My 2023 Taiwan  KOM Experience

I have been racing road bikes since 1988. For all of the events that I have joined since then, I always race to win, or get to the podium or maybe top 10 or the least, a finisher. I have never joined a race with the thought that I might not finish the race.

Well, not until last month.

If ever there was a long climb in a race, I would find it difficult to finish well. It’s because of my build. I am 6.0ft tall and weigh around 200lbs, not really belonging to a Jonas Vingegaard cat. But I signed up for this event because I want to soak in the experience of riding 3,275 meters of Taiwanese mountains. To give you a perspective, TOPS is 650m, Baguio is 1,500m and  Mt Apo is 3000m.

From Taoyuan Airport, we took a train to Taipei and then another 3 hour train to Hualien, a city 160km southwest of Taipei. From the station, we went directly to our AirBnB accommodation.

The next day, my recon ride was cut short because of a mechanical problem but it was only on the third day that I was able to do the first 45km of the route along the majestic Taroko Gorge. If the photos of the Taroko are breathtaking, then you should do it in person to appreciate God’s Creation some more.

The climb wasn’t that steep during the recon, and if you have been to Guadalupe Carcar, its very similar. So I went home confident that I can finish the cut-off time of 6.5hours.

Race day

After the Taiwanese, Filipinos had the next biggest contingent of 140 riders (There were 700+ international participants) and half of them were Cebuano! It’s funny when Bisaya was the second most spoken word in the peloton during the 20km neutral start.

The Taiwan KOM is 105 kilometers long- the first 20k is flat, then the start, which is the start of the climb. I didn’t feel bad at the start, I was just drafting from the riders around me. The first 40km, I felt fine and I was going up at around 16-20kph. There were like six feed zones and I stopped in all of the six. I had bananas and I replenished my water bottles.

I saw a friend, Biboy Young from Dipolog, who was supposed to join except that he injured his back and became a spectator. Since rain was forecasted later that noon, I brought along a raincoat. But it was bothering me so I handed it to Biboy for safekeeping. Besides, the sun was out and I was hoping that maybe they’re be no rain at the top. The weather was chilly though but not that chilly to wear something warmer.

At this time, a lot of riders were passing me and I was passing lesser and lesser riders, which means that I was slogan down. I followed a young couple for about 10k but after about 10k, I couldn’t hold their pace.

At the 2nd feed zone, I was getting hungry, since I’m not used to taking gels and bars for food, I was happy that there were cheese rolls. I grabbed a couple and coke. The sun was still out but it was getting chillier but I was still fine with it.

I have been warned that the last 10km was just a monster, with pitches of 27%. Still I was confident of finishing within the time cut. (To be continued…)