Day One of the Island Tour: Setting Off from Taipei, Panic, Doubt, Then Finding the Rhythm

Introduction

On the morning of departure, I took a photo in front of Taipei Main Station, posted it to my Stories, and smiled brightly.

But what no one saw outside the frame was that I was so nervous I barely slept the night before, constantly calculating in my head: nine days, a thousand kilometers, an average of 110 kilometers per day. That number was something I had never accumulated consecutively in my training rides around Taipei.

Day 1 of the round-island trip, from Taipei to Hsinchu, about 90 kilometers, taking Provincial Highway 1 or the coastal Highway 61. On paper, it wasn’t difficult, but that day was arguably the most mentally stressful of the entire trip.

The First Hour After Departure: The City Makes You Doubt Yourself

Taipei’s urban roads are notoriously unfriendly to cyclists. Lots of red lights, potholes, dense traffic, and taxis and scooters cutting in from the side without warning.

I chose to leave the city via the Dadaocheng Levee Boulevard, riding south along the right bank of the Tamsui River, then connecting to county roads toward Xinzhuang and Taoyuan. But even the familiar riverside path felt foreign on departure day—because the rear luggage bags had shifted my center of gravity, the saddle felt off, and my speed was 3–4 km/h slower than usual.

By the time I rode to Luzhou, I started to panic. “It’s only day one—can I really keep this up?” That thought appeared for the first time, like an intruder sitting in my head and refusing to leave.

Daxi, Taoyuan to Hsinchu: The Body Starts to Speak

After passing through Taoyuan and entering the Daxi section, traffic and people thinned out, the view opened up, and the tea fields and low hills along the road gradually calmed my mood. My speed began to stabilize, and my heart rate dropped from a nervous 165 bpm leaving the city back to a comfortable 140 bpm.

Near Daxi Old Street, I stopped for a bowl of plain noodles and ordered a cup of hot black tea. While sitting, I realized my legs were actually fine—the most tired part was my back. Although the luggage bags weighed only 5 kilograms, the prolonged load had made my trapezius muscles a bit tight.

I truly found the rhythm about 10 kilometers before reaching Hsinchu’s urban area. By then, my body had warmed up, my nutrition was on point, and pedaling had become a reflex that required no thought. I stopped counting how many kilometers were left, stopped worrying about tomorrow, and just followed the road.

That feeling, I later learned, cyclists call “getting into the flow.”

Real Lessons from Day 1 of the Round-Island Trip

• Plan your exit route in advance: The biggest enemy heading south from Taipei isn’t the distance—it’s the urban road conditions. I recommend taking the riverside bike path to Shulin before getting on the provincial highway, which lets you avoid a ton of red lights and dangerous intersections.
• Don’t ride too fast on day one: Many people get overexcited on the first day, ride the first 50 kilometers too hard, and then their bodies start to shut down for the next 50. I recommend keeping your speed 10–15% lower for the first third of the ride.
• Luggage weight directly affects riding feel: For every additional kilogram, the fatigue of long-distance riding increases non-linearly. Trimming your luggage down to the lightest possible before departure is the greatest kindness you can show yourself.
• Panic is normal: The anxiety of day one is something every round-island cyclist experiences. Accept it, keep pedaling, and it will pass.

Conclusion

Arriving at the B&B in Hsinchu, I dropped my bags, lay down on the bed, and sent a message to my family in Taipei: “Made it to day one, all good.”

Five short words, but for me, they were the most important sentence of the entire trip.

Because I later realized that every day of the round-island trip is a practice of “making yourself okay.” Learning that on day one is what gives you the foundation to keep going for the remaining eight days.

The rhythm isn’t there from the start. It’s built up with sweat, with time, and with one “keep pedaling” after another.

Related Reading

• 10-Day Taiwan Round-Island Reflections: A 1,000-Kilometer Self-Challenge Journey
• My First Cycling Round-Island Trip: A Moving 12-Day Journey from Taipei
• 9-Day Round-Island Plan: The Complete 900-Kilometer Taiwan Cycling Guide
• 30-Day Cycling Round-Island Full Record: A Beginner’s Loop Around Taiwan