Biking Taiwan: Linkou-林口 to Jiaoxi-礁溪 via 9-北宜
What do you do when the silent pressure builds that you’re not getting enough biking done because it was a traveling week? You go for a long ride until your butt hurts.
The pressure to ride had been building up for several days as Peichi and I headed south to Kaohsiung for Mother’s Day and I hadn’t gotten my normal amount of exercise. So with a clear schedule, cloudy skies and damp roads, I toddled down the Linkou plateau through Xinzhuang until getting on the Xindian bike path to Bitan.
I hadn’t ridden the Xindian bike path alongside Yonghe and Zhonghe before. It’s a great ride, smooth and clear for many kilometers. Though going around Yonghe and Zhonge is twice as far, time wise, it’s easily quicker than going through due to not stopping and starting every few minutes in traffic exhaust.
Once in Xindian, I began climbing up highway 9, 北宜, into the very green and cool air hillsides. While all the time enjoying how little traffic was passing aside me.
If you’ve not done much climbing on a bike, highway 9 is a nice introduction. While there’s not many flat spots and the highway seems like a constant climb or descent, it’s normally only a 4-7% grade that’s easy enough for keeping some speed on and not overly tiring out.
The road condition itself is pretty good. No major potholes and often a reasonable shoulder to ride when two-way approaching vehicles comes along.
As you trundle along 9, locals readily smile, nod or wave to you. That friendliness is a major reason I love biking Taiwan.
After dropping from 530 meters into Pinglin-坪林 at 193 meters, the road returns to climb back up to 550 meters before doing the 9 dragon tail curves into Yilan county at a low 10 meters elevation.
The wide sweeping curves and good road surface down the Yilan side has become a favorite downhill in Taiwan. It’s about 8 kilometers of easy going downhill, no part greater than 8%. Due to the mix of conditions, you can readily cruise down with minimal brake usage and while hitting 40-60 kph.
Once into Jiaoxi itself, it’s recuperating time by downing Mango ice and soaking sore muscles at the 50 NT public spa. As the missus wanted me home Saturday night, I took the local train from Jiaoxi in a little over 2 hours back to Shulin for only 222 NT.
Overall, a highway 9 from Taipei to Ylian is a great entry to the longer distance riding with climbs and views. This route from Linkou is about 94 kilometers with 1,000 meters of climbing. With the ability to take the train back to Taipei, this is a great one-way morning or afternoon ride for those living near Taipei.
Bike route
Linkou-林口 to Jiaoxi-礁溪 via 9-北宜
May 10, 2010 - 11:57 PM
That is a pretty awesome ride.
It was many years from the first time I went on that road until the most recent time I went. Too many memories of the Honda racers, stupid motorbikes and general congestion. The most recent time was in the wee hours of the morning and it really was great.
Your trip was probably that much better for not having done the coastal road. All the trucks really get on my nerves and detract from the awesomeness of the East Coast.
For transport on the faster trains (as I tried this past weekend), you can only take them with you on the PP-Ziqiang hao, and then it must be disassembled, bagged and then maneuvered through the front portion of carriage 12 to the holding section in the back half.
May 16, 2010 - 10:07 PM
Peter, thanks for dropping by and sharing your experiences. The more I look back at the Beiyi ride, the more I find I really enjoyed it. Good luck on your around the island in 72 hours. 1 question, riding hours or 3 days overall?
In riding Beiyi, I was really surprised that the motorcyclist weren’t out in stronger force. Though with it being Saturday than Sunday, that probably explained things. Saturday’s recently seem to be let’s ride noisily through Danshui.
Regarding the north coast and trucks, they only seem bothersome when going through the tunnels. I’m able to ignore them otherwise. For folks that haven’t ridden the east coast, when going through tunnels, get OFF your bikes and walk them along the elevated platform. Also, keep your body close to the wall to prevent getting your head whacked by passing mirrors.
In riding the faster trains, sometimes you can get lucky on the east coast south of Yilan and ride in the mail carriage car with your bike in one piece. Also, for those that just want to get home faster and pick up the bike later, you can drop the bike off with baggage services and pick up the bike in a day or two. The fare for the bike alone seems to be about 50-65% of normal fare.
May 12, 2010 - 9:27 PM
mike,
been reading your taiwan bike blog from time to time. check out my recent bike ride in japan. one ride i recommend if you ever get a chance to ride in japan is the shimanami kaido trail that allows you to bike thru 7 islands from imabari to onomichi.
http://marksbikerides.blogspot.com/
May 16, 2010 - 9:58 PM
Mark thank you for commenting. I haven’t been to Japan for many years and wouldn’t mind riding it. Fellow rider Nathan lived there for 9 years and highly recommends it. Enjoy riding in Japan and please keep the photos and stories coming.