Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/849166147
185km, 9h28, 3900hm
I got up early today with a specific goal: doing a crazy KOM ride with my flatbar road bike. I wasn't gonna go really far, I was just gonna climb all day. There is a nice section of tiny and steep mountain paths between Taichung's Xinshe and Nantou's Guoxing township. I had been riding these in other rides several times, but today, I would make one giant ride out of them. And the result was I got hammered before ending the ride!
Departing very early from Shalu, I first took the 17% steep Houshanlu (road behind the mountain) on to Metropolitan Garden. From there on I took the traditional ride to Fengyuan, where I was meeting Liao Shijie, one of my best friends in Taiwan. He would join me for at least a part of today's trip.
We teamed up in Fengyuan and the first climb of the day was Fengyuan's Wanli Changcheng (ten thousand meters long wall), a nice climb of about 350m elevation that would lead to Xinshe.
Here he is riding is pimped Specialized Venge with Mavic Cosmic wheelset. Nice bike!
Taking some pictures along the road
Then we rode Taichung-93 further away from Taichung, more in the direction of Nantou county. This is where he had to go back, since he was only doing a morning ride. My journey continued via Taichung-95 which would lead me south on to Nantou county. I had taken this section various times, but from the other direction. I had never done it in this direction.
Taichung-95, 14km mark. These roads are so tranquil that I just would not want to cycle anything else. This is really a cyclist's paradise!
And all of it is climbing!
Now this is a very nice spot right here! This "farm road" has a long history for me, I will make it brief. There are two ways of going from Guoxing to Xinshe, one is 136 and the other is Hwy 21. That is the story most people know. This picture right here is the third way of doing it, but it is a very small road and it goes very steep for a very long time. Without the proper physical condition, you should not be here. I have done this five times, including today. Four times I came down from here, today I was going up here. This road does not have a proper name. Some maps call it Zhangxing Road, others call it Changliupo. I used to think it was Nantou-97, but that's another way of connecting between Taichung and Nantou. As you can see, mystery surrounds this mountain pass and that is why I love it! I once cycled this thing during a down pour, beyond doubt my most badass trip ever in Taiwan.
Little cozy road devoid of traffic
Pursuing my voyage
Beautiful sceneries
This spot right here is the highest peak of this hill, at about 1090 meters of elevation. Now this may not sound as a huge number, but I spent only about7-8km reaching this altitude, and that means the gradient was lethal.
betel nut trees to be found all over Nantou (and Pingtung county)
The road's condition is nothing more than acceptable and here we were going down
The blue sign with white characters says in Chinese: To Guoxing Township (which is located in Nantou)
As you can see this road is nothing more than a hill between betel nut trees. No heavy traffic here!
And just when you think you are already on the smallest of roads, you will see this intersection. Ain't that fantastic?
The second climb of the day was what I just referred to as "Changliupo", after descending, the third climb is Nantou-97, a small road between Guoxing and Xinshe. Basically it means another 700m of elevation gain. The ending point of Nantou-97 can connect to Hwy 21. More about that below. This picture above is a small temple (tudigong) which is so adorable in this deserted area
Nantou-97, 8km. Means I'm almost there
The end of Nantou-97. From here I will descend to Hwy 21, and from there I will climb Baimaosha, white hair mountain, which wil lead to Guoxing again. Just take a look on the Garmin map and you'll see I have been hill hopping around these two townships big time. The result of intensively central Taiwan cycling for a year.
Just wauw
Here we are at Hwy 21, 6km mark. The climb goes until 7.2km and then it goes down to 21km, on to Guoxing city. There is a Family Mart neatly located at the end of this descent. Perfect for my lunch!
After my lunch in that Family Mart, I took the 133 throughout Guoxing city center, on to Hwy 14 and directly onto the 136, which will take me again to Xinshe. The peak of this road is called Chikanding, after nailing that climb, I will go down to a place called Qiedongjiao. From there I took Taichung-100 back to Xinshe. I know this all sounds very complicated, but you can follow this on the Garmin map, which I opened up for everybody. That way you can get a grasp of this cycling route.
This is on the 136, where I was waiting for the road to upon up again.
Welcome to Taichung city; Taiping area
Chikanding, the peak of 136. After making it back to Xinshe, I continued to Fengyuan for tea. When I got back home I was dead beat. This was a tough ride wit lots of climbs. But what a wonderful workout. I need to do this more often! And feel free to join me!
No comments:
Post a Comment