Words and photos by: Michael Pryde



Taroko National Park is one of seven National Parks in Taiwan. The Gorge, which cuts across the east to west, is one of the most scenic mountain areas of Taiwan and at 3,275m above sea level it is also one of the world’s highest paved mountain passes.

Leaving Taichung city in the evening before the ride we arrived at Puli Township at 10pm and whilst late, we were still able to find a “dai pai dong” or open-air food stall for some local delicacies before the dawn raid from Puli up the Gorge.



I was accompanied by some friends with a promise of a support car and whilst I completed the “Cycle to the Sun” race in August, I knew that this challenge was at least going to be as tough as the ascent of Haleakala, which was 3,000m in 60km.

The ride would leave Puli Township at 6am and started gently until we reached the stone statue that marks the centre of Taiwan where I started my trusty Garmin 705, tracking every moment of my ascent from 489m up to 3,275m (3,282 according to my Garmin).



With my head down pedaling a fast cadence on my compact crankset I was in for a long day, with an estimated ride time of between 4-4 ½ hrs this was going be a real mind game all the way up.



The gradient at the bottom was very gentle, at around 3-5% with some steeper 7% hairpins thrown in from time to time to give me the chance to stand up, stretch my legs and ensure I didn’t suffer from cramping on the way.



The reason for the early start on this crisp Saturday morning was to avoid the large amount of tourist from Taiwan and overseas that come here on a weekend. The traffic build up by around 10-11am at the lower sections would have made the ascent quite dangerous so it was therefore necessary to get most of the way up before the “rush hour”.

On either side of the Gorge there were farms and resorts and along the road that I was to ascend there were commercial petting farms as well as pseudo European style castles that visitors came for lunch and dinner as well as on vacation. The farms cut into the landscape creating steps throughout the mountain range.



Despite the traffic build up the quality of the road on the east side of the Gorge was perfect with newly laid tarmac all the way to the visitor centre at the top. The weather was a perfect 20C when we left Puli and wearing a ¾ bib, long sleeve base layer and a short sleeve jersey it quickly became quite warm but armed with the knowledge that the temperature was going to drop quickly during the ascent I wisely kept the layers on.



With the gradient getting steeper and steeper I was often seeing 8-9% and as much as 14-16% on my Garmin. Whilst not as steep as some of the horrendous climbs that the RCS threw into the 2010 Giro I was also painfully aware that I am no mountain goat like Basso or Nibali. With a tortured look on my face I was barely able to turn my gears over on the last few kilometres. Riding the last 5km completely in the fog, and unable to clearly see oncoming cars or the mountain top, I just kept plugging away at the pedals and reading the altitude off of my Garmin.



At 3,100m I knew that I was almost there even though I could not see the top and was at least able to smile in the knowledge that I did not decide to turn around or climb into the car. I eventually appeared from the fog-covered mountain into the car park at the top after 52.5km and a few seconds shy of 4 hours.



As soon as I stopped, the cold set in and at 5C it was quite a shock to the system and I had to get a jacket on quickly in order to retain as much body heat as possible as I shivered due to the cold and bonking sensation. This was to be my biggest triumph as far as epic climbs are concerned, but also one of my biggest regrets, I had not prepared the necessary winter riding gear needed for the descent and was therefore not able to fully celebrate the amazing climb with an equally epic descent - next time!



I have friends that that have tackled this ride from the Western side where the Gorge is even more rugged with roads and tunnels carved into the cliff face. I will come back soon to ride the Western ascent and finally descend the amazing road down the Eastern face back to Puli Township.


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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taroko_National_Park
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_pai_dong