Ride to the clouds
A new route for mountain bikers to explore, which takes you up to 3,000m, has just opened in Nantou County
By Mark Roche / Contributing reporter
In a country with one of, if not the highest, concentration of 3,000m peaks in the world you would be forgiven for presuming that it must be a dream destination for mountain biking. Certainly from the 1980s up to the year 2000 there were lots of riders out there, but several major typhoons and changing trends in the bike industry saw off-road riding lose its dominance. Now, that might be changing.
In addition, it beggars belief that there is little by way of government support/infrastructure to improve the environment for those who prefer a dirt road. Living in southern Taiwan I have seen what were once popular mountain biking locations become illegal to access by bike, such as Jinsueiying ancient trail (浸水營古道) from Pingtung to Taitung. That regulation hasn’t completely deterred the more adventurous, but