Heavyweight Cycling Trip Around the Island Day 3: Starting to Enjoy the Journey, a Day to Take It Easy
Cycling Around the Island Day 3 – Setting Off
Meow meow, hi everyone! Welcome back! This is Day 3 of cycling around the island, and today I’m riding all the way from northern Tainan down to the Chaozhou TRA station in Pingtung. Today I set my alarm for 5 a.m. again and then snoozed in bed until sometime after 7 or 8 before finally getting up. Luckily the sun wasn’t too harsh today, so I didn’t have to ride under a blazing sun.
Honestly, after these past few days of training (read: torture), my body has more or less gotten used to the fact that I have to ride 100 kilometers every single day. Getting up today actually felt a lot easier. I put on all my gear and hit the road.
McDon’s Tips for Cycling Around the Island
But since I brought up gear, I should probably talk a little about what gear I packed! Since there’s so much of it, though, let me start by sharing my sun-protection equipment first!
Sun protection is hands down the most important thing when riding around the island. It matters just as much in summer as in winter. Even if you’re a smelly dude like me who normally doesn’t bother with sunscreen, you absolutely have to be thorough about sun protection, or else you’ll be in so much pain that you’ll wake up just from rolling over in your sleep.
So I strongly recommend you prepare at least as much stuff as I did. And what I’ve got is already the bare minimum.
- Arm sleeves
Arm sleeves are for people like us who don’t like wearing long sleeves. They’re easy to put on and take off and less stuffy. If you wear long sleeves, then you don’t need arm sleeves, no problem. But if you’re a short-sleeve person like me, please bring two of them along.
- Sunscreen
This one is an absolute must. Sunscreen is basically standard equipment, but where to apply it is a whole science in itself. First, the tops of your arms and the back of your neck are non-negotiable. I recommend applying a bit extra, reaching under where your clothes will cover, especially the spots where your shirt and arm sleeves meet, which are key areas you have to coat thoroughly.
Remember to apply it on your shoulders and on your back where your shirt and shorts meet too. There’s another key spot: the meat of your thighs. That area your shorts don’t cover is important as well. It doesn’t get hit by direct sunlight, but after riding for a while it still burns easily. Also, if you don’t have a face mask, I recommend coating your whole face, because no matter which patch ends up a little darker it’ll look weird, so I recommend coating it thoroughly.
As for how often to reapply sunscreen? I usually reapply about every 3 hours, roughly around 9 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m. And honestly I’m super lazy about reapplying, so I just slap it on any which way. (And then I got sunburned.)
- Towel
The towel is for extra reinforcement. I drape it over the back of my neck, and I’ll usually pour some ice water or room-temperature water on it to keep it damp, which cools me down a little bit. Plus, the back of your neck is the spot that burns most easily, so this gives it an extra layer of protection.
- Gloves
Gloves are actually for absorbing vibration, but they also do the job of sun protection. So I really recommend wearing them. Personally, I prefer the kind that leave your fingers exposed, because that’s the only way you can swipe your phone. The downside is you’ll get a really obvious tan line, so use your own judgment on that one, folks.
- Hat
I have two kinds of hats. One is a standard bike helmet. The other is one of those travel hats with a brim all the way around, the kind they call a straw hat!? Anyway, you know what I mean. I haven’t really looked into it 🥲🥲.
That’s basically everything you’ll need for sun protection. It’s pretty easy to prepare, and with this kind of stuff I’d say it’s always better to bring too much than too little.
- Sunglasses
Sometimes around midday you’ll run into really intense sunlight, and if you don’t take special steps to protect your eyes from the glare, they can easily get hurt. My own glasses are the photochromic kind, so I didn’t bother preparing anything extra. But after experiencing it firsthand, it was pretty uncomfortable, so I’d still recommend everyone wear a pair.
Cycling Around the Island Day 3 – Wrapping Up
Today’s route was actually pretty easy to ride, and I reached the finish quickly too. The stretch from Tainan to Kaohsiung was the most relaxed ride I’ve done so far, because most of the roads are wide and busy with people. The whole way was pretty leisurely, and I could even stop to take in the scenery. I say relaxed, but there were actually a lot of exhaust fumes, because there were tons of cars and scooters and I often had to fight them for the lane. Still, all of that is way easier than riding mountain roads.
But because of time considerations, I actually decided to skip the Kenting stretch today. Here’s the deal: if you want to cross from the western half of the island to the eastern half, there are two ways to do it. If you go with the grand loop, which is the biggest circle, you’ll pass through Kenting and then go from the southeast along the Nanhui Highway to reach it. But if you skip Kenting, you can actually take the smaller loop and climb up to the Nanhui Highway from around Fangshan, which saves you 100 kilometers, or roughly a whole day.
And that’s exactly what I needed, so tomorrow I’ll be taking on the part everyone agrees is the hardest – the Nanhui Highway and Shouka. Thanks for watching, everyone! If you’ve enjoyed riding around the island with me, you can hit follow or like, and I’ll see you tomorrow!
Oh right, I went out for steak tonight~~
So good!!