May 5th

May 5, 2025

Longtan loop

Two weeks from today I'll be guiding a gyrocopter above the clouds before skydiving out from who knows how many thousand feet to land on a vertiginous snowfield, which I'll then ski down at breakneck speed to eventually reach a top-secret rendezvous under the cover of darkness.

Not really... I'll be squeezed into economy class heading to Manchester.

It could rain today; it could be a real scorcher. Who knows? The sky is quite overcast, but the sun breaks through now and again, so I rub some sun cream on just in case and pedal off towards Longtan at about nine.

Just around the block from home I spot a couple of mops beside a stainless steel sink. You see lots of these external utility set-ups here.

The sun feels hot when it comes out and it's nice when it hides what with the temperature being in the high 20s and humidity being high as usual. Another month and it'll be too hot to ride. I'll be in England, so no worries.

Sunshine makes for brighter photos, but ideally early morning is better as there's more shadow. It's gone nine now and fairly cloudy, but I keep a look out for mops and brooms. My route takes me away from homes after 10 minutes and it's mostly rice paddies for a while. I don't see any more that are worth stopping for and get to Louisa Coffee in Longtan at around 10:00.

Some of these cafes now serve pasta dishes and I ask, but the clerk here says they don't, so I order a tuna bagel and a large cappuccino and sit at a small table with a high stool directly opposite the counter and opt to take a selfie, with me reflected in the stainless steel front panel of the coffee machine.

Discarded toilet seat and toy guitar in Longtan

I ride through the center of town and when I reach a junction where I intend to go straight, it dawns on me that it's still pretty early in the day and doing a loop around the south that includes a couple of decent climbs is a good idea.

After making a right and pedalling along a busy road for a minute, I spot a rusting, sit-up-and-beg bike that I take a snap of, then soon after get to the right turn where a long climb begins. Most traffic goes straight, thankfully.

The two white characters 山東 on this front badge mean Mountain East

A handful of cars come past me in waves every few minutes, obviously once they get a green light. Trees line the way, offering a bit of shade, not that it's particularly sunny, yet I still pause a couple of times to wipe sweat of my face with the bar towel that hangs from my handlebars. The humidity couldn't be much higher if it poured down.

The climb takes a while. I'm out of water when I get to the top and cruise along the ridge for a couple off minutes and reach a left turn where there's a rustic shop. I've called in before and get a cold bottle out of a tall refrigerator and walk to the back of the dim interior looking for the elderly lady who runs the place. She's in a small kitchen frying some lunch and takes my NT$25 for the drink and wishes me well and goes back to cooking.

There's a wooden bench out front and I sit there for a while cooling down and half empty the bottle before starting off down the long drop, which is a winding lane that's wonderfully tranquil.

Whenever I ride here now, I recall bringing a British cyclist named Andy when he visited Taiwan with his partner about 10 years ago. He borrowed the commuter bike I had at that time, which was a very cheap one from a supermarket. The gears didn't change down into the small chainring, which made the climbs a real test.

The long freewheel cools me down nicely. I pause a couple of times to take self-timed phots, opting to ride away from camera rather than attempt a manic U-turn. Only see one car passes by.

Tea is grown up on the higher slopes, but it's rice fields lower down.

After crossing a road, the lane slowly starts rising. The gradient isn't too bad for the most part and there are more paddies lining the way, with a stream on my right. Eventually the stream disappears somewhere and the incline ramps up, with the last 100 metres being very steep. Feeling the heat and humidity, I get off and walk it.

There are more tea fields here where it levels out and there are women in broad straw hats picking the best leaves and popping them into wicker baskets that are slung on their backs. They're all busy at it.

The shop where I bought a cold drink after the climb out of Longtan

Once at the very top, the lane soon joins a main road and there's a Hi-Life. It's a while since I was here and there used to be a couple of tables outside and a long one running along the front window, but the place has had a revamp and they're gone.

Now there's what they call a Hi Cafe, which includes about 10 small tables and diffused lighting. A large clock says it's 10:00 and the theme is Alice in Wonderland, but I reckon the Mad Hatter's watch was stuck at six.

I check the fridge for IPAs, but there's none. I buy a cold drink and some chocolates and sit at a free table and enjoy the AC. My cycling mitts are soaked from sweat.

Having another cold drink - in a Hi-Life shop after the second climb

The road is wide for a while and has an intersection that links it to the main north-south highway. There are industrial units mixed in with homes and a couple of places have mops outside, which I take a photo of. I pass a couple of tea fields then start whizzing down a section of Route 3, which I swerve off left onto a small road that heads back towards Longtan, following the contours around the last hills of the ride.

I skirt around Longtan and eventually rejoin the road that I cycled on when heading away from home, completing the loop. There's a Hi-Life that I check out for the first time ever and find three cans of IPA in the fridge, which is a nice surprise.

It's about 3:00 when I arrive home, so I've been out for around six hours.

Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 80 km (50 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	7
Comment on this entry	Comment	0