Beiyi Highway's Nine Bends and Eighteen Turns: A Cyclist's Reverse Challenge on a Motorcycle Mecca

An Old Highway Dominated by Motorcycles

The Beiyi Highway (Provincial Highway 9, Xindian–Toucheng section) is approximately 58 km long, with its highest point at Shipai, about 500 meters above sea level. After the Hsuehshan Tunnel opened, car traffic was largely diverted away, leaving this old road as a mountain route shared by cyclists and heavy motorcycles. For cyclists, it’s a road with a steady gradient, ideal for practicing long climbs—provided you know how to coexist with the motorcycles.

Sections and Gradients

How to Ride the Nine Bends and Eighteen Turns Downhill

From Shipai toward Toucheng, the Nine Bends and Eighteen Turns is a series of continuous hairpin switchbacks descending roughly 400 meters in total elevation. The key points are the “outside-inside-outside” line, completing your braking before entering each turn, and accelerating only after exiting. This is a hotspot for heavy motorcycles—stay to the right through corners, never cross into oncoming traffic, and keep your downhill speed within 40 km/h.

A Milestone-by-Milestone Breakdown of Xindian to Pinglin

The main climbing section isn’t one uniform slope; breaking it into segments using landmarks along the way makes it much easier mentally:

Over the 21 km from Shuangfeng to Pinglin, gradients mostly fall between 4% and 6%—no killer steep pitches, but it never lets up, making it ideal for building sustained threshold. Suggested workout: use Pinglin as the turnaround and do 2×40 minutes of Sweet Spot (roughly 88% to 94% of FTP), refueling at Pinglin Old Street with a tea egg and a cup of Baozhong tea.

Resupply Points

Pinglin is the only major resupply stop on the entire route; the old street offers Baozhong tea and tea eggs, and convenience stores are well stocked. After Pinglin, there’s almost no resupply until Toucheng, so be sure to top up your water.

Timing Strategy

After 8 AM on weekends, heavy motorcycle density is extremely high. For safety reasons, weekdays or early mornings are recommended. In winter, the northeast monsoon sweeps into the Lanyang Plain, and the Toucheng end often sees strong headwinds and rain—guard against slipping and hypothermia.

Suitable Training Purposes

The 27 km from Xindian to Pinglin has a steady gradient, making it an excellent venue for long Sweet Spot threshold work. You can set a 2×40-minute Tempo workout with Pinglin as the turnaround.

Beiyi isn’t for racing. Its bends are there to remind you: in the world of descents, getting home alive matters far more than being 10 seconds faster.

Related Reading

• The Complete Beiyi Highway Guide: The Classic Climb from Xindian to Toucheng
• Beiyi Highway (Provincial Highway 9) Riding Guide: Gradient Analysis of the 9 Bends and 18 Turns
• Beiyi Highway Cycling Guide: Scenery and Resupply from Pinglin to Yilan
• Beiyi Highway Pinglin Section 4 km Analysis: The Climbing Testbed for Taipei Riders