Esmond and I rode part of the Neverstop Yangjin-陽金 Mt. P-P字山 race course on Sunday. Only part, because I was a bonehead and didn’t print out the race course map from Jinshan-金山 back to Taipei and we ended up on 北28 instead of the minor roads that make up 北28-1.
It was a pretty crowded ride up from the National Palace Museum till Yangming National Park visitor center-陽明山國家公園 above Hushan-湖山 road on alternate highway 2-2甲. Crowded because by 8:30 AM, the road is filled with spandex clad bikers, tourist buses, cars and PITA scooters squeezing between you and the buses when going around corners.
Once past the visitor center, a few cars, hikers and fellow bikers make for a fun, calm ride into the mountains. You also will pass through active volcanic zones that help make this ride a unique experience.
After cresting, just past Bailaka Road-百拉卡公路 (101甲), Yangjin Road down into Jinshan gives you a fantastic opportunity to enjoy riding 40 to 60-kph for 15 to 20 minutes. The roads are in good shape being wide and with calm corners that don’t encourage typical Taiwanese corner cutting.
Once into Jinshan, take a few moments and stop at 7-11 just to the north about 1 kilometer to evaluate your bike with fellow riders. You’ll easily see bikes worth more than your car, scooter and potentially your house.
After refueling and starting to ride again, be sure to turn right on the road just before Daping elementary school-大坪國小. There’s lots of road signs here, but all are in Chinese. I think you might see one for Shilin-士林 and Neihu－內湖, which though helpful will put you on the wrong roads for the Neverstop race course.
At this point, I confess that I’m not sure what we roads we took between turning off highway 2 till reaching a nice Buddhist temple with water and restrooms about 15 kilometers later. Sorry… I’ll have a race map with me next time. Of course donations for a Garmin Edge 705 are welcome as well.
Esmond rode well, but he was tiring out on his climbs after Jinshan. I don’t think he’s ever climbed so much before. We’ll usually do up to 50 kilometers and a 1,000 meters of climbing. However, between wrong turns leading to extra riding and hill climbs, I don’t blame Esmond for riding slower than usual.
Still, we took plenty of quick stops to snack and rest along the way. No reason to kill yourself while riding through such pretty countryside.
Be sure to refill a couple of water bottles before leaving the Jinshan 7-11 as there’s no water till the Fēngguìzuǐ-風櫃嘴 summit 20 kilometers later. On the proper race course, that nice Buddhist temple with water and restrooms is on the wrong road. Of course, I guess that means no more balloons to accompany our ride as well.
In coming down Fēngguìzuǐ-風櫃嘴, the road is narrower and rough in many sections. Also the road has tighter corners which are often cut by oncoming traffic. Therefore, take going downhill carefully and be ready to slam on your brakes at a moments notice.
With being tired, hungry and not sure about climbing back up to Lěngshuǐkēng car park-冷水坑停車場 at 750 meters, we kept heading down Jhihshan Road to our truck.
Overall, this was a pretty nice ride with potentially great views when clouds disperse. We took almost 4.5 hours to cover 71 kilometers and 1,640 meters of vertical climbing.
Bike route Yangjin-陽金
Bike route NeverStop YangJin P Highway Challenge
Written by
Peichi's man, adventure blogger, biker, TYPO3 consultant & #1 Virgo water rat that's tirelessly assisting others through less tech, more life & a :)
Michael has written 326 awesome posts on Peimic.com.
This post, Neverstop Yangjin-陽金 Training Ride – Mostly… was added to Biking on November 9, 2009.
Michael Cannon
Paul
Michael Turton
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Twitter ID: @comprock
Esmond posted his photos at http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/esmondchg/NeverStopRouteWithMichael.