Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/906693067
174km, 8h34, elevation 1763m
Speaking mentally, today was the toughest day of this tour around the island. Quite a lot happened, let';s start from the beginning. After my 7-11 meal of yesterday and a good night rest, I was ready to hit the road again. I had not made it to the frontier of Hualien and Taitung, but that would happen very fast today. I ate some leftovers from yesterday as breakfast.
The view right outside my room, beautiful Yuli county in Hualien southernmost stretches.
My camera hadn't adapted to the outside temperature yet. The airco had been on all night.
Time to initiate day four of my tour around the island, day six after leaving Shalu.
I exited the hostel and I found myself on hwy 9. I had checked the map and I had to do a section of Hwy 9 before I could connect to Route 197. It was super early and tranquil on this route., It had been exactly two years since I was here.
Hwy 9 was running together with Hwy 30 here. 30 would go horizontal from west to east.
Wake up and smell the coffee, day 4 has begun!
Yuli, a stylish and enchanting town.
Hwy 9 is located moe towards the hills. No ocean can be seen from here
Taitung straight ahead!
I happened to see this little sign, which indicated a cycling path. I went inside and the views were phenomenal!
A rough sketch of this bicycle path
This path would give a perfect view of these hills behind the fields. The rising sun gave that extra touch with its golden glance. This was truly a wonderful view.
I saw one other person cycling here, but apart from that this road was all mine
Good morning eastern Taiwan!
This is why I am doing this journey The beauty if this nation lies far beyond its capital and commercial heart. it is out in the periphery<
Another guy was running here, he chose himself a fine setting for his run.
A smile was on my face while riding here. Getting up early is always the right thing to do.
Rice fields in front of the Taitung hills
Live the moment, life life, go out and cycle!
I remembered that I did a small part of this back in 2013 as well. Hwy 9 is located at my left.
This path was only a few km long, that''s too bad. From here I had to continue over Hwy 9.
Yufu bike path, the path that leads from Yuli to Fuli, another small village near Taitung county.
I saw a breakfast shop and bought two sandwiches, my breakfast hadn't been that extravagant and I needed juice for today's ride.
The next part of hwy 9 had somewhat more movement and life.
I met a group of cycling children, who were cycling around the island with their teachers. They would be spending two weeks on that, which is very normal. I stopped and chatted with them for a while. Their place to stay would be Taitung, about 50km from here. They had all day for that. Plus they had a following wagon!
More snapshots of these amazing sceneries!
The profile of the road was very fair, nothing steep, some elevation gain but nothing serious
There was another bike path here, called Luoshan bike path. However, I did not go inside.
I remembered this from my 2013 ride...
I stopped for a piss here. Might as well take another picture while I am standing still, right?
I would like to know how many roads suitable for cycling are in those hills. Doing a 100km ride over there sonuds like killer!
I like this, just being here without any worries
This was the official point where Hualien county and Taitung county merged together. The first township of the day was Chishang, On the River. There is a similar pillar at Shouka, where the border between Taitung and Pingtung is.
Another view I remember from 2013: The lonely temple in the green rice fields, in the hilly setting. Truly beautiful.
Almost felt like going inside and burning an incense stick.
Wide roads, few traffic, fantastic views, pleasant temperatures, with a sea full of time, what else could I long for here?
I checked the map and I saw that the entrance to route 197 was located in Chishang township. I did find it!
My journey along Hwy 9 was over, for now... This was the second part of the Hua-dong, after 193 yesterday. Route 197 would lead me to Taitung city.
Another small cycling lane, but I was going the other way
A map of Chishang
The road in front of me was wide open, running between rice fields in a hilly setting
Another epic ride was in the making
I have a very fine and expensive racing bike at home, but for this trip, my flatbar was the perfect choice.
All of the sudden I saw something I had only seen on people's facebook pages: The Bolang road. It is known to be a beautiful road. I saw it was only 2.5km, so I decided to ride it to the end and see it with my own eyes.
Watch out for the rattle snake!
Charming, this Bolang road. A benefit only for those who ride 197.
This is the spot! I have seen a lot of people making pictures in this frame.
A road that leads to oblivion
I was photographing at will here
I was not the only person cycling here, though it was not packed
Aboriginal artwork
Adorable tree, also the only tree here
Bartman checking out Bolang road
The 2.5km were almost over here
Then it was unclear where this road would lead. It indicated the town where I just came from. I headed back to 197.
The rest of 197 was a small road running through some local villages. I took some pictures while cycling
Some elevation gain here...
I felt progress was good.
Just look at this scenery!
This particular area had some twists and elevation. I saw one other cyclist but his pace was different from mine.
Some useful information; Taitung in less than 50km, Mind the hill haha
Just when everything was going super smoothly, something really annoying happened. Apparently there is a very large part of 197 which is not asphalt, but just gravel roads. The problem was that I was riding a 23mm front tire and that I could not take that risk. I did ride the first few hundred meters, but I decided to walk it out. Better than having a flat tire.
I was walking through the several twists of this road and I noticed there was no end to this gravel section. Somewhat later I saw people working on the road and I asked them how long this gravel section was. He told me that it was a full 11km. SHIT!!!! That was a major setback, because that would put me back two full hours. I decided to cycle where I felt this was possible.
A lot of elevation here.
The views were lovely but I could not focus on that right now. There were some concrete sections but they only lasted for a few hundred meters. Not even worth getting on my bike.
Man, if I had known this, I would not have come here. I might have taken Hwy 9 all the way, or even 30 to the coastal 11. Anything would have been better than this! I was counting every km to the end of this torture
If I did not ride this 23mm tire, I would just cycle through it. But I was in no position of taking such a risk.
I wish I had my 28-30mm combination of tires. Then there would be nothing going on
Road construction works. This is where I learned how long my ordeal would protract.
The roads would become normal at the 35km mark. That was a full six km here. Terrible!
This was not indicated on the map, the map just displayed a normal provincial route.
I came across a car here that asked me if the road would lead to somewhere. I told them not to worry, it would connect, but some stretches might be narrow. Then the driver complimented me on my Chinese and asked me where I was going. It was a welcome conversation because I was feeling annoying because of my lost time here.
This sandy section made it impossible to cycle, no grip whatsoever. if I only I had a Diverge... I would be flying through this section.
The views were nice though... I was exploring some never-seen areas.
FINALLY! I lost a full 90 minutes here, but I made it without a flat and the roads were paved again. I felt like heaven when I could just proceed my riding.
One last view back to that 11km of gravel hell I just went through. That is why you ALWAYS need to right a beefy tire on rides like these. You want to be able to handle unexpected situations. I will use this experience as a very valuable lesson for future trips.
Another aboriginal village on my journey. I bought a big bottle of Supao here somewhere. It was getting hotter and I was in need for fluids.
However, as noon was approaching, the weather somewhat deteriorated. It was a common knoowledge for my ride around Taiwan: Perfect sunshine in the morning, downpours in the afternoon.
Taitung city was very near now!
Apart from that gravel section, the ride has been nice up to now.
The mission of finding solitude en route to Taitung had been a success story
At some point it was not clear which road was 197 and which was the other. I accidentally connected to Taitung-45. But that was ok, that road also brought me to Taitung.
I saw one cyclist coming from the other direction. He was dressed all race-bikey, that might well have been Fan-Yong yi
Taitung was super close. I could the see the change in weather patterns. I would be getting rain later on
Taitung-45, 6km mark. I think the other bridge on my left was Route 197
I had to search a little, but then I found the city center. I stopped at a small place for some dumplings. I asked directions on how to connect to Hwy 9 going south. It was nice to be just asking for directions. It got me right on track
National Taitung University. Seemed like a small school actually
As soon as I left Taitung city behind me, I could feel the drops falling from the skies. I put on my raincoat and got on with my business. It was raining throughout the first section. I passed by the intersection of Hwy 11 and 9. The memories of July's ride were still very fresh. I got pretty wet in that section.
Hwy 9, going from Taitung to Fenggang. I had come from the other direction one month earlier, on the day that I cycled from Tainan to Taitung.
When the rain stopped, I put out my gear. Not long after that I would learn that this had been an unwise decision. The rain would come back
Beautiful though, this Great Pacific contrasting with the mountains of Taitung.
That rain coat was sizzling hot if it was not raining. I HAD to take it off.
All I had to do now was count up until nuumber 475. That would be the end of Hwy 9 on the western coast.
As you could see, that was still almost 60km ahead of me.
More dark skies ahead of me, those clouds would not give me an easy ticket to Fenggang
Daxi, Taitung. As far as my knowledge is up to date, there are three Daxi's in Taiwan. One in Yilan, one in Taoyuan and this one in Taitung.
Several short climbs and descents along Hwy 9. I stopped at that big Family Mart for some reinforcements
Then it started to rain seriously. And for a very long time. I was wearing my rain coat but it was soaked everywhere. There were so many cars in this section. I saw a lot of cyclists coming from the other way. I was not the only one going through this hell.
The rain was super intensive and it was flowing down from heaven like there's no tomorrow. I decided to hide it out under this small shrine. I was not the only person there. I was leaning against one of those pillars and even dozed off for some time. When I regained consciousness. the raining had decreased in intensity, but it was already late. I tried to look for a hotel nearby but I did not find anything. I decided to continue the climb over Shouka and take Nanhui to the western coast. There, there would fo shizzle be some place to crash.
I fell asleep here haha. The nap was good, but I lost precious time...
I did not find a place to stay on the east coast, so I went for Shouka. During that 10km climb, it started to rain again and hard. There were two other cyclists that I passed on my way up. At about one km of the top, I noticed my front tire flatted. Fuck! This was not the time, it was almost dark. I kept calm and try to change the tire. However, that worthless pump was a genuine piece of shit.l It wripped off the ventile and I was without a tire. I was truly in a bad position. I was cursing those 23mm tires. Worthless shit! The cyclists I had met earlier stopped to ask if they could help. Unfortunately they could not and continued their journey. All I could do as walk, but the distance was incredible.
I walked down this hill and I saw a few taxis. I called for them but they all ignored me. That made me really angry. Did they not understand I was in trouble? Then I called the police, because I had no other option. They came and got me. I was at the 458km mark when I saw the police vehicle. They bought me to the police station. They were not allowed to take me to Fenggang.
There was one guy who could bring me there, but he wanted 1000 bucks. What a rip off. But then again, I was in no position to bargain. He brought me to Fenggang and found me a hostel to spend the night. In that hostel there was another guy cycling around the island with his sun. They had ordered some tires from a small shop and he even installed the tire for me. That was so nice of him. I was feeling so bad that night that his kind gesture was really welcome
A day full of setbacks, but I made it to Fenggang safe and soud, and I could even start cycling the next day. All things considered still pretty ok. That night the only option left for food was 711. I shared a status on Fb and then I went to bed.
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