I tried going further north last night and luckily I brought 2 headlights because one drained by the 2hr mark as I got lost yet again. Positives about getting lost on descents is that you add to elevation gains as you backtrack
I figured out this morning that my problem was due to the route I drew on Strava deciding to not keep me on the main road and threw in a shortcut that was probably some concrete, tire-flattening, steep and narrow deathtrap not visible at 9pm.
I saw a few cyclists on the Wanli climb which towards the top has no streetlights so that was romantic. Luckily the roads were clean and only a handful of high-flying motorcyclists.
I went out last Sunday night. My idea was to do Tamsui-Yingge-Tamsui, but I did about half km. When I got down I thought it was a bit windy and that it was going to be hard to make it to Yingge. Then when I make it to the main road (a more open space) the wind was super strong. Just crossing the crosswalk and clipping in (new shoes and pedals too) was hard enough to convince me to walk home. Even then, the wind almost took the bike from me. Anyway, if the bike paths were as bad as you said here, it probably was for the best.
Then I woke up super early (4 am) on Tuesday to ride Pingjing street up to Lengshuikeng and down through Balaka. You feel proud of yourself when you manage to wake up so early, but I would rather have lower self esteem AND lower temperatures.
Will I ride today? I don’t know! I need a new bike saddle, and as far as I know the closest place to get a bike fitting / good saddle selection is the Giant store in Tianmu. They open at noon. So I was about to leave. Then I discovered our building’s water tanks are being cleaned - so no water until dinnertime or so, which means no shower for a while after I get back this afternoon. And now there’s a very thick wall of rain moving in on Danshui from the Bali direction. Meanwhile I’m slimy from sunscreen.
Oh, Guanyinshan has disappeared in the rain-front since I started typing this.
Raining in Danshui now anyway! Let’s see how long this lasts.
EDIT 20 minutes later: The nearby buildings have now disappeared in the rain.
It’s raining or it’s horribly hot and humid, and despite nominal level 2 restrictions the outdoor mask rule remains in place. What is this madness?
I have not been on a proper bike ride since May 30th.
I saw there was a break in the rain last night and the streets looked dry after the afternoon thunderstorm, so I took my chances with the same exact same climbs/route as Tuesday. Weather was behaving until I got up to that ZhiShan Rd/ Zhongshe Rd climb when a light drizzle started in. Luckily no downpour and the streets stayed damp, but not soaked.
As I headed up to the WanLi route the rain stopped and it was super quiet with no cyclists or motorcycles. But I did see an elderly couple coming down and the dude gave me a thumbs up which was the pat on the back I needed. With quiet roads, there were dogs just sleeping right in the middle of the street. It was a more eerie scene as I ascended with a light fog hanging out and no streetlights. A bit of an omen.
Descending on the other side with the wide, nicely paved 2 lanes also had no lights for a few kms. I’ve read the warnings from ya’ll about dogs, and with no streetlights, zero cars or scooters…I guess the dogs were having parties and sleepovers right in the road.
I came up on a group of 3 and they weren’t sleeping and my headlight made their eyes look more vicious. I took the growling and barking to mean that their party was invitation only. I tried to keep a good amount of speed while also hoping they would not make any crazy moves into my path.
Further down a pair of dogs were even more aggressive. I felt one got pretty close and as I was sprinting away the other was in full cheetah mode as a peeked behind. I guess my calf muscle looked delicious.
I did that descent Tuesday without issue but perhaps the weather and lack of vehicles had the dogs taking back their territory. I think I won’t do that descent at night again.
Never, but once or twice a year I’ll turn back on a countryside road because a dog is too aggressive and I fear trying to get past it.
I also very seldom cycle at night these days, partly because of dogs, but mainly because of visibility and the fear / suspicion that a significant number of the car drivers are drunk. I know I used to see tons of dogs on the riverside paths themselves at night, and very seldom saw them during the daytime.
Unfortunately most of my free time is after work during the week. Only been doing climbs for about 5-6 weeks now…before was strictly on the riverside and usually it was only people I had to dodge.
Similar tactics have always worked for me with dogs that have suddenly appeared at my side, or from behind me: slow down, get off the bike, talk to them in a calm voice (er, calmness sometimes unsuccessfully feigned, depending on how much I had just been scared). The “Sh!” doesn’t seem like a good idea to me - my goal is to de-escalate, not challenge.
However, there are a handful of times when dogs were blocking my way ahead, and those tactics have NOT worked, and I’ve “decided” to find another route.
EDIT: don’t we have a long thread about this somewhere? All I could find with a quick search was this short thread:
Yeah, that makes things a lot more difficult. And it’ll just get more annoying as we move further from the summer solstice - the lack of evening daylight here gets frustrating.
I shared about my experience being chased by dogs on here before, and I did exactly what @best_intentions did–rode as fast as I could to get away. But that would just egg them on. The thing to do is what @chydals 's video shows: Stop, which is counterintuitive. It wouldn’t hurt if, after you stop, you bark viciously back at the dogs, or even raise your bike over your head to make you look bigger.
Not making eye contact is key. I always look off in the other direction. The last time I was out, a group of about 15 of the little f’ers posted a sentry on the right, in the weeds. As I went by, it jumped up and started chasing n’ yapping at my heel. All of a sudden, the whole group raced out of the trees on my left looking for a fight. The alpha was one of the biggest pure mountain dogs I’ve seen(I’d like to sneak one of his pups if ever I’m allowed to get a dog). I just stared off the other way and he kind of looked around like “what’s all the fuss?”. He could probably sense I was near death and no threat anyway.
Definitely agree on the stop. (EDIT: And position the bike between myself and the dogs. That’s my shield, darn it!) It now occurs to me that my hand-pump has come off the bike more often to face down dogs than it has to pump tires. Bending over to pick up a rock - or pretend you’re picking up a rock - can also help. I’ve never swung the pump, or thrown a rock, but have just been trying to “look armed” to the dogs.
But personally I’ve never taken the returning-aggression approach, perhaps in part because I’m a horrible actor and think the dogs would see through me! I was a bit surprised by the advice in the video to stare at the dogs - like @flatlandr, I avoid eye contact, although rather than looking away I’ll look sort of down and to the side.
But I have completely lost track of which of my different animal-contact techniques come from black bear advice, grizzly bear advice, moose advice, or dog advice.
Never but close, one thing I learned in mountain rides do not accidentally turn into somebody’s property!
Been surrounded by 9 dogs growling bark and trying to block exit.
I calmly Heart pumping like crazy cycled through them looking up in the air as casual as could muster, it worked but I was scared.
Another time in mountains on way to Hualien at night, dogs chasing and monkeys screaming
If you are descending the road down to Da Hu Park, word of advice, I would not descend or ascend that road in the dark. A friend used to live down the road and used that climb as a training route and observed that the dogs get very aggressive right as the sun goes down, but not a minute before. It’s weird.
If you want to descend into Neihu, I would advise heading over to Bai Shi Hu
If you are coming up to FGZ, roll down all the way to the first intersection, there’s a slope there, then you descend for 50m and it’s a 2km-ish 2-3% gradient climb to the top. The descent is a bit technical with some sharp and blind corners, but if you take it slow, it’s better than encountering doggies.
Having a week off from riding after stupidly smashing my knee into my bike right at the end of my last ride. I’ve done this a few times now, so disappointing.
Got my daily commuter bike in the bike shop as it lost ability to move. Apparently three years of daily UK shit weather use is enough to wear out the chainset and cassette, bottom bracket and rear wheel. The bike is eight years old but i haven’t ridden it as much lately. Estimate about 12-13000km riding on the whole bike. The rear tyre is original and still good though somehow
