Taiwan is often overlooked as a biking destination but contains some of the gnarliest riding and scenery on the planet! I live here and would like to share some photos of my backyard.
One of my favorite MTB trails is called the NengGao, perfect high altitude single track that starts at 200m, takes you up to 3000m before bombing down to an incredible 1100m!
We recently completed a 10 day / 800km road bike tour from Taipei in the North of Taiwan all the way to Kenting in the South. Awesome riding, stunning scenery and one of the best trips I have done in my life! http://www.flickr.com/photos/inmotionasia/sets/72157603813313078/
Whenever we visit my wife's family there I always do a little local riding. Even just the little trails near her town are fantastic. Once you get out of the big cities it's truly a gorgeous country (hence the Portuguese name "Ilha formosa" = beautiful island) and has terrain to match almost anything I've seen in the U.S.
(BTW -- for any roadies there's also some fantastic road riding, right near Taipei if you're there for business or something)
How about this....start high up in the central mountain range at 2000m, climb 13km - 3.5 hours up to 3000m through epic mountain vistas, turn around and bomb down to just above 1200m - 2.5hrs on single track - rough rocky sections, pine covered trails and mountain roads to a hot spring finish and beers
Going to Taiwan for only 5days next week. Staying in hotel in Taipei.
Any recommendations? Places that are a "Must see"? Either from a cycling standpoint, or even just that of a typical tourist??? I unfortunately will not have a bike with me this time....
Going to Taiwan for only 5days next week. Staying in hotel in Taipei.
Any recommendations? Places that are a "Must see"? Either from a cycling standpoint, or even just that of a typical tourist??? I unfortunately will not have a bike with me this time....
Thanks.
Man, I've really got to get back here in the near future, but with my bike! :thumbsup: Very beautiful. I guess it would just come down to deciding which bike to bring.
Also, I've got to say.... I'm in Taipei at the moment... pretty crazy, more so than expected! I thought Tokyo was crowded, haha. Yeah, it's pretty packed here too, and fairly chaotic at times. Those damned scooters, ALL over the place, wow! Biking in the city is not easy. Public transportation here in Taipei is phenomenal though.
And completely surprising to me is the incredible lack of bicycle use here (based on my very short and limited experience here anyway...). For being one of the world capitals of bicycle manufacturing, I can't believe there aren't more here.
You don't even see many of the trendy fixed gear riders around town that seem to have invaded the worlds' cities. Nor millions of granny bikes like in many other countries, which is kind of what I unconciously expected.
Gorgeous photos. Thanks for showing that side of Taiwan. I am married to a Taiwanese woman. At the time we were in school together and dating, I wasn't as into mountain biking as I am now. Interesting how things work out. Next time we go I plan to do some heavy bicycle touring, maybe even visit a factory if we can.
That area around Taroko Gorge is beyond amazing. All that Marble and cliffs that are so tall they seem to invert towards the sky above your head... and the area that makes the shape of the island of Taiwan in the sky... hard to explain but impressive beyond words I guess.
Remember doing the tourist thing around Chufun (sp?) and it was beautiful as well. Had bad weather, but almost made the views that much more epic...
I'd love to go back again in the near future. More to see.
I am in Kaohsiung for the next 7 weeks. Can you recommend any trails in the area, and (more importantly) a shop that will rent a trail-worthy bike? thanks.
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