Sunday, January 10, 2010

Riding to the Smell of Strawberries: Dahu and Miaoli


View Miaoli Ride in a larger map

I'm tuning up for my first Century (100 mile/167 km ride) next week, so Drew and I decided to take a long one on the relatively flat roads on the other side of Jhoulan in Miaoli. It was a stunningly gorgeous day, with little haze until the late afternoon.

The mountains were clearly visible to the east.

For once the valley around Jhoulan, filled with orchards and vineyards, was clear from ridge above. The easy climb above the city is one of my favorite rides.

A farmer has used old political banners as scarecrows for his field.

Unfortunately Liyu Lake, the reservoir, was less than lovely today, with water levels unusually low.

But the snowcapped peaks in the distance were still gorgeous.

....up close and personal.

Drew flies over the reservoir.

As we came down 3 past Dahu, we saw people picking strawberries at the farms that line the road. The smell of fresh strawberries filled the air as we rolled past one farm after another.

Strawberry stands along the road.

After zooming down 3, we turned onto 6, which follows the river. Wonderful mountain, farm, river views all the way into Gongguan.

Drew speeds through the tunnels.

Heading through the farms between 6 and the river.

Snowcapped mountains kept us company until we crossed the ridge on 128 and headed down to the coast.

In Tongluo we lunched at this restaurant full of knickknacks...

...like this poster for one of my favorite movies.

Then it was 128, the open road, the coast, and home: 125 kms, 6:08 hours on the bike.
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7 comments:

Fili said...

Loving the biking posts. Keep'em coming...

jerome in vals said...

Michael, you have a copyright claim against Taipei Times on your lap.

Click on their link. Watch in their Monday January 11, 2010 issue for the picture of the snow-capped Northern Central Mountain Range published atop the right side column.

Looking forward to next week-end outing report. J.

Narmadi said...

It's a great collection from Taiwan...I like it

Michael Turton said...

Thanks! More biking posts on the way later this week....

Michael Turton said...

Jerome, i'm pretty sure my pic is Shueh Pa Shan, theirs is Yushan. Sadly, one person died there this weekend.

Chaon said...

I took the nephew to the Taichung Animal Shelter yesterday (where I almost got into a fistfight with that ostrich with the bad attitude), and we could see snowcapped mountain peaks from the top of TaTu. Looked like the same ones in your pic.

Diego said...

Riding in short sleeves in January ! And meanwhile a feet of snow all through Europa, including "sunny" Spain. If I could only smell just a glimpse of those strawberries. Ahh ...