Hammering Up Anvil Hill: A Ride Forged in the Furnace of Summer

I had been hoping for a ride closer to home, so I took off to climb Anvil Hill behind Dajia Township. I really didn't know what to expect.

Anvil Hill is easily identifiable with a concrete Japanese era blockhouse, which once served as part of the coastal defense system and possibly as part of the network to defend the Kokan aerodrome in Taichu (Taichung) during WWII.

The crumbling concrete structure poking above the long grasses of the hillside was enough of a curiosity to bait me into making the short climb to the top to check it out and to explore the area behind Dajia.


Few riders were out in the high temperatures and each protracted stop light made it feel like a barbecue pit. Superfluous stop lights disappeared in the ripples of heat in a bid to keep the air flowing over my body. It was one of those days where you approach an intersection and the only thing there is  the acrid stink of someone else's body odor still sizzling on the pavement.

On the northern edge of Dajia I took a right up Taichung Route 12, a.k.a. Chenggong Rd. (成功路), that climbs into the Anvil Hill Scenic Area, which is perched above the alluvial plain of the Dajia River.

The climb is short, but stiff and at the top I took a side road out toward the southern face of the hill.

I was really taken aback by how quickly the scenery had transformed from the slipshod concrete of Dajia township, to the etched green squares of rural Taiwan. The Dajia River Valley more resembled the picturesque agriculture of Yilan or Taidong than the notoriously dusty industrial hub of Taichung.

The road narrowed as it pulled upward, and I was soon faced with a little cyclocross action to get up to the highest section.

I had a fill panorama of the entire Dajia plain, from Sanyi, all the way to the coast.
The site is popular with radio controlled glider hobbyists and I watched for a few minutes as they dive bombed the tombs below. I am not sure what that does for one's Fengshui, but nobody seemed worried.

I took some time to think through my route, and decided to just continue along the Route 12. The heat combined with a bullying headwind would make for enough of a workout without killing myself.

There were no cars along the slick squiggle of asphalt that cut between the overgrowth that was spilling onto the roadway

From the hillside I could see several possibilities for future adventures. The roads all zig-zag out toward Houli and Sanyi, so the Route 12 would make a great escape to or from the coast.


After a tour of some rice fields and several of the invisible, grey businesses that seem to spring up in the immediate vicinity of gravel companies, I followed the river back to Dajia before retreating to a 7-11 for an ice cream. The headwind made the return into a hill climb.

In all, this makes a nice getaway in an area we tend to be resigned to just passing through out of rare necessity.

Tour of Sanyi

Sunday was a beautiful day to get out on a bike, so I did my best to wake up early and get out the door to enjoy the sunny weather. I had a few plans on the table, but settled on a ride through Sanyi on the southern edge of Miaoli County. 



On my way out to Houli and the Highway 13, I couldn't help but stop to take a few pictured of my favorite example of Taiwan's rigid zoning regulations. 



Pictured is the No. 74 Expressway that is being built to wrap around Taichung City. 



This particular section has been built to thread the needle between the brand new Tzu Chi Hospital and its even newer annex. The expressway also passes within an eyelash of the Ivy Bilingual Academy dormitories. 

It is really something to see. 



I plodded along through Houli, fighting the wind with every turn of the crank.



The Highway 13 to Sanyi offers some great shots of various transportation schemes. Sometimes the built environment is just as wildly interesting as the natural environment. 



The climb up to Sanyi was much easier than I remembered. It is good to pass through in the morning before the weekend tourists arrive to pick the place clean of "traditional Hakka" woodcarvings and handicrafts. 



Sanyi is a town that saw most of its early growth as a train stop for forestry products. Now, the area is recognized for its woodcarving festival. Many Hakka people who came to Taiwan were skilled carvers and they moved to Miaoli as it resembled the geography of their former homes in the hills between Fujian and Guangdong in China. 

Many of Sanyi's Hakka families also come from families of ex-aborigines who simply became "Hakka" between the 18th and 20th Centuries. 



The rail lines built by the Japanese colonial administration on Taiwan at the beginning of the 20th century really defined Sanyi as a town that mushroomed out, bisected by rails. 



I passed numerous cyclists out to enjoy the weather. Groups large and small rolled along through Sanyi Township in a rolling demonstration of Taiwan's cycling culture. 







I made my way through Tong-luo village on my way to hook up with the Highway 6; an easy viaduct to the Highway 3 for my return. 



I guess it had been a while since I passed through the area and I misremembered the route back. In trying to cross another one of Taiwan's fabulous bridges, I had to sneak under the expressway along some creative solution for the area's non-motorized traffic. 



I think Taiwan is home to more interesting bridges per sq.km. than just about any other country on the planet. I am always amazed by what a construction budget and a willing architect can come up with. Someone should really do a photo essay on Taiwan's bridges. Seriously.



I found myself on the Miaoli Route 119 heading back to Sanyi. I knew the road, but had never taken it to Sanyi. It was a drunken path of smooth tarmac in, on, over and around every bump and contour back to Sanyi. 

I could see the fields getting prepped for this winter's strawberry crop. 

I logged about 140km on the day and seemed to be doing well. Just not well enough. Too tired still. 

The day was really a nice time on the bike.  

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Wreckreational Cycling Paths: Oz On The Houli Bike Trail

Ozsoapbox has a great little review of the Houli Bike Trail near Taichung, which I have ridden on a few occasions.

The trail goes from the hinterlands of the Daya-Tanzi township border to the foothills on Dongshih.

Personally, I find the experience far from leisurely. As Oz points out:

On the weekends however, providing the weather is half decent, tons of Taiwanese people flock to the country’s bicycle paths to get a taste of the outdoors via two wheels.

I love seeing people using their weekends off riding and Taiwan has very few places close to the cities that allow the novice a chance to fall in love with the bicycle. So many novices in one place, weaving, braking and competing for path space, makes for a frightening ride on weekends.

Oz continues and notes:

The surface of the track is this red grippy stuff (think like an athlete’s track) and was in excellent condition throughout the track.

When I first rode the Houli Bike Path, I felt like I was working way too hard to go so slow. The rubberized surface makes it feel like riding through sticky mud. Upon later reflection I determined that the coating acts to protect cyclists from themselves and from each other.

The trail attracts many non-cyclists too. There are walkers, joggers... and the ever present dangers presented by the dog walker. A leash and a dog can easily translate into a broken neck.

In his article Oz frets about hitting one of the helmetless, weaving children on the path.

There’s also lots of babies to be found being carted around and none of them were wearing any helmets – I was quite paranoid about hitting or being hit by one of these bicycles and being held responsible for baby’s resulting brain damage.

The danger and fear of running down a child may may not be as great as the fear of having a child cause a severe accident as an interesting piece in today's New York Times explains here.

Although the Houli Bike Path is a great place to slowly weave around... forget it if you want more from a bike than to just get out in the open air.

Houli Loop!/后里, 臺中縣

"...but plans can fall through as so often they do

and time is against me now..."--The Smiths

Pho

At this time of year even the best laid plans often go awry. The weather is simply too unpredictable. The Central Weather had been calling for thunderstorms all week and they never materialized, so we took a chance and planned a century ride up into Miaoli to the Ming de Reservoir. At 5:00am, I could hear cars sloshing through the rain and by 6:00am we had called off the ride, so I went back to bed. The next thing I knew, my phone was ringing and Michael was on the line with the news that the rain had stopped and we could get a ride in. We wouldn't have time to pick off the century, but we put together some hastily made plans to salvage a ride and in just over an hour he was downstairs. His finger itching to try out his new toy; a Fuji supercalifragalisticexpialadocious camera. I took him over Dadu shan along the road I use for my night loop. We then rolled into Ching Shui in time for a little lunch.

That Little Vietnamese Place

There is a great little Vietnamese place on one of the side roads off the Highway 1. The food is fresh and always prepared while you wait. We foreigners gotta stick together, you know!

Coffee of the World Unite and Takeover!

The best surprise happened after we finished eating. Just as we hit the road, the rain picked up and we didn't feel like getting rained on and hoped to wait a few more minutes over coffee somewhere to see if the drizzle would abate. No luck. Not even the 7-11 had their brand of ashtray-tasting brew. We continued on and then we found it. There, just outside of Ching Shui, on that decaying old ribbon of concrete known as the Highway 1, right by the auto repair shop, betel nut stand and rebar lot... in a nondescript concrete box, we saw a sign for coffee. We couldn't really tell if they actually sold coffee or not from the looks of it. but we gave it a shot. As we walked up to the door, a look of "whatthehellaretheydoinghere" crossed the faces of the family inside. We noticed they had all the trappings to make coffee and went to order.

A Coffee Maestro

Once it was established that they could in fact sell coffee and that we could speak Chinese, we sat at the only table in the living room/cafe and ordered. The proprietor set to work like some type of coffee artisan in choosing the proper beans (Yemen) and working through a process of brewing, steeping and pouring to make the perfect cup of coffee. It took a long time to make, but I have to say that outside of Cafe Vivace in Seattle, this was one of the finest cups of coffee I have ever had. It was not too acidic, not like Starbucks, and just hit all the right spots. Perfectly carmelized! Apparently, the couple who owned the place lost their jobs a few years back and had nothing to do to maintain their house in Ching Shui, so they used their savings to buy a small coffee roaster and set to work learning how to roast and make coffee. They sell their beans and other products to other cafes and restaurants in central Taiwan. The place is called Lailin Coffee/來林咖啡, if you ever have the chance to stop in.

Michael Rides A Dike

After we reluctantly left Lailin Coffee, we headed up toward Dajia. Just over the bridge across the Dajia River we took Zhong Shan Rd. up the river valley toward Houli.

A Real Dike

This is a very pretty ride, away from most vehicular traffic, and through quiet farms and fields. Navigating the labyrinthine roads takes practice and intuition, but it a also very rewarding. At one point the road was closed to traffic, but this being Taiwan and not over regulated, we just rolled our bikes up onto the dike and kept right on going.

Little Shack On The Alluvial Plain

After climbing out of the river valley up a short, but really steep hill, we were up on the plateau in the area that had formerly been known as Varizan, or 麻里蘭社, a Pazih village which was once one of several satellites of the greater Anli village. When some of the land was parsed off to some Han farming families in the 18th century, many of the Pazih settled in the area to take advantage of the water networks and even negotiated with Han farmers for better resource allocation. The close proximity to the hills and to the river made the location an ideal spot.

Father Son Time (Another kid on a proper road bike)

We got back on the Highway 13 in Houli and checked out a very interesting Reynolds 853 steel frame that is a fantastic example of the acrobatics between OEM, subcontractor, marketing team and distribution network. The question arose how a Giant franchise could be selling a rebadged non-Giant bike that used the advertising literature of the original brand while blatantly being an obvious rebadge. Still... a light steel frame with full SRAM Force for a decent price. Not bad.

I left Michael in Tanzi and hammered my way the rest of the 13km home. I was feeling great, so I tried to keep my speed up between 40 and 50kph the rest of the way home. That felt great.

So no great century ride today, but any day on the bike is a good day.