t want to just turn around. So I plugged my destination into Google Maps using the pedestrian option.
Horrible idea. I got routed left and right through nearly every main road and I’m pretty sure I was riding where I shouldn’t have for a little while. Sucking down vehicle exhaust the whole way. I’m more upset that it cut down my average speed to 17km/h though.
The first half was pretty fun though. I normally begin riding in the opposite direction. Most areas were pretty empty, so I was able to keep a nice steady cadence.
The paths are all about experience. Once you get used to it you’ll laugh at how you used to not know your way around and those short cuts to skip traffic.
Can you tell how hot it was by just looking at the picture?
I was hoping to link up with a few guys from the (Unoffocial) Forumosa Cycling club, but everyone’s idea of “early” was different, so we all went off to do our own thing.
I was up at 4:30AM to meet up with a few other local friends at 5:30AM and I felt pretty damn horrible going to sleep and waking up in darkness. Nonetheless, I thanked myself later for setting an early meet up when it was “only” 27C when we started to climb.
We went up to Wu Fen Shan via Da Hu and then down FGZ (@the_bear finally got it right) and planned to ascend Leng Shui Keng for the final peak. Time got the better of me and I had to rush home after the first section of the climb. So my ride got cut short by 6-8km.
It was my first time on a 50/34 crank on my new bike and it definitely feels much better for injury recovery (and climbing) than the ol 52/36.
