Taiwan, Cycling, Expat life, Photography, Spicy Food
Location: Taitung Distance: 70km Elevation Gain: 800m In our series, we have covered several loop rides to cover specific counties and part of the grand plan is that every county will have at least one loop that is popular with local riders listed. For #065…
Location: Nantou County Distance: 104km Elevation Gain: 1500m Sun Moon Lake: A Tour de France-Inspired Ride in Taiwan Sun Moon Lake has always been one of Taiwan’s most picturesque cycling destinations, now thanks to the support of the L’Étape Series by Tour de France, it…
Location: Yunlin/Chiayi County Distance: 50km Elevation Gain: 1800m+ We have covered several roads in our series that make up the labyrinth of fantastic climbing in Nantou, Yunlin, and Chiayi County. After multiple trips to scout and research this area, we are finally able to publish…
Location: Tainan/Chiayi County Distance: 90km Elevation Gain: 1,600m In our series, we have covered several reservoirs that tend to be located in remote areas with excellent riding on fairly well-maintained quiet country roads. They also have a respectable amount of climbing guaranteed to give you…
Location: Taoyuan and Hsinchu Distance: 93km Elevation Gain: 1,700m We are in Taoyuan and Hsinchu County with this post – featuring a 93km loop that starts and finishes at Neiwan Old Street. While an early start is recommended, the length and mildly challenging terrain makes…
Location: Taoyuan Distance: 95km Elevation Gain: 1,400m Moving into the second half of the Top 100, we’d like to include a route that passes through every county, starting from a train station. Taiwan’s railway system makes it easy to hop off a train; whether it’s…
Location: Yilan/Keelung/New Taipei City Distance: 145km Elevation Gain: 850m There are 3 sections of Taiwan’s coastline that I would regard as excellent – the Su-Hua Highway covered in #027 and Kenting covered in #041. The third, but by no means least, would be the northern…
Location: Pingtung Distance: 60km Elevation Gain: 1,500km In our series, we have covered two road bike routes in Pingtung which can be seen in #041 and #042 -both great rides. These two will act as a reference for the access points for our coverage of…
Location: Taitung (road/gravel) Distance: 59km Elevation Gain: 1,200m When asked to choose their favorite part of Taiwan it was no surprise that Taiwanese picked the Rift Valley. In this post, we cover County Road No. 197 in Taitung. The road itself is exactly 59km from…
Location: Kaohsiung/Chaiyi Distance: 100km Elevation Gain: 3,000m Provincial Highway No. 29 was at one point PH No. 21 with plans to connect the north and south sections. We have dedicated two posts to the No. 21 which can be found in #007 and #054 of…
Location: Changhua/Nantou/Taichung Distance: 190km Elevation Gain: 2,548m Provincial Highway No. 21, also known as the New Central Cross-Island Highway, is 145km in length from where it starts on the outskirts of Taichung to where it terminates at Tatajia in Nantou County at an elevation of…
Location: Taitung/Pingtung Distance: 60km Elevation Gain: 650m There are three Provincial Highways in Taiwan that run the length of the island from Taipei to Pingtung – the No. 1 is west coast and best avoided by cyclists, the No. 3 runs parallel to the west…
Location: Nantou Distance: 41km Ascent 850m Provincial Highway 16 in Nantou County, is one of the few roads that penetrates into the Central Mountain range of Taiwan. It is a shame or perhaps an environmental blessing that plans to expand the road over the mountains…
Location: Tainan Distance: 75km Ascent 1,000m As part of our Top 100 series of the best bicycle routes in Taiwan we aim to include at least one loop from each city/county in the country. For Tainan, the first we have selected is the ‘Guanziling Loop’. Although…
Location: Yunlin Distance: 54km Elevation gain: 1,900m I would propose this as the best cycling area in Taiwan, the spider web maze of roads that connect the three counties of Yunlin, Nantou, and Chiayi could be combined to make multiple stages of a Grand Tour.…
Location: Hualien Distance: 110km Elevation gain 894m When asked to choose their favorite part of Taiwan it was no surprise that Taiwanese picked the Rift Valley. I would be inclined to agree with this opinion. In this post we cover County Road No. 193 in…
Location: Taichung Distance: 130 km Elevation Gain: 1,360m This might be regarded as one of our more obscure inclusions in the ‘Top 100’ rides of Taiwan, however, it has been included for the reward of a distinctive feature in a picturesque environment. As the title…
Location: Nantou – Dirty Formosa 100 Distance: 45km Elevation Gain: 1,400m+ Located in the center of Taiwan and the only land-locked county, Nantou is a cyclists and hikers’ paradise. As such, it should be no surprise that more of our rides are focused on this…
If the video does not play here is the Youtube link. Click here! As for the Strava information here you go:
Location: Nantou Distance: Each climb 9-12km Elevation Gain: 600-800m In this post, I’d like to discuss the various climbs leading up to Sun Moon Lake, focusing on four popular routes that cyclists often take. Two of these routes start in Puli, while the other two…
If a rider hasn’t got transport in the form of a car or van using the train is an excellent way to travel around Taiwan with a bike. The system isn’t perfect and it can involve a learning process to understand how Taiwan Railway Administration…
Location: Hualien Distance: 90km Elevation Gain: 3,500m Mission Statement: It is well known among mountaineers in Taiwan that the country has some 270 peaks over 3,000m, making it one of the highest concentrations of 3,000m peaks in the world. Of these, 100 were selected as…
A lot going on here. Hard-coded subtitles, which were made with a script I found on GitHub – I will get the links later. This is the software to create a .srt file from spoken English or any other language. There are many errors, but…
Here is a 13-minute info video of trails galore in northern Taiwan. The specific location is Taoyuan County, Linkou/Gueishan area. Here is the Youtube link if the embedded video will not work for your device. As for the exact location here is the Strava link:…
Here is some more MTB footage. Enjoy~ Here is the Youtube Link.
Here is a five-minute MTB video. This is the Youtube link if the .webm won’t play on your device. Here is the GPX file if you are interested.
Here is a quick 7-minute video of the backdoor of Mt. Five Barrels of Booze. The embedded video is in .webm format and might not play on an iPhone or iPad device. You can click here for the Youtube video.
Here is a quick five-minute video of some MTB riding in Luzhu, Taoyuan County. All of these trails can also be ridden on a gravel bike – so much fun!
That’s it, made it through another hot, humid, and long Taiwan summer.
Spent most of August in Nankan. Acquired a new MTB. Loving this bike.
Photos from July 2021 – we spent almost the entire month at my wife’s folks’ place. It was a great 3 weeks, and it was really hot and humid. I don’t think it really rained once while we were there. I got in some solid…
A small child crashed hard. Her chin hit the asphalt and blood went everywhere. Her little bicycle became intertwined with her left leg and she was unable to get up. I saw this all happen from about 200 meters away as I rode towards the…
Ok, story-time I drove an untrustworthy car a good 1500 km, even now I am not sure if the car is stolen property or just a ghosted machine. It broke down, which sucked but was able to fix it during the trip. My wife is…
Life has been great these days. Cycling a lot in Nantou County. Spending time with my daughter in Taoyuan. The notable ride recently was a solid 154km slog to the end of 16 and then up to Sun Moon Lake. I didn’t have the best…
The project is complete. A lot of fun over the last couple of months. Very satisfied with the outcome. Perhaps in the spring, I will hunt down another bike to rebuild. This all took place during the summer of 2016 and fall of 2016 –…
Gawd, I need to do this more. Must write more, life details – I need a troll with a whip to torture me to do this, this thing.
Great weather. I got in a great month on the bike 75 hours/1500km. Overall fitness and honest fun level while riding are on the up and up! My left leg is not rotting, it is functioning – about 1 year since the DVT funk. It…
A few things to say about the end of 2020 – but for now I am just going dump a variety of photos on this post and return to write soon. Highlights – Tatajia bicycle hill climb, afternoons on my CX bike, time with daughter,…
I will update this with a summary of this class in a few days. As for now here are the links with all the materials used in the class. This was a great 8-week course. We met on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 pm…
This is where I will write about October 2020 – man I was busy. I spent most of my time this month either in the classroom, on the bike, with my family, and a bit of commuting between Wufeng and Taoyuan. The weather this month…
Already running strong into the fall semester of 2020 at my place of work. Life is moving along without any real fuss these days in Taiwan. Here is my recent photo dump from the last few weeks. A few outstanding events worth mentioning: My daughter…
I wrote this a couple years ago for an online lesson. Here is it on my blog – enjoy. Taiwan offers some of the best cycling in Asia. The network of roads that wind throughout the mountainous terrain is a hill climber’s dream come true.…
All of these boxes were found on the road somewhere in Taiwan. If you are unfamiliar with the betel nut take a minute to Google it. If you are interested in these images without the watermark drop me a comment. I don’t chew these nuts…