Rode Yilan to Dayuling to Taroko Town, 2015/02/14-17

Recreation Cycling
1

Hey. I rode Yilan to Dayuling last weekend.
Sat 14th from Longtan to Yilan.
Sunday 15th from Yilan to Wuling Farm.
Monday 16th Wuling to Dayuling and down #8 to Taroko town.

The roads from Yilan to Dayuling were fine, some repairs to avalanche control going on but nothing to bother about. I’m riding 700x23c tires btw so I care about gravel. I had no flats on that stretch.
The pavement on the descent on Hwy 8 seemed good all the way. I was cruising through the bends averaging about 25kph. I maxed at 54kph somewhere. By 46kms into the gorge it was cloudy, visibility dropped to 100m at times and the condensation was dripping off my helmet. I was chilled.:

Food
I brought 2 red bean buns with me from a bakery in Yilan, 4 bananas, 4 Choco bars, I was good.
I had a bun and a PocoSweat at Nanshan
then rode to Wuling where I stayed at the National Hostel (see pic)
I had breakfast in Wuling and brought two strawberry jam sandwiches, 3 bananas and still had 2 choco bars from the previous day for the ride from Wuling to Taroko Town, 125kms (50 up, 75 down)

I didn’t stop in Lishan but for a picture:

Somebody above called this ride epic. I would agree. In some places the grade is closer to 20% than it is to 10% such as here. It was the only pitch I had to dismount and push the bike up the hill, but there were others I will remember fondly for a long time.:

I arrived in Taroko Town 20 minutes after dark, about 6:15pm and pulled into this place: the first one I came to. $1500 Nt for a nice clean double room, w/bath & breakfast.

The best room was at Wuling Farm,

which is really a destination resort in Shei-Pa National Park. $2925, including buffet dinner and buffet breakfast, very nice room. Electric blankets too! 90kms from Yilan, 54kms of it uphill.

I have 448 pix from the trip which started Feb 14th from Longtan.

Geoff

2

Great!
I did that a while ago and it’s a good ride!
Did you contract Novovirus at Wuling Farm by any chance?

I quite like LiShan actually. It’s a very untidy but interesting town. The tunnel back on to the 8 is often closed - glad you made it through with no hiccups.

3

I auto-read that as ‘I would disagree’ first time around and I was like 'Welllll, okay… :popcorn: :popcorn: '.

Chapeau on a great ride, it’s a big climb but with plenty to recommend it. I know exactly where that steep stretch is, just before you get into Lishan. A very naughty bit of tarmac.

I don’t like it very much at all!
What do you base your tunnel thoughts on? I’ve never seen it closed, in many visits.

4

Nuit wrote:

“Chapeau on a great ride, it’s a big climb but with plenty to recommend it. I know exactly where that steep stretch is, just before you get into Lishan. A very naughty bit of tarmac.”

Thank you, I really enjoyed the experience for the spectacle and the challenge, but I have a confession:
It was an accident.

You see I left Longtan Sat morning, planning a tw0-day jaunt to Yilan via Pinglin, and return by Hwy 7 through Baleng.

But…

I totally missed the turn at Chilan.
I was in Nanshan, 40k onwards, before I found someone to talk to about the route. :slight_smile:

At that point I felt committed, because it was 2pm and I wasn’t going to get back to Yilan by dark, plus I didn’t want to sacrifice all that climbing to get to Nanshan!
I rolled the dice and went on to Wuling, without even knowing if there was a room there for me.
I lucked out.
And, I was prepared only for 2 days, just a spare pair of shorts and socks was all I had. I was wearing a t-shirt and long sleeved tech shirt. I had my nylon shell windbreaker and nylon trousers. and a $12 plastic rain smock.
I planned for 2 days, but was out for four.

Geoff

5

[quote=“mathpro”][quote=“Bernadette”]Great!
I did that a while ago and it’s a good ride!
Did you contract Novovirus at Wuling Farm by any chance?

I quite like LiShan actually. It’s a very untidy but interesting town. The tunnel back on to the 8 is often closed - glad you made it through with no hiccups.[/quote]

That tunnel was the scariest part of the ride! At least until I tried the tunnels north of Hualien on the coast road.
The stop lights were working, it was open when I passed through it.

About this novovirus question, what’s the incubation period?
I stayed at Wuling Sunday night but had some flu-like symptoms around Tuesday night / Wednesday.
I may be extrapolating on insufficient data here. It could have been just the fatigue plus exposure to the open road for 4 days.

G.[/quote]

6

those three tunnels are a death trap, and you only ride them once. Catch the train to bypass that section.

7

I couldn’t agree more. I had a front tire flat halfway through the first one, had to ride 500m to the exit on it.
Wobbly, scary.

I fixed it and rode the next two tunnels before I gave in.
By then it had started to rain. I put on my $12 rain smock and stuck out my thumb.
Again I was lucky as a nice man driving an empty truck picked me up.

8

Being there when it’s closed. I’ve had to reroute around the back of LiShan on numerous occasions to get through to the Taichung side of HeHuanshan.

9

[quote]About this novovirus question, what’s the incubation period?
I stayed at Wuling Sunday night but had some flu-like symptoms around Tuesday night / Wednesday.
I may be extrapolating on insufficient data here. It could have been just the fatigue plus exposure to the open road for 4 days.[/quote]

I have no idea. I heard on the news this week thought that about 130 people who had stayed at the WuLing Farm area over the past week or so had contracted it. Whether these reports are accurate or not I don’t know. You might want to monitor yourself just in case!

10

Norovirus.
Incubation 12-24 hours.
Vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach cramps for 1-2 days.
No treatment except fluids and rest.

www.webmd.com/children/norovirus-symptoms-and-treatment

11

[quote=“urodacus”]Norovirus.
Incubation 12-24 hours.
Vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach cramps for 1-2 days.
No treatment except fluids and rest.

webmd.com/children/norovirus … -treatment[/quote]

Thanks U,
I didn’t get that, thank the merciful Gods.
What I had was probably just fatigue and dehydration.
I’m better now, in fact I went out last Sunday for 115kms
and I feel just fine (knock on wood). :slight_smile:

When I reflect on the dining experience at Wuling Farm, it strikes me that everybody was
careful when serving themselves at the buffet, to use the serving tongs properly as we should,
but that means if anyone person had the virus on his hands, then we ALL touched the serving tongs after him!
It was then a matter of did we touch our eyes, nose, etc. before we had chance to wash hands after dinner.
A crap shoot really, but I shall be more attentive to this from now on.
Long touring rides compromise the immune system enough through fatigue as it is, we
don’t need to expose ourselves to buffet dining methods as well.

btw, I am going to Yilan this weekend if the weather holds, via Baling,
clockwise, as it were. come back through Pinglin.

Geoff