November 27, 2014
Layover in Tamsui
Loop ride to Yangmingshan
We awoke to another beautiful morning. The forecast for the next several days is also beautiful, but a week of rain is in the forecast starting the day we fly home. After the soggy first several days of this trip we have generally had more than our share of good conditions, so we are feeling lucky. We came at a good time after all.
Today's ride was a counterclockwise loop up Yangmingshan - the first climbing of note since hitting the southwest coast 10 days ago. Before the hills though we began by riding the riverside bikeway upriver to the outskirts of Taipei. It was a beautiful stretch to loaf through - lots of excuses to stop and look at wildlife and enjoy views. We covered a whopping 7 miles in the first hour before turning away from the river and uphill toward Beitou, a hot springs village on the lower slopes of the mountain.
The ride up was beautiful, once we got past suburbs and into the park. The forests here really are remarkable - very dense, very diverse, a bit mysterious. The main road up isn't too bad of a climb, but I'd mapped out a much quieter side route that found its own way up - stair step fashion, alternating between agonizingly steep stretches that capped out at about 20%, followed by breathers. At one point, struggling our way up a particularly tough stretch, I let out a loud, spontaneous groan when we rounded a tight hairpin and found an even steeper patch lurking on the other side.
At about 1500' we pulled off at a parking area for a lunch break and enjoyed walking around in the woods a bit and enjoying broad views around and down to the plain and up at the peak disappearing into a blanket of fog. Then, back at it for another 1200', topping out at just past 2700' - a healthy climb, but not really so bad except for the odd struggle up a cliff face. At 700' below the top though we entered the base of the cloud layer, and lost pretty much all visibility. The final few miles were eerily beautiful, and eventually a bit wet as we ascended up into a zone of light rain. We hadn't planned on this and hadn't brought rain gear, but fortunately it was so warm that cycling remained comfortable.
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Partway down the descent, Rachael's rear brake gave out pretty much completely. We hadn't noticed how worn the pads had become, but they were down to bare metal. I had packed several sets of spare pads for the tour but they weren't in the lightly loaded bag we had brought along today so she made it off the mountain with only the front brake. We took a very slow descent so her bike wouldn't run away from her, and were quite relieved to make it back to the flats, and even walked a few of the steeper sections.
For dinner we went back to the Red 3 Cafe for another night of outdoor dining overlooking the river. We walked there, to our surprise, in a light rain. This is how we like it, for sure - wet at night, dry in the day. At dinner we were joined by Barry, an expat from Iowa who sat down for an enjoyable extended chat. We really enjoyed our visit - practically the only extended conversation with anyone but ourselves we've had in three weeks.
Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 936 miles (1,506 km)
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