Experience in cycling Taiwan

[zoom2zoom]

I am planning on riding Taiwan in June and I will be spending 12 days cycling solo around the island, I know it will be hot and humid at that time, are there other concerns I need to be aware of?

since I don't know exactly of my location at end of each day, I am not planning on making hotel reservations, but is it easy to find lodging?

planning to start north at Taipei and head down west and coming back up east

[stev0]

I haven't been since 2010, but in my few days cycling around the outskirts of Taipei, I had definitely had to spend some time carefully navigating through and around large packs (sometimes dozens?) of stray dogs. I didn't have any problems, but was careful to make sure that was the case.

I'm sure someone who's been more recently will have a better on handle on whether there are still roaming packs of strays. It was certainly a well known issue at the time.

Hope you have fun! So much good eatin' out there.

[Team Murray]

I have ridden in the Hsinchu (on the west coast) area and near Taitung (on the south east coast). Once you leave the Taipei area, the riding is very nice. The east coast has very little traffic. In the Taitung area, the oceanside roads are well kept with little or no traffic. It looks a lot like Hawaii. Giant runs a tour business where they will take care of all the arrangements (bike, hotel, sag).

Another note. Depending on your size, renting a bike might be challenging. I had a hard time finding a size 56cm bike.

[zoom2zoom]

I'll be bringing my own bike and gear and would prefer to travel by myself

Th only thing I'm not too sure is lodging as I don't know where I'll be each night depending how much I ride

[zoom2zoom]

Anyone knows where I can buy Taiwan cycling folding maps here in the US as I won't have time to look for one once I arrive

Or if I purchase a GPS unit, which one should I purchase and can I get one with Taiwan maps loaded? Again need to purchase here in US

Thanks for helping

[verticaldoug]

I'd prefer to spend my first day after a long haul flight decompressing and just chilling in Taipei.

I 'd just use the hotel my first day to find my maps, hit a local bike shop to get stocked on my co2 cartridges etc.

When you say ride around Taiwan for 12 days, do you mean explore the island for 12 days or literal ride around the perimeter? The perimeter ride will not take 12 days and in that case, you can find a local tour for $1000 or so.