Today’s Ride, 091205

December 06, 2009 By: thenhbushman Geotag Icon Show on map Category: Lifestyle, riding, Taiwan

Photos by Huichen. Videos by MJ Klein.

After my visit to the factory warehouse the day before, I was ready to do some riding, now that the trike has been reworked by the factory. After seeking out and finding a series of bike trails in southern Hsinchu, I was anxious to finally get a chance to do some riding on them.

Hui-chen and I went to a point that we had found on a recon mission to locate the bike trail the week before. I began my ride from this point.

Here I am just entering the main trail now.

This is a shot of the small path that I took leading up to the main trail.

And this is the main part of the trail, facing south.

A closeup of the bridge to the south.

This is the trail facing north. I rode in this direction because the wind was blowing from the north.

I learned a long time ago to ride into the wind when starting off, so you don”t have to fight it to get back home later.

Hui-chen walked up that ramp, turned around and snapped this photo.

There are quite a few beautiful bridges in this area of the trail.

This lobster thing, riding a bike, is the symbol for the bike trail.

I wanted to find the beginning of this trail. Eventually it ran along the coast and down to a road in the area of the Hsinchu Fish Market. I rode to within a few streets of the beginning of the trail, then turned around. I shot video using my GoPro Helmet Cam on the way back, riding with the wind. Look for the videos at the end of this article. By the way, my new 26 tooth chainring worked wonders for climbing up inclines.

Hui-chen walked a few KM along the bike trail taking photographs. I’m going to present them here. As always you can click on any photo and visit the page at Flickr.com and view the large size.

At one point, the trail becomes this fake wood slatting. Not my favorite surface and a maintenance nightmare, this was in pretty good condition, surprisingly.

The views from the bike trail, especially of the ocean, are spectacular!

I like bridges on bike trails. It’s an interesting experience to ride under one of these suspension systems in the open cockpit of a trike or bicycle.

Here I am on my return trip. Notice the helmet cam. I often wear street clothes because I don’t need to protect any delicate tissues with padding on the trike. So I can wear regular shorts and a t-shirt if I want to.

I stopped to say hello to Hui-chen for a few minutes and then was on my way back to the car. The wind was just too much today. I rode 7 grueling KM in a very strong headwind that was ripping by at high speed. My face felt windburned.

This is a nice shot of one of the rainbow bridges.

At various points along the trail, there are side areas where you may park your bike and enjoy the grounds. The trail system was well thought out and is well maintained.

One of the many 4-wheelers you can find on the bike trails. Available for rent, they make for a nice day out with the family.

Here are 3 videos to give you an idea what it’s like to ride the 7KM leg that I did. The audio is muted because it’s nothing but wind noise anyway!

Thanks for reading! We’ll be riding that trail again soon and showing you some new places we didn’t get to ride yet. Please leave us your comments and recommendations below.

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12 Responses to “ Today’s Ride, 091205 ”

# 1 MJ Klein Says:
December 6th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Today's Ride, 091205 | http://tinyurl.com/ye3wkp3
# 2 Taiwanderful Says:
December 6th, 2009 at 10:23 am
(Best of TW) Today’s Ride, 091205 http://cli.gs/AuZ57
# 3 malcolm Says:
December 6th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
MJ, what a great bike trail , one of the best I’ve ever seen and I loved all the colorful bridges, and the reallyyyyyy great pictures made me feel like I was right there riding along with you . Take care and keep on riding , I know it’s fun riding the trike , but a side benifit is it’s good for your health. Catch you on the next trail . Malcolm
.-= malcolm´s last blog ..WHEN IS A HAIRCUT MORE THAN JUST A HAIRCUT???? =-.

thenhbushman reply on December 6th, 2009 11:11 pm:

hi Malcolm. we’re fortunate to have such nice bike trails here in Taiwan. they make riding a lot more fun. now if only people would ride like they weren’t the only ones on the trail! thanks Malcolm.
# 4 Brunty Says:
December 6th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Man, I wish Thailand had trails like that. I have given up riding, just to dangerous. I use a wind trainer just cycling on the spot, listening to music or watching TV but this is boring.

Maybe in Bangkok they have these sort of trails but I doubt it. In the North east we are lucky to sealed roads, or roads without huge potholes

Great pics from Hui Chen really beautiful
.-= Brunty´s last blog ..Tiger Woods, Great Golfer, but Silly Man, Isaan Thailand. =-.

thenhbushman reply on December 7th, 2009 12:27 pm:

Brunty, yes, that is one thing that Thailand could seriously use. the last time i rode in Thailand i was chased by those packs of strays more times than i could count. add to that the driving situation and it’s unsafe (putting it politely). when you visit Taiwan we’ll have to get you on a bike on one of these trails. HC did do a great job with the photos, didn’t she? thanks Brunty.
# 5 Craig Ferguson (@cfimages) Says:
December 8th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Nice looking trail. Looks like a fun place to ride. I think I should take advantage of the beautiful weather today and take a ride now.
.-= Craig Ferguson (@cfimages)´s last blog ..Pre-opening the Taipei Deaflympics =-.

thenhbushman reply on December 9th, 2009 1:32 am:

yes Craig, you should! i’m looking forward to riding to the southern end of this extensive trail. of course i’ll blog on it. thanks.

Craig Ferguson (@cfimages) reply on December 12th, 2009 8:20 am:
I took the inspiration this post gave me coupled with the beautiful weather and managed a 30km loop with about 470m of climbing.
.-= Craig Ferguson (@cfimages)´s last blog ..Five For Friday – Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall =-.

thenhbushman reply on December 12th, 2009 11:37 am:

Craig, i need to get inspired again myself! sounds like a nice ride. glad we could help. see you on Sunday.
# 6 Martyn Says:
December 9th, 2009 at 6:28 am
MJ that is one long stunning ride, I love the colourful bridges and the water, great. There’s something therapeutic about being near a river like that even if the thought of going in it does scare the hell out of me, I’m a poor swimmer. The Mekong River runs past Nong Khai in Thailand with Laos clearly visible on the other side and I love sitting in a restaurant at the Nong Khai market and watching the slow moving boats going about their day. So relaxing.

thenhbushman reply on December 9th, 2009 11:05 am:

hi Martyn. yes that is a pretty long trail, and that’s only one end of it. i have yet to go back and find the extent of the other end of the trail.

i’ve been on both sides of the Mekong river, enjoying fine dining and the view, which is very peaceful and relaxing. the good news is that we’ll be back next month and we’re going up to Lao and return through Nong Khai – one of my favorite areas. thanks Martyn and take care.