Guan Dao Shan: Death Climb In-Sanyi-ty!

This time of year is a great time to teach the legs how to climb. With the northern monsoon pushing a steady wind from the north, the hills offer some respite in putting out a strong effort and actually accomplishing something. 

I had been eyeing a road for some time, but I never really had a great opportunity to follow it. I had been down the lower section several times, and each descent I always thought I wouldn't want to try climbing up that very hill. I wouldn't want to try it... until I actually did try it: The Fuxing Agricultural Road. 



The ride out of Taichung was a bit of a sleepwalker, with a group of cyclists rolling out for some mass event or another. 



I hoped to take a bit of a shortcut through the Houfeng Bike Trail, but it was blocked off by a marathon (the current sport dejure of Taiwan). I had to take a couple farm roads back to the Highway 3. 



Eventually I was back up on the Miaoli Route 52-2 along the southern end of the Liyutan Reservoir. This was where the ride really started. 

At the section beneath the dam where the 52-2, Miaoli 49 and 52-3 meet, I launched up the 52-3. Launch it the appropriate word as the road is a single lane of vertical abuse. It is one of those roads where you clip in and then hang about a mile out over the handlebars to keep the front wheel down. 

I bit and spit my way to the top and then, surprisingly, kept going. I did have to dismount once to let a car pass, but I was feeling great. 



The road dishes out a few more bumps before settling down high above a shady wetland that completely transforms the mood into something resembling tranquility. 



After another long, straight climb, I took a breather to orient myself on the GPS as I was heading into new territory. 



I was giddy and the road took an unmerciful leap along a carved out hillside. The whole space seemed ridiculous for a bike ride. I revelled in the obvious absurdity of the image I must have cast to passing farmers as I stomped and shifted my way between the occasional stair step in the paving. 



The higher I hot the more ridiculous the ramps became. I must have hit a dozen or more comically nasty sections. They never lasted too long, but the sense I was getting was that I would eventually be biking up a quarter pipe. 



I hooked into a corner and passed a derelict cemetery eerily blanketed in a soupy grey fog. The fog cleared for just a moment to reveal the reservoir below. 



I was in absolute heaven. Then the landscape shifted on me as rapidly as the click of a Viewmaster. A sloppy string of pavement slid along the side of a persimmon orchard. I couldn't figure out how they lifted so much flat road up the mountain. 



I was again enveloped by the chill of a wet fog that covered me until I was spit out in the middle of a parking area next to a haunted commode at the base of a hiking trail. 



I took the right hand turn and blazed along the dirty concrete path. Suddenly, a large eagle swooped out of the trees above the road just in front of me and swept the road with its talons. It did this two more times before flying off to Salisbury Hill or some other locale. 



I was having more fun on the bike than I had had in a very long time. There was adventure, wonder, absurdity, mystery and silence. 



I finally nailed a steady beat back to Taichung. But not before stopping to take a picture from the warm sunlight of the mountain I had just taken a bite out of. 

A highly recommended road for the local rider looking for something that will surprise. There are several more roads back there that I will be looking into in the near future. 

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Tourng The Liyu Reservoir: Route 52 and Route 52-3

New Citizen Talking To A Cop

After waking up late for another scheduled ride, I slept in and then debated the weather before reaching the conclusion that anything could happen and pushed my luck on the saddle.

My legs were feeling... better... but the plan was for a more leisurely, exploratory ride into the hills over the Liyu Reservoir. I have ridden the gorgeous Miaoli Route 52 dozens of times as it starts high above Juolan where the Highway 3 bends toward the Liyu Reservoir and makes for an easy and accessible weekend route.

I had never tried the Route 52-3 at the northern end of the reservoir... mainly because it was not far enough away to make it worth the adventure. Now I was more than curious to try that road.

"Morning Ride and Smoke With My Best Gal"

I steadily rolled on up onto the Hou-Feng Bike Trail, which was filled with riders squeezed together cheek by jowl into the narrow path. The experience is really stressful as riders brake, swerve, smoke (see picture) and veer into the oncoming lanes. It feels just like morning traffic.

View?

Visibility was horrible all day. It seemed like the clouds were just sitting on my back the whole day driving the humidity through the roof. A coffee and couple punchy climbs later, I was perched over the Liyu Reservoir.

Haze Over Reservoir

Not long after I committed to the northern route a light drizzle had begun to fall. It was actually quite refreshing.

Bridge To Route 52-3

I approached the bridge where the Route 52-3 starts and stopped for a few minutes to watch a couple of fishermen balance along the edge of the bridge as they tried to reel in some type of fish.

Signs

Something To See

Looking Down On Reservoir

Soon I was speeding over short climbs and dipping into dark valleys. The road was an absolute gem until about 3/4 of the way to the top when it suddenly becomes a narrow scribble of amateur paving. The punchy climbs became sustained grinds on 12% grades through bamboo groves.

Road?

Farmhouse

Suddenly the bottom drops out of the climb and the road skates along ridges past lonely farmhouses and deep, foliage covered valleys.

Dam!

The descent is such a wonderful thrill ride on what is essentially paved singletrack, I felt a little disappointed when it was all over at the bottom of the Liyu dam.

I sat there for a few minutes to decide which way to go. Would it be to Houli on the busy Highway 13, or would it be another climb over the Route 52 along the southern ridge of the reservoir?

I chose the climb. My legs actually started feeling great the more I climbed. I then upped the pace back to Taichung as the spray and grit from the wet roads covered my face at speed.

It was rainy, humid and I had a late start, but it was a fantastic ride.

Score:

Distance: 110km

Elevation Gain: 3192ft

Max Speed: 66kph

Manly Day On The 52-3