Can check that one off the bucket list.
Is it just me or is it a bit greener than when I was there a few days ago? Still amazing though. I’m hoping it keeps up for a few more weeks so I can head back.
Yeap, it’s all about knowing when and where to ride. I sometimes deviate on roads I don’t take just to see if there’s a quicker way through alleys to get around traffic lights.
I also make a point to find side roads with no bus stops during the planning stages, especially for the return leg. I’ve found Komoot good for this, among many other things.
Does Taiwan have any open MTB courses like in Berm Park?
I’m not interested in events/races.
The weather up there changes rapidly. Could be cloudy one minute and sunny the next, and the light brightens and dims from minute to minute.
Fantastic ride today (thanks to ranlee, Incubus for the suggestion. I also took the train to RuiFang to avoid the madness cycling on the #5 from Nangang. Surprising for a Wednesday there was quite a few cyclists once I hit the turn-off to the weather station. On the way back thought I’d try cycling over the hills to Nangang and avoid the traffic near Shengkeng - I took the small tunnel from the 106 (GuangMing Rd?). I avoided the traffic but paid for out with really steep climbs, also the downhill was equally as bad, with some places at 20%, not a good place to ride. I also ended up cycling on the #5 with heavy traffic…
Doood Guang Ming Rd is no joke. Ridden it once and it was a fun day out bc it’s typically the road less taken, but not for the faint of heart.
Next time try XiPing or the 109/ShenNan Rd via the 106 back towards Nangang.
Looks like we took our pictures from the same spot! Guangming Rd. was discussed up thread. It’s only suitable to ride southbound (ending at the tunnel) unless you’re a pro like @Membrillo or @Coffeefan who regularly rides it both ways on his mountain bike with a very light granny gear. I think 北33 would have been a good choice to head to Nangang.
I did it from the tunnel, with gravel gears. Call me pro 
Duly corrected.
So I don’t really bike that much, at all. Maybe a handful of times a year at most to be honest. Recently in Taichung I have tried the TanYaShen bike path and the newer Green Corridor bike path (綠空廊道) that connects to it and runs along the train tracks from Fengyuan all the way to Daqing station and for the most part I like it, although I wish some of the crossings were better designed and more space for both pedestrians and cyclists and better visibility at said crossings.
Recently they finished the new bike path bridge to go over the road on the way to Fengyuan station and in the news clip they show YouBikes (ridden by city workers?) riding down partway (admittedly near the bottom) so I went to check it out the other day. When I went there in person turns out they have a sign that says to get off your bike and push it on the bridge. Never mentioned in any of the news I saw. Even the Lizhang/bourough chief says people can come here to ride their bike.
So am I actually required to get off and walk the bike across? Neither I nor anyone else I saw actually did. Seems really weird to me given they demonstrate people riding YouBikes on it and that none of the other bridge crossings on the connecting TanYaShen have any signs telling you to get off (as far as I could tell).
Biked 50km Houli, Shigang, Dongshi, Shigang, Fengyuan, Tanzi, Taichung. 今天騎自行車 后里, 石岡, 東勢, 豐原, 潭子, 台中. Youbike $80 bike rented ~4.5 hours. Did not have my bike with me so made the best of the situation by renting.
90% dedicated bike path with little or no impediments. Mostly shaded and plenty of rest stops with nice clean toilets.
Has anyone noticed going north to south from Houli, or Dongshi, through Taichung it’s a very slight decline. From south to North it’s a continuous peddling especially with a north wind. From north to south lots of times no pedaling required.
Those signs are on all kinds of cycling ramps and bridges in Taipei. Often they’re ridiculous, and everyone ignores them. Once in a while, on some of the narrower ramps, they make sense if there’s much pedestrian or bike traffic, and then I pay attention to them.
I see good to know. Wasn’t sure if it’s “required by law” type of thing that no one follows or what.
Since I’m here, what’s the law/procedure for road crossings in which a bike lane is next to the crosswalk? Are cars turning right supposed to yield to cyclists the same as pedestrians?
Asking because of this spot next to Songzhu Train/MRT Station in Taichung. The crosswalk light also has a green light/symbol for bicycles on top of the pedestrian symbol (not sure if that means anything). Ironically they made space for the bike lane by taking away space from the crosswalk instead of just widening the slope…such a lazy ass job
It’s mostly recommended. Typically, if you can make it up there without getting off your bike. All the power to you.
Sign is there for those that may not have good balance. It can get quite dangerous if you lose control coming down or up a narrow(ish) ramp.
I thought it was a pretty easy pedal up personally but I can see how for some it may be more difficult. The messaging on the signs is confusing though since it seems more like it’s telling you to get off and push instead of suggesting it or recommending it for those who may not be able to pedal uphill or have poor balance.
Only thing I felt uncomfortable was all the little speed bumps coming down. Not sure if it’s particularly uncomfortable because I’m on a YouBike but that wasn’t as pleasant. Fortunately after coming back down it going South I was able to enjoy some light pedaling and mostly slowly coasting down the path and enjoy the mostly quiet night. Really relaxing getting those quiet moments on a bike.
Really like this path, just don’t like the crossings and the scooters that coming riding up on it at night or the scooters that use the bike path to avoid the gates at the parking lot under the train tracks. I think I’ll probably start riding more here. It’s so convenient too with all the YouBikes stations near the path as well.
Ride yesterday, with my better half, took the train from Songshan to Mudan, then cycled BuYanTing > JiuFen (horribly crowded with tourists/buses) > Houtong (cool ice-cream stop), then SanDaoLing Tunnel and train back. To use the tunnel you need to book a time in advance (via the web), you get up to 2 hours from the time you booked to enter, so it’s pretty flexible. They were strict about the advance booking and turned away someone as we were entering. A really easy ride after reaching BuYanTing since it’s all downhill…(made it easy to persuade my wife to join).
We were there a couple of weeks ago. Arrived at Mudan side a couple of minutes before closure. No advance booking. I pulled off my best buzhidao innocent foreigner face and they let us go through after I told them that we have ridden all the way from Tamsui, which was the true.
I still don’t understand why booking is necessary at all. But, yeah, book in advance.
One thing I’m a bit concerned about is the rebar floor in the Sandiaoling Tunnel. It looks like it’s designed to be ridden on by mountain bikes/the Youbike. Doesn’t look very friendly to thin road bike tires. Would I get a puncture if I rode through the whole thing on my road bike?
We didn’t have any problems. Not the smoother surface though. And you definitely do NOT want to crash there.
It’s probably not gentle with tires, but it’s a short distance.