Xiaogetou
You go to the gym several days a week, bike a lot, play street hockey/floorball, do some hiking and a lot of stretching/yoga - in short, you lead an active life - to stay supple and avoid stiffening up in the wrong places as you grow older. Then one day you crouch down to check out a book in the book shelf and can hardly get up. You can't move properly for a week and you have some pain and are really careful moving about for over two weeks. What's so fair about that?
Outside the convenience store at the intersection of the roads to Pingxi and Pinglin at 8.30 on a Sunday morning
This Sunday should have been a hiking day, but someone got stranded in China and so we decided to go biking instead. Finally. After a month off the bike due to typhoons and back problems, Xiaogetou felt like a safe choice, and it's always nice to end the ride with the views and a cup of coffee at Helen's Coffee shop.
Waiting for Ho Yi, Xiao Yi and Tangmu outside the Muzha Zoo McDonald
We met the others down by Muzha Zoo at 8am. The original plan was to go over Fudekeng on the way to Muzha Zoo (my Google map of the ride) because it is much nicer than Jungong and Muzha roads, but Diane had a busy day Saturday and wanted to sleep half an hour extra, so we bit the bullet and did the ride through the cty. The weather was great although we had a five minute drizzle halfway up the mountain. Ran into Tim the Giant man on the way up and lost half an hour talking about biking, rides and bikes. Told us about a 130km ride out to Toucheng on the coast that sounded nice that we'll have to when we get back from Sweden mid-November.
Mr and Mrs Yours Truly over a cup of coffee at Helen's in Xiaogetou
Facts: Here's a previous road description. A nice ride of intermediate level, maybe, that keeps you pushing and working hard without being too steep and exhausting. Easier than Fengguizui in northern Taipei, but it could still be a challenge to do it without getting off the bike.