Ok, so it was coming. I got great weather, apart from Days 17-20 & 23 up north. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed it far more than anticipated.
Total distance 2,094km (1,301miles).
The ‘Difficulty’ is just how much it hurt. YMMV.
And if you can figure out the route, it wasn’t so much of a round-island, more a figure-of-eight. Or as my wife called it, a 八字遊台 [ba-zi you tai].
you crossed thru that? that is INSANE ! Did the blue truck get thru too? I wonder how they can ever fix that part of the road, without removing half the mountain.
theres no way that part is ever going to be “stable”
No, video was before I [strike]rode past[/strike] climbed over. Came round the bend and it was just starting, slide lasted nearly an hour. That first larger stone at 1’16" really woke me up . It’s the first time I’ve seen a dry slide in action, TBH I’d no idea they even existed. Triggered by rain, sure, I’ve seen those. Triggered by sun and lack of rain, nope.
I crossed it 3 times in the end, as I didn’t feel mobile enough with the weight of the bike & panniers. So it was bike sans bags, back alone, bags.
I don’t think Mr Blue Truck could’ve crossed. I’ve no idea, as he was sleeping off his lunch when I went, but I didn’t see him again.
Nice! I wish I had the time and money to do a trip like that.
Always been curious about the Tou-89. How does it compare to the Hehuanshan/14-B route? It’s a bit lower (then again, so is every other pass in Taiwan) but if that slide is any indication, it looks pretty gnarly. Given that you said it almost killed you, I imagine there were more than a couple tough climbs? I’ll have to plug it into mapmyride and see what it comes up with.
The #89 is far less climbing than Hehuanshan, and hardly any traffic, but the road is in much worse condition. Lots of pot-holes etc. make it not for road bikes. I’m not even sure it’s a through road for cars (more later). There are 5 or 6 large slide faces that could go at any time, and riding it in bad weather would be scary. Very beautiful though, and the villages in the valley below (Ruiyan, Hongxiang) must be some of the most remote on the island. Would like to go back and spend more time on the route, because I under-estimated it completely - took me 14 hours from SW of Puli to Lishan (6am to 8pm), no lunch, few stops, and the lost hour for the rockslide.
Just east of Hongxiang
Looking back on myself, the #89 is the ribbon to the right, the track up the hillside connects to the 14甲at the top of the ridge, just N of Qingjing. Interesting route.
Looking back, again. With the Surly facing the wrong way too.
Penultimate slide zone. They were all dry and stable thankfully, except the one in the vid.
The climb out of Maliguan to the top of the ridge overlooking Lishan was hell. It was getting dusk, and just unrideably steep. 2km of 20-25%, seriously. I know it doesn’t look it in the photo. Coming at the end of a long day, very very hard. I don’t see how cars get out that way, it’s too severe. At the top was the 6km marker to the end of the road, and Lishan (or so I thought). But you cross from Nantou into Taichung way up there, and the km markers stop at 0 at the county line. That messed with my head. It was another cold 8km in the dark to Lishan, with a freezing descent on unlit rough road.
How was the descent from the North Cross highway down to Hwy 7? I was looking at a cheap relief map and it was the one section up there that looked vertical (according to a cheap relief map).
I have seen Hwy 89 on the maps before and I wondered if it was passable (in a car) but I will definitely be leaving that to a later bike trip.
Not far off vertical! Obviously graded and rideable, but it is steep with plenty of hairpins. Wet (that’s pretty common there) for me and my hands froze too, even with long-finger gloves. Stood shivering by the Lanyang at the bottom for 5 mins, until I warmed up. What did PaddyB call it. The … hang-on …
Splendiferous stuff Nuit. I’m wondering how much stuff you take. Eventually I’d like to do this kind of trip myself but I’m a minimalist and I’m wondering how little I could get away with. I guess I have a lot of research to do regarding road conditions and the vicissitudes of mountain weather (I would like to do it in summer).
Maybe the best way would be to start with some two or three-day trips. Interested in what some of you guys think. Do you need a touring bike? Panniers? Staying in hotels or hostels, what do you actually need? When I go on day rides around Taipei i only take money, two allen keys, a tiny screwdriver, a spare inner tube, a cable lock and a pump. Oh, and recently, a phone (thanks to my girlfriend :aiyo: )*. I figure if I stayed in hotels I could just wash my clothes in the sink and put them on wet, but then microfiber clothes are so light that carrying spares wouldn’t really add any weight. So . . . could you tour with only a small backpack?
SO epic. :bravo: I didn’t even know the 投89 existed until I saw this thread. It looks like it goes up to about 2500 meters beflre dropping down into Lishan, and those switchbacks above Maliguan look nasty even on paper. What about the grade on the rest of the road–was it rideable? I suppose you could go down from Lishan, but Lishan is tough to ride up to no matter what road you take.
There’s another route in from Lishan that joins the 投89 just N of Maliguan. It’s marked as a road on the Nantou side, but switches to a forestry road nearer Lishan. There’s far less climbing, and you come out a few km west of Lishan on the #8, but no idea what condition the road is in.
The rest of the 投89 was all rideable on that day. Probably would be mud hike sections in bad weather. These sum it up well.
Deep puddle, didn’t realise. Clipped in and very very nearly fell. Would’ve been horrible.
I try to be minimal, but I hate wearing a backpack unless I have to, and I don’t like handlebar bags, so I’d always take panniers. Don’t think I could’ve easily got away with one though on the trip, would’ve been full and so too unbalanced. I don’t do gear-lists, but hey, here goes:
Usually wearing
Shorts
Short-sleeve jersey (camera, voice-recorder, maybe map, money in back pockets)
Short-finger gloves
Cap
Sunglasses
MTB clipless shoes
Pannier 1
Hammock, rain-fly, sleeping bag (used 4 nights / 28, could all be left at home if not camping)
Paclite rainjacket
Tool kit (2 inner-tubes, puncture repair kit, spoke/chain/multi tools, small bottle chain oil)
Leatherman Micra tool (left behind on Day 3 in a Taidong rice field & lost)
Small, thin bike lock
Washbag (toothbrush - cut in half, but not with holes drilled in it a la Crane Cousins!, hotel size toothpaste, comb)
Pannier 2
Socks 1 pair
No extra shorts
Long lightweight hiking trousers (283g I weighed this for the Tibet trip)
Long sleeve warmer cycling jersey
Helly Hansen thermal base layer
Old thermal T-shirt
Balaclava (used twice in high mtns)
Warm hat
Leggings (but doubled as arm protectors on hot sunny days)
Long finger gloves
Very thin lightweight casual shirt (not used at all)
County maps (1 or 2 at a time)
Front light
Spare light batteries
Camera batteries & charge cable
Visa card
ARC
On bike elsewhere
Helmet (used 3 or 4 times on the busy truck roads, but could’ve left at home)
Back light
2 water bottles in cages
That’s a memory dump. There’s probably 1 or 2 other things, but I’ve forgotten.
And
NO PHONE
:discodance: :discodance: :discodance: :discodance: :discodance:
I hate riding with a backpack. Too sweaty and it makes my back hurt if it’s too heavy.
If you pack really light you might be able to get by with a rack bag. I personally like camping so I load up a fair amount of stuff but I’m still relatively light (I think).
I like 2 pair of cycling clothes. they don’t always dry in one night so they can finish riding on the back rack.
You don’t need a touring bike if you are traveling light. The reason to get a touring bike is if you want to load up your bike a fair amount so you avoid frame flex. If you are tackling some big hills/mountains you might want to look at some low gearing.
Looks like an Yilan misplacement - would be a nice spot for a hotel, mind.
Pics from the final day - from Guanyuan just below Hehuanshan, down to the Pacific.
This an amazing thread. I tried doing a search for “huandao” and 環島, but did not come up with much aside from this one and another about “your ride today.” Could someone point me to a thread that has routes listed? I’m returning to Taiwan at the end of this month and have been spending an inordinate amount of time daydreaming about all the ways in which I can ride around the island.
What would be especially helpful would be routes with distances and road numbers.
Do you have any favorite routes around the island? Epic routes? I’d love to hear about them, and, if you have them, pictures!!
. It’s the first time I’ve seen a dry slide in action, TBH I’d no idea they even existed. Triggered by rain, sure, I’ve seen those. Triggered by sun and lack of rain, nope.
I’m wondering how much stuff you take. Eventually I’d like to do this kind of trip myself but I’m a minimalist and I’m wondering how little I could get away with. I guess I have a lot of research to do regarding road conditions and the vicissitudes of mountain weather (I would like to do it in summer).
- would be a nice spot for a hotel, mind.
