David on Formosa

Lonely Planet author Robert Kelly has written a great article about Taiwan’s tourism potential in the latest Taiwan Journal. He notes the increasing number of tourists to Taiwan, mainly from Asia. He also points out that niche tourism such as hiking and bird watching is attracting more visitors. Another interesting article, from Reuters correspondent Ralph [...]

Taipei Cycle 2009 is now on at the Nangang Exhibition Centre. In the middle of the exhibition hall on the fourth floor were all the big names in cycling: Giant, Merida, Dahon, Campagnolo, Shimano and SRAM. Elsewhere there were all sorts of bicycles, accessories and activities. I visited the show yesterday and my report and [...]

The Tour de Taiwan finished with a criterium around the Taipei City Hall today. The race was ridden in chilly conditions with the mercury hovering around 11°C. Polish rider Jezowski Krzysztof of the Merida Europe Team was the overall winner  after snatching the lead on the final stage. Australian Peter McDonald of Drapac Porsche held [...]

Today I went to check out Taipei City’s new public bike rental system which is marketed under the name U-bike. The system is currently operating at five stations in the Xinyi Special District (信義特區). Six more stations will open on 11 April and there are plans to extend the system further after that. Taipei is [...]

The weekend of cycling began on Saturday when I rode down from Taipei to Hukou for the Blogtoberfest. The next morning I got up early to ride down to Miaoli where I planned to meet a group from the Thousand Mile Island Trail (千里步道). I was familiar with the roads in this area after a [...]

My Sunday morning bike ride took me up the Route 9 from Xindian to Xiaogetou (小格頭). The photo above shows a group of cyclists gathered at Helen’s Coffee, a popular stop on this road with great views over the valley below. There is no doubt that Taiwan’s cycling revolution is showing no signs of slowing. [...]