June 27, 2015: A Wuling from the West race and spending the night in Cuifeng's Boái road

Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/818031725

146km, 7h17, elevation 3395m

A friend of mine had registered for the TWB Wuling from the West race, but due to some personal reasons he could not attend.  Therefore, he asked me if I wanted to go in his place. It was a very short notice but ok, sounded nice. After the race, we would spend the night in Nantou with a few friends and have a BBQ. I went to bed around eight and got up at 01:30 am. From there I started cycling to Nantou. I went from Shalu to Taichung city, where I could see a lot of people partying in dancings. Some people were even looking at me like, are you cycling at this hour of the day? Crazy fuck!

Then I went to Wufeng and Caotun via Hwy 3. I took a small break at a 7-11 and checked with my friends if they woke up on time. Then I continued cycling to Guoxing and Nantou. 

I was riding with participant number 2211

When I arrived in Puli it was already somewhere past five am. I did not see anything at the Central Geographic Steele of Puli and I did not understand. Luckily a bystander told me that the bike race started a few km further down the road. I continued along Hwy 14 and I did see where the race started only there was nobody there. They had already closed it! I felt disappointed at the time, because I did cycle three hours in darkness just to get here.

I decided to fuck the race and just cycle up to Wuling to join my buddies.; But quick enough I was catching up on other participants and at Renzhiguan I even saw a scooter of the organization. I called him and explained my situation. He noted my number and communicated this to the race organizers. I was back in the race! :-) The organizers even asked me if I would like to put my backpack in their van, but I declined because stopping would cause more time. I wanted to finish this thing withing four hours.

The race itself was going well, I stopped once for some water and for the rest I just cycled my way up to Wuling, making a few pictures. At the 18km mark, the Cuifeng bus stop, I saw my buddy. He was like, what, you are going so fast. Epic moment haha!

This is a few hundred meters past the Yuanfeng parking lot. I stopped for some water here.

The 24km mark of the road to heaven, 7.5km remaining with some 500 meters of elevation gain.

A few pictures while I was cycling,  this mountain range is so eye-caressing.

Plowing my way through the steepness of Hehuan mountain

This place has gotten mythical proportions for me in the last year

I had already been cycling for more than six hours, with almost no breaks, but I was still good to finish the ride. I also calculated that I would be finishing Wuling within 4 hours, which was my goal.

Kunyang, the 3060m elevation point. Only 2km left from here.

From Kunyang to Wuling was still a steep 10% average, but I made it safe and sound. I even had to wait for almost two hours for my friends to join. 

My trip data for today: Shalu to Wuling in 6h34, which means Puli to Wuling in 3h34. That got me the second rank of the Wuling race today, counting only the classification of those who ride Wuling from the west, and not those who also ride it from the east. But still a nice vestige

Excellent stuff! I rode a good race today

Some more pictures after the race

126km from my doorstep to Wuling

One of the buddies joined me some 20 minutes afterwards. He took these pictures of me

Eternal memories at Hehuan mountain

Thanks for this ride, Roubaix!

One of the fines views in Taiwan

My participants medal

The skyline over Wuling

This race was actually a double Wuling race, some people would also be riding Wuling from Hualien the next day. But it was too late to sign up for that. There was an organizers bus and we could go there and relax a little. While we were waiting for our third friend, I had a quick nap there. That felt good. Too bad that I felt cold when I came outside of the bus

More pictures at Wuling

After a long two hour wait, everybody made it to Wuling. We had a few pictures taken together.

The guy from the left is the husband of the school principle in Taichung, with whom I get along great. It was she that invited me to join. Thanks for that!

Good numbers, room for improvement, but good numbers

After the race, we descended to Qingjing farm together. During this descent there was a whole lot of traffic and I waited a few times. I called on the other two to do the same thing. There was even a girl in a car talking with me briefly. She was hot. I also noticed during this descent that this Fulcrum wheelset was actually not that great in braking performance. As soon as the gradient hit -12%, that would be nervous to me. So I kept it calm and played safe.

One of the guys's wife, the school director, was underway with their kids but was stuck in a traffic jam. She told us that we should already eat, since we were hungry. Yes we were! We had a nice meal in a small restaurant right next to the highest 7-11 of Taiwan. Then the others joined and we could go the house of their uncle in Cuifeng. We put our bikes on the car and went to the 15km mark of Hwy 14-2. There was a very small road where we entered.

He was cycling, BUT he got a lift haha

A picture I took from the car

Somebody was obviously feeling energetic

King of the Mountains

There was a small tiny road that let to their uncle's house, called Bo'ai road. It was about four km inside and it was a bumpy ride.

I had passed this point a dozen times already but I completely missed this one. It opened new possibilities for future cycling rides

Inside of this little road, there was a very extraordinary view over Hehuan mountain

I could not believe that such a tiny road existed. Hilarious!

Inside was completely tranquil and beautiful

A great place to spend the night

Some pictures from the late afternoon

Mist was starting to form over the mountains.

Later that night we had a bbq and chatted a lot. It was truly a nice evening. The beds were great and I had a fantastic night rest. What a crazy wonderful day. Getting up so early, all the tension and crazy cycling, with the perfect relaxing climax at the end.

When I woke up in the morning, I noticed the sun was already shining intensely. I went outside and walked a little around the block, taking some pictures

Their dog, a nice dog

Wuling is visible from here

Living here is nice, but horror when it is storming

Only a few people crowding these montains

Just checking around...

I noticed their son, Steven, was also up. He joined me in my walk and took these pictures of me.

No cycling clothes for now

Petting the dog

They were growing crops here

Bart and Steven

Special flower

We had breakfast and then we departed. They wanted to go check out Qingjing farm. We spent the morning there, walking around, seeing a sheep show by an Australian guy, seeing some Mongolian horse show etc.

The sheep show

Bartman @Qingjing farm

A few snapshots of me

Mongolian horse show

By noon we went back to Puli for lunch. I fell asleep in the car. We had lunch at a place of one of their friends. After that I reassembled my bike and cycled to Fengyuan. They could not believe I was cycling back from here. Well, I was! I made haste underway to Fengyuan, not taking any pictures. I rode the classical Hwy 21. Unfortunately when I was in Fengyuan at 16:30, everybody had gone home already. So, I went to Shalu right away. A lovely experience!