New Year Resolutions – Ultimate Cyclist Bucket List!
6 reasons to ride Taiwan KOM
By Hish Scarff of Allied World Treknology3
Haven't heard of the Taiwan KOM Challenge?
Check out 6 reasons to get it on your cycling bucket list!
What is it?
The Taiwan KOM Challenge is a 105km road race that starts in the city of Hualien on Taiwan's eastern coastline and winds its way through the Taroko Gorge to the top of Mount Wuling - an elevation of 3275m. The 2020 edition is on 23 October 2020.
#1 Unique parcours
The race starts with a flat neutralised zone of 18km, but after that it's almost continuous climbing from sea level up to the top of Mount Wuling. The scenery as you ride up the gorge is breathtaking.
Taroko Gorge
#2 Ride with the pros
There aren't too many races around where mere mortals can ride alongside cycling royalty. Taiwan KOM is one of them. Although once the flag drops after the neutralised zone, you'll want to be strong to keep up with them!
With World Champ Marianne Vos
#3 There's more than just Taroko
If you choose to arrive early or stay on after the race, there's a bunch of great rides in the region. You can head eastward to Sun Moon Lake, or enjoy the coastal route heading south of Hualien, amongst other options. Taiwan is very cycling friendly, boasts great food and is a relatively cheap destination too.
Sun Moon Lake
#4 It’ll get you out on your bike
There's nothing like the entering a tough race to fire up training motivation - knowing the alternative will be a lot of suffering! As to how you should best train, especially in the flatlands of Singapore, you'll find as many opinions out there as there are twists and turns in the Taroko Gorge route. What seems to work best for me is a steady build, with a lot of hours at sweet spot and threshold. There are precious few downhill sections, so you need to prepare your body to be able to handle around 4-6 hours of continuous effort depending on your level of fitness.
#5 Sense of achievement
When all the hard work of training has paid off, and you cross the finish line at the top of the mountain...it's a great feeling. Even some of the pros describe this as one of the toughest events they've raced.
#6 You know you want a new bike
Being a climbing race, it's all about power to weight. As the organisers don't enforce UCI rules, you are free to use a bike under the 6.8kg UCI minimum. A 2020 Trek Emonda SL 7 would be an ideal platform to build an absolute climbing weapon! Available at our Cuscaden Showroom!
20 Trek Emonda SL7 disc eTap