Minsheng East/West Road

Pretty standard road.  Nothing to watch out for and nothing very scenic.  It's a typical road you'd expect in an urban jungle and you can get across the north part of the city in 15-20 minutes depending on traffic conditions.

The roundabout on Minsheng East

East end of Minsheng East

The road widens up as you near the center of the city

Room to share with scooters and cars

Narrows back to two lanes when you hit Minsheng West

Minsheng West

The Roads Less Traveled

Most if not all the smaller side roads in the residential pockets of Taipei are ridable.  They're safe enough, quiet and you can work out a more direct route to your destination.  And it's great if your goal is to just meander through and take in the sights, sounds, and smells.

But when you're just trying to get across town I dislike using them for a few reasons:

• It can get pretty tight on some of them when cars pass.
• A lot of them are one way and because they're in a more isolated environment, scooters are more inclined to bend the rules and go the wrong way on these roads.
• Unlike other cities, the roads are not lined up in perfect grids.  They're subject to end abruptly and you end up taking a bit of a detour to get back on track
• Instead of stop signs at every corner (because most of the smaller streets are one way), there is a convex mirror to peek around the corner and you can make the decision on whether you need to slow down or not.  This is just something that I haven't gotten used to.  I just have a thing where I like a direct line of sight and the way the city blocks are, it doesn't afford that.  Plus it doesn't help that a lot of these mirrors are not aligned properly.

Typical residential street.

Check the mirror.  Don't get side-swiped.

Jiankang Road

This small stretch of road has a wide asphalt paved bike lane.  Traffic is relatively light compared to other roads and runs a good distance through Songshan County.  If you ride it to the end it'll take you close to an entrance to the Keelung Riverside but it narrows and the bike lane disappears on the west end near Guangfu North Rd.  The only caveat is that the width of the bike lane tends to encourage a bit of double parking.

View Jiankang Road in a larger map

Wide bike lane on a relatively low traffic street.

However it tents to encourage double parking.

Keelung Riverside (Left/West Bank)

Asphalt paths as far as the eye can see.  Both banks are lined with a bike path with a few crossing points however at the writing of this article I have only traveled the left/west bank.  There are large grassy fields, basketball courts, baseball diamonds and comes close to the Raohe Night Market.  Part of the paths are shared with runners but the overall foot traffic is pretty light so congestion was not an issue.

Pros:

• The asphalt is in pretty good condition, suitable for all types of bikes.
• A pretty long stretch of uninterrupted bike lane.
• Passes the Raohe Night Market on the east side.
• Easy to cross over to Neihu.  There's a few superstores there, similar to Target and Wal-Mart.  Costco is also there.  The good thing about Costco is that memberships work internationally.  So no matter where you have a membership, it'll work here.
• Other public facilities including Porta Potties are strewn about.

Cons:

• I'm at a loss in finding negatives of this bike path.  There was a bit of construction near the extreme east and west ends at the writing of this article but otherwise I don't have anything to complain about.

Conclusion:

This is a good place to get a workout.  You can go at a fast pace without having to worry about traffic.  There are other facilities if you have a group with you and I'd imagine bringing a blanket and sitting on the grass would be nice.  It's not a great path for getting from point A to B since it rides along the outskirts of central Taipei but it's a smooth scenic ride and that's where it shines.

A particularly nice stretch of the bike path.

The path is shared with pedestrians but is really wide.

Get out of the sun under one of the many bridges.

Or get out into the open.  Neihu County is in the distance.

A rollerskating track.  There's a few of these along the way.

Good place to get out of the sun and bring a bag lunch or bento.

A view from somewhere on the west end of the bike path.