We embarqued in a 9 day fully supported tour of Taiwan, the Formosa 900, organized by Giant cycling tours. I am totally out of my element, not used to follow someone’s pace and ride with 29 unknown people.

It all started with a big reunion outside the Taipei City hall, a gathering of cyclist s with shower caps, helmets worn backward, sandals with wool socks,… quite scary for the bike snob I am! What did I get us into?!!?

The pace isn’t fast, but the goal is to have a guided tour of the island and ride our bikes. A few helmet fitting and group riding lessons later and everyone is on the road. I am learning to be a better group ride cyclist, but also meeting awesome people and discovering Taiwan in a way I couldn’t do on my own.

As long as we can run away for some cool coffee shop hunting or get a few kilometres to ourselves for some fast pace riding, it’s perfect! It couldn’t be better organized, an awesome team leading and supervising, very tasty traditional food and a good selection of hotels.