Today’s Ride 091212

December 14, 2009 By: thenhbushman Geotag Icon Show on map Category: Lifestyle, riding

Photos by Hui-chen and MJ Klein

On today’s ride, I had an opportunity to do some more riding on the Hsinchu bike trail system in the 17 KM area. I began further south and then rode north until I found where I had ridden previously. Unfortunately due to a problem with a rear axle bearing, my ride had to be cut short. But nevertheless I did get to experience a new area of the trail system.

Once again, I did the riding while Hui-chen took a walk around and photographed many aspects of the trail and other interesting things.

This is the incline up to the bike trail from the car parking lot. With my new chainring, I can climb this ramp as easily as riding on a flat.

This barrier keeps cars (and hopefully scooters) off the bike trail. Notice the tower with the bike trail logo.

This section is concrete. I prefer normal asphalt for bike trail surfaces because it’s graded flat and smooth. Concrete is always brushed to give it a “tooth” so it won’t be so slick. At speed, this surface will rattle your jaw!

More views of the coastline from this section.

This is a great area to take a walk and do some photography too.

Not far north of where we began today, is a temple with (of course) food vendors.

There is a road beside the bike trail in this area and that’s how the scooters got here.

The red sign tells the name of the temple and says at the bottom that this is a rest area, using the same term in Chinese as you would use for a highway rest area.

This is the trail past the temple.

I really like how the trees were planted in an attempt to create a tunnel of foliage.

The area next to the trail in this section is marsh.

I’m not sure what this is, but this feature was found in the marshy area.

The foliage tunnel makes for a nice shady ride.

One of the many 4-wheel bikes you can rent nearby.

These appear to be new trees. Notice the green tags on them. Every tree is numbered and tagged. The numbers go into the thousands, literally.

Just a few of the many flowers you can spot along the trail (if you’re looking for them).

This surface is normal road asphalt and much more pleasant to ride on.

The photos speak for themselves. This is a beautiful trail!

A milestone on the trail.

Although it doesn’t look like it, on this day, the trails were packed. One of my biggest problems is people who want to ride in the middle of the trail as if they were the only ones using it. Also, weavers are a big problem.

Looking back towards the south, on one of the bridges.

An egret doing it’s thing in the water way under the bridge.

I think I’ll start from this point next time and ride south to see how far the trail goes.

This is part of what is know as the 17 KM coastline. On the other side of the embankment is a nice tidal plain.

The rest of the photos are ride photos taken with the GoPro helmet cam.

Believe it or not, this kid was in the wrong lane in front of me, and didn’t even see me until I was right up on him. Another guy, a pedestrian actually started to cross the bike trail in front of me without looking! I honked my air horn and he just about crapped his pants. Why would anyone rely on sound only when crossing a bicycle trail? That’s just asking for trouble!

Here is the map of today’s ride: http://www.bikemap.net/route/364064

We hope you enjoyed reading about this cool bike trail as much as we enjoyed riding and photographing it! Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave us your comments and recommendations below.

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11 Responses to “ Today’s Ride 091212 ”

# 1 MJ Klein Says:
December 14th, 2009 at 5:43 am
Today's Ride 091212 | http://tinyurl.com/yaxz5b5
# 2 Peter Says:
December 14th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Do you have a map online of the riverside trail, or at least where it starts.

The pedestrian thing happened to me this morning, but I was riding my super-old scooter that makes a ton of noise. The guy double-parked, stepped out his car with his eyes fixed on his cellphone, then walked straight across the road, he was quite surprised when I hooted at him. I don’t think the guy you encountered was relying on sound only, he wasn’t relying on anything.

Most people are pretty oblivious to anything around them when driving unfortunately.

Thanks again for the, as usual, wonderful picture filled post.
.-= Peter´s last blog ..Cateye Cordless 2 Bike Computer =-.

thenhbushman reply on December 14th, 2009 11:52 pm:

hi Peter. i don’t have a map of the trail, nor do i know where to get one. all i can do is upload the GPS track logs to the Bikemap.net website and plot them as i ride the trail. eventually i’ll have the whole trail from top to bottom, all mapped out. i’m having fun taking my sweet time doing it, bit by bit.

sorry to hear that you had to deal with one of those oblivious people who entrust others to save their life! i can’t imagine crossing any street in Taiwan without vigorously looking in all directions! you’re probably right about that guy who crossed in front of me – he was just out to lunch.

thanks for reading and for your kind comments, Peter.
# 3 Brunty Says:
December 14th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
MJ, what a great trail to ride on, I am so jealous. Excellent pictures again. I can imagine people daydreaming on the trail enjoying the views and forgetting about others.

MJ, I saw the wind towers, it must get pretty windy there for them to install them along the coast. What is the average wind speeds around this place (if you know)

Thanks for sharing again my friend.
.-= Brunty´s last blog ..Thai School Student, Army Reserve Force Training Thailand =-.

thenhbushman reply on December 14th, 2009 11:49 pm:

hi Brunty. yes, it’s quite windy in that area. Hsinchu is known as the “windy city” of Taiwan, and that’s where this particular trail is located. when you come to visit we’ll put you on a bike and let you enjoy the trail for yourself! hopefully soon! thanks.
# 4 filination Says:
December 15th, 2009 at 3:56 am
(Best of TW) Today’s Ride 091212 http://cli.gs/Ztt9A
# 5 Patrick Cowsill Says:
December 26th, 2009 at 5:40 am
RT @tweetmeme Today’s Ride 091212 http://bit.ly/8e6U5R
# 6 Patrick Cowsill Says:
December 26th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Tunnel of foliage? It’s a cool idea. It seems they’ve really built up the biking system around Hsinchu, and I’m glad to see you taking advantage of them. I wonder how the biking systems are down south, around Kaohsiung and Tainan.

thenhbushman reply on December 27th, 2009 9:21 pm:

hi Patrick. yes, that foliage tunnel was a great idea and they implemented it well. as for bike trials down south, the only ones i have seen are in Kaohsiung, which is basically a huge bicycle trail in of itself. Kao is very bike friendly with wide streets and protected dedicated scooter lanes, as well as designated bicycle paths. i can’t wait to take my trike down there for some serious city riding! thanks for your comments Patrick.
# 7 Patrick Cowsill Says:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:31 am
Rereading this post. There are some great shots here, MJ. We’ve got to hook up for a ride someday.
.-= Patrick Cowsill´s last blog ..Huazhong Bridge in Wanhua Taiwan =-.

thenhbushman reply on January 24th, 2010 8:46 am:

sure Patrick, i would like that. once we get past this patch of lousy weather i’ll show you where this fine bike trail is. thanks.