Taiwan 2012: The Year In Cycles

My 2012 riding year is coming to a close and I can't shut the door on it fast enough. Between fatherhood, equipment issues, weather and some injury recovery, every weekend felt like it was starting over. It seemed like as soon as I put a few weeks of good training and riding together, I would have to take a couple more weeks off. I never really got back into 2011 form and I hope to do a better job of it this year.

I thought I should put together a few photos from my rides in 2012 on a cycling year I would like to forget. Despite the difficulties, I was able to get a few nice shots of what it means to ride a bike in Taiwan.

Enjoy!



The red bridge in Nantou City served as the destination for my first real ride of post-fatherhood. 



Lights from the Tainan HSR station reflect off my rear chainstay as I bag the bike after 180km of riding. The dirt sticks to the frame like Shake 'N Bake. 



Trees from the clouds in Sanlinxi. The trees are used to anchor the hillsides. 


Bamboo is still widely used as a cheap construction tool. The shoots are harvested and eaten.


Michael and Dom discuss something on Baguashan. 



You can still see a few of these old mud-brick houses around Taiwan. They are made of a mixture combining rice husk, mud, and ox excrement. 


A work of art.


On the Northern Cross Island Highway looking up at Lala Shan. I really enjoyed the scenery on the second day. 



Jeff works his way along one of Taiwan's signature squiggly roads. 


One of my favorite pictures of the year. Here, I worked to pedal and control the bike with one hand as I followed Dom on the cliffs above the great descent into Iilan. The striations in the rock allude to the sheer drop that is disguised by fog. 


Moments after the picture above was taken, we entered the tall trees where the fog gave it an aura of mystery. I cooled this picture down a little bit to really bring out that feeling. 


I really liked the colors of the fallen leaves against the illuminated greens. 



A self portrait at the drink station on Bagua Shan's Fengshan temple. The scuffs and scratches that obscure the reflection really bring out my feeling at the tail end of a ride. 



I really like this picture as it shows one of those chance encounters between groups of cyclists along the same route. There is always something to talk about. 



It is rare to ever get a shot of Taichung like this. It is usually shrouded in haze by 10:00am. The road to get these shots was unbearably steep. 



Needles from a conifer on Daxue Shan. On this ride I tried to slow things down a little and appreciate the details around me. Sometimes we are so busy enjoying the vastness of the landscape, we overlook the beauty up close. 



I really liked the colors on this stage for Taiwanese puppet theater.



Sometimes the details in an old house really draw me in. This house in Songboling made an excellent study of traditional architecture. 



This is another one of my favorites. I love the juxtaposition between the caked on filth, and the gleaming downtube of a high-end custom frame. It really gets to the heart of the matter: They are bikes--use 'em. 


The polyurethane sandal is a ubiquitous symbol of Taiwanese culture. They are the multipurpose footwear of Taiwan. Unfortunately, some pompous colonial asshat decided they were too "low class" and thus they have become regarded as a pejorative symbol of Taiwanese low culture in contrast to the haughty Chinese nationalist culture. A few years back there was a movement to transform them into a positive symbol of Taiwanese culture, but it was soon used by the KMT in a political stunt and the movement quickly faded. 


This pool of water caught my eye during a knee rest around Somboling. Here, another symbol of Taiwanese low culture, the betel nut tree, sits as a stump. In black and white it reminded me of bone. 



Waiting for the light. 



For this picture I actually had to stop in the middle of a climb (when I was in a really good rhythm). The scene looked too good to pass on. 




Regular readers may have noticed my interest in riverbeds. I often see interesting shapes and shadows below and try to capture them as abstract art. For this shot I really liked the chisel-like cuts in the sand. It almost looks like plaster. 


In Shigang you can come across this pile of rejected ceramic from a roadside factory. Trains, cups, vases and other ceramic ware is piled high beside the road. 


On the climb up the Miaoli 130 there is this interesting lattice of grow boxes. 


A testament to Taiwan's love affair with elevated concrete. 


An unlikely bridge crossing. 



I liked this picture of strawberry planting because the three women are in concert, but the man at the front is doing something different. 



A blossom suspended on grass. 


Another self portrait that shows how my face has aged this year. 


Teamwork


For this shot I rode with the camera high up over my head for a different angle. I like the image of the team drifting off into the distance. 



In some shots I like to pull color out. In this shot I wanted to play with angles and colors. I especially like the solid field of black in the corner. 
Self portrait. 




Kristi has been a dedicated rider for years. I think this photo shows her dedication. 



This was a splendid day for Taichung cycling as several disparate strands of the cycling community all joined together like a giant Japanese robot to form an unlikely peloton of various degrees of the sport. Here, Will and Attie look relaxed in the saddle. 



Shadows and their riders. This was a fun shot to bring up the contrast. 


Dom and James cycling along a squiggle of the Nantou 147. It shows a paced, measured ride and it is easy to imagine the conversation between the two riders. 



A large group of passionate cyclists in Taiwan. 


My daughter greeting me after the Tour of Changhua. It took a bit of the sting out of my horrible showing. 


Kaohsiung riders. I love the horizontal lines in the bike lane and the road. 


Floating bike.


One of the creatures along the road. 



This picture announced Fall. The reds and yellows make it look fiery. 



A tribute to my bike. 


When I saw the tracks in the riverbank I thought of the moon landing sites (if you believe in those). 


One of Taiwan's many tunnels. 



A rare self portrait that looks a little less staged. I feeling of uncertainty. 


The mountains on the wrong day can be intimidating and scary. Part o that effect is in the clouds. 


Another tribute to a bike and to climbing. 


From my last big trip before a New Year finale. The colors and clouds were too incredible to miss. 


I loved the way the trees and their colors reflected a near mirror image in the water. 



For this shot I played with the depth of field as much as you can with a point and shoot camera. I really tried to show how amazingly massive this this landscape is.