Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/906692895
116km, 5h17, elevation 2115m
I spent last night at Xu Zihuai's place, a close friend of Kevin Huang. The planning for the next days would be cycling with him today and joining the DK Wanho cycling club on their Sunday ride tomorrow. On Monday my journey around Taiwan would proceed.
The day started with an immediate setback: the tire that had a flat yesterday was actually worthless now. It could not clamp onto the rim anymore. So we had to move my 28m tire to the rear wheel and we installed a 23m on the front wheel. I did not like riding a 23m, but I had no other choice. This got us occupied for some time, but eventually we were good to go.
From his place in Toucheng, we cycled to Beiyi Road, the legendary connection between Yilan and Taipei. His place was so close to Beiyi road, he could use it like a warm up every day, super cool. Coming from Toucheng, the first 12km of Beiyi road are one long climb. It is also known as the 9 turns and 18 twists in Chinese. The gradients are not steep, but very constant, somewhere between 4 and 6%. Xu Zihuai said he once did this 12km in less than 30 minutes.
Today he wanted to be at least close to that number, so he started pounding it. I had to keep up with him and the first miles were tough, especially since I was riding that flatbar bike. I did manage to keep my speed around 20kmph and keep up with him. The last few km went better. We made it to the top in some 33 minutes I believe. Fair enough. On the top we had a short break and chatted a little. We somehow started talking about the workers of this road who lost their lives during construction.
We then continued our journey along Hwy 9, most of it was downhill with some shorter sections uphill. I stopped a few times because I was impressed by the damage done by the recent Typhoon. Falling rocks and even blocked roads would occur.
Pounding it during the first 12km was a good warm up. I was obviously riding with a strong rider. It was also cool that I was wearing my Wanho team jersey haha.
More of Beiyi road...
The 47km mark of Hwy 9, going downhill in the direction of Taipei
A somewhat lesser sharp picture while I was descending. After this one we arrived in Pinglin, which could be considered as the halfway point of the Beiyi road. We stopped at that Family Mart for a break and had a nice chat.
The next phase of the ride was another mountain road. Originally we went just like I went during my July tour de Taiwan: via route 106-3. However, this time instead of following 106 all the way, we took the other small road that was there: Taipei-42. This was also a steep mountain path. It had steep sections, with descents, more climbs and more descents. During this stage, Xu Zihuai showed me how to attack on a hill, how to accelerate while climbing. I for one was impressed. I kept going at my own pace and I arrived one minute later than he did on the top. Riding with my flatbar like that was tiring enough.
We stopped here for a very short break.
Then the road would go downhill. Before coming here, there was a somewhat longer climb.
Felt bike with vision wheels, good stuff
From that top, it was about 8km downhill. There were some construction works going so we had to be careful. At our descent we first took a small break at a temple. Then, we ended up on Hwy 2-4, which would bring us to Shuangxi. There, we visited a 7-11 for some snacks.
Having some drinks and snacks at Shuangxi's 7-11.
From Shuangxi we entered a little mountain path referred to by Garmin as the Shuangtai industrial road. Please check the map. It was a very steep and long road which elevated to 500m above sea level. At some point I lost sight of Xu Zihuai and I thought I was lost but just following the main road was all I had to do.
Not sure what to do here, but I took a left. Good thing that was correct
This is where we met up again. We climbed up this viewing deck and the view was really nice. We could see over a lot of peaks of nearby hills. A lot of nice cycling can be done here. One of the more remarkable names here was Buyanting 不厭亭, a place frequently visited by local cyclists.
The climb from Shuangxi to here was about 500 meters.
A view over New Taipei City's hill tops
I can only add that my work here is not yet finished
These are wonderful training roads, so little traffic, good steep climbs and fantastic views. What else could you be longing for in a cycling trip?
We descended from the other side. The descent was nice with lots of twists and turns. I loved going in those corners with my disc brakes. In those descents I had more speed than Xu Zihuai. I waited for him and took a picture of him riding his bike.
He took me a temple on a hill on a side way. We could get some water there and enjoy the views.
New Taipei City was showing me a face full of secrets and mysteries today
After that temple we still had some climbing to do. According to the little signs by the side of the roads, we were heading in the direction of Daxi, the one located on hwy 2, the one I had come by yesterday.
On this climb I was faster than him haha. But it earned him this picture
The little green sign on the right indicates Yilan county's Daxi area. From here, the road was called Yilan-1. It was about 10km, with most of it going downhill.
Thank you for your visit to New Taipei City and welcome to Yilan county
The first few miles of that descent were roads covered in leaves because of the recent Typhoon. However, near the end we did get a good view of Guishan island. That was nice. Just before the end, we had to stop for some road works.
Yilan-1 would eventually bring us back to Hwy 2, where I had cycled the day before. Since I was coming here again, I decided to pay a quick visit to Candy Lin in her Rising Surf hostel. I even saw Gerrit. Strange to hear they got divorced.
Before making it there, a downpour assaulted us on Hwy 2 and we got wet. Later that day we had food in Toucheng and even had some local ice delicacy. We also met some of Xu Zihuai's friends. It was a very fun day and a very cool ride. In the evening I heard there was a mud slide on that Taipei-42 road we were riding earlier. Strange those falling rocks and mud slides!
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