Taiwan Today

Taiwan has long been a powerhouse in the bicycling industry. The Taipei International Cycle Show, held annually every spring since 1988, is one of the three largest cycling trade shows on the planet. Giant Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is not only the biggest bicycle manufacturer in Taiwan, but one of the largest in the world. Despite the industry’s success in the global arena, however, biking itself seemed disproportionately less popular in Taiwan compared with other nations for many years.

This began to change at the beginning of the new millennium as Taiwanese became interested in improving their quality of life via exercise. As more people started to take up cycling in Taiwan, both the central and local governments looked for ways to promote this healthy and environmentally friendly trend. The Cabinet-level Sports Affairs Council (SAC) worked with the Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency (CPA) to improve existing bicycle paths along riverside parkways and add new ones. In Taipei, the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp. implemented a system for taking bikes onto Mass Rapid Transit trains on weekends and holidays in 2004. In 2005, the Tour de Taiwan cycling championship achieved official recognition from the International Cycling Union—the world governing body for the sport—and the race was integrated with the Taipei International Cycle Show in 2006.

At this point the Taipei City Sports Federation asked James J. Peng (彭劍勇) to serve as the director of the Taipei Municipal Athletics Federation Cycling Association. Peng is an avid cyclist who competed on the Chinese Taipei national cycling team from 1968 to 1970; served for eight years as the secretary-general of the Chinese Taipei Cycling Association alongside King Liu (劉金標), the founder of Giant; and organized the first mountain bike race in Taiwan—the second Asian Cup Mountain Bike Championship—in Tainan, southern Taiwan in 1996. Working with other enthusiasts, Peng developed the idea of self-challenge rides in the form of climbing challenges, in which participants have to cycle up steep mountain roads, and distance challenges.

Test of Strength, Endurance

“Taiwan already had an abundance of road races ... for cyclists who were eager to compete,” Peng says. “The demographics for such races were almost always the same, however: a small group of local Taiwanese, mostly male, within a very fixed age range. There were no venues for the average cyclist who simply wanted a good, tough ride. Thus, we wanted to do something different and create an event where anyone interested in cycling could challenge themselves and test their strength and endurance, regardless of age, sex or nationality.”

The first climbing event was a 75-kilometer route held in Taipei’s Yangmingshan National Park toward the end of 2006. The ride attracted some 400 participants and was deemed a success.

At the start of 2007, Peng established and headed two organizations under the Chinese Taipei Cycling Association to handle the responsibilities of hosting this new type of cycling event: the Taiwan Bike Association and the Taipei Cycling Association. He brought on another cycling enthusiast, Chen Ming-zhi (陳明志), to serve as secretary-general. The events themselves were given the name NeverStop. Most of the group’s events are organized in conjunction with the SAC, CPA, Tourism Bureau or the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and local government agencies in the areas where the races are held. The first distance challenge event under the NeverStop banner was set at 200 kilometers and took place in Hualien, eastern Taiwan in 2007.

“There were three primary considerations,” Peng says. “First, the route had to be convenient, preferably without too much traffic. Second, the starting point had to have a large enough area to accommodate the number of cyclists that could be participating. Lastly, the route should ideally have beautiful scenery along its 200-kilometer-long journey to make it interesting and worthwhile for the participants.” The event attracted around 800 cyclists, roughly double the number for the Yangmingshan challenge.

NeverStop organizers put together the group’s second official event, the Explore Tataka challenge, also in 2007. This 70-kilometer ride in Nantou County, central Taiwan involved a climb through Yushan National Park to an elevation of 2,628 meters. Registrations for the second NeverStop event skyrocketed to more than 2,000.

“Part of the reason why NeverStop attracts so many participants is that it is such a great atmosphere for creating friendships and forging comradeship,” Peng explains. “It’s the exact opposite of a race. In a race, those cycling around you are your ‘enemy,’ and the only way for you to win is to defeat everyone around you. However, in a NeverStop challenge, the ‘enemy’ is yourself, and everyone cycling around you is a person facing the exact same challenge. So instead of competition with others, you’re only competing against yourself. Thus, strangers will encourage one another, or even go so far as to stop and help others out—such as those who have gotten a flat tire, for instance. You don’t see that kind of camaraderie or spirit in bike races.”

Alice Chang (張慧瑜), a dual Taiwanese-Canadian national who has lived in Taiwan for around two years, agrees. “My favorite part of the event was the look of determination on people’s faces as they rode by,” Chang says. “You can sense their fatigue, yet everybody soldiered on and gave each other a ‘jia you’ [‘keep going’]. That will and resilience was very inspiring.” In 2011, Chang completed 140 kilometers of a 200-kilometer route along the west coast of central Taiwan from Dajia District in Taichung City to Taixi Township in Yunlin County, southern Taiwan. She stopped because she realized she would be unable to reach the finish line before the evening cutoff time. Chang was still proud of her accomplishment as it was the farthest she had ever ridden in her life. “I would participate in NeverStop again because I love the challenge,” she says.

By the end of 2007 four NeverStop events had been held, and the organizers began considering ways to add new challenges. In March 2008, the first 300-kilometer event was held in Hualien, spanned two days and largely had participants pedaling at night to avoid the heat and traffic. In October 2009, the first 400-kilometer event was held on a route that encompassed most of Taiwan’s northwest coast, stretching from Wanli District in New Taipei City in the north to Taichung’s Dajia District at the southern end. The number of rides increased, with five NeverStop events held in 2008, eight in 2009, 10 in 2010 and 11 in 2011. Participant numbers have not dipped below four digits, and have reached as high as 7,000 riders, especially for popular destinations such as Yangmingshan and Hualien. “Team registration is increasing a lot compared with individual registration, too, which is good,” Peng says. “When riders register as a team, the individual members are all more likely to complete the event, and overall, it’s just nicer having support and encouragement from your teammates to push you onward, as opposed to trying to go it alone.”

In January 2009, NeverStop organizers took part in the New Year’s Sports Carnival in Taipei. The event was organized by the SAC and the Republic of China Sports Federation to introduce various sports to the general public. “Because of space constraints, we decided the best thing to do would be to introduce people to mountain biking. So our staff created a small, man-made obstacle course to challenge riders to complete,” Peng says.

A fourth aspect has been added to the list of considerations when organizing a NeverStop event: being environmentally conscious. “People who cycle tend to think ‘greener’ than your average person who doesn’t cycle,” Taiwan Bike Association and Taipei Cycling Association secretary-general Chen Ming-zhi says. “Thus, we always try to use environmental friendliness as a foundation of how we design an event.”

“We don’t waste tons of paper sending out enrollment forms or flyers to participants,” Peng says, “We rely on the Internet to handle all advertising and registration.” The organizers also prefer to buy their own large containers of water from which cyclists fill their own water bottles because most sponsors can only provide individual bottles of water, which would result in more rubbish.

Still, relying on the Internet—primarily the NeverStop website—and word-of-mouth advertising has its limits. Eric Mah (馬忠成), an American who has lived in Taiwan for more than a decade, has spent the past four years working in the local bicycle industry and is a regular cyclist. He has participated in two 200-kilometer NeverStop events, but says he only found out about the organization through a friend. “Were it not for him, I wouldn’t have known about it,” he says. “I think the organizers could do more marketing and promotion of the event, either through postings at bike shops or ads in public [places].”

Eye on the Environment

Nonetheless, the focus on the environment is likely to remain as an important part of the event. “It’s one of the reasons why we’re strongly considering having our first southern event in Pingtung, an area heavily damaged in August 2009 by Typhoon Morakot,” Peng says. “You can still witness signs of the flood damage left behind, and see people who are still living in temporary housing. So NeverStop participants would not only be able to see beautiful natural scenery, they would also gain a newfound respect for nature and how important it is to protect the environment.”

One difficult task in finding new venues is getting local governments onboard, Peng says. “The first question local governments ask whenever we send off a proposal asking about hosting a NeverStop event is ‘How much is this going to cost us?’” the director says. “Fortunately, registration fees and product sponsorships are more than sufficient to cover all costs, and the primary assistance we need from local governments is police support for traffic control, and maybe some minor help in providing an ambulance for emergencies or workers for litter cleanup following the event. A lot of times, though, we end up paying for additional ambulances ourselves or hiring additional staff for cleanup because the local governments cannot provide sufficient support.”

Indeed, of all the areas in Taiwan where NeverStop rides have been held, only the Nantou County Government has actively sought the return of the event, Peng says. “I think part of the reason behind Nantou’s eagerness is that the region is primarily agricultural, and thus the government can use the additional income brought in by tourism,” Chen Ming-zhi surmises. “They’ve noticed that many cyclists aren’t just coming to participate in the challenge itself, but are making several trips in advance to familiarize themselves with the course or do some trial runs. Many riders also end up bringing their families with them to explore tourist attractions in the area afterward.

Jian Ming-biou (簡明標) is a case officer for the Education Department of Nantou County Government and has been responsible for working with NeverStop since their first event held there in 2007. “The NeverStop organizers are extremely good at organizing these events with thousands of participants, something that the Nantou County Government with its limited resources would probably be unable to do on its own,” Jian says. “Such events are a win-win situation for everyone: riders are exposed to the majestic beauty of central Taiwan, while local businesses and tourism receive a great boost from the influx of athletes.”

In the future, Peng also hopes to introduce cyclocross events, a cross between road racing and mountain bike racing. “Taiwan doesn’t have any cyclocross races, so NeverStop would be the first,” he says. “Also, cyclocross events are easier to organize, since the courses are compact and can be set up in more constricted environments—the riverside parks lining the Keelung and Danshui rivers [in Taipei] would provide more than enough space for such an event, especially the areas by Dazhi Bridge or near Songshan Airport.”

Through such events and its endurance rides, NeverStop is working to make Taiwan’s participation in cycling as well known as the country’s renowned bicycle industry.

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Lynn F. Lee lives in Taipei and has been an avid cyclist for more than 17 years. He has participated in eight NeverStop events throughout Taiwan.

Copyright © 2012 by Lynn F. Lee