I’m moving back to Taiwan at the end of this month and while I’ve been living in the States I got into road cycling and amateur racing. So far it seems that there isn’t much in the way of organized categorized races, mostly challenges or fun rides. Most of the fun rides seem to top off at 100k, which is sort of just a standard weekend ride in my book. I typically cycle around 300k/wk and around 3000m.
I was wondering what the racing scene is in Taiwan, especially Kaohsiung area. Where would one go about looking for clubs to ride?
I tried looking up information at http://cycling.org.tw but it seems that most of the information there is from last year, or a couple years ago, not many updates.
Okay, apparently I was going to http://cyclist.org.tw, which is the now defunct site. Apparently http://cycling.org.tw is the site with the ride calendars available and updated. I’ll spend some more time looking at these, but it looks like there are some activities coming to Kaohsiung. Still would be grateful for any information about categorized races, the category system used in Taiwan, etc.
Ranley can probably fill you in better than I can. There’s not a great racing scene here and there’s issues getting road rights that make real racing problematic. Figure on a few big race events in the year but lots of sportifs. Your best bet in Kaohsiung is to figure out where people ride (ask at bike shops) and then try and introduce yourself to any elite-ish looking riders you come across while riding. Most local clubs don’t even run pace lines on their group rides. These guys are reasonably serious looking https://www.facebook.com/FLYING71R 130k weekend rides plus some night training.
Unfortunately, I do not know much about the Kaohsiung racing or competitive scene. When I say that, I mean I know nothing.
Your best bet is to use Strava Heatmaps. Check where everyone is going out for their rides and head out that way. Strike up a conversation with a local and see where you can go from there.
Another good way to is to visit shops. Get to know the LBS owner or mechanic, you might need their help in the future for some non DIY jobs, so it a double win.
I wouldn’t overlook the challenge races. Some people do take them pretty seriously, but of course they’re more like sportivs than anything else. How I see them is, cheaper registration fee and also some of the races take you all around Taiwan, it’s my excuse to travel domestically.
As for races, there’s a few more competitive races (yes, races, not challenges) throughout the year including the Wuling Cup, which is the Puli --> He Huan Shan route and Tataja which is Puli to Jade Mountain. Both of these races see the big sponsored teams come out. However, we all know the biggest race of the year is the Taiwan KOM.
I race for a team here in Tainan. The race scene (such as there is a race scene of any consequence right now) is very different to the UK. No categories for riders, aside from age groups.
I have in-laws in Kaohsiung, so I am often down there and will ride Sat or Sun am if nothing else on the agenda. Would be happy to hook up for a ride on which I can let you have my take on what you can expect to find here.