Biking Taiwan: Linkou-林口 to Taichung-台中 and around

Crazy biking Michael strikes again!

This time it’s Linkou-林口 to Taichung-台中 or bust. Actually flat, a mostly flat 152 kilometers with 950 meters of climbing last Friday.

This ride was kept very straightforward as it was considered a personal challenge to see if I could ride that long and that far. After 6 hours and 43 minutes of riding, I pulled into Michael Turton’s place in Taichung with an overall average of 22.5 kph.

During my first three hours of riding, I managed 25 kph. Now 25 kph isn’t all that fast, but considering I was going into the wind almost the entire time, I think it’s a decent pace for a first trial ride at pace, yet comfortable breathing.

This pace means I have a very good chance to complete the 1-day 200 kilometer Neverstop challenge this September in a timely manner. I’ll begin concentrating on more 80 to 120 kilometer rides with hill climbs in the 1,000 to 3,000 meter range now.

Staying with Michael and his family in Taichung was quite enjoyable and they treated me well the whole time. Bummer to you folks that haven’t gone down to visit him and family.

Michael’s place is decently located for getting rides on the flats and into hills in. With the heat over the weekend, we both took an easy on our rides. Saturday stayed flat and casual exploring one of the new bike trails between Taichung and Fengyuan for 32 kilometers.

On Sunday, we rode to breakfast and then onto the hills behind his place that wondered around the mushroom farms up there. In coming down, we took one of the longer, steeper roads that I’ve seen in Taiwan down. I’m looking forward to going back up that way. All said for Sunday, we rode 50 kilometers.

Sunday afternoon, Michael dropped me off at the Taichung train station. Though I was in time to catch an express back to Taoyuan-桃園, I wanted to take my bike with me. So 3 hours later, after walking around and seeing the seedier parts of downtown Taichung, I choo-chooed away.

Once in Taoyuan, I put my bike accessories back on and rode furiously, in the dark, up onto the Linkou plateau, into the wind… Stupid wind… I’m looking into aero bars now.

I rode 250 kilometers for the weekend. How about yourself?

Help Me Please

Suggestions for a 1-day 200 kilometer round trip around Taipei with over 2,000 meters of hill climbing are welcome. Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Take Your Bike on the Train Note

If you want to take your bike with you on the train, visit baggage services first to get them to let you know which train will work. After that, pay for your bike shipping. Then go to the ticket counter and get a rider ticket for the same train that you’ve already paid bike transportation for. The information services and ticket agents don’t have a clue which trains can take bikes or not. They sadly say “no can do” too fast.

Bike route Linkou-林口 to Taichung-台中

Written by Michael Cannon

Peichi’s man, adventurous water rat & operations guy who’s living simply, roaming about & smiling more.

Michael has written 383 awesome posts on Peimic.com.

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