March 23-24 2015: Two days of crazy hill hopping in central Taiwan, day 1 a rainy Nantou-97 and day 2 the Triple Mt. route with Mr. Cai

Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/727888072

263km, 12h02, elevation 3483m (two days cycling trip)

March 23, 2015: Plowing through my favorite hills in Guoxing and Xinshe

A new day, a new chance for some climbing in the hills and no area suited better than these small and remote mountain passes between Xinshe and Caotun. I headed out early in the morning, going to Fengyuan first and then via Taichung-88 (Wanli Changcheng). These roads are my training grounds!

Taichung-88 in the morning, the first serious climb of the day

Then I made it to Xinshe. As usual I stocked up provisions at the Zhongxingling 7-11 and I marched out again. I took Taichung-99 to Taiping. The first section had a 10% climb until the summit, then it goes WAY DOWN!

Taichung-99 to Taiping. A lovely alternative to 136 or Baimaoshan.

It was not too warm today, I had every reason for wearing this long-sleeve jersey

After the descent the road splits in two roads, one is Taichung-100 and the other one is Taichung-99, both are fruit of my half-day rides and explorations. I took #100 because it offered a bit more climbing and it would connect me deeper into Route 136, perfect for avoiding heavy traffic. Taichung-100 is a cozy little road with not too much traffic. But this time I did see a lot of people walking around. I believe one of the locals was getting married.

Taichung-100 eventually connected to 136, the famous weekend ride for Taichung cyclists. I completed my climb to Chikanding, had my picture there and descended to Guoxing. Been there, done that :-) Just good workouts...

Not a bright shiny day...

Descending to Guoxing from 136 will lead to Hwy 14. I went inside Guoxing township, where I had a break. After my break I could take two options: 1) Baimaoshan,  highway 21, the more common and cyclist friendly road 2) Nantou-97, an industrial road that is pretty steep and remote. Keep on reading to find out what I did...

Koxinga! Hasn't moved an inch since I am a local cyclist

I noticed the sky was getting even darker... Would I be getting wet?

Yes indeed! I had not even left the streets of Guoxing city and it already started to rain. This left me with a dilemma... Could I do Nantou-97 like this? Wouldn't that be dangerous?

A cyclist at a loss about what to do...

I don't know why, but I just wanted to ride this Nantou-97, even with the weather like this. I promised myself I would be extra careful, especially downhill. But I was riding this thing, period!

Nantou-97, what a crazy ride! The locals were looking at me, asking themselves: why is he riding his bike through here if it is raining?

The first part was doable, not too steep, recently paved. But conditions deteriorated later on...

OK, officially 3km inside of this Nantou-97. No way back now, finish the climb!

Cracks in the concrete and muddy sand on the sideways. Still doable though

Dark skies above me

But my outfit was shining for me!

Leaves on the ground... What a day for Nantou-97. Admittedly, this was an alternative view of a route I cycle more often. I enjoyed it!

The steepest part of the entire 11km climb: 22%. I had to watch out and prevent slipping with my wet tires. I promised myself I would be careful so I walked the last five meters. After this steep section, the rest is easy game.

Terrible conditions, cracked and wet concrete. Good thing I always ride with beefy tires.

On a sunny day the view is fabulous.  Today the sky is filled with mist and sight is limited. This also had something to do with the increasing elevation.

Good thing this road had been repaved lately. It did make a difference for me.

Enjoying my ride! Others would probably be inside reading a book haha

This was a living dream! Not a living soul around me, just me and this beautiful selection of Mother Nature's finest sceneries.

Autumn leaves all around me

Finally I made it to the summit of this climb. Fog was increasing and sight was decreasing. I did not linger too long, I just prepared for a difficult descent.

Conditions were getting even worse

Descending calmly and staying focused. Benefit is I had already cycled this road several times.

Preserving an enthusiastic mindset also contributed to completing this right with a perfect score.

So far, so good

The descent was not that long anymore, I was very close to landing safely

GPS information and stats...

I just came from that small mountain path at the right. I had made it safe and sound downhill. However, it was still a full 16km to Xinshe and more than 30 to Fengyuan. And the weather was not improving. At least the road conditions would be better.

My current location was Taichung-95, 17km mark. In spite of this grey and depressing weather, I was having a very joyful ride

Awesome bike!

As I was loosing altitude, the fog became less thick and sight improved tremendously.

Smile! I am shining! :-)

Eventually I made it back to Xinshe. I did not want to repeat the track I had taking earlier in the morning, so I changed my course. I believe this here is Taichung-97. I was very surprised to see a Dutch hostel haha

I should get a discount here based on my ID card!

I did some more exploring before heading back to Fengyuan.

I combined some routes I previously discovered into a nice circle. I went down via Taichung-92 to Shigang (Hwy 3) and I did another climb at Gonglaoping (Taichung-90). A fantastic combination of small rides.

Gonglaoping, the holy grail for local cyclists

Gonglaoping and Fengyuan! I was almost home.

The skies over Gonglaoping... altitude 340 was better than 1060.

Then I cycled back to Fengyuan and spent the night with Tina. I did not go back to Shalu this time. I forgot to switch off my GPS so the next day's ride was also included in the same activity. More about that below

 March 24, 2015: Tackling the Triple Mount Challenge together with Mr. Cai

I woke up late, too late for a big-ass ride. So I decided to call Mr. Cai and ride the Triple Mountain Challenge with him together. He had mentioned quite a few times that he would like to cycle that one together with me. So today was the day!

We rode to Shigang and then to Dongshi. We stopped at the 7-11 of Hwy 8 because I had not yet had any breakfast. Then we continued our journey to Baimaoshan. We cycled our own pace, I descended a few times to keep him company and we steadily made progress. Just a nice chilly ride without trouble

Incoming... Mr. Cai

We stopped for some pictures at the summit of Baimaoshan.

Then we descended to Guoxing city and came back to Taiping via Route 136. From there we went back to Fengyuan through Taiping and Tanzi. After some tea time in Fengyuan,I headed back to Shalu. Mr. Cai did more than 100km on this trip and he was very proud of it. Good for him!