Mountain Biking (off-road) in and around Taipei

[Incubus]

For anyone interested, I've uploaded a few photos of Saturday's ride to the Tonghou Trail here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bridgeston ... 686120256/

Why did you bag your bike, GC? Don't you know on weekends bike access is allowed on the MRT? Looks like you guys had a good ride.

[Incubus]

Anyone here been to the Maokoing off-road trail and can tell what it's like? That would probably be my next destination to check out.

I've ridden Maokong about half a dozen times, but that was before the gondola. I imagine the trails are more crowded now with the gondola running. Alan used to hold weekly Saturday morning group rides to Maokong.
http://www.alansmountainbike.com.tw/where_we_ride.htm
You can give them a call and see if they still do.

[GC Rider]

For anyone interested, I've uploaded a few photos of Saturday's ride to the Tonghou Trail here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bridgeston ... 686120256/

Why did you bag your bike, GC? Don't you know on weekends bike access is allowed on the MRT? Looks like you guys had a good ride.

Incubus, I started from Xizhi, so had to take the regional train from there (Xike station actually) to Taipei Main Station and then transit to Xindian by MRT. So it was necessary to bag it, especially since Taipei Main Station is not one of the designated MRT stations for bike transport. The bike bag was quite practical for the train rides, just a little cumbersome to carry around while riding (and it weighs over 1kg).

[GC Rider]

Anyone here been to the Maokoing off-road trail and can tell what it's like? That would probably be my next destination to check out.

I've ridden Maokong about half a dozen times, but that was before the gondola. I imagine the trails are more crowded now with the gondola running. Alan used to hold weekly Saturday morning group rides to Maokong.
http://www.alansmountainbike.com.tw/where_we_ride.htm
You can give them a call and see if they still do.

Thanks for reminding me of this site again. It's an awesome site and very inspiring. It's just a pity that it's inactive. I definitely plan to explore most of the nearby trails described there, including those in Taoyuan county.

[circleback]

I was reading on the forum in various places about the Tonghou Trail from Wulai to Jaoxi (or vica verca). Does anyone have a Google earth (.kmz) route for this?

[RoelC]

Would it be possible to ride by car to the trailhead at Wulai side? Directions?
I'd love to explore the trail, by going up and coming down at the same side, but I'm not much of a road biker...

[greenmark]

Roel - To get to the Tonghou Trail:

Drive up to, then when you get there cross the small bridge in the town centre. Immediately after crossing, take a left. Follow the road uphill. After 1 or 2km there is a fork, take the left where there is a signpost to the Tonghou trail. A couple of kilometres further on you'll get to a gate house which is the boundary of the forest park. Some people just get off and start riding from there but you'll still need to do about 10km of riding (on very quiet roads) to get to the trailhead. There may be methods to drive further which require a toll payment.

Map and satellite are here:
http://roads-taken.blogspot.com/2010/04 ... -road.html

[GC Rider]

Roel, these are the approximate distances you would be dealing with on road:

- Xindian MRT to Wulai Old Street (there's a big parking lot): 15km
- Wulai Old Street to the police outpost mentioned by greenmark: 2km
- Police outpost to trailhead: 17km

You can park your car at either of the above locations. So you would be cycling on road for 34, 19 or 17 km, respectively, before reaching the trailhead. A few people would drive their cars directly up to the trailhead and unload their bikes there. But it seems you need a special permit for this and I'm not sure how you acquire it. You can ask at the police outpost for this (but don't expect them to speak English with you).

[RoelC]

Thanks for the info guys!
I just got back from Tonghou.
Parked my car at the police outpost and started from there, approx 16 km to trailhead.
The Tonghou trail itself is a great trail. The further you go, the more technical it gets.
I went untill the point where there was a sign saying "Saddle - 2.8 km", so I'm assuming I was 2.8 km away from the top of the pass.
The ride down from there is great, it's a lot faster as going up
Anyway, next time when I have some more time on my hand (and in a better physical condition... party last night.. ) I'm going to the top.
Does anyone know what's to see after the top? Is it worth going down at Jaoxi side off-road wise? I do have to return to Wulai for my car.

[jaame]

I don't know if anyone's interested in this, maybe I should start a new thread, let me know.

This morning I finally found the Hutou Shan/Tigerhead Mountain trails and downhill race track just off Dayou Road in Taoyuan. It's all around the JungFu Dong temple.

They have a small pumptrack, some jumps (dirt and boards), cross country loop, some Northshore style wooden obstacles like seesaws, and one dirty as fuck downhill course with four distinctly different lines.

I raced D/H in the UK between 1994 and 1997 when it was quite tame and suspension was just gaining popularity. This was when world cup downhill riders had 3" of travel and they introduced the full face helmet rule.

Anyway the course I just walked/climbed up today bears no resemblance to the mid-90s downhill courses of Northern England. There are huge (6-8ft) drop offs, chutes covered in baseball sized boulders that are too steep to walk up without using your hands and a ton of board jumps and berms. My jump bike is totally unsuitable so I'm thinking about getting a new Faith soon so I can go there to play.

I spoke to one guy for an hour, he showed me round every line of the downhill course. He said that most of the guys that go there are from Taipei and hang there every Sunday as it's the only sick-as-fuck downhill course in Northern Taiwan. I asked about Ski Lift, Beitou and Wulai and he said they are tame in comparison.

Anyway there will be a big race there in the "Merida Cup" in December. He said about 300 riders compete, they build all the jumps up bigger, berm a lot of hairy corners and clear the vegetation off some of the sicker lines.

I'm going for sure, just to watch and get some videos. Is anyone else interested in riding downhill in this location before then?

Also, the course that held the Asian round of the world cup before (I believe) in Zhanghua is open to ride all the time but possible overgrown at the moment. There's a big race coming up there in the next couple of months too. Come to think of it, that might be the one he said was the "Merida Cup" one. Anyone heard of the Merida Cup?