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27 December

Whining

D on the way to Fengguizui

D on the way to Fengguizui. On weekends, the road there is overcrowded with cyclists decked out like some Lance Armstrong, some with bikes costing NT$100,000 - NT$150,000. A pretty interesting experience. I almost pulled one of those babies over a couple weeks ago, getting my clothes caught in the handle bar; everyone seeing it happen gasped for breath before going absolutely quiet to see what was going to happen. Oops.

Christmas, New Year's, visits from back home, work... No biking for a couple of weeks, despite a few days of absolutely brilliant weather. It's almost painful to sit indoors working and see the mountains bathed in sunshine. And if I can't get the current translation done by tomorrow so we're free to go biking Saturday, we're not getting any for another week, since we have visitors from overseas coming here on Sunday.


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24 December

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas


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17 December

Fudekeng

Fudekeng
We had planned on doing Maokong today, and getting there via Fudekeng (福德坑) as suggested by Feiren in an earlier comment. Once we got to the Arouyang road, however, one of D's knees didn't feel right, so rather than risking an injury, we turned back and went for a chat with the guys down at the Giant store. And of course came out having spent some money. But they also gave me a pair of new pedals for free, so it works out well, I guess.

Fudekeng
Fudekeng, though, was a great, or, rather, really interesting place. It's a leisurely ride up there, with OK views, and the huge, enormous graveyard -- the Taipei City graveyard -- is really interesting. It went on for five or six kilometers, with graves covering the hillside high above and far below the winding road. We lost ourselves there and it took us a good two hours to slowly move through the area, which holds Taipei's graveyard for muslims and a special section for those who died during the martial law era. Well worth a visit.

Facts Follow Heping E until it veers off to the right at the Liuzhangli MRT station. From there, take Chongde St (崇德街) which will bring you up on the mountain. After a short while, the road splits; take the left one. Further ahead, there's a split that will bring you either down to Nangang or to Muzha. If you go toward Muzha, take a right at the bus terminal at the end of the graveyard, and that will bring you down to Beishen Rd (北深路) just next to Wanfu Bridge (萬福橋). The whole loop from Taipei via Fudekeng and Shenkeng Old Street is around 30km.


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16 December

Pingxi

Today we went to Pingxi (平溪), because it was a ride that we had to do after having passed the sign so many times on the way to Shiding. A leisurely and easy ride without any really steep, challenging hills. From Pingxi we continued a bit further, to Shifenliao and the waterfall there, before turning back to Taipei. Back home again, we had clocked up 80km in a great sunshiny ride.

Pingxi can also be reached by the narrow gauge train that runs between Ruifang (瑞芳) and Jingtong (精同). The views from the train are better than the views you get from the road.

Facts From Taipei, follow route 106. It's as simple as that. Jingtong is worth a stop for a refresher or a bit to eat because of the Japanese era station house which is on a short strip of generic Taiwan Old Street. There are also a couple of mountain hikes to be had in Jingtong and Pingxi

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12 December

Southern Cross Island Highway revisited

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Somewhere along the Southern Cross Island Highway

H did a write-up in Taipei Times of our trip across Taiwan using my photos, the first time I have my photos in the paper. In any paper, actually. Haven't seen the print version yet, but the design department seems to have overworked the web photos a bit. No matter, here's the write-up.


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9 December

Fengguizui revisited

Xizhi

A view of Xizhi from Wuzhishan

Another ride to Fengguizui (風櫃嘴), but today we returned by way of Neihu. Following the road signs from Fengguizui toward Neihu, you eventually return to the city on Changqing Rd (長青路) and then Chenggong Rd (成功路). It's a pleasant ride down toward Neihu with nice views of Xizhi and down toward Jilong, but there are more houses and traffic than coming up from Shuangxi, so I'd rather return than come up this way. Another short ride, totaling 44 km in 2.5 hours on the bike and 4.5 hours including coffee break and view gazing.

Facts Here's a better description than last time. After the National Palace Museum, continue toward Shuangxi (雙溪). Pass an exit toward Neihu and continue until you get to the exit to Wanli (萬里). Turn right and cross the bridge. It's just below seven kilometers and a 600m climb to Fengguizui where you can get a coffee and replenish water supplies. At the T-intersection a kilometer or so after the bridge, take a left. When you get to Fengguizui, there are signs pointing toward Neihu. It's all downhill from Fengguizui, about 10km down to Neihu. After two km you can descend to Xizhi by taking a left. You reach Neihu on Changqing Rd. Take a left where it ends and then a right at Chenggong Rd until you reach Minquan Rd. where you take another right to reach the central parts of Taipei by crossing the Minquan Bridge.


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13:59 |

6 December

Bad luck

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D and the members or her group in the tour around Taiwan

No biking at all this last week. Last Monday, on the morning of the third day of D's long awaited nine day tour of the island, a car ran a red light down in Huwei and D had to do an emergency brake that made her stop dead in her tracks. She hit her jaw and face on the handle bars, broke off four teeth in her lower jaw and had to have 60 stitches in her upper lip and 40 in her lower lip. The helmet was pulled back over her head so the strap caught her throat and she couldn't speak for three or four days. They sent her home in an ambulance to Taida University Hospital after emergency care in Huwei. After a couple of hours in Taida, they said everything was OK, no complications, and sent us home. Five or six days later, they even called from the Huwei emergency center to check on D and make sure that everything was OK. A nice surprise, neither of us had expected that.

She's doing fine now and is back working again, but still can't speak properly. Me, H X and T had planned on picking her up in Pinglin last Sunday and ride back to Taipei together with her, but instead I went with D down there to pick her stuff up and say hi to the all the people. H, X and T went biking on Balaka Highway, and that was a great and beautiful ride according to H, so we have to do that soon, but the next ride may be another visit to Fengguizui on Sunday.
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Some of all the bikes and people on the tour. They were over 60 people, from 10 to 65 years old. Some even had to learn how to ride according to D, but were allowed to participate anyway.


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