This morning, I had two purposes to my bike ride.
1. Is commuting to National Chengchi University－國立政治大學 by Mujha-木柵 feasible?
2. Meet Nathan Miller of Danshui-淡水。
On both fronts, it was a great success. However, there were a few speed bumps along the way. We missed our initial meetup location by time and wrong turns. Luckily, fortune smiled on us as we meet up a kilometer once I took to riding again.
Overall, the ride to Chengchi, though urban, was pretty good and not overwhelming with stops. In concept, the ride from Linkou-林口 to the university was supposed to be as easy as following 106 all the way to Mujha-木柵 and then hanging a right across the river.
Well… we lost site of the 106 signs a few times, but a good sense of direction keep us going. Only the left turn at 11.5 km gave the worst trouble and added a couple of kilometers of sidetracking before, accidentally, getting on 106alt into Banqiao-板橋. Here’s where knowing Banqiao already paid off, we just kept riding along 64, till we hit a road going in the right northeasterly direction.
Once back on 106, getting into Xindian-新店 and then Wenshan-文山 was pretty easy. Since the 106 signs disappeared about halfway into Mujha-木柵, I panicked a bit and cut to the right a little too early. However, it worked out as we were able to cross the river and into the backside of National Chengchi University.
In reality, this was a good thing as it turns out that the language colleges are on top the hill, than down below. The Chengchi University campus is wooded, hilly and beautiful, though a little spread out. I’m really looking forward to attending Chinese classes there this fall.
After the ride through Chengchi University, Nathan and I hit a breakfast shop for hambao and breakfast tea. As Nathan isn’t a brazen urban rider, like me, we took the river bike path back all the way into Guandu.
Only a small section of the river side bike path by Jingmei-景美 required getting onto the main road. This was due to this section not being built yet. When you come up off the bike path, you’ll notice the bike symbols painted on the roadway across the street to help give you a clue as to where to go.
Once at Guandu bridge, we parted ways. I crossed over into Bali-八里 and then followed 103 to 107 and up to 108 home. In climbing 108, as I knew I was tired, I kept my cadence in the 70s and granny geared up at 10 kph. On top of the plateau, I keep the pace down for a minute and then picked back up to 27 kph or so.
I really felt like bonking when my apartment building was in sight. It take some strong, personal will power to carry through those last couple of kilometers.
What was originally meant to be a casual long ride, turned into a very nice hill and pressure ride with several 30 kph paces on the flats. I’m not sorry about it all.
Thank you Nathan! Let’s ride again.
Bike route Linkou-林口 > National Chengchi University－國立政治大學 by Mujha-木柵 > Guandu-關渡 > Linkou
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This post, Biking Taiwan: Linkou-林口 > National Chengchi University－國立政治大學 by Mujha-木柵 > Guandu-關渡 > Linkou was added to Biking on June 23, 2009.
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Great write up!
Hope the wind is on your back this weekend.
Have a safe and meaningful ride.