Taiwan Cycling Trail is about to happen！The “2012 Taiwan Bicycle Festival” will be held from November 10 to 18. In addition to the competitive Taiwan King of the Mountain Cycling Challenge, there will be relay cycling tours around the island by ten groups, including an EMBA team from mainland China, disability groups, women from Hsinchu Science Park, representatives over the age of 55, as well as cross-island cycling tours and leisure bike rides combined with travel.
Ride across Taiwan！Spanning eight days, the Taiwan Bicycle Festival will feature activities every day, with direct participation expected to exceed ten thousand people. 2010 Tour de France King of the Mountains Anthony Charteau, 2011 Tour de France Combativity Award winner Jérôme Pineau, and this year’s Giro d’Italia King of the Mountains Matteo Rabottini will all come to Taiwan to take part in the King of the Mountain Cycling Challenge.
Liu Xilin, Deputy Director-General of the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, said that some say there are three things every Taiwanese person should do in their lifetime: climb Yushan, swim across Sun Moon Lake with tens of thousands of others, and cycle around the island. These extreme challenges not only test endurance and physical strength, but a full island loop also takes five to seven days. The King of the Mountain Cycling race, which starts at sea level at Qixingtan in Hualien and climbs to 3,275 meters at Hehuanshan, is a unique global extreme challenge.
If you’re not a professional cyclist, no problem—you can join the Taiwan Cross-Island Cycling Tour, riding from downtown Hualien to Taroko’s Tianxiang, or cycle around Sun Moon Lake, covering just over 30 kilometers a day. Alternatively, you can join a King of the Mountain spectator group or fan club to enjoy both travel and the race.
In addition, the governments of Yilan County, Hualien County, and Taitung County, as well as national scenic area administrations such as the Tourism Bureau’s Sun Moon Lake, Northeast Coast, Huatung Valley, and East Coast National Scenic Areas, are also hosting a variety of cycling tourism events. Examples include the Yilan Birdwatching Cycling Tour, the East Coast Tribal Slow Cycling Adventure, the Connected East Coast Tour, and the Taiwan Cycling Trail │ Sun Moon Lake Cycling Event.
“Cycling around the island is actually the first step in fulfilling a life dream！” said Liu Xilin. This year’s Taiwan Bicycle Festival has designed the “Ride to Encounter Formosa” event, inviting ten groups—including female representatives, disability groups, senior representatives, Rotary Clubs, couples, a Japanese group, visitors from mainland China and Hong Kong/Macao, an EMBA team from mainland China, indigenous peoples, and the Bicycle Exporters Association—to set off simultaneously from nine representative locations across Taiwan on November 10. They will cycle around the island on a nine-day, eight-night cycling tour.