This is how I incorporate the graveyard in a circle. When you get to the top, bear right to go to Muzha. You’ll descend down to the zoo. From there you can just take the riverside path back to the city, a nice mountain and river route. If you timed it just right, you wouldn’t have to put down your foot at all.
Near the top of the graveyard you can hike up some stairs and get this view. Took this pic this morning:
Graveyard climb is a total gateway drug!
I started out just using a bike to get around the city / river path riding and eventually found out I loved climbing from the graveyard climb.
Some other interesting climbs worth trying:
It really is! Since Taiwanese are a bit superstitious when it comes to roads with graves, you rarely get any traffic aside from the mini-bus.
Do be careful when going up or down from the Liu Zhang Li side, that road is super narrow with a lot of blind corners!
Thanks for the route, will definitely go to Muzha next time rather than retracing my steps and doing a double climb…I need to create pretty strava lines.
Thanks for the suggestions, been searching online for some not super difficult routes and the Xingyi road one looks very doable at my low level. I just noticed strava has Climb categories which is nice.
Climbing is definitely more interesting than the flats and I definitely will need to learn how to ‘spin’ better.
Can give these segments a look
thanks ranlee, that 風中劍 is in a nice sweet spot of where I usually have halfway point when doing the riverside (although I’m on the otherside of the river).
So far my rides have been max 60km (flats) but I’ve been feeling frisky lately and will push to extend that range.
Little by little you’ll make up to the bigger mountains and you start to wonder why you didn’t try it the first few times.
I finished the up and down on 劍南/JianNan and about halfway up ZhiShan road the first time I ever climbed. Back when I was still on flat pedals and not even in a kit!
I do and wash kit in the shower is what I should have said. In the pub when posting.
I do that after 2 rides third ride they go washing machine.
My way like it or not.
Longish ride on muddy bridal path, no water bottle easier to stop at one of many pubs.
Riding full suspension ATB up hills on tarmac is bloody hard work 
Missing road biking in Taipei, hopefully back soon.
Taking the kit off makes more sense! Anyway, whichever way you prefer. Just had me scratching my head this morning.
You have amazing self-control. I had a kit before my bike was ready 
but I did wait 3 months before getting clip-in pedals. It was after a dude ‘dropped me’ like a bad habit on the riverside and my list of excuses started started with I need clip-ins.
Looking forward to adding in some more interesting routes.
Took advantage of the cooler weather to do a loop around Taipei. Lots of traffic on the riverside paths, and there’s a small section near Gongguan that will be closed until September and requires a detour.
It wasn’t actually self control, I just didn’t know better!
Some dude passing me on the river on a road bike (while I was on a ubike) was one of the reasons I got into cycling. Ode to the dudes who pass us on the river.
Getting passed and dropped now and then is good for the soul. In Korean, there is a saying that can be translated literally as “above the person running is a person flying” (뛰는 놈 위에 나는 놈 있다), meaning that there’s always someone better. It’s good to be reminded of that. It’s good to be humbled from time to time. Is there a similar saying in Chinese?
天外有天
Very cool. I’m seeing this too: 人外有人, 天外有天
