Cycling Typhoon Alley

adminFTG — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 13:07:22 +0000

Cycling toward the northwest coast of Taiwan from Hsinchu City, it was the first time I faced the wrath of the worst winds of the Taiwan Straight. I stopped several times, not so much to rest or take a picture but to brace myself behind something – a concrete railing or a roadsign; the crosswind threatened to blow me right across the pavement and into the passing traffic.

For the very reason typhoons travel south between the China mainland and Taiwan, the locals dubbed the Taiwan Straight the Typhoon Alley; and the nickname nails the meaning.

Large wind farms fed by abundant coastal winds frame the views of the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straight. Powerful winds batter wide river estuaries and coastal inlets south from Toufen City and across the entire Maoli County. Cycling here sure offers a unique experience.

As long as I rode south along the coast, I no longer had to face headwind or crosswind and instead became propelled by a strong tailwind, often reaching speeds over 50 km/hour doing no pedaling at all.

Alas, beware, it’s not easy cycling! As long as the wind blows in the same direction as the road, it’s cyclist’s heaven. But if the road meanders or the wind changes course, watch out as you can’t easily steer the bike accordingly, and slowing down and stopping isn’t too easy either.

Cycling Taiwan

adminFTG — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 21:27:54 +0000

From Taroko Gorge to Taipei 101, the Mazu festivals and pilgrimage temples, recognized by UNESCO as a world intangible or living heritage, Taiwan has become popular for an endless variety of incredible food, and as of last also a world-class cycling destination on account of having popularized cycling to the masses.
Born of the love for cycling and a cycling network of local bike routes, Taiwan created Cycling Route No. 1. as the route of choice for most to circumnavigate the island.
Cycling Taiwan is a full-color travel pictorial, a photo-essay, a documentary, and a guidebook with all the info you need to set out on much the same journey around Taiwan as the author did.
It follows a counterclockwise route around the island, first cycling south from Taipei along the West Coast. Propelled by the powerful winds of the Typhoon Alley and visiting Taiwan’s colorful temples at Hsinchu, Daijia, Lukang, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, you ride to the southernmost point of Taiwan. Turning north, you traverse the southern mountains en route to the East Coast and up from there you ride back to Taipei.
Written by an avid cyclist and a photographer, with many cycling guides to his name, an adventure and cultural travel professional with an architectural background and four decades of travel throughout Asia and the rest of the world, Cycling Taiwan provides an insightful background for a richer and more rewarding travel experience on this extraordinary island.
Containing 472 photographs with informative narrative and captions, cycling details of route stages and distances, a list of accommodations, and the route-related GPX cycling tracks you can download, the book promises to entice any intrepid or armchair traveler.Above all, this is not only a cycling tour pictorial of Taiwan but also a visual appetizer to Taiwan’s mind-boggling variety of food as nowhere else you can say “Ride to Eat” and “Eat to Ride” has as much meaning as in Taiwan!

PDF version download page available here.

The paperback version is available on Amazon.

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Cycling Typhoon Alley

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