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Photostory: Searching for the Perfect Trail on Taiwan

By We Love Cycling
Photostory: Searching for the Perfect Trail on Taiwan

While regular bikers usually go to famous places, the concept of Zam’s been to explore less known landscapes usable for mountain biking. The original idea emerged in summer 2012, when our ambassador Richard ‘Gaspi’ Gasperotti’s went to Mongolia. Five successful movies later here’s the newest photo report from the beautiful Asian island.

Five Fingers Mountain bike trail is fine in dry weather but as soon as the rain comes, in some parts, it can change into a difficult downhill track.
We believe it’s a land of dragons.
Even with GPS navigation, there’s still a chance to get lost. Gaspi tries to find a road, which would lead us from the Moon Area in central Taiwan to the south.
As an instructor of the Simpleride agency, Gaspi has many biking lessons under his belt and he can teach some new ones.
What looks like common palm trees are areca trees, in fact. Areca is farmed for areca or betel nuts. The nuts are chewed with betel leafs for their effects as a mild stimulant, causing a warming sensation in the body and slightly heightened alertness, although it varies from person to person.
Secret trails near Taichung are being kept by the local biking fans. Most of the work is done by a trail builder called Flower.
Smoke after the ride – very rare view even in Taiwan…
The crew has not changed since the founding of Zam tradition five years ago. From left: Gaspi (rider), Adam (photography), Marty (video) and Lukas (holiday man). We already have another destination in our viewfinder. Hopefully, we’ll get on the road pretty soon again.
The three colours on the flag of Taiwan are representatives of the Three Principles of the People given to them by Sun Yat-sen, the first president of the Republic of China. These are – blue: nationalism and liberty, white: democracy and equity, and red: people’s livelihood and fraternity.
In Taichung, we were looking for someone who would lend a bike rack to us. At the end of the day, we found a multiple XC champion of Taiwan in the local bike shop.

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