Task for today was very clear: find bike suitable for 1000 kilometers long journey, buy other necessary things which they would not rent you.

Giant cycling store should be the first option for renting bike. The bikes are high quality, they have stores all around Taiwan, so in case you can return it in different place, the bike comes with equipment such as luggage rack, waterproof bag, etc., price is 1500 NTD for first 3 days and then 200 NTD per day. Unfortunately in first shop they told me everything is rented and I should have booked 2 weeks in advance:(

My second option was old trekking bike for good price 100 NTD per day, but without any equipment (for which I would spend +-3000) and I felt the bike is not good enough for such a long journey.

I found the winner in an unknown renting place which I bookmarked in my navigation some months back. 300 NTD per day (with discount 4 000 per 17 days) with headlights, luggage rack and bag, air pump, spare inner tyres and tools to change it included.

In Decathlon I bought helmet, lock and cyclocomputer – total spent 650NTD.
Interesting to see that in Taiwanese Decathlon they sell absolutely the same things as back home. The same rain jacket I bought in Italy for 50 € and in Czech is being sold for 1000 CZK (35€) is here for 1000 NTD (27€)
I wanted to buy also some iont drinks, saccharin, muesli bars, etc. simply some drugs which would help me to complete my challenge. Unfortunately they do not sell these kind of things here:( Either they wanna die healthy, or they are clever and not using those shit supplements.

Before picking up my bike I checked „electronic district“ – hounded of computer & mobile stores in one place.

Today cycled 7km from rental to appartment, during which I learnt I cannot be turning while cycling (my shoes are too big and blocking front wheel) and neither I can incline while cycling (bottom feet is on the road)… hope I can learn to go with this kind of bike before falling too many times.

In the evening I finalized Taiwan challenge itinerary:
3 – 4 july: cycling 270 km Taipei – Taroko with a visit in Yehliou (out of this 83km by train – too dangerous to cycle)
5: visit of Taroko national park
6, 7: cycling 180km to Taitung
8, 9: cycling 170km to Kaohsiung
10: rest in Kaohsiung
11, 13: cycling 200km (3 000 meters elevation gain!) to Tataka
14: climb Yushan mountain and back to Tataka
15: 70km to Sun Moon lake
16: try to swim across the lake
17-19: 260km to Taipei
Looking forward to start tomorrow 🙂