The hills of Nantou are alive with the sound of cyclists screaming down gnarly grades and I wanted to get in on the action. The area around Jiufen Er Shan is covered with small lanes and farming roads that can lead to euphoric adventures or a long day of grumbling in the saddle over humidity and climbs to no betel nut farm in particular.
I chose San Ceng Lane (三層巷) to climb and then I thought I could explore the neighborhood or loop on to the Caotun side of the mountain and coast back on Nantou Route 14 a.k.a. Gukeng Ln. (股坑巷).
A funny thing happened as I followed a tourist trap to the God Tree of Ping Ding (坪頂神木). I sat around with no real inspiration and then got bored and left. I was slow rolling down and passed a small road that disappeared from my periphery in a flash. Inspiration had suddenly struck and I was soon climbing back to the little road. It had a white sign that I think was marked the "12", but I can't recall. It all happened so fast.
Soon I was surfing some of the finest switchbacks in Nantou. I am not sure what the map shows, but this thing is nasty. A pretty road with some flowers and okay pavement... but NASTY!
Eventually the road settles down into some smooth, shaded one-vehicle paths that are alive with the chirping of insects and the clatter of birds in the trees. It was all quite serene.
Eventually the road glides into some pretty agricultural area of the kind that is disappearing from Taiwan all too quickly.
This is definitely a road I would like to try biking in the opposite direction after a dry spell.
It just looked painfully delicious going down.
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