Five years ago, I wrote down in my journal that I wanted to honor my mom, who passed from breast cancer in 2007 by cycling across the state of Washington, from Seattle – where my grandparents grew up and my parents spent their honeymoon – to Spokane, where I graduated from college. I wasn’t sure what would come of it, but I didn’t think I would get a chance to complete the ride for a long time.

In 2015, the opportunity to ride for her had risen. I had made the decision to move to Taiwan before in June, giving me a window of time before I left to cycle across the state. I asked my good friend David Sheppard to join me, and he accepted the challenge.

We rode 300 miles over five days. I’ll always remember that sense of accomplishment finishing and the powerful emotions remembering my mom.

Each summer, after moving in Taiwan, David (who lived in Japan) and I would return to Seattle to host the DMC Memorial Ride. After two successful rides, I came to the conclusion that living abroad and planning a big bike ride was too difficult, and I made the decision to move the ride for 2018 to Taiwan – my home for the previous 2.5 years.

Taiwan is home to world class cycling, and yet, it doesn’t get talked about enough. The route I decided on goes from Taitung to Kaohsiung, going around Cape Eluanbi at the southern tip of Taiwan. Cycling southern Taiwan with this route, you’re able to see almost every general geographical feature of Taiwan: zig-zagging the jagged East Coast, climbing in the lush, mountainous terrain of Central Taiwan, and cruising the low lying coastal valleys of the West Coast.

My friend who lives in Taiwan, Tim, joined the ride after I asked him in early 2018. His grandma lost the battle to breast cancer before he was born. Breast cancer affects almost all of us – we either know someone with breast cancer, or know of a person whose friend or relative is fighting it.

We planned our ride, booking our cycles with the Taitung Giant Store who offer a one way rental service for 1500 NT for the first three days, and an extra 200 NT for everyday thereafter. Early in the morning on Saturday, April 28th, we departed from Songshan Station in Taipei en route to Taitung Station.

We didn’t book any accommodations for the trip, because we thought that some cheaper places wouldn’t be listed on Google or Airbnb. But we did have a general idea where we’d find shelter. We found a nice bed and breakfast down the street from the station.

Tim and I wanted to rent scooters and ride along the coast up to Dulan for a relaxing beach day before departing on the ride. We asked our host for two towels for the beach, and she brings us hand towels. We take a glance at each other with a quick smile, and then thanked her. Our jokes and excitement turned to disappointment, as there is only one scooter shop in Taitung that rents to people with international licenses sadly, otherwise they’re only rented to those who have Taiwanese ID’s.

We grabbed a taxi into downtown Taitung, and went for a long walk in the serene Taitung Forest Park, where the wooded forest meets the ocean in a magnificent setting. There was a triathlon event going on within the park, bringing back fond memories of completing a triathlon in Taipei in 2016. Tim and I got some lunch at a famous Taiwanese restaurant before heading back to our hotel.

Tim and I picked up our bikes, Giant FastRoads, complete with whole nine yards: a cycling computer, two waterproof panniers, two front bags, multi-tool, lock, and pump.

Feeling hungry, we asked if there were any restaurants nearby. The people at the Giant store responded that all of them would be a taxi ride back to the city, which sounded crazy to us, but then quickly corrected themselves, saying there might be one place down the road. We found that one place, a typical Taiwanese shared food style restaurant called Re Chao, and had some delicious fried pork and a huge single mackerel, washing it down with a cold Taiwan beer.

The next morning, we took off from our hotel at 7 am headed to our next stop on the three day adventure, Da Ren. Before we left for Taitung, I told Tim that ‘Taitung is my favorite place in Taiwan.’ Tim joked on the ride ‘I think you mean Taitung County, because there’s nothing here.’ ‘Touche. I do have to say Taitung County. I forgot that about half the shops on the street are always closed.’ We laughed about it for a few miles at least.

Riding along the jagged East Coast reminded me of where I spent my time as a boy with my mom and family on California’s coast, with the windy roads hugging the hills jutting into the oceanside. It’s exactly that, but more green in Taiwan.

We stopped for lunch to enjoy more fish, this time soaked in with miso soup in Dawu, making good time overall. We were slightly surprised how quickly we made it to Daren. There is a grand total of one hotel listed on Google in the town, but we were confident of finding something that fit the budget more nicely.

We found a general store at the edge of the town, which isn’t over a mile long, and asked if they knew any places with rooms. I have to give credit to Tim, whose Mandarin is very conversational, whereas mine is lacking (but not too bad!). The guy said he had one for 800 NT ($25 USD) upstairs. We thought, ‘Ok, that worked out well.’ We asked for shower towels – of course, we got exactly the same size as the beach towels in Taitung.

Tim and I went for another walk down to the beach, albeit with lots of rocks, and almost getting trapped in a quicksand riverbed. Upon our return, Mr. Hung, the general store owner, had a van waiting for us. He was gracious enough to give us a ride around his community, sharing with us how he grew up. Turns out his father is Chinese, and went to study in the Philippines, later coming to Taiwan to marry an aboriginal Taiwanese, and basically buy a mountain and some of the town. So, Mr. Hung, now known as the “King of DaRen,” essentially owns half the town. The kids in the village saw the “wai guo ren” (foreigners) in the van, and shouted, “mei guo ren ma!?” (American!?). The kids could tell I was American after rolling down the window, and then yelled at some of the other kids in the village to come and have a look. So, I’m basically a celebrity in the villages of DaRen.

We thanked Mr. Hung, and wanted to fuel up for the big ride the next day. So we went across the street to, again, one of the only restaurants in town. I chowed on lamb noodles and Taiwanese style fried chicken.

We had a shower where the water source connected to the sink, dried off with our hand towels, and hit the hay. We were in bed by 9:30, even with a nap earlier in the day. It’s nice having no distractions and absolute focus on something you’re passionate about, this time being our bike ride.

Not even a mile in, the biggest challenge on the ride began. It’s a 500 meter climb in under 12 kilometers, so you can imagine how steep it is. But the viewpoints are spectacular, and it’s a monkey X-ing every turn. After a challenging ride to the top, we had a well-deserved downhill on Highway 199A under the shade on the way back towards the ocean.

After the short stint along the ocean, there would be three big hills following the biggest, including two hills that I thought was one. I didn’t have the elevation map, so I couldn’t see that there were actually two hills. As we were going downhill, I said to Tim, “Only one hill left.” “Are you sure? “Yeah, I’m pretty sure.” Tim was mad at me. But I told him the story of two lions that fell into a carton of milk, and they BOTH churned that milk into butter and climbed out to have a Taiwan beer.

 We passed through more mountain villages, soaking in their slower pace of life for a few minutes, before getting to see the first 7-11 since Daren, in Manzhou Township. It’s a bittersweet feeling seeing “civilization. Again, we were back riding along the ocean for the entire rest of the ride to Kenting, conquering the final fourth hill in the process.

We rode through Kenting, exhausted but happy that the hardest section of the ride had been vanquished. I remembered a hostel from two years earlier when I had hitchhiked around Taiwan still there in all its glory, called Kenting Walker Hostel. We called it home for the night.

What we really needed was another walk to the beach, and a swim in the ocean. But not before the lifeguard asked us to put on life jackets – for a small, netted swimming area with no waves. A life jacket. Taiwan can be much too overprotective sometimes.

Not having towels, we returned to the hostel, only to, you guessed it, have offered hand towels again. We couldn’t help but laugh out loud this time. Third time wasn’t a charm. But we could head over to 7-11 and get a big one – finally!

Feeling adventurous before dinner, we picked up scooters from a small shop, and since it was late, we negotiated 100 NT off the 300 NT price tag. We’re ready for the big time. As we ride in the scooters, a sense of relief went through us feeling the breeze in the our faces without having to move our cramped-up legs. We cruised to Eluanbi Lighthouse, about 10 KM back the way we came. It’s one of the only militarized lighthouses in the world, constructed in 1882 with a moat and embrasured walls to defend against attacks from aboriginal peoples. It was rebuilt twice – once by the Japanese after the Chinese burned it, and once in the restoration of Taiwan following the bombings from WWII.

Tim and I headed back to Kenting and decided on pizza from a small van with a wood brick oven, called Pizza Swell, after we read in a blog that a person would drive 4 hours to just get the pizza. We can’t confirm nor deny if it’s worth that. We were still feeling hungry after, and I stopped at a few places, including a place that had my beloved turkey from farms in the south of Taiwan. I juggled the snacks and milk tea on the walk back to the hostel.

We left earlier than the other two days, because we wanted to get to Kaohsiung and had been more mentally prepared to go through the morning checklist. After a quick pit stop for breakfast outside town, we were cycling up to the second most populous city in Taiwan.

We were moving quickly through the low lying coastal valley having an ocean view to our left and hills to the right. Much quicker average speed compared to the previous two days. But I thought about how proud and grateful I was to be able to do this with a great friend for our family members and all those who have fought breast cancer.

I felt like I needed an energy boost, so after passing a few mango farms and thinking ‘wait a minute, mangoes are my favorite fruit,’ I stopped where I saw a couple of Taiwanese sitting on crates sorting the fruit. I came away with seven mangoes for just 100 NT ($3 USD), a delicious deal.

Highway 17 goes straight into Kaohsiung for about 20 kilometers, but it felt like 100, being so close, yet so far. Sweat drenched, sunburned (although not as bad as it could have been), and dehydrated, we pushed through the city, our eyes lighting up seeing the first above ground metro station. We could feel it.

And there it was in big, block letters across the middle of the building’s facade: KAOHSIUNG STATION. We had done it. Tim and I completed 150 miles of riding, climbing 3000 meters in total elevation, around the southernmost tip of Taiwan. We embraced for a hug, knowing we’d remember it forever.

We returned our bikes to the Giant store, took one of the most satisfying showers ever at a hostel, and caught the High Speed Rail back home to Taipei. Our Southern Taiwan cycling journey had come to an end.

The life jackets in the ocean pool and small towels are just funny things along the way, but what really matters is starting and finishing this incredible cycling journey to honor my mom, Tim’s grandma, and those who have battled and lost the battle to breast cancer. In the growth of a friendship, Tim and I pedaled our hearts out for them. It brings us joy to know that there will be cure for breast cancer within our lifetimes.

Thanks to support and donations, the DMC Memorial Ride has raised over $25,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the leading breast cancer foundation in the US.

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