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.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS