Tour de Taiwan Day 1 Taipei - Hsinchu

Tour de Taiwan
Day 1
Taipei to Hsinchu
Distance: 100km
Time on board: 7 hours

Supposed to be a 80km skate to Hsinchu. End up skating extra 10 km getting lost and another 10 km finding camp for the night.

Start of the day 1 found the bike path along the river, got too stoked over smooth path, continued on skating the path, missing a turn at a bridge. Realised the mistake when taking break. By then already past 5km and had to skate back 5km. Actually route is very clear with the sign Cycling route 1 Round Taiwan. Just have to follow it.

Following the route 1 along national road 3, everything went smooth except when I miss another turn. End up in Daxi, Tao Yuan with nice looking bridge gate and food street and nice view of the river from the top. So getting lost isn't so bad.

Found my way back into route 1, with a 300 m climb. Uphill isn't a worry but downhill is.. Foot braking and braking with my pole burn the rubber..

Another thing I like about Taiwan is the police. Most police in developed nations will stop me when they see me skating on the road like Japan, Israel and Singapore. But the Taiwanese police are nice, just advising me to be careful.

Finally arrived at Hsinchu, just nice saw the night market along the way. That means lots of eating to replenish my energy. Cheap and delicious food. The problem is too many choices to pick. The oyster omelette owner even left me a drink on my helmet when I left.

Skated on to the harbour to search for a camping spot. Picked a couple of trees in the Huanbo Park for my hammock, where I am writing my day report now. Tomorrow is another 100km to Taichung.

Quote of the day
There is no getting lost, just taking a bloody long way