We were in Taiwan for the whole month of January, but the second half of the month looked very different from the chill family time of the first half, because we spent it biking around Taiwan with our friends Tucker, Max, and Abdulla!
環島 Day 1 | Taichung → Chiayi
98km (98km total) w/ 152m elevation gain
It was the longest ride ever for all of us except for Tucker. Luckily, it was pretty flat ground out of Taichung. So far, the bike trail is pretty stop-and-go with lots of red lights, so it was slow going in some spots.
To quote Tucker’s Strava post, “Riding in Taiwan so far is keeping your head on a swivel to not get tboned by three people on a scooter trying to break the sound barrier, I love it”
Our dinner stop in Chiayi was at the famous (?) “Democracy Turkey Rice”, which is a Chiayi specialty! So delicious. We could have eaten everything.
One of our many, many convenience store lunch stops to come for the trip.
環島 Day 2 | Chiayi → Tainan
80km (178km total) w/ 135m elevation gain
Day 2 was tougher than the first but still not too crazy without any elevation gain to speak of. It got less and less urban as our chosen path ventured through more rural scenery.
Oh yes, our butts were sore. Butts, and also backs and shoulders? We were quickly finding that no matter what position you ride in, some part of you will be sore. And you just… get back on the bike and do it anyway!
Jonny realised he should be taking photos and so he took this 😀
環島 Day 3 | Tainan → Kaohsiung
60km (238km total) w/ 86m elevation gain
Riding out of Tainan we picked a regional bike route along the coast which was glorious, but ended too soon. We soon joined back up with the 1 and it was back to stop-and-go urban traffic light riding.
Max took the train today because his calf was bothering him yesterday and he ultimately decided to end the trip after this day :((((((
Whatever emotional state WW was in, the 7-11 sweet potatoes were always there for her.
Mmmm, co-suckling.
環島 Day 4 | Kaohsiung → Checheng
92km (330km total) w/ 297m elevation gain
After bidding Max farewell after breakfast, we set off for Checheng. This was a difficult day as the further south we got, the more we started to encounter our first few hills! Our ride had long stretches of coastal riding which was beautiful.
Our last group photo as a group of 5 🙁
One of our breaks took us impulsively down to the beach which Tucker was very happy about.
環島 Day 5 | Checheng → Dawu
56km (386km total) w/ 664m elevation gain
Woah boy!!! The big crossing of the central mountain range! It was sloooooow going for the first half of the day as we slogged our way up relentless hills and switchbacks. There were sweeping views to be had, but also lots of huffing and puffing.
It was slow going, until it wasn’t! Our morning slog was rewarded (?) with 12km of downhill. It was exhilarating for some and terrifying for others. It felt a lot like downhill skiing in that it’s fun-scary.
Tucker set off early in the morning to take a different route than us to touch the southern tip of Taiwan in Kenting! It doubled his distance for the day (on hilly terrain no less) and we were all very proud of our boi. He met up with us right before our Big Descent.
How we felt after the Big Descent!
環島 Day 6 | Dawu → Taitung
61km (447km total) w/ 465m elevation gain
We have officially crossed over to the East Coast! Today saw more elevation gain, and I (WW) was so drained from yesterday’s climb that it took almost everything I had to keep going. By this point Jonny is really settling into the daily routine (wake up, eat, sunscreen, ride, snack, ride, lunch, sunscreen, ride, snack, ride, shower, eat, sleep), and loving it.
Today’s ride was almost entirely coastal so we had beautiful views of the Pacific the whole time!
In Taitung we had arrived on the one day of the week that had all regional street food sellers come into town for a huge night market, which was amazing.
A very large radius cleared for the important task of frying chicken.
環島 Day 7 | Taitung → Chishang
47km (474km total) w/ 521m elevation gain
We started the day in sunshine but it ended in heavy clouds and the dreaded headwinds. The second half of the day was grueling riding and it felt like we barely made it to Chishang. Jonny felt like he was on the edge of injury by the end. Definitely prefer hills to wind – at least you feel like you’re making some headway.
WW’s parents also met up with us halfway! We all stayed in Chishang for the night and WW’s parents treated us to a delicious Hakka meal (thank you!!).
環島 Day 8 | Chishang → Ruisui
53km (547km total) w/ 267m elevation gain
The weather is definitely different on the east coast. It’s chillier, cloudier, and windier – which makes sense, as there is nothing shielding us from the full might of the Pacific Ocean on this side of the island. We finally all broke out our cold weather clothes that we’d been questioning the need for up til this point.
It wasn’t as windy as we had expected it to be, and overall the day was smooth! We’re really excited to take a rest day and chill in some hot springs, though tomorrow Abdulla is pushing on to Hualien without us. And 4 becomes 3…
We bought a Chishang Bento to eat instead of our usual 7-11 lunch today! It came in an adorable wooden box and was delicious.
All bundled up!!
On the way to the hot springs in the evening, Abdulla got a staple in his tire and 8 days into the trip, we got our first flat. Tucker was able to patch it up and hopefully it’ll last for the rest of Abdulla’s trip (it did!)
We got ramen at a small shop in town where it was empty except for a table with the owner’s daughter, and after our meal she shyly handed us this drawing. It’s so precious!!
環島 Day 9 | Ruisui
Rest day
Our first real rest day of the trip! We slept in, stretched, went to the hot springs, played Star Realms, napped, had hot pot for dinner, and generally relaxed. It was much, much needed.
環島 Day 10 | Ruisui → Hualien
69km (616km total) w/ 291m elevation gain
At breakfast, we bumped into Ira, a fellow rider who we found out was from Victoria and lived not too far from Tucker! He joined us for the day’s ride to Hualien.
The day felt pretty easy, and we were pretty happy that a ~70km day “felt easy” to us. The rest day had done us good, and we were to have another one in Hualien so we could go see Taroko gorge!
We stopped to try some custard apples and the owner had a very friendly and sweet cat that WW immediately fell in love with.
(Tucker is actually going pretty slow but this photo effect is cool.)
環島 Day 11 | Taroko National Park
Rest day
We took another day off in Hualien to go check out Taroko National Park! We took a train and tourist bus to get there and headed for the Baiyang trail. It was a reasonably short trail but the views were spectacular.
We’d noticed the whole trip that water levels seemed kind of low (we kept taking bridges on our trail that were marked as passing a big swath of blue on the map, only for this massive bridge to pass over rocky terrain with a tiny creek in the middle), and the same was true at the Gorge. We did see some beautiful glacier-esque coloured water, but water levels were generally low.
The Baiyang trail ended in the Water Curtain Cave which was very cool but immediately made us question the structural integrity of the cave that we had willingly stepped foot into.
We also checked out the Tunnel of Nine Turns which was short but also quite striking!
環島 Day 12 | Hualien → Yilan
127km (743km total) w/ 1441m elevation gain
This was a stretch of the Cycling Route #1 that many people decide to skip, but Tucker and Jonny didn’t! (WW decided to skip it and take the train.)
The reason why many people skip this part of the route is because there used to only be one highway in this part of the country, and many of it through long tunnels. Cyclists would have to share the long tunnels and roads with all traffic, including huge tour buses and semi trucks.
Since 2020 though, a new highway has been built, diverting most of the traffic to it. To quote Tucker’s Strava, “The old highway is now home mostly to scooters and masochistic cyclists but it was definitely worth it for the views.”
This day also featured 3 massive climbs and 3 correspondingly thrilling descents – Jonny took WW’s e-bike for the day and by the time he reached Yilan, he had worn the battery down to 1%, something WW had never managed to do on the trip so far!
WW took Jonny’s bike for a cute lil train ride…
…while Tucker and Jonny slogged through long hill climbs. Beautiful views, though!
環島 Day 13 | Yilan → Fulong
49km (792km total) w/ 193m elevation gain
Turns out that most of the way through our trip and right after a rest day is the recipe for making 50km feel super easy and relaxing. It was a bit chilly, but thank god we had no major wind! Jonny was thankful to be back on his own bike again. We ended our day with a very fun 2km ride through an old train tunnel (which has been converted into a bike/walk path).
Tunnel vibes
環島 Day 14 | Fulong → Taipei
69km (861km total) w/ 676m elevation gain
Our final day!! We decided to plan our day to stop at Jiufen Old Street for lunch. There were a few sections where the traffic was a bit scary to navigate, and it was cloudy for most of our morning. But as we ascended the humongous hill past the old gold mine to Jiufen (the old market on top of the hill) the sun came out to cheer us on. We had a very fun (for some of us) descent after lunch which some of us managed to time perfectly to not get stuck behind the tour buses.
As we reach the Taipei area navigation got a lot trickier, and we started feeling the mixed emotions that come along with reaching the end of such a large task. Needless to say we were very proud of ourselves!
Jiufen Old Street
The stream downriver from the gold mine
We finally finished!!! We were all very proud of ourselves for accomplishing this amazing physical challenge. It was kind of nice to put life on pause for a bit and single-mindedly pursue our goal of finishing the tour, all while spending precious time with our friends.
After returning our bikes, we spent a night in Taipei chilling and eating at the night market before Jonny & WW headed down to Taichung to pack up all of their stuff. Tucker decided to spend the day completing his Taiwan loop by riding 200km in one day (!!) riding down to meet us in Taichung. We all headed back up to Taipei the next day.
We spent the few days chilling, playing lots of Star Realms, and celebrating Tucker’s birthday at Dintaifung, the Botanical Gardens, and by chugging sake bombs for free dumplings.
And… that’s the end of our bike trip recap! It was difficult, rewarding, and we were so happy to be able to do it with our friends. For more photos, check out this post. Next up, we’re heading to China!
Did you know that you can comment on this blog? We’d love to hear from you so that we don’t feel like we’re shouting into the void… (thank you to everyone who has already been adding comments, we love seeing them!) 😀
Sounds like an awesome adventure with great memories made!! 😁
it really was <3 miss you!!!
- WW
_hell_ yeah
really nice post! really nice trip! i can hear the hopping-onto-the-bike-again groans of day 2 like i was there 😂
biking around crete was the most satisfying trip i’ve ever taken, and i think we were only doing ~40km days on average. kudos to you guys for committing to 14 days of 60!
i was in nz for 2 weeks recently and we drove around a lot (too much) to see all my family… never again. next time we’re gonna plan an accessible bike trip and get the family to join us!
it’s exciting and empowering to realize that these sorts of trips don’t have to be one-off things that we check off a list and then never do again. if they’re so memorable and satisfying, make them the new default!
lots of love to you all <3
love you and miss you lots!! would love to hear about your nz trip. we’re thinking of planning our trip there soon 😀
– WW