The weather and my free time finally matched up, so I was able to go out and do some cycling. Taipei is basically swimming in rivers (pun intended). There is a major one that runs to the west and divides Taipei from Taipei county, this river then splits into two. Then there are three rivers that cut horizontally through the city, one being quite large with the other two being not so big. All along these rivers are bike trails.
I've been taking the bike out on these trails, and it's remarkable just how quick it can be. On my first trip I went to the end of one of the rivers. On strolls with my dog, it takes over two hours to get there. On the bike it took 15 minutes to get there.
The trails are very flat and smooth so it's not challenging at all, except for if the wind is blowing the wrong way...ugh. But this also means I'm able to go for long rides that are over thirty miles.
Today I went to the end of another river. It stops in a very famous hiking area. I got off the trail and did some hill climbing to get to the entrances of some of the hiking trails I like. Although I don't think I have enough in me to go hiking, after i road up some of those hills on the bike.
The picture is of the big challenge I'm putting in front of myself. The big new development in biking is the circle around Taipei. Basically using the north-south river and two of the east-west rivers. However the big problem is that there is no other river going north and south on the other side of Taipei. So they fixed that by finding some small mountain roads that link up to fill in this missing part.
Not sure how difficult it is or how long it will take, so for now I was just content with going to the entrance of it to take a picture of it. Now I just need to go to the other end and take a picture of that, and I can say I've completed it. That's how it works right?
