Team Uniform #3 Ester

Ben's Training

Ben tries to "hit 2 birds with 1 stone"
training for himslef and bonding with office mate!!!

Ester's Training

Action speaks louder than word!
She serious about the bike trip and is getting ready!
More power!!!

Almost Final Plan

Things are shaping up really good!
We moved the event to April, 2011.

We shall keep it short and sweet!
We are going to tackle the 170 km/ 106 miles from Hualien to Taitung.
We are going to do it in 5 days.

Training

Ben trying to keep in shape for the tour.

Team Uniform #2 Milo

Foothills of Sandia Mountain

I am resting for tomorrow's Triathlon. Walking and taking pictures will be good for my legs :)

A Biking Paradise

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

The Practice

Rio Rancho, New Mexico, USA

My Hero

Mr. Liu rode 1668 km from Beijing to Shanghai in 2009. This is definitely the first of its kind. My salute to him!

Proposed Team Uniform

Road safety rule number 1: need to be seen!

Homework

Always a good idea to do some research!

Our Inspiration

Mr. Liu is the president of Giant Bicycle in Taiwan. He rode around the island at age 73. Since we are younger than him, I guess we should be able to do it too!

Preparation

Ben is preparing for a sprint triathlon on September 12,2010. That includes biking.

Ester is going to start biking in October when it is cooler in Taipei.

Milo started riding his bike from home to work.

Preliminary Plan

Day 1

台北-新竹 ( 1 Hr train )
新竹(海岸自行車道)-大山火車站 ( 2 Hrs 35 mins /37 Km bike)
大山-田中(2 Hrs train )

Day 2

田中-二水火車站 ( 2H30M /35 km bike )
二水-台南 ( 2H train )

Day 3

台南-高雄(4H / 60 km bike)

Day 4

逛高雄 ~~ 今天不騎車
高雄-台東 (2H39M train )

Day 5

台東-成功 ( 4H / 60 km bike )

Day 6

成功-石梯漁港 ( 4H / 60 km bike )

Day 7

石梯漁港-花蓮 ( 4H /60 km bike )

Day 8

逛花蓮
花蓮-台北 (3H train )

How to plan

1) read blog - which place I want to visit
2) map - from where to where,kilometer
3) excel sheet- input transportation/route etc
4) check train schedule

What next...
1) check the rental shop of each city
2) check platform of train station, do they have elevator ? do I need to carry the bike upstair ?
3) accommodation

Story begin

Story begin on 7/22/2010 when Ester tell Ben that a Japanese guy biking Taiwan for 15 days that was posted on the newspaper,she ask Ben to challenge this guy

Formosa

This is the reason why I chose train/bike around Taiwan for my 50th birthday gift.

The Grand Project

I cannot remember exactly how this trip planning got started. In the last 2 months, Ester, Milo and I started planning for a trip around Taiwan by train and bike.

I think the inital plan was making a trip around Taiwan by bike. But considering our time restraints and physical ability, we decided to compromise.

The plan is to start from Taipei, going counter-clockwise, down to Kaoshiong, then to Taitong. We will bike a few times between Taipei and Kaoshiong. The distance of biking will depend on how we feel by that time. We will bike for 3 days between Taitong and Hualien. Then, return to Taipei by train.

For now, we are looking at September of 2011.