Tomorrow, crossing fingers, is going to be ride #1 of the year. Looking at Windy.com, the wind is going the right direction. My buddies back in the old country look at the receding snow, I look at the decreasing pollution.
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Today: 40k 15.5 kph avg… Ass f’ing hurts. Legs quit before home. Catharsis.
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Hopefully your emotions and not your bowels. You did say your butt hurt.
Both.
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I’m was cycling up east coast and did something dangerous and stupid.
I stayed night in Taimali and planned Hualien 200k with a night stay in between.
I was having such a fast fun run on coast road I got bit carried away. Decided on Fengbin, can’t find anyplace other than 4800nt in hotel up the mountain.
Decided to push on, get to Shitiping 
have a break ask and told yes lots of b&b keep going, getting dark now 7pm. So I carry on due to season all was shut I came across.
Now I’m in the mountains pitch black, hassled and growled at by every household dog, screeching monkeys and battery died on rear lamp. Boy it was hard! Last 45k went on and on.
Moral of story make a plan on where to stop book in advance.
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Nice. I did that the other way around years ago.
Perfect weather and clear views from Yangmingshan and Datun - first time to ride to these places, well worth the climb
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Well done! Hoping to head up there tomorrow myself. I was thinking of up Balaka and down via Jinshan, and back to Danshui around the north coast, but now I’m wondering about your loop instead. I’ve only gone up and down via the Balaka and Jinshan sides, never the roads that descend into Taipei City.
And, wow - to do the leg up to Datun as well, on your first climb up there, is pretty impressive.
How were the crowds? I didn’t head out today because I’m free tomorrow (and I’ve ridden seldom enough lately that my bum can’t handle riding two days in a row!), and I was wary of weekend crowds. I hope this doesn’t backfire on me … last time I opted to not go on Sunday, and head out on Monday instead, Monday morning “dawned” with a polluted cloud of Mordor having descended over the island.
Someone told me my frame’s too small. I’m not sure. I like the compact geometry. And the pink bar tape protecting all the tubes.
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guess the helmet didn’t fit…
The first section from Zhi Shan Road up some switchbacks gets a bit steep in places, though manageable (I stopped at the bike rest stop). From the entrance to Yangmingshan to LengshuiKeng, it’s was nasty, quite a few cars, mopeds and minibuses, plus there were some steep sections though not enough to walk, I stopped a few times to catch my breath. For the final climb to Datun Shan from the entrance/car park, I asked the warden at the entrance how steep it was and she said it’s a bit steep but ok to ride up…not true, I found it very steep and walked about 40%…As a route it was not a particular relaxing ride, I prefer FenGuiZui or FuSan (past Wulai), the gradients are a little less and it’s better riding.
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Yeah, that’s fair. First time I rode up Balaka I believe I didn’t bother with Datunshan - I’d done enough. Second time I “rode” (with plenty of walking) as far as the first rest stop, which is about halfway. Third time I got all the way up.
GAH!!! Still probably going to go this morning. Looks lovely up in the hills based on both AQI and webcams, even if it’s bad down here.
Average gradient 14.6% 
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I went up the 101 then down to Sanzhi then on the #2 back home. Left at 15:30 which was a massive mistake because of all the cars and scooters on the #2 leaving the beach or restaurants.
It really ruins the ride when you have assholes flying past you or trying to squeeze past you all the time.
You can never have too small of a frame.
I participated in the Tour of East Coast two weeks ago which I highly recommend if you guys are looking for your first event to participated in. There’s three categories Elite, Challenge, Fun. I participated in the Challenge ride with a total of 365km over two days. On day 1 we rode from Hualien to Taidong along the coast and then on day 2, we did Taidong back to Hualien in the rift valley.
Day 1 was a pretty rough day as we rode in rain from 10km to 100km. Luckily, we had tailwind, so it wasn’t rain AND headwind, that would’ve destroyed everyone’s spirits. Once we got closer and closer to Taidong, the sun started to creep out as we passed Dulan, with the coastal views ahead and Taidong in the distance, everyone was happy to be able to get through day 1.
Day 2 was forecasted to rain, but luckily, we saw none of it. I was looking forward to day 2 more as I prefer the rift valley a bit more than the coast.
Unfortunately, we had an ah bei riding while our group passed that accidentally swirved a bit into our group, causing a crash. We had three people go down and one with a fractured wrist. Organizers were on the scene immediately and ambulance was there within 10-15 minutes. The response was quick spectacular and I really applaud the organization for being able to respond so quickly with such a huge distance to cover. Our injured got sped to the hospital, a few in the group decided to take our support car for the rest of the way and the rest of us headed on, but made sure we were extra careful of randoms along the route.
The views on day 2 were spectacular, but we couldn’t really stop and take pictures as we were already over an hour behind schedule due to our crash. We were lucky enough to have organizer photographers snap pics of us though!
If you guys are thinking of a bike-cation, highly suggest Hualien to Taidong. Almost nothing compares to the coastal and rift valley views.
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Morning was busy, but yup, currently filling water bottles, getting changed, putting in contacts, slopping on sunscreen … I’ve got to streamline this process!
And keep in mind there probably aren’t that many more days before mid-day rides become unbearably hot.
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Haven’t seen Maokong this clear in a long time.
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I think I PB’d today. Ya, good day.
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