The Cycling Grand Tour League has called for cyclists to trot the globe, using the slogan “Experience the vastness of the world with your own body!”
The league, made up of the Taiwan Asia Adventure Cycling Association (TACA), the Taiwan Cycling Travel Association and various tourism agencies, plans to accomplish its goal of globe--trotting in four years, with each member of the league participating in different segments to bike around the world.
“There are a lot of people wanting to go around the world, but they can’t find the time or lack the ability and partners to do so,” said TACA deputy director Chen Shou-chung , who went around the world in 400 days in 1998.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Asia Adventure Cycling Association
It was the reason why TACA was dividing the round-the-world trip up into sections, with 20 people to a group, hoping to ride around the world in four years.
Those cyclists who couldn’t cycle the entire length may choose which parts of the journeys to join, he said.
The first leg of the Grand Tour, scheduled to begin in July, will cross the Silk Road, from Beijing to the Hassock borders. The second year will take riders from Central Asia to the Europe-Asia borders in Turkey.
The third year crosses the European stretch and the fourth year goes across North America, Chang said.
The Silk Road section is roughly 6,000km in total and will take three months to complete.
The TACA members said they plan to ride 60km to 100km daily in tandem, with a bus accompanying riders, affording them a more in-depth -experience of local life while completing the journey in 35 days.
TACA estimates that the total cost for the length of the Silk Road -journey will amount to NT$200,000 (US$6,700).
Chen said the Grand Tour isn’t about how far one rides or how fast, but rather how one -experiences the world.
“The Grand Tour isn’t for people who want to live in the lap of luxury and go shopping,” Chen said, expressing the hope that the Grand Tour could be held yearly, so more people could participate.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS