Ride Reports and Other Links

A couple recent ride reports to post.

Last weekend I did Puli to Wuling. Nathan from Bicycle Sidewalk provides a report from his attack on the other side of the mountain from Hualien to the Taichung side. Personally, I find his route more rewarding in every way.

and

Michael Turton from The View from Taiwan provides a wonderful report on his recent ride to the Liu Family House in Changhua along the Route 137. This is a wonderfully accessible and interesting ride into Taiwan's history from a time the Liu Family House sat near the very edge of the Qing imperial frontier.

Information:

For anyone planning a Round-Island ride or for those people interested in riding Taiwan's East Coast, there is a Facebook page that provides regular traffic reports for the infamous SuHua Highway. The SuHua Highway is notoriously dangerous for automobiles and cyclists alike.

You can look for details HERE (Chinese).

Other News:

• When I was in the first grade, all the kids in the neighborhood converged on the school to participate in the "Bicycle Rodeo", where children would learn about bike safety and then follow a course similar to Taiwan's scooter driving test to gain the right to bike to school. I loved biking to school. Sadly, in this era of "helicopter parents" and coddling overcompensation for children whose parents are too busy to raise them, children have increasingly lost the right to bike to school. In Taiwan we have a safety problem as well. I have actually been run off the road twice by parents rushing their children to school. Now, parents are being encouraged to send their children to school on bikes once more... in America.

• Awesome INFOGRAPHIC on cycling injuries.

• According to a new report, the prospects for increased use of cycling for recreation and transportation looks rosy. Another great INFOGRAPHIC.

• Competitive Cyclist has been purchased by Backcountry. I normally wouldn't care, but a few months back Competitive Cyclist acquired Merlin Metalworks, the storied titanium frame maker that was languishing under the American Bicycle Group, which also owns LITESPEED. Both these titanium brands seem to have been mistreated by ABG and have lost a ton of their cachet. I have been hoping Merlin could be revived... and I hope Backcountry will have the same dedication the the brand rather than holding it a simply a commodity to increase the company's value.

• Welsh Cycling President encourages cyclists to "get aggressive" on the roadways. I am sorry Mr. Owens, but there is one thing I have learned about drivers... and that is that they are unpredictably crazy. They are bigger and more powerful than a cyclist, and may also be carrying a weapon in the car. No thank you.

• Americans are assholes to cyclists. Persons unknown have attempted to sabotage the USA Pro Cycling Challenge by scattering dangerous materials along sections of the route.

The Politics of Cycling: Election Season Cycling and Other News

Election season is upon us once more, and Taiwan's president "Mayor" Ma Ying-jiu has announced he will be joining a round-island tour to promote his re-election bid.

Over the past four years we have seen Taiwan shirk from a place of prominence and pride... only to seek a position of marginalized ambiguity. This platform of mediocrity and ambiguity comes as a directive from Ma's office, which is seeking to rein in the two decades of Taiwan centered policies promoted by both the former Lee and Chen administrations; policies that resulted in giving recognition to the Taiwan centered outlook shared by most Taiwanese.

For Ma Ying-jiu, "Taiwan" has been a dirty word. He uses the word sparingly and through clenched teeth as if being forced to take some bad medicine.

Instead, Ma has tried to resuscitate the old term "ROC" or "Republic of China", which, although the official name of the state, is primarily disregarded outside the world of officialdom.

Now we see his hand again in his yearning to appeal to his glory days during the latter years of authoritarian rule in the 1970's.

This cycling event will be called: "ROCbike Taiwan Bravo."

The bicycle tour, “ROCbike Taiwan Bravo,” is a nationwide bicycle tour launched by Ma’s campaign office earlier this month. Ma’s team embarked on a similar tour during his presidential campaign in 2007.

The “long stay” bicycle tour, which saw Ma and his campaign team travel through 18 cities and counties through the country’s western plains and finished in then-Taipei County, was believed to have helped bolster Ma’s chances in the last election.

This year’s 15-day “ROCbike Taiwan Bravo” bicycle tour will cover 1,181km and finish in Hualien County.

King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), executive director of Ma’s campaign office, met the cyclists last week in Taitung County as part of a campaign activity, while Ma is expected to join more bicycle-related activities as the presidential election approaches.

I just hope he does not feel the need to inform the public on the state of his junk this time around.

In Other News:

After running into health and injury troubles, Taiwan's delegation for the Paris-Brest-Paris race in France have appealed to the Taiwan Representative Office in Paris for assistance, but have been denied.

The deputy representative determined the riders to be too far (5 hours) outside of paris to lend any help and referred them to their travel agent. Complicating issues was the fact that Taiwan's chief representatives have all been called back to Taipei (coinciding with election activities) and were unable to be on hand to make the call on how to handle the situation.

During the ultra-long bike tour, two members of the Taiwanese team were stricken by health problems, which included hallucinations and severe sickness.

In the end, they were forced to hitchhike back to Paris.

And:

Like a lot of Taiwanese who take their dogs out in bags or strollers to join them at the mall... one man couldn't resist brining his pup along for a tour of Taiwan.

Last, but not least...

Please enjoy TIC reader and occasional Taiwan cyclist, Emmanuel Thiry's multimedia tribute to riding the dreaded Route 136. The musical score is also an original Thiry score. Awesome!