Monday, 11 November 2024

I knew today was going to be a hilly ride and I was a little worried about the hills. I am not good on hills. However, I convinced myself that it was a gradual uphill and not to worry too much about it. We had to get up and over this mountain range and even if it meant pushing the bike that was the only way to go at this point.

I had a good sleep and the breakfast at the hotel was good. With two good cups of coffee, we were ready to leave. Not before Ralf had a friendly visit from a preying mantis. Ralf had gone to get the laundry from the airing room while I was in the shower. As he came back into the room a preying mantis dropped on to his neck. It had been waiting for him in the patio area of our room. Of course, if it had been me you would have heard me screaming in Taipei. Ralf grabbed whatever had landed on his neck and threw it on the floor, he didn’t kill it. Then he got his camera and took photos of the thing.

The weather forecast for today was not going to be in our favour. Headwinds of 28 kph with gusts of up to 55 kph and we are going up hill, flipping awesome.

The start of the ride was very gradual as I had hoped it would be. We cycled about 25 kms battling the wind but still cycling along quite well.

At about 25 kms we stopped for a quick bite to eat, top up the water and then carried on. As I was waiting for Ralf, three fellas ranging in age from late 20’s to early 40’s asked me if I was doing the Round Island cycle route. One asked me my age! They were all very impressed then they noticed Ralf coming. They asked if he was a friend or my husband. My husband, they seemed quite disappointed. They wished us well on our journey and of we went up the hill which began to get steeper until it was a 7% grade, add on the headwind and I was off the bike and pushing.

I eventually caught up with Ralf at the entrance to the tunnel. We are not allowed in the tunnel and have to take the old Highway 9. Renamed Number 9 Wu Highway.

The new highway tunnel runs for 4.6 kms and then the road opens out into the valley below. The highway is built above the tree-line. Allowing nature to be part of the highway. Or at least that is what the official story says.

Another 6 kms of climbing and that ruddy wind. Eventually we got to the Shouka bike stop at the top of the hill. The two main cycling roads connect here. It is a must stop for all cyclists who have climbed these hills. It is downhill all the way from here.

On the way down we stopped at a lookout and a temple. When this was the main road, the transport trucks would stop here for a break. The locals built a noodle store and this became the rest stop for truckers and the only lighted place amid the darkness of the mountain road.

I knew we now had about 15 kms of downhill. Of course we couldn’t just let it rip as the road was very curvy and the winds kept trying to blow us across the road. My top speed was only 40kph.

As we reached the coastal road the winds got stronger. I saw a buddha and asked them to change the wind direction. They didn’t listen.

We arrived at our hotel early again. There were two female cyclists checking out the hotel. They were cycling the east coast and had already taken the train. They couldn’t tell us about Hualien as they arrived late by train and left the next day to continue cycling the coast.

The owner told us we could leave our bikes in the lobby and come back later. We had lunch and checked in at 2:00. The room is not as nice as last night’s hotel but it is cheap and will do us for the night.