TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan is undergoing a cycling renaissance.

Bicycles were the main form of transport before the island evolved into a manufacturing juggernaut and the economy boomed. But the people who shifted to motorscooters and then cars are rediscovering the joys of cycling.

On the weekends in Yangmingshan National Park, the roads are filled with mountain bikes, high-end Italian racing frames and tricked-out collapsible bikes.

My favorite ride is a 57-mile out-and-back tour from the Feeling Hotel, over the mountains in Yangmingshan and down to Jin Shan beach on the northeastern Pacific coast.

The climbs can be steep, but the payoff is huge as you speed down long descents into mountain valleys where vegetables grow in small terraced plots on the slopes.

The park is full of hot sulfur vents that spew steamy clouds that smell like rotten eggs. Amid the tropical rainforest vegetation are bamboo groves and tall grasses where locust-like insects make a strange metallic whirling noise that sounds like a spaceship is about to land.

A switchback-filled descent of about 12 miles ends at Jin Shan beach. When I rode there on a recent Saturday, the beach was full of young Taiwanese surfers enjoying the higher waves being kicked up by a tropical storm.

I stopped at a roadside food wagon, and ordered a second breakfast of coffee and waffles with a generous dollop of whipped cream. I sat at a small plastic cafe table and watched the people riding the waves.

When I turned around to go home, I could see dark rain clouds hanging over the mountain. A hard rain began to fall about 10 minutes into the climb back over the mountain. But as I pedaled higher, I climbed out of the storm and spent the rest of the way uphill in a fantastically refreshing mist that kept me cool.

I returned to the hotel absolutely exhausted but with a wonderful buzz from being in the spectacular outdoors.

If you go: Yangmingshan National Park, http://www.ymsnp.gov.tw/html/eng/index.asp.

Accommodation: Feeling Hotel, Taipei, Taiwan, www.feelinghotel.com.tw. About $50 nightly.

Bike travel: Bike travel cases range from $100 to $500. The cheapest option is to take the bike to a local bicycle shop and have it packed in a cardboard box for a small fee. It can fit in a taxi trunk and be checked like normal luggage.