I plan to get a new road bike in Taipei, and trying to figure out what I should bring with me from US, specifically for road biking. I travel to Taipei soon.
I use clipless shoes in US with Wahoo Speedplay Pedals. My current thinking is to bring the shoes and pedals with me. However:
Since I plan to stay in central Taipei, I was hoping to carry my road-bike on MRT to get somewhere out to bike. Can’t walk in my bike shoes with carbon sole and cleats… So, am I better off with flats? Or how do you folks deal with this?
Secondly, are there active Facebook (or other) groups for road bikers? To exchange tips with locals and perhaps find fellow riders? (My Chinese is intermediate).
Biking shoes? I’ll take regular shoes. I can only wear flip-flops here because I have large feet. I have deformed my feet try to slip into Taiwanese size shoes.
US size 11 kind of thick. Where can I find a good selection of shoes biking shoes or regular shoes. I’m in the deep South.
Kaoshiung would be acceptable.
If it’s mail order I need one with a good return policy because I often go through several pairs of shoes trying to get a fit in the shoe store.
Taipei can look intimidating at first, but cycling around is surprisingly convenient. Lots of mountain roads are literally at the borders of the city, and a riverside path is usually not far from wherever you are. I only have taken the metro a few times, when I wanted to ride areas far from home and I wanted to avoid long riverside commutes.
I use SPD shoes with Shimano PD-ES600 pedals. I never walk long distances, but I just want to be able to walk more comfortably if required.
I walk in my cleats when I’m riding to ride, even if using the MRT to get across the city. If I’m riding to get from point A to B in regular street clothes, I have a set of these I put on and use regular shoes:
I don’t know if they work with the new Wahoo versions of the design, probably.
Following up on this: one issue with the MRT is that cycling via riverside paths is often going to take around the same time as taking the MRT. It can certainly save you energy, but it’s often not going to save you much time. Plus there are weekday time restrictions (only allowed 10am-4pm), you can’t take some lines, and transfers can be a hassle.
And to be honest I’ve sometimes felt rather guilty after a ride, stinking up the train car. Weighing the physical discomfort of another 90 minutes in the saddle vs the psychological discomfort of inflicting my sweatiness upon others … it’s a tough call for me!
Speak for yourself, @ranlee Us mortals want to save all of our energy for the climbs and taking the MRT is vital for saving energy.
Don’t sweat it (pun intended)! Everyone is masked. Plus, the AC dries you up in no time. If you’re still worried, just park yourself in the handicapped corner.
If you use Strava or other cycling routing software/app, try to play around with some routes from where you will be living. As ranlee mentioned being in Taipei is pretty convenient to get to mountains to the north and east.
Ahh yes south-east has quite a bit as well…but I’m still too much of a noob have have given that route a try. But from how you describe it…I might need to delve into that ‘pain’ one of these days.
Plus, the AC dries you up in no time. If you’re still worried, just park yourself in the handicapped corner.