Hi all,
I have planned to visit Taiwan coming April 23rd to May 7th for round island cycling and would like to ask if there’s any experienced cycling guide recommendation? Would like to engage a cycling guide (excl accom/ support car etc) as we are concerned about getting lost due to our mediocre Chinese (able to converse in Mandarin but mostly unable to read Chinese well).
Thanks in advance for your replies 
Regards,
Andrienne
Hey - no, you won’t get lost. At worst you might take a few wrong turns, but if you can speak a bit of Mandarin there’s usually folk to ask.
There are plenty of threads on in this section about touring in Taiwan, but do post if you have any more questions.
[quote=“andriennelam”]Hi all,
I have planned to visit Taiwan coming April 23rd to May 7th for round island cycling and would like to ask if there’s any experienced cycling guide recommendation? Would like to engage a cycling guide (excl accom/ support car etc) as we are concerned about getting lost due to our mediocre Chinese (able to converse in Mandarin but mostly unable to read Chinese well).
Thanks in advance for your replies
Regards,
Andrienne[/quote]
Are you taking the trip alone or with a group? I ask this because doing the trip alone, paying for a support car would be very very expensive. However, if you’re in a group, everyone can split the costs.
You can contact Giant or Merida here in Taiwan and they have support cars available. I hear no bad things about anyone who has gone on a trip with Giant. Make sure you get in contact with them ASAP. The time you’re coming is the perfect weather conditions for around the island tours due to the good temperatures around the island.
You can also try Win Bike https://www.facebook.com/winbike168/?fref=ts
I have never used them and do not know if they speak any English, but some people do highly recommend them.
If you have a phone with mobile data, you can’t really get lost. If you don’t have mobile data, bring a map, do some sign language with a local and I bet they’d be more than happy to help. You probably won’t be the only people on the road at that time.
There’s tons of threads here that talk about around the island as well as small bits of the routes. Just gotta do some digging.
[quote=“Nuit”]Hey - no, you won’t get lost. At worst you might take a few wrong turns, but if you can speak a bit of Mandarin there’s usually folk to ask.
There are plenty of threads on in this section about touring in Taiwan, but do post if you have any more questions.[/quote]
Thanks for your reply. I will do more homework when time permits on the round island cycling. I am just worried that i dont know how to get out of Taipei City to Sanxia Old Stress. I actually got ther 2014 English round island cycling guide from the Taiwan Ministry of Tourism but am still not comfortable hence I thought of getting a cycling tour guide.
[quote=“ranlee”]Are you taking the trip alone or with a group? I ask this because doing the trip alone, paying for a support car would be very very expensive. However, if you’re in a group, everyone can split the costs.
You can contact Giant or Merida here in Taiwan and they have support cars available. I hear no bad things about anyone who has gone on a trip with Giant. Make sure you get in contact with them ASAP. The time you’re coming is the perfect weather conditions for around the island tours due to the good temperatures around the island.
You can also try Win Bike https://www.facebook.com/winbike168/?fref=ts
I have never used them and do not know if they speak any English, but some people do highly recommend them.
If you have a phone with mobile data, you can’t really get lost. If you don’t have mobile data, bring a map, do some sign language with a local and I bet they’d be more than happy to help. You probably won’t be the only people on the road at that time.
There’s tons of threads here that talk about around the island as well as small bits of the routes. Just gotta do some digging.[/quote]
Thanks for your reply. Contacted Giant but to customise a tour on the dates we wanted, it is actually quite expensive for 7 of us as they would prefer to have a min 15 to go trip. Have not tried Merida tho because I cant find any info on Merida organising such ride.
I guess the first thing to do when we reach Taiwan is to get data plan for our phone and perfects follow the strava round island route for safety purpose
I will try my best to do some digging around here and many thanks again for your detailed reply! Appreciate it loads.
I completely forgot about In Motion Asia
A few cycling buddies know them well, so you shouldn’t have an issue finding someone that speaks English, however, I’m not sure if they can accommodate your travel days. Good luck!
If you have Garmins or any kind of GPS unit that you can input a GPX file into. Make sure you use that option!
Best way(in my opinion) to stay on course is to map your route on Strava and input the file into your GPS unit.
[quote=“ranlee”]I completely forgot about In Motion Asia
A few cycling buddies know them well, so you shouldn’t have an issue finding someone that speaks English, however, I’m not sure if they can accommodate your travel days. Good luck!
If you have Garmins or any kind of GPS unit that you can input a GPX file into. Make sure you use that option!
Best way(in my opinion) to stay on course is to map your route on Strava and input the file into your GPS unit.[/quote]
Inmotion will be more expensive than Giant. Inmotion specialize in “bespoke” adventure travel, it doesn’t come cheap but for sure you get a bang for your buck.
With seven of you just go for it…wear matching kit maybe with a comic theme, you will garner plenty of attention. People here are very friendly so even in the event of a serious mechanical you’ll have folks offering you rides to the nearest town.
If you have a smartphone with GPS then you won’t really get lost. Cycling in Taiwan is really, really easy especially if you speak basic Mandarin.
But whatever you do definitely do not cycle down Hwy 1 (not the tollway 1) in western Taiwan. I regularly host cyclists on warmshowers.com (like couchsurfing but for cyclists) and they always cycle through the urban hell/blight of western Taiwan because they don’t know any better. Hwy 3 in general is an excellent road that gets you away from the worst of the urban hell and doesn’t kill you with too many hills/mountains.
Hi Adrienne,
I did it two weeks ago - by myself, but I met lots of cyclists along the way doing the same thing, going in either direction.
It’s a piece of cake.
I know only about 60 words in Mandarin and can’t pronounce half of those. You should be fine.
I just looked at Google maps before I went, noted a few road numbers and took off.
I don’t have a cell phone either. I bought a Taiwan map, at the stationery store before I went and that was enough for me.
Taipei to Kenting in 4 days
I rode from Taoyuan to Xindian to Yilan to Su’ao the first day. Hotel NT$700
Took a train to Hualien the 2nd day to avoid the infamous Su’ao tunnels (really good idea)
Rode from Hualien to Shihtiping about 75kms from 1pm to 5pm the 2nd day. Found a hotel room, no problem. NT $3600 split 3 ways - I met 2 cyclists that day
3rd day rode to Taitung. 95lms, 9am-3:30pm stopped for a hot lunch in Chenggong I think. Hotel in Taitung NT $2000
4th day Taitung to Kenting 135kms before sunset. Camped at local school, FREE. No problem. CNY I had a bag and pad with me. No tent.
Then after hanging out in Kenting for the day I decided to Catch the bus back to Taoyuan and maybe ride the West coast another time, just how I felt. I was back in Taoyuan that night about 9:30pm
A KuoKauang bus company ticket cost me NT $367 plus a half price ticket NT $180 for the bike. Just removed pedals, turned down the bars and lowered the saddle. Removed the front wheel and it went in the bus luggage compartment underneath with no problem. (in case you need to bail out) I had to change buses in Kaohsiung that’s all.
THe east coast was scenic and good riding for the most part. It was narrow in some sections and there were a few kms of roadworks to deal with.
[quote=“Abacus”]If you have a smartphone with GPS then you won’t really get lost. Cycling in Taiwan is really, really easy especially if you speak basic Mandarin.
But whatever you do definitely do not cycle down Hwy 1 (not the tollway 1) in western Taiwan. I regularly host cyclists on warmshowers.com (like couchsurfing but for cyclists) and they always cycle through the urban hell/blight of western Taiwan because they don’t know any better. Hwy 3 in general is an excellent road that gets you away from the worst of the urban hell and doesn’t kill you with too many hills/mountains.[/quote]
Hi sorry for the late reply as I have been tied up with trying to finish my work before commencing my leave in Taiwan 
Will take note of this and yes, my first day will be going through Highway No. 1.
Roughly my cycle trip would be like this as per the guide book:-
Day 1 (24 April)
Taipei - Sanxia - Daxi Old Street - Shimen - Guanxi - City God Temple <81km>
(Highway 3 - Highway 118)
Day 2 (25 April)
Hsinchu - Zhunan - Houlong - Tongxiao - Yuanli - Dajia - Qingshui - Shalu - Taichung <100km>
(Expressway 61 - Highway 2 - Highway 12)
Day 3 (26 April)
Taichung - Changhua - Yuanlin - Beidou - Xiluo - Dounan - Minxiong - Chiayi <94.3km>
(Highway 1)
Day 4 (27 April)
Chiayi - Shuishang - Xinying - Linfengying - Longtian - Shanhua - Yongkang - Tainan - Gangshan - Kaohsiung <115km>
(Highway 1)
Day 5 (28 April)
Kaohsiung - Xiaogang - Donggang - Jiadong - Fangliao - Fangshan - Fenggang - Checheng <87km>
(Highway 1)
Day 6 (29 April)
Checheng - Mudan - Shouka - Daren, Taitung - Dawu - Jinlun - Taimali - Zhiben - Taitung City <115km>
(Highway 199 - Highway 26 - Highway 11)
[Note: most of us will most likely skip from Checheng to Dawu because of Shouka climb as we are quite amateurs except for 2 or 3 of them who will be continuing on with the journey. Would like to know if it’s possible to take the train from Checheng to Dawu with our bikes on train as I have tried searching and note that there’s no direct train service from Checheng to Dawu]
Day 7 (30 April)
Taitung City - Chulu - Luye - Guanshan - Chishang - Fuli - Yuli <85km>
(Highway 9)
Day 8 (1 May)
Yuli - Ruisui - Fuyuan - Hualien Sugar Refinery - Fenglin - Fngtian - Zhixue - Jian - Hualien City <88km>
(Highway 9)
Day 9 (2 May)
Rest day - visit Tarako Gorge in cab :discodance:
Day 10 (3 May)
Hualien to Wuling - Hualien Train Station - Suao New Train Station - Dongshan - Luodong - Yilan - Jiaoxi <from Suao new train station onwards 29km>
[Note: only one of us has got the experience of cycling up the mountains/hills in Malaysia, where we come from and hence we are currently scouting for support car just for this leg, to support him and bring him down when he is done with Wuling and we will proceed to Hualien Train Station thereafter or change it to the next day if he is too tired. Also, is the cold spring at Su’ao worth to visit?]
Day 11 (4 May)
Jiao - Beiyi (Taipei - Yilan) Provincial Highway - Shipai - Pinglin Tea Museum - Xiaogetou - Bitan - Xindian - Taipei City
Day 12 to Day 14 (5 - 7 May)
Free an easy round Taipei
[quote=“mathpro”]Hi Adrienne,
I did it two weeks ago - by myself, but I met lots of cyclists along the way doing the same thing, going in either direction.
It’s a piece of cake.
I know only about 60 words in Mandarin and can’t pronounce half of those. You should be fine.
I just looked at Google maps before I went, noted a few road numbers and took off.
I don’t have a cell phone either. I bought a Taiwan map, at the stationery store before I went and that was enough for me.
Taipei to Kending in 4 days
I rode from Taoyuan to Xindian to Yilan to Su’ao the first day. Hotel NT$700
Took a train to Hualian the 2nd day to avoid the infamous Su’ao tunnels (really good idea)
Rode from Hualian to Shihtiping about 75kms from 1pm to 5pm the 2nd day. Found a hotel room, no problem. NT $3600 split 3 ways - I met 2 cyclists that day
3rd day rode to Taidong. 95lms, 9am-3:30pm stopped for a hot lunch in Chenggong I think. Hotel in Taidong NT $2000
4th day Taidong to Kending 135kms before sunset. Camped at local school, FREE. No problem. CNY I had a bag and pad with me. No tent.
Then after hanging out in Kending for the day I decided to Catch the bus back to Taoyuan and maybe ride the West coast another time, just how I felt. I was back in Taoyuan that night about 9:30pm
A KuoKauang bus company ticket cost me NT $367 plus a half price ticket NT $180 for the bike. Just removed pedals, turned down the bars and lowered the saddle. Removed the front wheel and it went in the bus luggage compartment underneath with no problem. (in case you need to bail out) I had to change buses in Kaohsiung that’s all.
THe east coast was scenic and good riding for the most part. It was narrow in some sections and there were a few kms of roadworks to deal with.
[/quote]
Thanks for the heads up! Very informative and great to know that buses take in bicycle but I am unsure if we could dismantle it and put it back properly as we are renting bikes here in Taiwan 
But yes, I cant wait to go on this trip as it is sort of my YOLO moment when i signed on this trip 
If I was you. I would do nothing on day 9 and just sit in your hostel and sip some tea and coffee. You’re going to need the energy and rest, especially after that many km’s behind you.
As for a support car, try gettig in contact with these guys https://www.facebook.com/winbike168/
I am not sure if they speak any English though and I have never used them myself, so I’m not sure what the cost or how their customer service is. However, many locals use their service.