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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Happy To Be Home: 91 miles Around Miaoli County

Despite my month of traveling to exciting and far away places, I was happy to be home and on my own bike. I was even happier to be again be riding through Taiwan's beautiful countryside.

I had planned to ease into my weekly riding again with a route that wouldn't be too demanding and I also wanted something new. I checked my map and thought the Miaoli 60 to the 119 looked good and I had never ridden that road. So with thoughts of boundless adventure, Michael T. and I sent out for a day in the saddle.

By the time we found the Miaoli 60 just before Dahu the sun was ablaze overhead and we were drenched in sweat. The hills looked a bit more intimidating than I had envisioned, but it is always worth a try.

Everything seemed ok until the road practically disappeared. It abruptly went from road to track. Luckily (or not) we ran into some strawberry farmers who shared their prickly pears with us and told us the road was passable and moreover, they would applaud us if we rode up it. I took the bait and hammered up the grade with all my weight over my handlebars just to keep the wheel on the ground.

The brutally steep roads continued up to a peak where I prematurely congratulated myself for making quick and easy work of such a bastard of a climb.

My spirits were dashed as we descended into a quiet valley that merely promised more climbing to get out. We were both burning up by this point and begged a farmer to let us douse our heads under a hose.

The climb out of the valley was darkly shaded... if only to conceal the steepness of the climb. It seemed there was a double digit grade behind every corner with no space for recovery. The only thing I could think of to make light of the situation was the descent on the other side.

Finally, we reached the peak, where a family nominally ran a local tea stop. Rest, water, sport drink and a lengthy examination by the kids later, we were ready for a forearm busting descent down similar grades as those we had just ridden up.

The nerve wracking decline eventually mellowed into one of those verdant river valleys that hide along the hills of Taiwan's plain. We just glided down hill, along newly paved roads and through villages that have not yet been infected with the tourist bug. The 119 took us out to the 128, where we could make it to Tong-luo for lunch.

After a filling of dumplings and noodles, it was again time to make hay for home, but not before hitting the coast and the shade of the 61 Freeway.

We hugged the coast and passed countless groups of locals who had moved their old furniture out under the viaduct to make a defacto clubhouse beneath the span. The area is quiet and sometimes desolate and the cool breeze coming off the ocean was exactly what we needed.

At last we hooked up to the 140, a long, flat, straight and direct road that doesn't have much to admire other than its directness. It took us behind the Red Burned Mountain to the 13 under the Sanyi Interchange, where we could head toward Houli and Fengyuan to home. Right as we started pulling into Fengyuan, the clouds opened up and I was quickly sopping wet. I just continued home at a rapid speed and took a nap.

I would seriously recommend the Miaoli 60 to anyone who is a good climber, who wants to be a good climber, and completely trusts their equipment. Those are some hill climbs!

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