Shihmen Reservoir-石門水庫風 Riding with Esmond
Esmond and I were back on the bikes this past Sunday. This time for a little wet weather riding around Shihmen Reservoir-石門水庫風 in Taoyuan County.
While our original adventure was meant to be a 70 kilometer affair with over 1,700 meters of climbing, it was cut short by rain. By the time we finally decided to turn around at highway 7 and county road 118, we had been rained on several times. We’d been lucky to miss the hard downpours by hiding out at bus stops and coffee stands that morning and didn’t think that luck would hold out.
Of course, once we turned around, ate lunch, fixed a flat and was back through Sanmin-三民, the skies were clearing up and the sun peeking out. Go figure… Next time, we’ll check the all day weather forecast and start out a couple of hours later.
Our real clue about not riding first thing Sunday morning should’ve been the near absolute lack of other riders. I normally see some 2 or 3 dozen riders at the various towns and stops. Sunday, was 0 or a handful.
While the map route isn’t showing it, we did get a little over 50 kilometers and almost a 1,000 meters of riding by adding in the hill in front of Shihmen Reservoir.
That hill is one of my favorite climbs in Taiwan. A kilometer long, straight climb, with a couple of flat spots. So for us folks that can climb, it’s easy to blow past the weekend riders walking or struggling up.
Bike route Shimen Reservoir to Fusing and back
A special thanks to Esmond for sharing his photos. I have yet to buy a replacement camera.
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