There can be dogs, if there’s a big rain its likely to be washed out in places… though they’ve been slowly making improvements. But the south side of the climb is a lot more interesting and maybe a little easier.
You really feel like you’ve stepped into another world going round the long way. If you are feeling really adventurous, keep going straight instead of turning right up the climb. It eventually dead ends, but there’s some weirdness back there.
About 10+ years ago, I used to do the Maokong (tea) ride a lot from the back entrance along the riverside path. One time I took a right turn (instead of following the road down-left and a bit north into NCCU campus) and found myself in the granny gear of my mountain bike. Never been on such a steep slope before or since, I think. Just vertical it felt.
Came out on top and went down and found myself on the Ping-Xi road. Took a left turn and then headed back to Taipei through Shenkeng (stinky tofu town).
Didn’t have Strava back then.
I think you mean this route: Log In | Strava
A month or so ago, a friend and I "cycled"up it, actually cycled about 20m then had to get off and walk which was also really hard - not sure the photo really does it justice. It’s not long, just really steep and the road surface is kind of industrial/concrete. On a positive note, the ride down the other side is super nice, winding country rode, with few sharp turns. As a bonus at the bottom there is a cycling shop that has a coffee shop
That one is not fun to come down in the wet either…
You mean here?
What kind of weirdness are we talking about? Like Blair Witch Project weirdness?
This sounds very much like this…
Also known as, the Maokong Monster. I highly advise never to attempt road going up or down if it has rained within 2 days. I advised a fellow cyclist to not do it. He did not take my advice and took a spill and…rolled.
Yup, keep going past that…hard to explain but yeah a bit. I note there’s a bus stop, maybe its not as weird as I think…though I think that’s weird in and of itself 
If anywhere, it’s the POW camp down the road that should feel “weird,” considering how many foreign soldiers died there at the hands of the Japanese back in the '40s.
There’s that for sure… I’m pretty sure there’s a puppy mill back in there and some other interesting dwellings towards the end. I wandered up there exploring once thinking this place has a bit of an uncomfortable feel to it. Subsequently took my wife and she wasn’t having it… turned around as soon as she heard the dogs.
I don’t like doing the climb alone either but that’s just me I suppose.
I just went up the road as far as google street view would take me. Looks nice and tranquil. Road gets narrow towards the end, but there’re parked cars along the road, so there’s still civilization. If there’re dogs, they’re probably guard dogs and not strays. I don’t blame your wife for turning around. I would too.
Yeah I was surprised by how many people are on street view, I’ve never seen anyone past the last restaurant on the road leading up to the climb. Street view can often be a poor indicator of what a place is actually like. Definitely not normal dog sounds, or even normal dog kennel sounds. Anyway, this is more than I intended to say about it. It’s probably just us.
Now you’ve really piqued my interest. 
It could be that on two separate times, months apart, we happened upon a group of dogs somewhere nearby who were in terrible shape, but I’m going with puppy mill or something worse… imagination can run in certain circumstances though. I’d be happy to be told I’m a loon if others check it out and have a different experience.
Bit hazy/humid ride out to Pinglin today, thankfully the motorbike riders (noisily) made sure I was not lonely on the ride out (took the 9). Great gradual hill climb to May Ling cafe and then kind of down-hill from there. Decided not to take one of the side roads down for a better view of FeiCui Reservoir - a 2km ride (down) followed by a 163m climb back up - seemed like a lot of effort for a few photos of a drought…
From Pinglin, took the 106 back via Shiding and I have to say, it’s one steep, long road, starts off with a 19 gradient and stays around 10~15. Really tough climb (red bit on map), though as with all tough climbs you get to go downhill and the road down was great, wide, plenty of straight stretches and very few sharp curves. The iced lolly in Shiding really hit the mark.
The downhill for that steep climb is such an awesome reward. It’s always a sufferfest going up from Ping Lin, but I know I will be met with an amazing downhill with views to boot on the way donwn.
Dang that looks like a good route. Thanks for the post.
Left at around 6am this morning up the 2 for 10km as fast as I could go and then back (into a headwind) for 10km. Thought I would try get my heart rate up fast and keep it there.
Was a bit wet, no steady rain but the roads were wet. Sun kinda peeked through the clouds but didn’t do much.
I didn’t want to go up any mountains in wet weather so worked my cardio instead.
I went for an exploratory ride in Yilan the other day and ended up trying to ride up some narrow mountain road. Unfortunately, the road was covered in mud and leaves so my back tire was just spinning and I couldn’t get any traction at all. I ride a mountain bike but the back tire is starting to get a bit bare. The bike actually slid out from under me but it wasn’t a problem since I was barely moving. I just changed my mind about trying to get up the road and turned around and carefully rode back down.
Then as I was riding along one of the river bank trails, I passed a Chinese cobra that reared its head as I went past. That got the adrenaline going a little bit. 
I didn’t even know they had cobras here, but a quick Google search told me they’re pretty common (and poisonous).
That’s what’s stopping me from heading down that path too. It’s super steep. You can’t even ride DOWN, let alone ride up. But on a clear day, it’s almost worth it, especially if you can get a shot like this (not my photo):
This looks familiar 
