Hey everyone, while I’m still brainstorming my goals for 2023, feel free to share yours!
With borders opening up everywhere, I bet some of you guys will be looking to come here to Taiwan or travel abroad as riding goals. One thing is quite sure, we will get to see some pros in the year end KOM event and it’s going to be your best year ever.
My goal: start cycling.
Keeping it simple like @Dr_Milker a few years back, you may be a step ahead since you don’t have a flat tire.
The old air pump is leaky. May need to get a new one…
My son will be visiting in March, hope to cycle together in Japan.
Fly to Osaka cycle to Kyoto, stay there for a bit and probably train back to Osaka.
No definite plans made yet.
Also see if he can bring a couple of old steel frames with him, lot cheaper in U.K. I can restore.
Cycle around Lake Biwa, beautiful. And sooo many small mountain roads in that area, you will like it.
Yes visited that recently, enormous lake take some time to cycle it!
My son will feel comfortable riding on the correct side of the road.
I don’t make new year goals or promises. But I want to do a 200 km ride and also ride to Wuling. Beyond that, I don’t know, just ride.
Hell yeah. Sweet, simple and achievable! Good luck! I think there’s a few threads on Wuling in the sub-forum. Take a look or start your own thread if you need tips and tricks!
For 200km ride, I would highly suggest Provisional Highway 3 (台3) down to Taichung (from Taipei). It’s a tough one with constant rolling hills, but it’s a bit more scenic and before April, you got tailwind. Pack a bike bag with you and it’s a 40-60 min HSR back to Taipei when you’re finished.
On the flip side, you can also head east towards Yilan through the No.5 or consider the No.9 all the way down to Luodong. Not entirely sure of the total distance, but you can always ride until you hit your mark and hop on a train back to Taipei.
I anticipate having less time to ride this year, so if I can stay around my 2022 stats I’ll be happy. I had 3 bouts of road rash in 2022, so keeping the bike upright and staying injury-free is at the top of my goal list.
I’m also hoping to get a 160km ride done at some point. And since I’m still in the honeymoon period with cycling and (for better or worse) trying to pedal faster up hills, I hope to improve on my FZD (FengGuiZui) time 
Er… Ride more than in 2022. Which is a very easy goal.
I haven’t decided yet. The first route I designed in Komoot is Tamsui-Changhua through huandao1, which is a bit over 200 km. It’s flat and with tailwind should be quite doable. But I’m worried about the traffic, traffic lights, crossroads and uglyness. As a positive note, it runs alongside the railway, so plenty of opportunities to chicken out and come back.
Huandao1-2 (through provintial 3) is definitely more hilly, but it goes through some interesting villages. In this case, Taichung station will be enough to reach the 200 km mark. How’s the traffic there?
Wuling is scaring
Just thought about something that can make as a good goal for me. Living in Tamsui, I am about in the limit of rain. To the north, east and up to the mountains and it is raining, or at least wet. But to the south, it may be fine.
So, I´ll try to trust more the precipitation map when I wake up in the mornings to see how’s the weather. Because many times what I see from the window is a wet street and maybe some light rain, while what I can see in the map is that downwards it should be dry. Usually, I decide to go back to the bed, but I’ll try to change that if the map looks promising to the south.
I think Huandao 1 takes you through Taichung, which isn’t fun and has lots of traffic. I would probably do something like this and ride straight to Taichung HSR after you’ve gone past the entirety of Taichung port.
I would highly recommend the window of now to April and the end of the year if you want tail wind. Also, starting at around 3-4AM. You’ll arrive in Taichung before noon and on a weekend, traffic should not be that bad.
It gets busy at certain points like Zhudong and Daxi (near the reservoir) but really not that bad if you start early. I would argue it’s tough to get from Danshui to where most people start in Ding Pu. This is a time where it’s worth to hop on the MRT and transfer over to the blue line to the terminal stop. I may actually give it a try next weekend if weather holds up.
I’ve been up there a handful of times for races and with friends. It’s scary everytime.
It doesn’t. And I wouldn’t want it. But it goes through Taichung Port 
My last company was in Changhua, so going there by bike can be a fun challenge. And if taking the bike into the HSR implies a bike bag and some disassembling, I might just take a regular train back from Changhua. The route via provintial 3 almost dicards the Changhua option, because I don’t think I would like to ride any of the potential routes to Changhua from the 3.
Few months ago I went cycling with a mate and his friend came with us, he told us he agreed to do a 200 km ride with a group, was not a big cyclist before he came to Taiwan and had been cycling here for a year.
First 100 Km 3hours 10 mins, second 100 Km 6 hours 30 mins 
West Coast! good choice if you want to fall out of love with Taiwan and leave it for good. It’s so fucking ugly that a trip there can make you that and give you cancer at the same time.
My goal was to stop being cold in my feet and legs. Went and bought long biking pants and shoe covers. What a difference. Yes the shoe covers look silly but I don’t care, my feet are WARM.
I’m quite jealous you’ve already completed your 2023 cycling goals in under 96 hours 
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I am with you on not liking cold feet, it really puts a damper on your ride when you can’t feel anything past your ankles. This year was one of the first winters in which I have been riding outside in the cold and invested in two pairs of merino socks to support my shoe covers. They have made all the difference.
Do you recommend facebook marketplace for secondhand bikes? What should i look out for? Thinking about getting a gravel bike but it’s gonna be mostly for commuting. I just prefer the ride feel.
