Since weather permitted yesterday, I decided to go on my planned ride up Yangmingshan, the highest climb in the Taipei area which I haven't done in probably 4 or 5 years. The climb was fine. It's a challenging climb so I didn't mind going down to the granny gears at times. I don't think I ever went down to the lowest gear which means I was never anywhere near tapping out.
I gather Yangmingshan isn't actually a mountain as I thought at first. It may not even refer to a range. It is the name of the national park that contains Taipei's highest peak(s). The highest peak is called Seven Stars Mountain (七星山 Qixingshan). The main road that climbs up to that peak offers two alternatives. One road circles around the peak and heads back through Yangmingshan to Taipei proper. That's the route I usually think of when going up there.
The other road heads north out of Yangmingshan and descends to the north coast area and Danshui. That's the one I did yesterday and I think it actually reaches a higher altitude than the one that circles the Seven Stars peak, but I'll have to do that ride to confirm it's highest altitude. Doing that route meant traveling farther than if I had looped back into Taipei directly, and the ride exceeded 40 miles. So hopefully I expended enough energy to improve sleep, despite my type of insomnia having nothing to do with fatigue or tiredness.
And I did sleep solidly last night. A dead sleep until the end. Today was rain so I went to the gym, but energy levels were low and I attribute that to the combination of insomnia and exertion of yesterday's ride. Nothing unexpected.
After the Yangmingshan climb and the 40-mile+ route, I did reward myself on the way home by stopping off at what may be considered a Western-style deli, called 1bite2go in Shilin, with a corned beef sandwich. Absolute heaven.
Yangde->Yangmingshan->101甲 (2,753 ft.):
I gather Yangmingshan isn't actually a mountain as I thought at first. It may not even refer to a range. It is the name of the national park that contains Taipei's highest peak(s). The highest peak is called Seven Stars Mountain (七星山 Qixingshan). The main road that climbs up to that peak offers two alternatives. One road circles around the peak and heads back through Yangmingshan to Taipei proper. That's the route I usually think of when going up there.
The other road heads north out of Yangmingshan and descends to the north coast area and Danshui. That's the one I did yesterday and I think it actually reaches a higher altitude than the one that circles the Seven Stars peak, but I'll have to do that ride to confirm it's highest altitude. Doing that route meant traveling farther than if I had looped back into Taipei directly, and the ride exceeded 40 miles. So hopefully I expended enough energy to improve sleep, despite my type of insomnia having nothing to do with fatigue or tiredness.
And I did sleep solidly last night. A dead sleep until the end. Today was rain so I went to the gym, but energy levels were low and I attribute that to the combination of insomnia and exertion of yesterday's ride. Nothing unexpected.
After the Yangmingshan climb and the 40-mile+ route, I did reward myself on the way home by stopping off at what may be considered a Western-style deli, called 1bite2go in Shilin, with a corned beef sandwich. Absolute heaven.
Yangde->Yangmingshan->101甲 (2,753 ft.):
