Trail running around Taipei

[kage]

tbh kage, teggs beats me up the hills...the only way I could keep up with him when it gets really steep is if I put a 10kg weight in his bag (a cunning plan)....at least I have the advantage down hill, since I'm fatter, gravity aids me to go quicker. I see much promise in teggs' running.

Yeah, I still laugh about the 32 (or was it 36?) km Tuesdays. I can picture teggs competing well in those ultramarathons we were talking about. As for the weight, I recommend a small slice of railway track. Works wonders. I am going to get back at 'er this week.

[teggs]

Thanks again to Kea for organising an amazing run/hike. I can now say that I've been to he highest "peaks" in Taipei and hope to do many more soon.

Not sure about the weight in my backpack ... I'm still getting used to running with the thing! Looking forward to doing Wulai to Sanxia next week!

[Kea]

We did the Wulai to Sanxia hike today. We ran the bits that we could, and hiked the rest. A bit slippery in places, fantastic views, and exciting running at the start and near the end. Both of us really liked trail running as opposed to stairs. No snakes (too cold), and only two leeches. Just under 3 hours from trail head to Xiong Kong road trail end. Then we ran on for several more km, and hitched a ride into Sanxia (another hiker who bought us some beers). Then we had a delicious late lunch at Patio28. Amazing beef stew, unbelievable strawberry waffles, and excellent conversation. Thanks Belgian Pie and good luck for your next venture. Let's start an underground vigilante group against polluters of Sanxia rivers, using extreme violence.

Thanks teggs for great conversation, running, and general fun these last few weeks, and Happy Chinese New Year. Catch up at the end of Feb.

Peter Snell:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... type=&aq=f
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB9BqR2lKjU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiZ1F4KN8Mw

Jack Lovelock, fantastic
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/video_popup_flash_skin/814661

Here's an approximate map of the run. I probably got the trail wrong in large part, if anyone could correct it then great.
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/tw/taipe ... 2662656827

Here is a route we did a few weeks ago, took 3 hrs 15m:
http://www.mapmyride.com/route/tw/null/ ... 2908422651

[Chris]

We did the Wulai to Sanxia hike today. We ran the bits that we could, and hiked the rest. A bit slippery in places, fantastic views, and exciting running at the start and near the end. Both of us really liked trail running as opposed to stairs. No snakes (too cold), and only two leeches. Just under 3 hours from trail head to Xiong Kong road trail end. Then we ran on for several more km, and hitched a ride into Sanxia (another hiker who bought us some beers). Then we had a delicious late lunch at Patio28.

Always a great way to top off an outdoor adventure in the Sanxia area.

[Freakin' Amazing]

Hey teggs, here are the stats of the run/hike (4hrs 20m I think), I checked the elevation on google earth....
start at 60m and climbed to 360
across to Sanmao Shan starting 360 and climbing to 630
down to 450m then across, starting the climb to 7 star at 520 and the top is about 1090-4000+ feet elevation gain-got there after about 2:15 hours
down to Chintiengang then mostly ran 9k across country down to 500m, I ran straight past a water buffalo and didn't see it, although teggs did (indicative of our levels of tiredness at the time I feel, he was looking around and taking in the terrain like a Sunday afternoon jog, while I was trying to anticipate where I'd get cramp next). The forest near the end was old and nice, and the general terrain was small up and downs along grassy ridges with small forested areas, which was fun, but challenging considering it was getting towards 4 hours and 4 o'clock at the time. Untold number of stone steps.

(...)

Here's a link showing the run/hike:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/taiwan/nu ... 2765170203

Holy snite. I've hiked that (from the southern trail start, not Zhongshan N), and I frequently do a 8/10km run w/ ~200m altitude gain/loss @ ~20% grade. The gainkills me.

No way in hell I could combine the two. Running a +1000m gain is friggin' ridiculous, what kind of mutants are you people? I am in awe of your fitness.

Another "run" you can do in that area is head up the Seven star mountain, then down east and down the SE to <arg the name escapes me> the waterfall on ZhiShan Rd. 10 Saints? 8 Angels? Damned Taiwanese place names....

FYI the link is busted, or do you need something special to see it?

Edit: Ah I remembered, Saint's Waterfall (Shenren Pubu) would be the name...

There's a thousand options in Yangming Shan NP. Other good area is the East coast, like Fulong -> Daxi over the Caoling trail. The trail itself is a stamped of mouth breathers on a weekend, but if you don't drop down into Daxi but instead extend it by heading SW along the ridge there's no people, good views, and tons of elevation gain/loss. Sorry I'm terrible at place names, MM is best for that.

[Kea]

Hey teggs, here are the stats of the run/hike (4hrs 20m I think), I checked the elevation on google earth....
start at 60m and climbed to 360
across to Sanmao Shan starting 360 and climbing to 630
down to 450m then across, starting the climb to 7 star at 520 and the top is about 1090-4000+ feet elevation gain-got there after about 2:15 hours
down to Chintiengang then mostly ran 9k across country down to 500m, I ran straight past a water buffalo and didn't see it, although teggs did (indicative of our levels of tiredness at the time I feel, he was looking around and taking in the terrain like a Sunday afternoon jog, while I was trying to anticipate where I'd get cramp next). The forest near the end was old and nice, and the general terrain was small up and downs along grassy ridges with small forested areas, which was fun, but challenging considering it was getting towards 4 hours and 4 o'clock at the time. Untold number of stone steps.

(...)

Here's a link showing the run/hike:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/taiwan/nu ... 2765170203

Holy snite. I've hiked that (from the southern trail start, not Zhongshan N), and I frequently do a 8/10km run w/ ~200m altitude gain/loss @ ~20% grade. The gainkills me.

No way in hell I could combine the two. Running a +1000m gain is friggin' ridiculous, what kind of mutants are you people? I am in awe of your fitness.

Another "run" you can do in that area is head up the Seven star mountain, then down east and down the SE to <arg the name escapes me> the waterfall on ZhiShan Rd. 10 Saints? 8 Angels? Damned Taiwanese place names....

FYI the link is busted, or do you need something special to see it?

Edit: Ah I remembered, Saint's Waterfall (Shenren Pubu) would be the name...

There's a thousand options in Yangming Shan NP. Other good area is the East coast, like Fulong -> Daxi over the Caoling trail. The trail itself is a stamped of mouth breathers on a weekend, but if you don't drop down into Daxi but instead extend it by heading SW along the ridge there's no people, good views, and tons of elevation gain/loss. Sorry I'm terrible at place names, MM is best for that.

Sorry, I forgot to update the link:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/taiwan/ta ... 2755484704

Well, we didn't run all of it, we hiked the steep sections, as fast as we could (mostly 2 by 2 steps). Thanks for your tip, we'll check it out sometime>

I tentatively have March 6 and March 20 (not sure about 20) as my only available days. We have two run/hikes on the schedule, probably March 6 will do the following:
From Danshui run/hike to the top of Datungshan, then down to the sulphur area, and up the back to the top of 7 star, then down to Chintiengang, run down to the Cultural Uni, across to SanMaoshan, up that, then down to the bus, and bus to Shilin. I am really looking forward to that one, will be a killer. I better get in some hard workouts before then, since I was slack over CNY.

Then March 20 if the weather is right and I have time we might do WuliaoJian, finally. We're both looking forward to that.

[teggs]

Sorry, I forgot to update the link:
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/taiwan/ta ... 2755484704

Well, we didn't run all of it, we hiked the steep sections, as fast as we could (mostly 2 by 2 steps). Thanks for your tip, we'll check it out sometime>

I tentatively have March 6 and March 20 (not sure about 20) as my only available days. We have two run/hikes on the schedule, probably March 6 will do the following:
From Danshui run/hike to the top of Datungshan, then down to the sulphur area, and up the back to the top of 7 star, then down to Chintiengang, run down to the Cultural Uni, across to SanMaoshan, up that, then down to the bus, and bus to Shilin. I am really looking forward to that one, will be a killer. I better get in some hard workouts before then, since I was slack over CNY.

Then March 20 if the weather is right and I have time we might do WuliaoJian, finally. We're both looking forward to that.

Hahah ... I wish I could run up Chishingshan! Maybe some day..

The plan for 3/6 and 3/20 look fine to me, but we'll have to hurry as I'll only have the afternoons available due to soccer practices. If we meet in Danshui at around 12, do you think we'll have enough time to finish before it gets dark?

[Kea]

Hahah ... I wish I could run up Chishingshan! Maybe some day..

The plan for 3/6 and 3/20 look fine to me, but we'll have to hurry as I'll only have the afternoons available due to soccer practices. If we meet in Danshui at around 12, do you think we'll have enough time to finish before it gets dark?

re-7 star: I think you probably will be able to run all of the first half in late Mach, and could probably do the whole climb (front left climb) in 30 minutes in April. If you can run the whole 2nd half of that climb then you're in the wrong career.

Wuliao Jian should be ok since it's March 20, and it's not that long a hike/run. However, we will be pushing our luck on this first one from Danshui. Just means we have to hurry! I'm estimating 4-5 hours, and so when we are on SanMao Shan we'll have to watch for snakes-although may be too cold yet. We could also just chop off the long run section from ChintianGang, and climb 7star again, then down to the bus. Then can do some sprints on that nice section of road I showed you (near the bus), if you want an extra workout. Play it by ear, I prefer it as I originally described since it's quite scenic. I hate snakes.

[teggs]

I hate snakes.

Yes, with the sun coming out today I was actually thinking it's time to start looking for some gaiters (although I think we still have a while before they're necessary). I'm thinking gaiters over long soccer socks should be fine, although I was also reading that most of the really poisonous snakes (i.e. 100 pacers, but I know there are other meanies too) have been poached for Chinese medicine.

[Kea]

Hey teggs,

After getting my schedule, I'll be unavailable for the 20th (on a plane).....