This summer has been filled with lots of riding, plenty of running and I even swam a bit. I have only lived in Taiwan for 3 summers however it seems this year, we have experienced a very dry summer. Mid-month I was very fortunate to be able to slip away for a two day solo ride across the Central Cross of Taiwan. Here is a my quick review of the ride, some photos and Garmin Links.
Thursday morning, three days before the ride, I called the Kuanyun Youth Hostel. They said they had a place for me to stay on Sunday evening so I reserved some floor space. Dinner, breakfast, shower, and extra comfy futon – all for 650NT – can’t beat that. When I hung up the phone I knew I was committed to this ride. I did it last summer and I knew I was in for a big ride. Friday afternoon I had some errands to run in Taipei so I stopped by Taipei Main Station and picked up a ticket for the Sincheng train station. I was able to get a ticket for a train that departed at 7:10am and arrived in Sincheng at 9:35am.
Sunday morning I was very lucky – amazing weather the entire day! I started my ride around 10:00am. I will let the pictures do much of the talking. This year I did not have to wait at the road block, actually I think because it was Sunday there was no road block. However if you are planning to do this ride you might want to check on the road conditions. I was in Tiansian before noon – I was making great time, however I was just spinning up this big hill. I was carrying a lightweight backpack – around 3kg. The ride up the Hualien side of this mountain is one of the most beautiful rides in Taiwan, if not the most beautiful ride. The climb to the youth hostel the grade of the mountain is about 4% to 7% – a couple steep moments, however overall it is pleasant climb. Sunday afternoon I arrived at 4pm – a 5.5 hour ride, stopped to take a lot of pictures and bought a peach. Showered, dinner, chatted with a couple university students and hit the sack at 8:30pm.
Monday I was up at 6am. Breakfast was pretty simple – however my least favorite thing showed up on the table – hairy meat! I was on the road by 7:30am. The big hill – what a climb! From the hostel to the top, man this hill will rip your heart out of your chest and feed it back to you. Gruesome as it might sound, it is a beautiful ride, painful, and unforgiving. Not to mention the low levels of oxygen – at 3000 meters above sea level, even the plant life has adapted to live at such a high altitude. At the top of the mountain it was around 15 degrees, however clear skies – the entire trip I experienced zero rain. The downhill ride was plenty of fun, around Puli temperatures climbed back to 30 degrees. In Guoxing it was around 35. I arrived at the High Speed Rail Station in Wuri around 3pm. Awesome solo ride. I will do it next summer. Why don’t you join me?
Day 1:
Day 2:
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