tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62030741496348074852024-03-14T10:19:05.061-07:00Taiwan In CyclesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger824125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-15398916657259450442018-01-02T06:30:00.000-08:002018-01-02T06:30:22.684-08:00Chiayi 166: The Road with a View(嘉166)<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/24575196627/in/dateposted-public/" title="IMG_6728"><img alt="IMG_6728" height="480" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4601/24575196627_c2209fab3c_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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For the first day of the new year everyone seemed to have the itch to do something different, but how that itch would be scratched was the question. With a long weekend there were far too many options, but by mid-week I had decided to try the Chiayi Route 166, which rises along the slope of Alishan's western ridge to the Ruili tea district. The Chiayi 166 splits the distance between the 36 bends of the 162A and the stunning 159A; both exquisite routes in their own right. Judging my the location, destination and look of the map, the 166 was ripe for a ride and I couldn't believe it hadn't registered in my mind any time prior. Was I ever right about this one.<br />
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I was joined by Michael (who offers his write-up <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-stunning-chiayi-166.html">HERE</a>) and Iris, two adventurous souls who both enjoy exploring Taiwan's roads as much as I do. We met at Taichung Station and took an early morning train down to Chiabei where we were delayed by an unnecessary hold up with breakfast and a necessary coffee stop. After almost an hour of mucking around Chiabei we hit the Chiayi Route 109 to greet the Chiayi 166 in the foothills of Chiayi.<br />
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The Chiayi Route 166 climbs the same section of Alishan as the famed Alishan rail line and at a few locations the road crosses the tracks of the popular tourist train. I imagine with a bike bag it is totally possible to bike up and take the train down... but I can't imagine skipping that screaming descent.<br />
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As we crept closer to the mountain I couldn't help but recall parts of a dozen or more similar roads. I guess if you ride enough you feel roads in similar ways. We passed old Earth God shrines, honeybees and orchards in punchy oscillations through the hills drawing closer to the main attraction.<br />
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The climb started to itch upward--gently at first, but steady. The lower half of the climbs kept everything at a moderate grade just on the inside of comfort. I have hardly been on the bike for over six weeks dealing with urgent family business and the immediate cold I caught upon returning to Taiwan during the cold snap from two weeks back. Still, my legs seemed to still be under me after kicking through 10k of climbing.<br />
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The climbing is steady and scribbles a meandering line up the slope. The climb flops over the ridge multiple times alternating between the northern and southern flank. There is rarely a segment without an astonishing view.<br />
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The early morning mist on Alishan never completely burned off (Yes, this was indeed the famous Alishan fog and not central Taiwan's infamous pollution) and therefore the views were a little more opaque than desired, but it was still simply marvelous.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/38560988935/in/dateposted-public/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="IMG_6540"><img alt="IMG_6540" height="480" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4693/38560988935_7072f54d22_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>Around the 59km marker the road started to simply hug the side of the mountain opposite the Chiayi 120. This is where the ramps became a little more serious and our little subtropical jaunt transformed into something more like a high mountain climb. We traced every contour of the mountain all the way up.<br />
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Vehicle traffic was a bit heavier than I would have liked, but it was totally worth it.<br />
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At about 700m the the first tea farms started to come into bloom. Much of this side of Alishan had been logged by the 1960s and turned into agricultural land. The tall cedars replaced with farm houses and the loose slopes cleared for tea fields and high mountain orchards.<br />
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As we hit a series of switchbacks with about 8km to the summit, the final act of the climb revealed itself marked by two small tunnels high above a deep valley. From this point onward the road just sort of crumples over itself before vaulting the final ridge to the summit.<br />
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Just beyond the peak, the road descends through two tunnels that act as a portal between two different world. The passage marks the border between the subtropical mountain walls and forests that blend a casual gradient into the foothills and the dusty plain to Taiwan's rugged Central Mountain Range. The spaces that open up reveal a world carved between endless peaks and deep river passages. This is where tiny, oceanic Taiwan becomes a continent. <br />
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We slung our bicycles between a sea of tea farms, bamboo and betel nut. I kept thinking how glad I was to have picked up a bag of gummy bears down at coffee, because food was not forthcoming. We had finally arrived among permanent homes and farms, but it seems people in the mountains don't eat. Not even a grocery store.<br />
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Then, just about a kilometer before the turn off toward the Shuisheliao Station, we came upon a small local restaurant that had some sticky rice dumplings for enough oomph to drag us down the road.<br />
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We turned onto the road to Shuisheliao Station, which looked promising, but was mainly locked in bamboo and forest with regular bumps amid flats to negotiate on tired legs.<br />
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At Shuisheliao I caught up with the Alishan tourist train and did my best to take some quick pictures before having too many pictures taken of me. As we arrived at the station the weather looked like it was turning, like it almost might rain. If fact, it was only the charm of Alishan making itself known. Alishan is notorious for low clouds and thick fog. This was our taste of the old Alishan ambiance.<br />
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This is where we had the idea to take the Ruiguang Industry Rd.<br />
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On paper the idea seemed like a beautiful way to make the return interesting. On paper it would be a leisurely descent to the 159A and then a downhill home. On paper.<br />
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In reality, the initial descent was so steep and covered with fine clay, my wheels slid almost immediately as I eased off my brakes to meet the descent. At that point I needed to simply go fast until I could find some traction with which to stop.<br />
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The road was a shattered mosaic of cement and dried slurry that had been shaped into the form of a road. The entire path was littered with everything bad waiting to happen on a grade so uncomfortably steep you couldn't brake... and you couldn't not brake. It was excruciating on the hands as we read the road conditions in braille and tried to stay on the mountain without breaking our skulls.<br />
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We eventually landed on the 159A at exactly the spot where the final, and most unforgiving climb of the ascent off the mountain begins. It was another while of slow, tortured climbing in the fog before we finally rocketed off the mountain and into Chiayi City. We suffered through the rollers on the way into town before calling it a day at the train station where we took a cab to the HSR station (which is unnecessarily far from town) for a quicker ride home.<br />
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The Chiayi Route 166 is an excellent road to add to anyone's repertoire of Alishan routes. It is scenic, well maintained and it connects to the 162, 169 and other routes that can be designed to fit any level of challenge on Alishan. The Chiayi Route 166 is highly recommended. The Ruiguang Industry Road should only be recommended to your fiercest rivals.<br />
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<iframe border="0" frameborder="0" height="400" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.bikemap.net/en/r/4281121-chiayi-166/widget/?width=425&height=400&unit=imperial" width="425"> </iframe> <br />
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<a href="https://www.bikemap.net/en/r/4281121/" rel="noopener" style="color: #22a9ff; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Cycle Route 4281121</a> - via <a href="https://www.bikemap.net/" style="color: #22a9ff; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Bikemap.net</a> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-25531917760699894322017-11-14T21:33:00.000-08:002017-11-14T21:33:45.728-08:00Bruised Bicycle Bellwether: Giant Reeling in China Market<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/26610519365/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="472" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1658/26610519365_818b440643_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">China, once the most promising bicycle market is now a heavy burden for Giant harming the company’s financial results. There are even no signs for improvement as Giant points to China’s slow economy. Even the country’s booming bicycle sharing systems, in which Giant is involved directly as well as via its own bicycle sharing program YouBike, could not give much financial relieve.</span></i><span style="font-size: large;">--</span><a href="http://www.bike-eu.com/home/nieuws/2017/11/market-position-in-china-burden-for-giant-manufacturing-10131952" style="font-size: x-large;">Bike Europe (11/14/2017)</a></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The bicycle industry is already suffering with multiple pressures from a shift in retail channels to currency exchanges and cultural change in areas traditionally more favorable to higher-end cycling equipment. For most of a decade we have heard one of the industry leaders beating the drum for Taiwan's economic (and political) integration with the People's Republic of China. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Or as Ralph Jennings <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-44915720091222">wrote in 2009</a>:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #313132;">TAICHUNG, Taiwan (Reuters) - Economic powerhouse China and export-reliant Taiwan, political rivals for six decades, agreed on Tuesday to negotiate a trade deal that would cut tariffs <u>and bring the two sides closer</u>.</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course ECFA was never intended to be entirely about economic, but rather a means to rein in Taiwan's independence, which is supported by a vast majority of the population, in creating an economic dependency with deep political implications. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ECFA garnered vocal support from <b>Giant Manufacturing</b> and Ma Ying-jeou's re-election campaign even saw then Giant chairman, Anthony Lo, issue a last minute vote of confidence to Ma's Kuomintang Party in the closing days of the election with an urgent call for support of his China-centered policies. He continued to remain bullish on Ma's vision and brushed the issue with tones of urgency. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 2010 Giant put its money where it's mouth was. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">According to reports from Taiwan media, appreciating the </span><b style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;">huge potential of the mainland market after the signing of the ECFA</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">, Taiwan Giant Global Group plans to strengthen the capability and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b>competitiveness</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"> of the mainland headquarters this year by launching a new investment plan to invest an initial RMB 1.16 billion for the establishment of the Bicycle Industrial Park in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province.<br /><br />Reports disclosed that with the expansion of the market, Giant Global Group will increase its investment to raise its market share in the mainland bicycle market. Based on its original SUV brand GIANT, the Group will vigorously develop a new brand MOMENTUM to raise the market share of passenger vehicles. The medium-priced brand will be aggressively promoted through about 2,000 distribution channels.<br /><br />Giant Global Group plans to increase its investment to build a bicycle plant in Kunshan, which has gained great support from the mayor of Kunshan Guan Aiguo. The 40-hectare new plant will consist of plants for bicycles, frames, carbon fiber and electrical vehicles. Besides, the cycle track & bicycle theme park plan will also be pushed forward. The investment in the initial stage amounts to USD 36 million (NTD 1.16 billion).</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">Reports disclosed that with the expansion of the market, Giant Global Group will increase its investment to raise its market share in the mainland bicycle market. Based on its original SUV brand GIANT, the Group will vigorously develop a new brand MOMENTUM to raise the market share of passenger vehicles. The medium-priced brand will be aggressively promoted through about 2,000 distribution channels.</span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">Giant Global Group plans to increase its investment to build a bicycle plant in Kunshan, which has gained great support from the mayor of Kunshan Guan Aiguo. The 40-hectare new plant will consist of plants for bicycles, frames, carbon fiber and electrical vehicles. Besides, the cycle track & bicycle theme park plan will also be pushed forward. The investment in the initial stage amounts to USD 36 million (NTD 1.16 billion). <a href="http://taiwanincycles.blogspot.tw/2010/06/ecfa-bikes-and-mythology-of-chinese.html">(6/2010)</a></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Giant's self proclaimed "Godmother of Women's Cycling", Bonnie Tu, doubled down on ECFA and the China market. According to a Bicycle Retailer article <a href="http://www.bicycleretailer.com/international/2010/07/30/taiwan-suppliers-applaud-trade-agreement#.WgvPgrZ7HXE">(7/2010)</a>, Tu could barely suppress her enthusiasm for the post ECFA China boom.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonnie Tu, Giant Manufacturing’s chief financial officer, told the Financial Times the agreement could help the company better manage its production. Giant has factories in Taiwan and China. Giant builds its high-end bikes, particularly carbon fiber, in Taiwan. Lesser value models are made in China.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“If there is no tax issue, we can really integrate our factories and shuffle production as we like,” Tu said. “China’s economy of scale for high-end bicycles could be really big,” she added.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This despite the beginnings of a quiet <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2010/06/14/2003475456">exodus of Taiwanese firms from China.</a> </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">“</span><span style="background-color: cyan;">Our future lies in China</span><span style="background-color: white;"> and one of our goals is to develop this rapidly expanding market”, said Tony Lo, CEO of Giant Global Group at the press conference hosted by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) at last week’s Eurobike show. “The best platform to build up this emerging market is the Taipei Cycle Show which is taking place from March 7 – 10, 2012,” said Lo.-- </span><a href="http://www.bike-eu.com/home/nieuws/2011/9/taiwan-bicycle-industry-turning-to-china-1016220" style="background-color: white;">Bike Europe (8/2011)</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">... and later: </span><br />
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</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anthony Lo (羅祥安), chief executive officer of local bicycle maker Giant Global Group (巨大集團), said the government needs to establish a vision.<br />“What Taiwanese enterprises want to see is the government striving to help businesses build unique brands that can provide innovative products and services,” Lo said on the sidelines of the forum. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lo said Taiwan needs to integrate into regional markets as soon as possible so local firms can enjoy the trading privileges that other nation’s companies do, such as tariff exemptions. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“The markets are changing so fast that the rules have been reset, and if we don’t catch up, it is going to be harder for us to hold our own in the global market,” he added.--<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2013/04/03/2003558638">Taipei Times (4/3/2013)</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The China market has been a quagmire for some time and several indices <a href="http://chicago.taiwantrade.com.tw/news/detail.jsp?id=18806&lang=en_US">have highlighted this situation</a>.</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Chinese market for Taiwanese bicycles declined by 33% to 79,000 units. Though not yet that large, the Chinese market was seen as a main growth market for several years. This development has now stopped due to the economic decline in China.--<a href="http://chicago.taiwantrade.com.tw/news/detail.jsp?id=18806&lang=en_US">(11/17/2015)</a></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This past year <a href="http://www.bicycleretailer.com/international/2017/08/22/giant-manufacturing-sees-decline-first-half-revenues#.WgvMzrZ7HXF">Bicycle Retailer</a> reported:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The weak link in global sales for Taiwanese companies, including Giant, remains China. "Giant China's performance continues to suffer from soft demand and the popularity of bike sharing, which affected sales recovery in the first half," Giant said. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">China's infatuation with bike sharing has forced companies like Giant and Merida to close some company-owned stores as retail sales have plummeted, particularly for higher end models. Independent shops have also been hurt by a lack of demand brought on by bike sharing. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Still, Giant said it believes its co-sponsorship of pro-cycling's Team Sunweb, and its performance in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, has elevated its global brand awareness and will drive future demand, especially for its carbon frames and accessories.<br />"Looking forward to the second half of the year, Giant projects Europe and the U.S. will continue its growth momentum," the company said. However, it cautioned that unpredictable exchange rates as well as continued turmoil in the Chinese market would be of concern for the remainder of the year. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But if we just wait a bit longer...maybe China will do us a solid....</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-29820497727941231802017-10-31T22:39:00.001-07:002017-11-01T06:31:51.539-07:00Training to Climb in Hsinchu: The Magnificent 竹37<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/38024183962/in/dateposted-public/" title="IMG_5863"><img alt="IMG_5863" height="480" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4507/38024183962_2f7c217184_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Nothing begs for a bike ride more than a clear weekend in October. For many places around the globe late October means the best riding weather is long gone. For us in Taiwan, it means the best three months of cycling are upon us. By mid-October the heavy coat of humidity has blown away, the threat from a passing typhoon is greatly reduced, and the skies glimmer with bright warm sunlight. This is the season to ramp up the training and get into some kind of shape before getting sick and starting all over again.<br />
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For this weekend I knew I wanted to get out and beat my legs up a bit to better recover from my three-month summer layoff. I have also been itching to spice up my love affair with Taiwan's shapely roadways with a little something new in an area I rarely get the opportunity to explore. The map was telling me Hsinchu was that place and the 竹37 was the route.<br />
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The 竹37 starts in Beipu, the little urban outpost along the Highway 3 where the foothills begin their vertical transition into mountains. The attraction of the 竹37 was that it appeared to traverse a longitudinal ridge line from Beipu to the scenic Nanzhuang area. The road appeared long enough and put the wind at our backs. The trick was how to get there.<br />
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In a flurry of overnight texting, we had assembled a small group of riders with Dom, Matt and I taking the HSR to Hsinchu, while Michael and Mike Surly took the local train to Zhuzhong Station. It was set. Taiwan's train system puts so much within reach of a viable day ride.<br />
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After a quick stop for coffee and fuel in Zhuzhong, we hit Kehu Rd. through the rippling foothills of Hsinchu. The entire area is a labyrinth of criss-crossing rural roads that traverse the deep gullies and estuaries of hill country. While it may be impossible to build a straight road among the ocean of steep inclines, it is possible for local governments to provide proper signage. Don't worry, they didn't. It can be very easy to get lost in the maze with several roads splitting and leading to the same destination...or not. The horizon is just layer upon layer of stacked ridges echoing off into the distance.<br />
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We took our time to check our bearings and avoid any unnecessary climbing. On a day when you have already accounted for some vertical pleasure, anything that isn't necessary becomes a worrisome burden. <br />
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Along the way there are a few roadside treats as this area seems to be a favorite among local cyclists and day tourists.<br />
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The climbs to Beipu are short, sweet, but no less taxing. There are a couple of memorable grades among the rollercoaster of farming roads.<br />
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The road coasts into Beipu and a little slow rolling toward the back of town can find the drop into a wide valley to the lower reaches of the 竹37, which is also posted as 大坪路 and 大林路. This is an excellent place to grab snacks and water for the ride as the interior has plenty little in the way of refreshments except for a single roadside store that hawks wieners and dry sundries to weekend cold spring goers.<br />
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As we advanced a kilometer or two up the road, Michael and I both had the dragging feeing of disappointment wash over us as we realized we had already ridden it before and the sparkle of a new road for the books had been tarnished by the familiar roadside peculiarities. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the road. It is really quite beautiful with some interesting attractions, but we were lacking the mystery. I was sure we hadn't taken that road to Nanzhuang and we pushed on with hope that we would soon out climb the familiar for a taste of something new.<br />
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After having strung out over a kilometer of lovely two-lane asphalt bordered by verdant walls on all sides, we reconvened at a "T" intersection where a smaller road slithered into the sunlit greens of the hill above. This was our 竹37.<br />
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The 竹37 to Nanzhuang starts as a lane and a half footnote to the larger road below. It bucks and zags upward past the crumbles of Japanese era infrastructure that once helped support forestry and mountain agriculture.<br />
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As the road continued upward it narrowed to a single car's width and became more interesting at every bend. There was little traffic and few dwellings save for a B&B and a Tears of Guanyin temple where believers filled plastic bottles of spring water from beneath a towering fiberglass statue of the deity.<br />
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After the Guanyin statue the 竹37 becomes more like a well paved bicycle path that flits through shaded cedar groves and tall trees. There are still some cedar harvesting operations in the area and it gives the area a strange sense of displacement. On one corner banana leaves brush your ears, the next a grassy clearing, and then the bend ahead reveals the tall red trunks of evergreens--like a page from a scrapbook of Taiwan's rural landscape all within a few minutes.<br />
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The road began to open up again as we pushed skyward out of a small highland marsh and up to the crest of the hill. The scenery was incredible, but light conditions made for poor photography. From the high point we could look down on Nanzhuang and the mountains high above. That really is a lovely area.<br />
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After a short rest we screamed down the hill onto the 苗21, which is also a fantastic cycling road that leads to the Xiangtian Lake area. It is all well worth the price of exploration. After a lunch and siesta at the Family Mart in Nanzhuang, our little band split into two groups with one group seeking a straight decline toward Zhunan Station, and the other still game for more altitude staying on the 苗 24 to the Highway 3 at Shitan. I elected to go with the latter group and abuse my legs some more on the hills.<br />
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I had forgotten how much of a climb that 苗24 had been. Actually, I had only ever ridden it in the opposite direction and I distinctly remember thinking on the descent, "Wow, I am glad I am not coming up this thing...."<br />
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The lower sections are a little more merciful. The worst part is the onslaught of weekend tour busses. After a bit more altitude the busses disappear but the climbing remains. It is a hill where it pays to just find a steady cadence that you can stick with and then let the legs roar.<br />
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As I capped the summit I stopped for a few shots of the hills on the western side of the Highway 3 before rolling into the parking lot of the famous Lingdong Temple. It makes a nice place to grab a drink or snack, but you need to allow for tourist prices.<br />
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On this day it was the rare case of the ascent being more fun than the descent as we got stuck behind a line of braking cars and severe crosswinds.<br />
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We eased onto the Highway 3 and into the jet wash of the winds from the northern monsoon. Had we decided to turn tail and ride back to Taichung it would have been cake to just sit upright in the saddle and let the wind do all the work. Alas, we opted to cut across the Mingde Reservoir on the 126 to Miaoli City and then hop the HSR at the new Miaoli Station.<br />
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After a few more climbs and a duel with crosswinds, we had logged around 100k and 2000m of climbing.<br />
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Most of all we had ridden a true gem of a road that proved to be satisfying in its beauty, challenge and range. What a buzz!<br />
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Read Michael Turton's Ride Post: <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-wonderful-hsinchu-37-out-of-beipu.html">HERE</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/4247189-nanchuang-dalin-rd/" rel="noopener" style="color: #22a9ff; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Cycle Route 4247189</a> - via <a href="https://www.bikemap.net/" style="color: #22a9ff; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Bikemap.net</a> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-84404592289545992102017-10-26T00:56:00.003-07:002017-10-26T18:53:30.438-07:00Overcoming A Challenge: Taiwan's KOM Breakthrough to Worldwide Recognition<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/16866955520/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="480" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7640/16866955520_66a2780b00_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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By the late morning on October 20, the sixth edition of the Taiwan KOM Challenge winner circle was in the books while the remaining masochists on two wheels lurched toward the summit of Wuling Pass for several more hours. The effort may have been an immediate triumph for those fortunate enough to stand a meter or two above the 3275m summit atop a small wooden podium, it was also a victory for each participant brave, dumb or crazy enough to commit their names and bodies to the event.<br />
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More than this, it was a triumph for the event as a race in general.<br />
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For well over a decade Wuling has played host to numerous locally sanctioned, and some not so sanctioned, hill climb events from both sides of the mountain. Most of these events had been organized (and dis-organized) by local cycling clubs. With the explosion in recreational cycling beginning in 2006, the strain on organizers, infrastructure and interests groups threatened to turn any Wuling climbing event into a dangerous Tour de-farce. I recall a couple of events where traffic control was pulled while hundreds of riders remained on the roadway. Other events were held with dangerously low levels of medical support.<br />
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<a href="http://59-125-29-195.hinet-ip.hinet.net/webpic/1348229257.pdf">In 2012</a>, just as Wuling rides had reached a critical mass, the inaugural Taiwan KOM Challenge was held as an open event with only 380 riders of all levels scrapping for the same prize--a KOM jersey and about $USD2600 for the men...and about $USD330 for women. The initial run was a mere 100km, and was won by the Danish rider, <a href="http://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/John_Ebsen">John Ebsen</a>, who has essentially been adopted by Taichung as a hometown hero.<br />
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Thinking back, it was a really big deal. Ebsen held off some Protour riders with grand tour pedigree in <a href="http://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/Jeremy_Roy">Jeremy Roy</a>, with other top contenders in <a href="http://www.procyclingstats.com/rider.php?id=140272">Anthony Chartreau</a>, <a href="http://www.procyclingstats.com/rider.php?id=192144&season=2016">Peter Pauly</a> and the former Tour of Taiwan GC winner, <a href="http://www.procyclingstats.com/rider.php?id=140876&season=2010">David McCann</a>.<br />
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For Taiwanese who constantly have to struggle for international visibility against China's desire to have Taiwan's lands, peoples, cultures and systems subsumed by a neocolonialism with Chinese characteristics, the attention and recognition by an accomplished anybody from abroad who can recognize Taiwan as an entity in and of itself is already enough to make headlines. This was pretty sweet stuff in 2012.<br />
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For 2017, the Taiwan KOM turned things up to eleven. The freshly minted 2017 race was built upon the nearly 600 participants who threw themselves at that mountain for 106km, with o<a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2017/10/18/2003680576">ver half arriving from abroad to compete. </a> In six short years the event has broken away from being a scrappy local race into the punctuation mark at the end of the international cycling season.<br />
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This year the Taiwan KOM was won by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Nibali">Vincenzo Nibali</a> (3:19), the stringy Italian who made his name as a tenacious climber in the 2010 Giro di Italia and has spent the past seven years battling at the head of the GC leaderboards of all the grand tours with GC victories in each of the big three. Nibali is seen as one of the most talented riders of the post-Armstrong era... and he chose to close out his season in Taiwan. Its is enough to make any cyclist in Taiwan get all rosy cheeked. The fact that one of Nibali's major sponsors at <i>Bahrain-Merida</i> is a major Taiwan bicycle manufacturer may have been the nudge he needed to postpone his vacation until late October.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>"It was a hard race because we went from sea level up to 3,275 metres. I've never ridden such a long and hard climb before in my entire life,"</i> Vincenzo Nibali--<a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/nibali-ends-season-with-victory-at-taiwan-kom-challenge-gallery/">Cycling News</a></span></blockquote>
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The second and third spot were taken by dueling KOM winners Oscar Pujol and John Ebsen with Cameron Piper, Edmund Bradbury and the famously unretired Phil Gaimon in the final podium spot.<br />
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Moreover, cleaning up at the 10th spot was the 40yo. Cadel Evans, the winner of the 2011 Tour de France, which is one of my favorites of recent memory. The retired Aussie, who now serves as a brand ambassador for BMC, <a href="http://english.president.gov.tw/News/5245">was treated to tea with President Tsai Ing-wen</a>.<br />
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Taiwan's Peng Yuan-tang finished 17th as Taiwan's top finisher.<br />
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The women's race was again headlined by the former British road racing champion, Emma Pooley, who successfully defended her title in a resounding fashion with a gritty 3:52. Pooley led a near British sweep of the women's podium with Hayley Simmonds and Emily Collinge in the second and third steps. Claudia Lichtenberg from Germany held up the fourth position with Brit Helen Jackson and the Japan's 51yo. sensation Yukari Nakagome in the sixth spot.<br />
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Aside from the illustrious resumes and glittering palmares held by the top participants, what really stood out about this year's race was parity between the men's and women's categories. While men's sports in general tends to use guidelines taken from the Old Testament when appraising the value of a woman, the initial 2012 running of the Taiwan KOM saw a naked disparity between the awards in the male and female categories. In recent years the monetary value has increased, but the disparity remained. Until this year the women's winner could take home $USD6600, while he men's winner could claim approximately $USD30,000 in prize money. The 2017 Taiwan KOM set a major precedent in establishing parity in the prize money awarded, setting the amount at $USD16,000 each.<br />
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But the KOM is an unusual race. Not only does it seek parity in gender, it also is open to any rider willing to pony up the entrance fee and make the time to race on a Friday. While they have an elite level, like a Grand Fondo, there is nothing to stop Joe and Mary Saturday from making a charge for glory at the finish line at Wuling Pass if they can qualify during the Road to KOM races during the Spring and Summer. If I had not just come back from three months off the bike, I may have thrown my hat into the ring just to have a semi-factual tale to tell about racing against Cadel Evans, Vincenzo Nibali and Emma Pooley. I wouldn't have been lying.<br />
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It has been a real source of pride as a cyclist in Taiwan to watch as we give our gift of Wuling to the world and the world fully accepts it. <br />
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There are no caveats about Wuling. It is not a hard ride "for an Asian race". It is a hard ride for any race. And for Taiwanese it adds a dash of validation that we are "world class".<br />
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Aside from the topography and participants who really make the KOM, a lot of the credit needs to be handed to <a href="http://www.taiwankom.org/en/">the event organizers</a>. They have done a fantastic job in transforming this event and this mountain into something more than Taiwan's local favorite. The Taiwan KOM is gaining the mythic status often reserved for European monuments like the Alpe d' Huez, the Iozard and the Galibier.<br />
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Moore than that, to top off the goodness from this year's event. The race organizers were even able to lure GCN, the professional cycling broadcasting outfit to Taiwan to televise Taiwan's KOM. The entire thigh snapping spectacle can be viewed in English <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgyopaTNjHo">HERE</a>. <br />
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Yes, this is more than a bike race. This is Taiwan's soft power hard at work. With full televised coverage of the KOM, cyclists around the world can watch the image of Taiwan as a mere production facility dissipate into the thin alpine air to be replaced with enough of a dream to entice one more rider to take the next step in discovering the complexity and beauty of Taiwan. Lets face it, recreation cycling is an industry built of fantasy and Taiwan is just learning how to tap its potential.<br />
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For anyone sick of the KOM coverage, here is a link to another type of ride in Taiwan.<br />
The intrepid <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.tw/2017/10/the-taiung-2340-and-east-coast-scott.html?m=1">Michael Turton from the View from Taiwan has a fantastic piece from Taiwan's East Coast. </a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-46287070430229969832017-10-15T16:57:00.002-07:002017-10-15T16:57:41.962-07:00Taiwan in Cycles EVENT: Speaking the Ride<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/5225084849/in/dateposted-public/" title="Riding Taroko National Park-太魯閣國家公園 - 344"><img alt="Riding Taroko National Park-太魯閣國家公園 - 344" height="640" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5242/5225084849_757513008c_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finding Formosa Through the Bicycle
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">An intimate look at the ways of
knowing Taiwan through bicycle travel. </span><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #4b4f56; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.13333334028720856px;"><b>When: October 22nd @ 2:30pm</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4b4f56; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.13333334028720856px;"><b>Where: People's Park near Cheng-ping on Gong-yi Rd. </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><b>Who: </b>Speaker: <b>Mr. Andrew D. Kerslake</b>, Editor of
<i>Taiwan in Cycles</i>: a Taiwan-based blog dedicated to exploration, analysis and
critique of Taiwan’s bicycle culture. </span><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Background: Originally from Seattle,
Washington, USA, Mr. Kerslake has been based in Taichung since 1998. With his background in East Asian Studies, Mr. Kerslake has spent the
past twenty years as a keen observer of Taiwan’s changing cultural landscape.</span><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
2007, Mr. Kerslake decided to combine his interests and experience in history,
culture and cycling to launch Taiwan in Cycles; the first English Language online publication to focus primarily on Taiwan’s cycling culture. The goal of this
blog was to use cycling as a medium to explore, educate, share and inspire people from
Taiwan and around the world to seek out and discover this beautiful country by bike.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Through route reviews, travelogues,
editorials, photography and essays, Mr. Kerslake has created a body of work
that has provided cyclists and non-cyclists alike with a few of the breadcrumbs
that might be helpful in crafting their own intimate memories with this land
and the people who call Taiwan home. </span><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Over the course of his involvement with
Taiwan in Cycles, Mr. Kerslake has been cited as a reference in numerous books
and publications focusing on Taiwan’s cycling environment. These include The
Cyclist’s Bucket List by Ian Dille, Taiwan Today, Adventure Cycling Magazine,
as well as numerous international blog posts.</span><span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #4b4f56; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moreover, Mr. Kerslake has helped dozens of
visitors edit and craft their travel plans to get the most from their
experience in Taiwan. It is through Taiwan in Cycles that Mr. Kerslake has
hoped to participate and contribute to the community of Taiwanese cyclists.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, "Century Gothic", "Noto Sans TC", 微軟正黑體, sans-serif; position: relative;">
活動時間:10/22(日) 14:30 草悟廣場<br style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;" />所謂美學是指以對美的本質及其意義的研究為主題的學科,單車美學是需要建構和落實,故舉辦相關演講活動,將其想法、風格、態度,甚至是生活方式,透過靜態演講的方式傳達給大家,以增加活動的知識內涵,並提升活動整體素質,讓騎士經典活動不單只是個騎乘活動,更有理念傳達的目的。</h3>
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<br /></div>
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<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #242932; font-family: Helvetica, "Century Gothic", "Noto Sans TC", 微軟正黑體, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; position: relative;">
Andrew Kerslake,美國華盛頓州西雅圖人,中文名為:柯安助,為長年居住在台中的一位單車部落客具有人類學以及東亞研究的學術背景。<br style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;" />1998年來到台灣,以單車視角觀看台灣,紀錄許多台灣的單車店家,並拍攝許多單車與這片土地的互動照片。於2007年,建立第一個以台灣單車文化為主體的英語單車部落格。致力於探索、分析、與評論台灣單車文化。<br style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;" />期望能以單車文化主題為媒介,對世界各國的人分享與解說台灣之美。 透過【Taiwan in Cycles】部落格,柯安助的文章曾多次被引用在單車書籍、雜誌、平面報導等媒體中,其中包括:Ian Dille著作之 The Cyclist’s Bucket List、Taiwan Today、Adventure Cycling Magazine 等。<br style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;" />目前在台中擔任教職,育有一女。 <br style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;" />相關作品見於<a href="http://taiwanincycles.blogspot.tw/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #337ab7; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" target="blank">Taiwan in Cycles</a></h3>
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For more information in Chinese: <a href="https://www.jdlifewow.com.tw/activity/Knight/presentation.html#menu_button_wrapper">HERE</a></div>
<div>
Registration Info: <a href="https://www.jdlifewow.com.tw/activity/Knight/registration.html">HERE</a></div>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-60242247854481196952017-10-12T19:15:00.003-07:002017-10-13T06:07:41.747-07:00Stifled Dream of a Bicycle Paradise: Pollution and Industrial Blight Cloud Taiwan's Future in Cycles<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/36684525593/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4468/36684525593_912240da71_z.jpg" width="431" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With the annual bicycle festival right around the corner, the Tourism Bureau is again hard at work pumping Taiwan's place in the bicycling universe with lofty powder-puff pay for play articles that seek to lure potential cycling tourists to our shores in search of a life of exotic adventure in the timeless swirling mists of the Far-East.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By the beginning of October the official Tourism Bureau budget is ripe enough to fete cycling writers and bloggers on managed tours of Taiwan's hand picked cycling monuments, which all seem to rest amid the swelling bosom of tourism furniture-- hotels, hot springs, knick knacks, food...etc...or they serve to validate government expenditures on infrastructure like meandering bike paths or bike-share programs that mainly cater to students. The copy retains a familiar form along the official Tourism Bureau talking points listed for each writer to earn airfare and a travel stipend. We see glowing reviews of "the Bicycle Paradise" or the cute moniker "the Cycling Kingdom" with its knowing wink to King Liu the figurehead of Giant Manufacturing Co, Ltd. the maker of several branded bicycles and components.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Take these examples: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">"...majestic mountains, scenic cliffs, awe-inspiring waterfalls, quaint peaceful lagoons and all the while being surrounded by water on all sides. </span><a href="http://arabiangazette.com/the-taiwanese-connection-the-touristic-delving-20140423/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #38a6c1; text-decoration: none;">Taiwan is really an enchanting tropical paradise</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> to go seeking adventure</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Combined with the country’s natural splendor with advance infrastructure i.e. good roads, Taiwan makes an ideal destination for cycling. Due to its vast infrastructure budget spent by the government for the maintenance of its roads, Taiwan altogether has over 3,000 kilometers of road network making it a paradise for cycling enthusiasts to venture within." <a href="https://arabiangazette.com/taiwan-adventure-nation-photos/">--Arabian Gazette</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">"Over the last two decades, Taiwan has transformed into a cyclist's paradise, opening thousands of kilometers of interwoven bikeways through some of the island's most beautiful landscapes. The extensive new network of routes has earned the country many accolades, including a spot on </span><a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-tips-and-articles/76856" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">Lonely Planet's 2012 Best Countries to Visit</a><span style="background-color: white;"> list and CNN Travel's top "</span><a href="http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/play/10-best-cycling-routes-world-902676" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #003399; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Cycling Routes That'll Take Your Breath Away</a><span style="background-color: white;">," and for good reason. By bike, visitors can cruise past hillsides painted with colorful flower farms, marvel at the geology of Taroko Gorge's marble walls, follow old rail lines through retired mining tunnels, cross thrill-inducing suspension bridges and sample sweet pineapple cakes from local farm stands."--</span><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/sponsored/spectacular-rides-taiwan-bicycle-kingdom-180955066/" style="background-color: white;">Smithsonian</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Premier Mao stated that he envisions Taiwan becoming a “cycling paradise,” and relevant strategies are necessary to achieve this vision". <a href="http://english.ey.gov.tw/News_Content2.aspx?n=8262ED7A25916ABF&sms=DD07AA2ECD4290A6&s=E9A30B5A2F9F6EF5">--Executive Yuan (2015)</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Taiwan is considered by many to be a cyclist’s paradise with its picturesque bike trails through the island-nation’s awe-inspiring scenery. Thanks to extensive funding in the past decade, Taiwan now boasts thousands of miles of bike roads that wrap around the 14,000 square-mile island. The country’s bike paths show off the country’s diverse topography, from plains on the Eastern Coast to Mountains that are at 3,275 altitudes. The breathtaking lush green mountains and beautiful water scenery make your biking adventures heavenly".--<a href="https://www.studentuniverse.com/travel-guides/taiwan/things-to-do-in-taiwan/cycling-in-taiwan">Student Universe</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">They get the swirling mists, but of a more ominous variety. Don't get me wrong. Taiwan is an amazing place to be a cyclist. I have ridden through the valleys of awesome. I have seen inspiring things that I can't fully describe and have gloriously suffered in ways that only a cyclist with a love for the ride can fully comprehend. It is not that I don't like Taiwan or that I don't want people to cycle Taiwan. My complaint is quite the opposite. I love Taiwan and I love being a cyclist here. I want riders from around the world to embrace this country like I have. I want them to speak of Taiwan cycling with the reverence of the old European routes. I really do. And too often Taiwan gets in its own way of making good on its claims. I too often feel embarrassed for the people who have read my writing and taken the plunge to visit for a ride only to find their routes choked with pollution levels too dangerous to cycle without tempting asthma. I am embarrassed by glistening natural vistas marred by the industrial blight of smoke stacks, cement factories or the rotting concrete shell of a failed mega-resort. In Taiwan we almost get it right so often and we have a lot of potential, only to overdevelop our way into having all the charm of a shopping mall food court. I wrote about this issue <a href="http://taiwanincycles.blogspot.tw/2015/04/taiwan-cycling-and-air-quality-tragedy.html">back in 2015</a>. I am writing about this issue today. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The leading culprit in ruining the Taiwan cycling experience is the pernicious air quality. There is no way to escape it. I might lose more than a month of riding each year due to air quality. During the dry winter months the air can be especially noxious.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In a recent article Taichung City Mayor, Lin Chia-lung states his strong support for cycling as an integral part of the central city's identity with a commitment to cycling infrastructure. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mayor Lin indicated that cycling enthusiasts are in for a treat, as the festival features exciting events including Giant Cup, Taichung Cycling Tour and Wheels Ride Festival Taiwan, encompassing activities such as self-challenges and family cycling recreation. Moreover, the century-old Tour de France will be hosting the L’Etape du tour” in Taiwan for the first time on September 17, <b>making cycling an integral element of Taichung City’s brand</b>. The city government strives to expand city diplomacy and forge sister city ties by c<b>ontinuing to create cycling-friendly environments</b> <b>and fostering the cycling movement. </b><br />According to him, Taichung is the primary industry cluster of cycling; aside from the headquarters of Giant, the city also features popular tourist recreational bikeways in Houfeng, Dongfeng and Tanyashen. The city government is promoting the “Cycling 369” program to establish 300 iBike rental stations, 600km of bikeway and 9,000 iBikes. Furthermore, the “OK Taiwan – Departing from Taichung” round-the-island cycling tour will be launched to promote cycling activities and industry to domestic and overseas markets.--<a href="http://eng.taichung.gov.tw/ct.aspx?xItem=25571&ctNode=6525&mp=49">Taichung City Government</a> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is one face of Lin Chia-lung. The other is of a glad-handing politician eager to garner support from the industrial sector in his bid to woo industrial production facilities to Taichung and push Taichung further over the threshold as Taiwan's second largest metropolitan area. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In addition, Mayor Lin made some noises last April to the tune of reducing pollutants by 40%.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666677; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In an exclusive interview conducted by “YAHOO TV! Weather Risk” at the Taichung City Government Building, Mayor Lin suggested that the air quality of Taichung has been improving in the last 5 years. T<b>he content of PM2.5 was 22.8μg/m3 last year in average, which was a decrease of almost 40% from the level of 35μg/m3 in 2011. </b>There are several sources of pollution, including the exhaust from motor vehicles, carbon black from kitchens, uncovered construction work sites, or open-air combustion in addition to the emissions from power generators.--<a href="http://english.taichung.gov.tw/ct.aspx?xItem=25333&ctNode=6525&mp=49">Taichung City Government</a></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A problem with these claims is that they rely on Taiwan's EPA, which has long been rumored to be in the pocket of industry and politicians. Polluters are even allowed to report their own numbers. Even the scale of measurement was adjusted to suit Taiwan's higher levels of pollution. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In a piece I wish I had written myself, blogger <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2017/09/lin-jia-lung.html">Michael Turton from <i>The View from Taiwan</i></a> outlines why Mayor Lin may be just paying lip service to the environment. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fefdfa;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The midnight spike in air pollution, using the app airvisual. This is from the Taichung area. The app usually shows a spike, a small one, between midnight and 2 AM. Why? Because factories in Taichung are quietly dumping pollution into the air in the wee hours to avoid EPA fines. I've come to dread Sunday nights because the factories on the hill below our house frequently dump foul-smelling shit into the air.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: #fefdfa;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Turton's speculation is supported by the data. It appears factories and the infamous coal-fired power plant in Longjing spend the wee hours ferociously pumping out pollution that often lingers around the Taichung Basin throughout the day before wafting southward. The thought may be that people are either sleeping or indoors working while the pollution levels spike.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fefdfa;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In a 2015 report on the impact of air pollutant on human physiology, <a href="http://www.ntu.edu.tw/english/spotlight/2015/475_20150330.html">National Taiwan University released the following report</a> and recommendation:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Upon studying the physiological effects of particulate matter among laboratory rats, Prof. Tsun-Jen Cheng (鄭尊仁) found that fine and ultrafine particles cause damage to the respiratory system upon entrance into the lungs. Affecting the coronary artery and the autonomy of the nervous system, fine particles may lead to the onset of arrhythmia and heart attacks.<br />Prof. Ta-Chen Su (蘇大成) also discovered that the incidence of cardiovascular inflammation in the blood is related to the inhalation of fine particles. For instance, epidemiological statistics show that the sudden hike in hospitalization for cerebrovascular disease during the winter coincides with short-term increase of air pollutant levels. Statistics also show that the severity of Taipei’s City’s air pollution is highly linked to the thickness of the internal carotid artery, making levels of PM2.5 an important indicator for studying long-term atherosclerosis. Su’s study also suggests that exposure to PM2.5 is detrimental to the development of the infant’s nervous system.<span style="background-color: #fefdfa;"> </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Vice-Dean Chan further noted that Taiwan’s annual PM2.5 standard of 15 µg/m</span><sup style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 0.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 1px;">3</sup><span style="background-color: white;">established by the United States, it is also much higher than the WHO suggested concentration of 10 µg/m</span><sup style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 0.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 1px;">3</sup><span style="background-color: white;"> . Traffic is the major source of air pollutants in Taipei, whereas in Central Taiwan, fine particles are produced <b>primarily by thermal power plants</b>. Urging authorities to take more proactive actions against air pollution, Chan emphasized the importance of setting emission standards according to the human capacity instead of industrial development. <b>Prioritizing health over development, emission standards should be set by the Environmental Protection Administration in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and not, as in the present, with the Ministry of Economy.</b></span><b> </b></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is a sad irony that a country that so badly wants to be taken seriously as a "paradise"... enough to make such grand and public proclamations of the sort... can be simultaneously working so hard to hinder positive development in realizing the cycling fantasy. Air pollution can be hard for a cyclist to escape. Even from the highest peaks the views that memories are made of are often obscured by a yellow-white haze. Nobody should be expected to come to Taiwan and enjoy cycling through Venus. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is not only the air that interferes with Taiwan's desire to become a cycling paradise. Too often unchecked and unregulated development in sensitive natural ands ecological areas serve as a regular reminder to visitors of the blight of concrete and development. The shell of the nearly complete but wholly illegal <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/09/12/2003627539">Miramar Resort</a> in Taidong is the perfect poster child of overdevelopment. Another shameful monument to industrial blight is the Asia Cement Factory near the mouth of the famed Taroko Gorge on Taiwan's east coast. Taroko Gorge is the natural monument that frames <a href="http://www.taiwankom.org/en/">Taiwan's KOM Challenge</a>, the world renowned one-day cycling race from the ocean to 3275m. Not only is the Asia Cement Factory and mining operation an eyesore in a sensitive area, it was also built on a site that was procured through deceptive and illegal means. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A fantastic paper, <span style="font-weight: 700;">Making Indigenous Lands into ‘concrete’: land
grabbing in the embededness of cement industry in
Taroko area, Eastern Taiwan </span>by Yung-ching Lo 羅永清 concludes:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Taiwan experienced rapid economic development in the 1970s and 1980s and it inspired an
entire development discourse on the ‘Taiwanese miracle’ (Simon 2002). As Simon’s article ‘The
Underside of a Miracle: Industrialization, Land, and Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples’ has pointed<br />
22<br />
out, this view overlooked three important facts that should be taken into account when
examining the development in Taiwan. <b>First: rapid development was made possible largely by an
oppressive regime of martial law that quelled worker unrest. Second: development took place at
immense social and environmental costs. And finally, those costs have been disproportionately
borne by Taiwan’s indigenous peoples.</b> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These factors place an enormous weight on the ethnical shoulders of a visiting cyclist. As the cycling world converges on Taroko to close out Taiwan's international cycling season this October 20th, with some of the biggest names in the sport attending, they will not only be faced with Taiwan's immediate beauty and serious climbs, but they will also see the cost of the Taiwan industrial state apparatus. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is with these thoughts in mind that I produced the protest postcards below. They are a reminder of the gulf between our reality and our fantasy as a cycling paradise. Too much work needs to be done before our officials and representatives can even begin to stake authentic claims to "a cycling paradise". The pressure to change needs to remain constant, even on days when the air clears. This is not how I want Taiwan to be remembered. </span><br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/37341451751/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="426" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4381/37341451751_f6e3dcebaf_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/23795603128/in/dateposted-public/" title="Taichung-City"><img alt="Taichung-City" height="427" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4443/23795603128_0f892833b3_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-35103904439585734952017-10-11T01:30:00.002-07:002017-10-11T01:30:46.192-07:00A Tour Through Other People's Wars<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/37581309206/in/dateposted-public/" title="IMG_8956"><img alt="IMG_8956" height="640" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4492/37581309206_5003ea2652_z.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />
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This past ride I am calling, <i>A Tour Through Other People's Wars</i>, which is an intentionally intentionally deceptive title, but I will be addressing that further in the body of this post. It was a fantastic slow ride that, for me, really demonstrates how a little local knowledge can turn an otherwise uninspired ride on a hot day into a cycling gem.<br />
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I actually started out at an active archaeological dig (the location of which I will not disclose) and made my way up to the top of Taichung's Dadu Shan (大肚山) and crept along the small farming roads near the Taichung Metropolitan Park. After clearing the park and military installation, I took the immediate left and stuck out into the red clay of the sweet potato farms that checker across the plateau above Taichung city. It can be a bit of a game of GPS BINGO to navigate the right roads without rolling down the hill, but the scenery can be pretty stunning for being in the midst of Taiwan's second largest city.<br />
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The entire crest of the hill is dotted with military infrastructure that dates back to the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945) with the occasional concrete edifice from the old Taichu Coastal Defense network and the latter Anti-airbourne Defense System; a system of concrete bunkers designed to repel a Chinese airborne invasion. This Cold War era relic from Chiang Kai-sheck's obsession with wasteful military expenditure for the sake of accruing more U.S. Aid was oddly surrounded by large wooden posts more reminiscent of Fort Clatsop than a Cold War fortification. The extra layer of razor wire on the inside told me there may be more afoot than a concrete bunker. The mobile SAMs around the corner seemed to confirm that this property was still very active.<br />
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I bobbed along the dusty backroads along the hill before descending down past a landfill near a cemetery to the Taichung Route 63... The gangster-ist road in Taichung. It was so gangster there was even the pristine carcass of a white Nissan Cefiro on a pedestal in one of the dilapidated properties that line the otherwise fine road that lands at the gate of the Taichung International Airport. Just beyond the airport I ducked onto another side road with its crumbling mud-brick buildings toward my destination.<br />
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I had been hoping to get a closer look at a neighborhood noted on the map as the "Savage City" (番仔成).<br />
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This "Savage City" was established in 1754 after the border between indigenes and Han settlers had been redrawn. A subgroup of Papora speaking people moved up the hill from what is now Qingshui and established a satellite village consisting of approximately 20 families. The village was surrounded in the traditional style by a palisade of defensive bamboos and a small moat.<br />
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I immediately noticed groves of thick bamboo lining one edge of town and several old buildings that had been built sometime around the Japanese census of 1905, which registered 20 households in the village.<br />
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If it hadn't been so hot, I may have loitered a bit longer. I did stop inside a local temple that has been built around an older site in the rear--sacred rock that is said to have been there since time immemorial.<br />
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Just to the west of the village I was a large rusty structure poking up from behind some trees.<br />
There in a lavish park--lavish by Taiwan hinterland standards anyway-- was the rusting hulk of a fuel container. It was one of seven containers built in 1966 as a fuel depot to service American B-52 bombers for their sorties over North Vietnam. The Americans would pump the fuel from the tiny Gaomei port and run it through pipes all the way to the top of the hill. I still have no idea how the negotiated the shallow mudflats. There is now no remnant of the pipes, but this lone tank remains.<br />
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I soon dropped off the mountain along a snaking series of roads that cut through cemetery land and into some quiet gullies beneath the No. 3 Freeway. It is quite pleasant down there under the herds of weekenders off to someplace where they could be in a crowd.<br />
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Just down the hill hear the Taichung Velodrome I passed an old munitions cave used by the Japanese to house explosives for the coastal defense network. Taiwanese labor would haul shells and supplies to the hilltops on a long concrete stairway with a smooth track in the middle for the supplies.<br />
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I rolled further down the hill to the Niu Ma Tou cultural site is located. The Niu Ma Tou culture is a 4500-3500 year-old culture of the Taichung area. Pottery sherds were located during the excavation of the Japanese Shito Shrine in Qingshui. The site was later turned into a KMT era military base. After slow rolling through Qingshui I followed the old Coastal Defense Road through Shalu and Shuili She (水裡社).<br />
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The old village of Shuili She appears in the Dutch records as Bodor. The Village of Bodor was annihilated by the armies under the Ming loyalist, Cheng Cheng-gong during his war against the Qing. Only a handful of villagers escaped the Cheng forces alive.<br />
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I made a few more turns before retreating up the hill for home.<br />
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The ride was hardly any distance at all, and yet I covered over 400 years of "other people's wars". When I use this term I am making a direct reference to the way many Taiwanese have positioned the Taiwan experience as one of victimhood between the ambitions of greater powers.<br />
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I often recall seeing a group of Taiwanese Americans who put on a skit... and it is a skit I have seen multiple times in some form or another, in which the actors transform from indigenes to Han farmers under successive oppressive regimes. They always cast themselves as the victim. While in one way this can be true. This is a narrow and misleading narrative that fails to capture the nuance in which Taiwanese fall on both sides of the dichotomy between the oppressor and the oppressed. Taiwanese both suffered and benefitted from "other people's wars". Whether it was farmland opened from a genocide or colonization, infrastructure and paying jobs from the military, or as recently as when the US was carpet bombing North Vietnam, Taiwanese were happily enjoying the American military economy in Daya. When Taiwanese can accept their dual roles in history, greater gains in understanding between all peoples in Taiwan may take place.
<iframe src="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/4231320-dadu-hill/widget/?width=640&height=480&extended=1&unit=imperial" width="640" height="628" border="0" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"> </iframe> <div style="margin: -4px 0 0 5px; height: 16px; color: #889EAC; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> <a href="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/4231320-dadu-hill/" style="color:#22A9FF; text-decoration:underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cycle Route 4231320</a> - via <a href="https://www.bikemap.net" style="color:#22A9FF; text-decoration:underline;" target="_blank">Bikemap.net</a> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-51254749888396816802017-09-03T06:47:00.000-07:002017-09-03T06:47:10.319-07:00Back Roads: Nantou San Ceng Lane to Nantou Lane 12...I Think<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/34725466595/in/dateposted-public/" title="IMG_4236"><img alt="IMG_4236" height="480" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4191/34725466595_9b21368b95_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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The hills of Nantou are alive with the sound of cyclists screaming down gnarly grades and I wanted to get in on the action. The area around Jiufen Er Shan is covered with small lanes and farming roads that can lead to euphoric adventures or a long day of grumbling in the saddle over humidity and climbs to no betel nut farm in particular.<br />
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I chose San Ceng Lane (三層巷) to climb and then I thought I could explore the neighborhood or loop on to the Caotun side of the mountain and coast back on Nantou Route 14 a.k.a. Gukeng Ln. (股坑巷).<br />
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A funny thing happened as I followed a tourist trap to the God Tree of Ping Ding (坪頂神木). I sat around with no real inspiration and then got bored and left. I was slow rolling down and passed a small road that disappeared from my periphery in a flash. Inspiration had suddenly struck and I was soon climbing back to the little road. It had a white sign that I think was marked the "12", but I can't recall. It all happened so fast.<br />
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Soon I was surfing some of the finest switchbacks in Nantou. I am not sure what the map shows, but this thing is nasty. A pretty road with some flowers and okay pavement... but NASTY!<br />
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Eventually the road settles down into some smooth, shaded one-vehicle paths that are alive with the chirping of insects and the clatter of birds in the trees. It was all quite serene.<br />
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Eventually the road glides into some pretty agricultural area of the kind that is disappearing from Taiwan all too quickly.<br />
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This is definitely a road I would like to try biking in the opposite direction after a dry spell.<br />
It just looked painfully delicious going down.<br />
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<iframe border="0" frameborder="0" height="480" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/4193081-ping-ding-area-2/widget/?width=640&height=480&unit=imperial" width="640"> </iframe> <br />
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<a href="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/4193081-ping-ding-area-2/" style="color: #22a9ff; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Cycle Route 4193081</a> - via <a href="https://www.bikemap.net/" style="color: #22a9ff; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Bikemap.net</a> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-70018031257639923132017-09-01T07:08:00.002-07:002017-09-01T07:08:25.677-07:00Coffee and Tea Ride Through Namaxia<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/34594280021/in/dateposted-public/" title="IMG_0708"><img alt="IMG_0708" height="480" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4178/34594280021_28abcdc801_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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A little while back, a small group of riders of varying degrees of experience and fitness hit the open road for a two day trip to Namaxia village in Kaohsiung. As many readers may recall, I did a similar route last year in a bid to make a long-time friend jealous enough to want to come back to Taiwan.<br />
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It worked. He arrived earlier this year and we hauled him out to Namaxia as a bit of a reintroduction to everything he was missing in a part of the United States where the hills and the landscape lack a certain...idiom. You can read about the first trip <a href="http://taiwanincycles.blogspot.tw/2016/02/namaxia-lunar-new-year-break-on-hills.html">HERE</a>.<br />
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This time we made it southward along the hilly and beautiful "Tainan Coffee Road" that snakes southward in the foothills surrounding the reservoir district in Tainan. The first stretches were quite expected, but then the undulations of the hills gave the day a touch of surprise and excitement.<br />
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After a few too many fuel stops, we waited for the slower guys and fought our way up river into Namaxia, making it into town as night fell. The whole cabin experience was not ideal, but it was firefly season and the college students were all on break looking for a romantic getaway chasing fireflies in the privacy of their hostel quarters.<br />
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On a quest for liquid carbs, I managed to see a lone firefly in the dark.<br />
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Bright and early we inhaled our breakfast sandwiches and made tracks for Chiayi...the hard way. One of our riders had destroyed a bike that was in need of destruction and had to pack his belongings and the carcass of an ex-bike into one of the few local busses and evacuate to Kaohsiung city. I was having trouble with a shifter grip and eventually ripped it to keep my shifts from sticking. Another rider had gone into one of Taichung's finest cycling shops--despite his 400 other bad experiences--and asked for an easier chainring with some kind of granny gear. The 185 Warehouse (oops, did I name names?) went the other direction and somehow installed a standard 53/36 front set and rendered our intrepid fellow incapable of coping with the climbs without blowing up his knees. He trudged on over the hill, but would exit just beyond.<br />
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The roads are in amazing shape. The scenery is a dazzling palette of earth tones.<br />
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As we topped the lip of the highest ridge, we soon found a cool descent into tea country. The mountain is fittingly called 茶山, or "Tea Mountain". And while the area is in the greater Alishan area, it is not really what you would consider Alishan tea.<br />
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We stopped for the scenery and hoped to possibly get some caffeine as well. We were in luck as we sampled the locale tea and left with enough of a buzz to get us another kilometer down the road to where the coffee was.<br />
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It was a second breakfast where the bicycle made fruit, coffee and snacks all gratis. Nobody was complaining. We needed all the fuel we could find for the final leg.<br />
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Michael left down the Highway 3, the rest of us plodded upward. For a main highway, it is still a beautiful road with challenging climbs that never seem to abate until the top. It is simply one gradient stacked atop another for several kilometers.<br />
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Eventually we reached the concession stand at the peak and then launched a junk food crazed descent into Chiayi along the Highway 18 to put a cap on the trip.<br />
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This is a marvelous set of roads that are completely doable for most cyclists with enough time. The ride into Namaxia can be done by a novice, but an expert can still enjoy the road. Lots of possibilities in this area.<br />
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Another post with a map can be found <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2017/04/namaxia-redux.html">HERE</a>.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-1276775646711115502017-08-30T06:09:00.000-07:002017-08-30T06:09:19.860-07:00The Shark of Messina Eyes the Highway to the Danger Zone: Taiwan KOM<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/36745480012/in/dateposted-public/" title="Shark-of-Messina"><img alt="Shark-of-Messina" height="500" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4392/36745480012_764b9b4b9d.jpg" width="493" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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I am sorry! I could not help myself.<br />
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When I heard the news that a current GC favorite in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Nibali">Vincenzo Nibali</a> (The Shark of Messina), had <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/vincenzo-nibali-end-2017-season-105km-hill-climb-taiwan-348356">registered for the Taiwan KOM race this October</a> 20th, I was pleasantly shocked that our little local race has been attracting top shelf talent. First Pooley, then Cuddles and now Nibbles.<br />
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Nibali has won the three big grand tours and is a fierce competitor. It will be fun to see what this new level of talent will do to our backyard climb.<br />
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Bravo!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-244675269218183432017-08-26T06:03:00.001-07:002017-08-26T06:03:51.871-07:00Miaoli 34-2 to 28<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/34685553956/in/dateposted-public/" title="IMG_0833"><img alt="IMG_0833" height="480" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4167/34685553956_aa4c7b3b3d_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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It would seem 130km is a long way to travel to knock off a couple of roads. It is. And as I plugged my way northward on the Highway 13 through Sanyi, I wondered if I had made more trouble for myself than it was worth.<br />
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The thing is, whenever I travel on the HSR, I look out and see a bunch of cool looking roads and struggle to find them on the GPS before the internet dies in but another tunnel.<br />
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Just at the top of Miaoli are a series of HSR tunnels that flip through narrow valleys like an old zoetrope to flash an instant image of cycling of intrigue. I needed to find and ride those roads.<br />
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I have already attacked the ridge lines longitudinally, but there are still several roads that criss cross those hills I have yet to ride. I have since ticked several off my map. The Route 34-2 looked interesting along with the Route 28. I was on my way.<br />
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I thought the Route 51-1 out of Houli would be a great start... and it was serene as usual.<br />
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The 34-2 starts behind the Da Chien General Hospital (My map below is inaccurate at this point...sorry). You can pick it up just behind the parking area on the southern end of the hospital grounds.<br />
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The descent is a lovely drop through fields and along twisty roads that pass beneath the HSR tracks.<br />
When I got to the bottom I realized I had been to that spot several times on the Route 119. Personally, I prefer the Route 119 off the Highway 13 to get to this point.<br />
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The Route 28 goes back up the hill above Miaoli City. It is one of those special littler roads that can feature as a satisfying leg to any adventure.<br />
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The climb is never too much, but offers lovely views of the surrounding forest and out to the coast.<br />
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Moreover, the roads are smooth, sweeping swaths of unused pavement. The experience was really pleasant as I huffed away over a river valley...thinking of incorporating this into more demanding rides.<br />
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After a strange trip through an old railway town, I popped out behind a cemetery over Miaoli City. The view made Miaoli City look almost not repulsive.<br />
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The Route 28 is a keeper. The 34-2... meh!<br />
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<iframe border="0" frameborder="0" height="480" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/4181111-miaoli-34-2-and-28/widget/?width=640&height=480&unit=imperial" width="640"> </iframe> <br />
<div style="color: #889eac; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11px; height: 16px; margin: -4px 0 0 5px;">
<a href="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/4181111-miaoli-34-2-and-28/" style="color: #22a9ff; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Cycle Route 4181111</a> - via <a href="https://www.bikemap.net/" style="color: #22a9ff; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Bikemap.net</a> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-8893063942451131072017-08-26T03:45:00.001-07:002017-08-26T03:45:37.156-07:00Cuddles Coming to KOM: Retirement Insufferable, 2011 TdF Champ Embraces Suffering<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/26068893792/in/dateposted-public/" title="Wuling, Taiwan"><img alt="Wuling, Taiwan" height="480" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1489/26068893792_dc5a627af6_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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A quick note from the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/taiwankom/?hc_ref=ARRdtUe1VN-xJY0hO1Gis4DbeitgGiTEwFC1hdv5mjkK6Ip03_xgzEHKFUYClO8MeAg&fref=nf">Taiwan KOM Facebook Page</a>: Cadel Evans, the cyclist who won the 2011 TdF, which was probably the most exciting and entertaining Tour de France in recent years, has announced he will be coming up from Australia to get a taste of a real climb. Dubbed "The Lung" <a href="http://www.cadelevans.com.au/">for having a higher lung capacity</a> will get an opportunity to throw his 40yo. to the top of 3275m. in 90k.<br />
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It has been a pleasure to watch this race grow in stature.<br />
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Registration is still open: <a href="http://bao-ming.com/eb/www/activity_content.php?activitysn=2374">Register Here!</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-47239324576179083402017-08-23T06:46:00.001-07:002017-08-23T06:46:39.637-07:00How's that China Market Thing Coming Along? Giant Feels the Pinch<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/35921675414/in/dateposted-public/" title="Giant"><img alt="Giant" height="445" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4376/35921675414_2f775e7027_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bicycle Retailer has a little article <a href="http://www.bicycleretailer.com/international/2017/08/22/giant-manufacturing-sees-decline-first-half-revenues#.WZ2Aka2B3XE">to rub salt in Giant's wounds. </a></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN) — Giant Manufacturing, a bellwether company within the industry's manufacturing sector, reported a 7.4 percent decline in revenue to $887.9 million through the first half of the year.<br />And net after-tax income also posted a significant drop to $39.3 million, a 29.5 percent decline, due primarily to unfavorable exchange rates, Giant said in a statement. For example, over the first half of the year the U.S. dollar had strengthened against the NT, up about 7.5 percent as of June 30.<br />Giant's first half report follows on a weak 2016, when it posted annual revenue of NT$57.09 billion, a 5.5 percent decline from 2015.<br />.....................<br /><span style="background-color: white;"><b>The weak link in global sales for Taiwanese companies</b>, including Giant, remains China. "Giant China's performance continues to suffer from soft demand and the popularity of bike sharing, which affected sales recovery in the first half," Giant said.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2016 I wrote to some degree of commotion on <a href="https://taiwanincycles.blogspot.tw/2016/03/bullish-or-bullsht-is-more-uncertainty.html">the trouble for Taiwan's largest bicycle manufacturer</a>. (Read the whole thing. Some people agree... others think I am a nincompoop) Giant has long seen China as the land of 2 billion toothbrushes. In 2000, just after the inauguration of Chen Shui-bian, former Giant Chairman, Anthony Lo, was quoted in the Washington Post:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Whoever is president," Lo said, "is going to have to face reality. And the reality is: China is there, it won't go away, and it has a huge market that we are uniquely positioned to exploit."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember in 2012, Giant was a major pre-election cheerleader for Ma Ying-jiu and his ECFA, the cross strait economic framework that was supposed to latch Taiwan's economy to China and money would rain from the skies. Bicycle Retailer wrote in 2012:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Taiwan’s manufacturers will benefit from a stable cross-strait relationship</b>, said Tony Lo, chairman of the Taiwan Bicycle Exporters Association and<b> CEO of Giant</b>, the island and the industry’s leading frame maker.<br />“Taiwan’s high-end bike export to China has grown 87 percent in 2011. It could double again in 2012. This will have a positive influence of <b>the transformation of the Chinese bike market toward recreational and sport in the future</b>,” Lo said in an e-mail.<br /><b>Lo cited Ma’s ECFA</b>, or Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, which eliminated duties on bikes shipped between Taiwan and China as of January 1. Since Ma signed the ECFA in June 2010—gradually reducing duties on bicycles and other consumer goods exported from Taiwan—<b>the trade pact has already boosted business in China for Taiwan manufacturers like Giant, Merida and rim maker Alex Global.</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, here we are in 2017....</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-72148897770056297442017-08-22T03:49:00.001-07:002017-08-22T03:49:16.704-07:00Weir in Taiwan to Cycle?: Adventure Cyclist Finds Formosa<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/36561622522/in/dateposted-public/" title="IMG_8669"><img alt="IMG_8669" height="640" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4440/36561622522_6c2458aec5_z.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />
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This story starts with a dog....<br />
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A few years ago Tiva was one of the many strays roaming the streets of Taiwan. We have all seen them-- the disease ridden dogs that shed skin and fur in equal amounts as they scavenge trash from vacant lots, irrigation canals and construction sites. When I first moved to Taichung, it was not uncommon to see packs of these animals in all shapes and sizes roaming the now swanky seventh district like some kind of canine Road Warrior dystopian fantasy. But it wasn't fantasy. The problem was so bad that in the aftermath of the 921 earthquake, I actually witnessed a pack near Dakeng attempting to scavenge meat from a human victim along the roadside. Before the high rises...before Mitsukoshi...before Maserati and Aston Martin moved into the neighborhood...it was Dog Town. The area where Forest Park is now, was a large concrete and dust parade ground that would attract marauding packs of former pets. Chihuahuas leading gangs of Akita and Husky. It was as ridiculous as it was sad. Unwanted pets were just turned out onto the streets. Many of them had no business being pets in Taiwan in the first place. Who really needs an Alaskan Malamute locked up in an apartment for twenty-three hours a day?<br />
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Tiva was one of those street dogs and she would eventually be plucked from a garbage dump and later adopted by a dog loving couple far across the Pacific Ocean in Seattle...where this writer originally hails from. Not only would Tiva be adopted by a caring family in Seattle, but she would also find she had been adopted by a couple of touring cyclists from Seattle.<br />
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Willie Weir and Kat Marriner have made cycling a part of their lives. Kat is a freelance graphic designer (and also makes a mean blueberry pie) while Willie writes for Adventure Cyclist Magazine and engages in public speaking on the many aspects of cycling. Together they travel the world by bike and some of their adventures make it into print.<br />
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The catalyst for coming to Taiwan started with Tiva. Tiva is not only a rescue dog from Taiwan...she is also a Formosan Mountain Dong--a highly intelligent and athletic breed that had been used for millennia by Taiwanese indigenes for hunting wild game, like deer, boar and muntjac. Kat and Willie hoped to tour Taiwan while getting in touch with groups that rescue strays for adoption while learning about the land of Tiva's birth.<br />
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In a chance encounter at an intersection in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Willie and Kat ran into my cousin, Ryan, who is also a cyclist and cycling activist in the area. When discussion turned to a Taiwan trip, Ryan brought me into the mix where I did my best to offer any advice necessary to ensure the trip would be worth the air ticket. My greatest fear for any visiting cyclist is that they will ride the wretched Highway 1 all the way down to Linbian. It happens. I have a lot of pride in Taiwan and it would be a shame if people came all this way and never got to see what makes this country such a gem for cycling. A crying shame!<br />
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The resulting adventure made its way into the August issue of Adventure Cyclist Magazine and you can read excerpts from Willie and Kat's trip below:<br />
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Mountain Dog? I thought Taiwan was just an overcrowded island overrun by industry. Oh, and I thought it was flat. </blockquote>
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We were both on the verge of bonking, and the air at 8000 feet was enough to send shivers down our sweat-soaked bodies. Sunset approached. The area was described as a roiling cloud forest, and true to form, the breeze shifted and magnificent peaks appeared. The mist-filled valleys below us glowed orange with the setting sun. We jumped up on some boulders and watched the most incredible sunset display I've seen in all my years of travel. At one point the mist shot up like a geyser from below, obscuring everything. And then two minutes later, it cleared and the mountains around us burned orange-red again. </blockquote>
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Perfect timing. Absolutely, stunningly memorably perfect. </blockquote>
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We left Mary's place and contacted Andrew, who had already made some adjustments to our route knowing that we would be visiting another dog rescuer in the city of Toufen. </blockquote>
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This became a pattern that made for a wonderful (and physically challenging) trip. Andrew loves the mountains and the small, lonely roads, but dog rescue organizations are mostly in the cities. So rather than take the direct, flatter, faster route between cities and our dog connection, Drew would route us via his favorite mountain climbs.<br />
This gave us a unique "best of" tour of Taiwan. </blockquote>
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Taiwan is progressive. It has a woman president. It has single-payer health care. It leads Asia in LGBT rights. At last count 38 precent of its legislators are women.<br />
Taiwan is small. This island has the feel of a continent in a vice. The elevation and ecological diversity makes for a constantly changing countryside. On any given day you can begin your ride in a jam-packed city, pedal through rice fields, and then climb several thousand feet through orchards and small villages up into the cloud forest. </blockquote>
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You can read the full account of Kat and Willie's trip to Taiwan in the August Issue of Adventure Cyclist, and you can also read a few blog entries <a href="https://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/blog/a-dogs-eye-view-of-taiwan/">Here</a>, <a href="https://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/blog/bikes-in-taiwan/">Here</a><br />
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You can find out more about Dog Rescue in Taiwan at <a href="http://www.marysdoggies.org/">Mary's Doggies.</a><br />
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Willie was not the only Weir to bring some adventure cycling to Taiwan. Canadian cyclist and blogger Tara Weir from <a href="https://followmargopolo.com/">The Adventures of Margo Polo</a> also followed a similar route through the secluded hills of western Taiwan.<br />
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Here is an excerpt from Tara's account of her trip: The full post can be found <a href="https://followmargopolo.com/category/taiwan/">HERE</a><br />
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The rain came down with such force that it stung my eyes. Daylight was quickly disappearing. I was only able to open them for seconds at a time to reveal of blur of a steep, narrow road carving its way through lush green landscape.<br />
I struggled to stay focused so that I could keep my tires from being swept out from underneath me, which had happened only minutes before. My hands now ached from squeezing the brakes, which now seemed to be in contact with more water than rim. My thoughts drifted to a few hours earlier sitting in an air conditioned Seven Eleven, eating a tasty $3 microwaved lunch and wasting time on the internet. Now, on this empty,jungly backroad with no vehicles or a town in sight I felt like I had been transported to another world. </blockquote>
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I was in Taiwan, a modern country with many of the Western style comforts I had grown up with. But there, caught in a torrential downpour, life went back to basics. It was getting dark, I was shivering in drenched clothing and there was no shelter in sight. My only priority now was to get down this increasing deep descent and find a dry place for the night. When I was seriously beginning to worry, I spotted some houses in the distance – the sleepy village of Yongle. Many of the homes were dark with the odd faint light and the movement of shadows. Cold and feeling desperate I came close to knocking on one of the doors to ask for a dry place to sleep. I decided to push on a bit further and I came across a temple aglow with red light.<br />
There was a housing unit beside and I looked around to find someone to ask permission to stay in the temple. The rain was still falling heavily and I soon gave up looking. I pulled my bike inside. </blockquote>
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................... </blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #373737; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">For a country with the 6th highest population population density in the world, Taiwan has a surprising number of empty backroads. With most of the population concentrated along the West Coast, the mountainous interior and East coast offer many opportunities for excellent, traffic free riding. As I seem to have a thing for tight contour lines, most of the days on the bike were a sweaty, lush rollercoaster ride. At times the humidity became very uncomfortable, but that was easily remedied by an air conditioned 7/11 or a small afternoon monsoon.</span></blockquote>
<iframe border="0" frameborder="0" height="628" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/3435248-taiwan-round-island-spectacular/widget/?width=640&height=480&extended=1&unit=imperial" width="640"> </iframe> <br />
<div style="color: #889eac; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11px; height: 16px; margin: -4px 0 0 5px;">
<a href="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/3435248-taiwan-round-island-spectacular/" style="color: #22a9ff; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Cycle Route 3435248</a> - via <a href="https://www.bikemap.net/" style="color: #22a9ff; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Bikemap.net</a> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-18741729883852151642017-08-21T21:53:00.000-07:002017-08-31T05:04:12.221-07:00Back Roads: The CPC Industry Rd.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Gas Road Strikes Again:</span><br />
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I said <a href="http://taiwanincycles.blogspot.tw/2015/02/gas-giants-crude-ride-along-taiwans.html">I would never ride the "Gas Road" again</a>. It had been an adventure and that was enough for me. I had successfully navigated the length of Taiwan's western ridge line from Xinchu to Taichung. Done. Curiosity had been sated.<br />
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Then I decided I had to show it off to a few people so they too could tick this little oddity off their maps of curiosity.<br />
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This time I was leading a small group of cyclists into one of those Bermuda Triangle spots on the mapping software where space aliens muck with the earth's electromagnetic filed and the GPS goes haywire. Fun! <br />
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The first sight of a an effigy of a man hanging by his pretty white neck outside of Wenshui Village where the Highway 6 breaks from the Highway 3 to Gongguan looked to be a bad omen before we disappeared into the lost highway of Miaoli. <br />
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The CPC Industry Road starts behind the CPC petroleum works near the site of Taiwan's earliest oil wells dating back to the late 19th century. The Japanese colonial government exploited Taiwan's limited oil reserves and built extensive extraction and processing facilities nearby. The site is still in use today with 28,000 barrels of crude pumped from a longitudinal vein along Taiwan's western coast.<br />
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The climb is steady and steep in parts. There are few dwellings, though someone had build a large gated estate tucked behind the canopy of tall trees. It is eerily quiet as you ride past oil pumps high over Tongluo. The farming roads that cross the area are many and the hills are dotted with fruit farms.<br />
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It is more than easy to take a wrong turn, and many of the surfaces are covered in dirt and debris.<br />
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We emerged from the forest and into the misted farms above Dahu. The views are fantastic... when the clouds allow it.<br />
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We eventually cruised down to meet the top of the Miaoli Route 60 that crosses the hill to join the Route 119 for home.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-36307129831179466132017-08-21T16:33:00.000-07:002017-08-21T19:15:25.409-07:00Back Roads: Taichung Route 97<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/36314886640/in/dateposted-public/" title="19399282_10154831546122972_4429269981895258003_n"><img alt="19399282_10154831546122972_4429269981895258003_n" height="480" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4400/36314886640_57aaaedbd2_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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It isn't always about how you start, but rather, how you finish. And that was the message of the day when we started out on the regular loop from Taichung to Guoxing and back.<br />
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The planned route was set for the Highway 21 and back on the not so difficult return along the Highway 3 through Wufeng Township. That was the plan.<br />
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Instead, somewhere in conversation I got on the topic of the little used Route 97, which is little used for good reason. It is the old road from Dongshih to Guoxing before the Highway 21 was completed and has fallen into a state of disrepair on the Nantou side.<br />
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Naturally, we decided to roll the dice and see if conditions had improved.<br />
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The initial ramps of the Route 97 start on the lower reaches of the Highway 21. There is a small sign to warn motor vehicles that it is not a through route, but other than that it just looks like a stretch of pavement that gets swallowed by the mountain.<br />
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I hadn't been up the Route 97 in some time, and each time was in less than clear weather. The roads in parts were simply areas of chunky concrete with generous helpings of mud.<br />
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Today the views were stunning.<br />
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The climb is quite a bit steeper than the Highway 21, with nary a human sound to interrupt the sound of your own labored breathing. The overgrown jungle along the road offers a bath of shade as consolation for the sustained gradients, and the roadway is still quite smooth.<br />
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In the breaks between vegetation, the landscape washes over pockets of white buildings in the distance and reveals a green oasis over the dust of Taichung and its far flung townships.<br />
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The summit sits about 320m above the Highway 21, which can be spotted between the trees below. The foothills of Taichung push up against the Central Mountain Range in the distance and make for fantastic views.<br />
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The descent was better this time around, but it is not easy. There are several technical sections and it can be very easy to take the wrong road. The single lane rips through sparse farms in betel nut country for an exciting downhill filled with excitement before cleaning up for a reintroduction to civilization in Guixing.<br />
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This is by no means the regular route to Guoxing... but if you trust your equipment and your cycling skills, it makes for a little variation on an otherwise routine route.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-40463533205298290122017-08-20T19:43:00.001-07:002017-08-21T19:23:10.688-07:00Back Roads: Hualong Lane<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/34567716432/in/dateposted-public/" title="IMG_5604"><img alt="IMG_5604" height="142" src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4155/34567716432_be28ccd440_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Of all the small roads in central Taiwan, the Hualong Lane (華龍巷) in Nantou is one of the strangest strips of road I may never ride again.<br />
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The ride starts off well enough on a forested climb off the Nantou Route 131 from Shuili. The Route 64 is a super little route to traverse the hills near Sun Moon Lake to Shuili. Just near the peak of the climb is a small lane that disappears into the wilds, but shows a connection to the marvelous alternate to the Highway 14 in the Nantou Route 68.<br />
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Some workmen we met at the base of the first descent gave us some advice to take the high road on the left rather than the obvious choice on the right. We decided to heed local knowledge and make the climb.<br />
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It turned into some serious ramps in the open sunshine past tree farms of dubious distinction. Things seemed okay, but then the views started.<br />
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The top revealed a dirty section of road, but a full 360 degree vantage point to appreciate the entire Puli basin and its surrounding peaks. We found we were on the ridge that runs parallel high above the Nan tou Route 147. Everything was in sight. It was such a rare vantage point that we stayed to soak it in. <br />
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We briefly interrupted the singing of a group of Atayal ginger pickers who seemed delighted to break up the morning by exchanging jokes with us.<br />
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The fun ended at a dusty descent that led us speeding off the mountain and into the high-walled courtyard of a farming compound...with its high gate sealed shut and full of barking dogs.<br />
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I really didn't want to hike back up that hill, so I bothered the owner to open the gate and let us out. I still have no idea if there could have been an alternate route outside of private property.<br />
The road emptied us out along the Route 68 near the old tree (You'll know it when you see it) and we decided to call it a day for our little adventure.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-41529617791963076822017-08-20T19:13:00.001-07:002017-08-21T19:29:58.348-07:00Back Roads: Off Snow Mountain<br />
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Somewhere around the 14km marker on Xue Shan Rd (雪山路) there is a tiny lane that splits off along side the Changhua Telecom building. I have passed this road numerous times and always wondered about veering off to give it a shot. The usual reasons had always prevented me from doing that route; time...purpose...fuel...water...legs.....<br />
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I was out of excuses and figured I would give it a try. Honestly, my greatest fear is that I would be hiking my bike on impossible grades in the heat, without a clear path to civilization. This is a real fear in some parts of Taiwan. Everything may look dandy on a map, but become a totally different can of worms in the field.<br />
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I also liked the risk.<br />
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I completed the lower sections of lazy mountain switchbacks through the dazzling greens where the fruit orchards meet the forest. I always love the Daxue Shan Rd. for its open views across the Dajia River and alluvial plain. Local spaces that I know as shadowy clumps of concrete shops and townhouses shrink into the landscape. On a clear day Taichung and its surroundings can be seen from the southern side of the mountain. You can even look out into the Taiwan Strait. <br />
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The usual route is to keep climbing to the end of the road as the neighborhood practice climb for Wuling Pass or Alishan.<br />
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This route has a bit of a different character.<br />
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The immediate departure from the main road immediately offers up the goods on a slight descent. The area is shaded by tall trees of the forest that offer sanctuary for wildlife. I almost ran over a pheasant within the first 100m of roadway.<br />
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While the roads are not glass smooth, they are not unridable. There is an ultimate sense of quiet. I believe I did not see a car for over an hour of riding.<br />
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The road flattens out along cedar lined slopes over Dajia. There are a couple campgrounds along the way and a leisure farm at the end of one spur from the main road, so keep left when you come to an intersection.<br />
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This road feels like a portal into another world. One could easily imagine being on a lonely road deep in the forest of some other country. It is hard to believe you are still in Taiwan.<br />
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After a couple more kilometers through<br />
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The farm areas open up the northern slope of the mountain and reveal the full spectrum of central Taiwanese landscapes. The entire ride provides a 300 degree sweep of the areas below Daxue Shan from Taichung to Dahu and out into the mountains.<br />
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Most of the ride is perfectly fine for staying on the bike. Even a road bike can handle the terrain just fine.<br />
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The only part that poses a problem is the final descent. I found it to be mostly unrideable. the gradients were simply too steep for too long to feel safe. A short hike and I was back in a rideable location that eventually links to the high point of the Route 47 (東崎街). The rest is a marvelous ride back to Dongshih for a satisfying day of riding without giving up the entire day. It offers a feeling of having stepped out of normal expectations for a brief vacation in an entirely different place before returning--a get away.<br />
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<iframe src="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/4173786-sneaky-snow-mountain/widget/?width=640&height=480&extended=1&unit=imperial" width="640" height="628" border="0" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"> </iframe> <div style="margin: -4px 0 0 5px; height: 16px; color: #889EAC; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> <a href="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/4173786-sneaky-snow-mountain/" style="color:#22A9FF; text-decoration:underline;" target="_blank">Cycle Route 4173786</a> - via <a href="https://www.bikemap.net" style="color:#22A9FF; text-decoration:underline;" target="_blank">Bikemap.net</a> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-36209212025667745712017-05-17T18:39:00.004-07:002017-05-17T21:58:41.112-07:00Biking Lanyu: 2016<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/29045552702/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="480" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8050/29045552702_1e2ae6b5b4_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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This is why I include this in all my round-island routes:<br />
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I had been hoping for a ride closer to home, so I took off to climb Anvil Hill behind Dajia Township. I really didn't know what to expect.<br />
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Anvil Hill is easily identifiable with a concrete Japanese era blockhouse, which once served as part of the coastal defense system and possibly as part of the network to defend the Kokan aerodrome in Taichu (Taichung) during WWII.<br />
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The crumbling concrete structure poking above the long grasses of the hillside was enough of a curiosity to bait me into making the short climb to the top to check it out and to explore the area behind Dajia.<br />
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Few riders were out in the high temperatures and each protracted stop light made it feel like a barbecue pit. Superfluous stop lights disappeared in the ripples of heat in a bid to keep the air flowing over my body. It was one of those days where you approach an intersection and the only thing there is the acrid stink of someone else's body odor still sizzling on the pavement. <br />
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On the northern edge of Dajia I took a right up Taichung Route 12, a.k.a. Chenggong Rd. (成功路), that climbs into the Anvil Hill Scenic Area, which is perched above the alluvial plain of the Dajia River.<br />
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The climb is short, but stiff and at the top I took a side road out toward the southern face of the hill.<br />
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I was really taken aback by how quickly the scenery had transformed from the slipshod concrete of Dajia township, to the etched green squares of rural Taiwan. The Dajia River Valley more resembled the picturesque agriculture of Yilan or Taidong than the notoriously dusty industrial hub of Taichung.<br />
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The road narrowed as it pulled upward, and I was soon faced with a little cyclocross action to get up to the highest section.<br />
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I had a fill panorama of the entire Dajia plain, from Sanyi, all the way to the coast.<br />
The site is popular with radio controlled glider hobbyists and I watched for a few minutes as they dive bombed the tombs below. I am not sure what that does for one's Fengshui, but nobody seemed worried.<br />
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I took some time to think through my route, and decided to just continue along the Route 12. The heat combined with a bullying headwind would make for enough of a workout without killing myself.<br />
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There were no cars along the slick squiggle of asphalt that cut between the overgrowth that was spilling onto the roadway <br />
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From the hillside I could see several possibilities for future adventures. The roads all zig-zag out toward Houli and Sanyi, so the Route 12 would make a great escape to or from the coast. <br />
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After a tour of some rice fields and several of the invisible, grey businesses that seem to spring up in the immediate vicinity of gravel companies, I followed the river back to Dajia before retreating to a 7-11 for an ice cream. The headwind made the return into a hill climb.<br />
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In all, this makes a nice getaway in an area we tend to be resigned to just passing through out of rare necessity.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-80579600974210143552016-05-27T01:26:00.002-07:002016-05-27T01:27:38.979-07:00Soaking Up The Miaoli 54-1: Rain Rides<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/26648899714/in/album-72157668116883310/" title="Untitled"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7313/26648899714_54a0f42e75_z.jpg" width="480" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last Saturday looked like the better of available weekend days for a ride. It smelled a little rainy, but the roads were dry. This time of year in Taiwan will often start the day tantalizingly clear, with bright sunshine and puffy white clouds lazily hanging over the mountain peaks. By noon it can often turn to sheets of rain and slop.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have a simple policy for rainy forecasts. If it is raining when I wake up and shows no sight on stopping by a reasonable starting hour, I'll skip it and hope for the next day. If it is dry at start time...the ride continues even if the rain starts to fall. It just means the extra hassle of drying out the bearings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I met up with Rob, a rider I had never ridden with before, and we headed toward the hills at an even pace for shooting the shit and talking shop. After some harder training days mid-week, I really was ready for a more dialled back ride.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reaching the 7-11 in Jhuolan, we ran into Michael Turton from <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/"><i>The View From Taiwan</i></a>, and his crew of Iris and Mike (a.k.a. Mike Surly/M'erican Teacher). In an odd way, it was a meeting of several oddball spokes in the Taichung cycling world. It was also a great opportunity to keep the atmosphere of the ride fluid and amicable. I really enjoy these rides.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The coffee and fuel from 7-11 vanished too quickly and it was time to head out. I had originally just planned an attack on the Miaoli Route 130 for a final sampling of the <a href="https://www.dtswiss.com/Wheels/Road-Wheels/RR-21-DICUT-en">DT Swiss RR21 Dicut</a> wheel that have been a revelation in the stiffness that can be engineered into a set of lightweight alloy hoops.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Instead, we headed out of Jhuolan on the Shuanglian Industrial Rd. that humps up a stiff climb through a cemetery (possibly littered with the bodies of cyclists who broke trying to cap the heart popping climb).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As we pushed and heaved and zagged up the ramps, mist became a dribble that became a full drumming of raindrops on hemet tops and gear. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We met up with the 54-1, which is excellent by itself, or part of <a href="http://taiwanincycles.blogspot.tw/2015/02/little-roads-make-big-rides-56-130-54-1.html">a larger network of rides</a> that really showcase the hidden gems of Sanyi cycling. The 54-1 traces along the fingers of the Liyu Reservoir and through patches of orchard land.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are still plenty of short climbs as the route skims along a crumples ridge above the Dajia River Valley.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The mist and rain obscured the deal of the foothills in a gouache blending of shapes and lines. Once you get used to the fact that it is raining, it can add an element of beauty to the landscape that we too frequently miss by hunkering down indoors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We eventually crossed the Highway 3 to the Route 130 and battled our way up against drizzle and gravity. It looked like a coin flip on the weather, so we trudged up to the Mile High Cafe for some hot Hakk-esque cuisine, which was totally welcome in the weather. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We lost the coin toss and the rain was soon coming down in sheets.... Enough to make the fun descent down the back of the mountain a whole lotta not fun, so we retreated and beat it home. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I had been feeling like I was ploughing into the rain covered streets for some time and then realized it was the least convenient flat... a flat in the rain. The two-way rim allowed me to switch from tubeless to clincher mode with ease and we were again on our way back to Taichung. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If riding in the rain is good for anything, it makes for the greatest naps afterward. </span><br />
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<iframe border="0" frameborder="0" height="480" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/3562468-miaoli-54-1/widget/?width=640&height=480&unit=imperial" width="640"> </iframe></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-85906919262633606972016-05-12T21:44:00.002-07:002016-05-12T22:43:08.977-07:00Message Understood?: Outgoing Cabinet Poll Shows Wide Support for Bike Policy<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/24983772093/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img alt="Untitled" height="500" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1649/24983772093_e80e8f97a4.jpg" width="375" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In what appears to be an attempt to bolster the deeply tarnished reputation of outgoing president Ma Ying-jeou, <a href="https://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2016/05/13/466007/Most-Taiwanese.htm">a cabinet level survey </a>has revealed a previously unobserved groundswell of public satisfaction with a large swath of Ma administration policies to give the outgoing president a veneer of vindication. The new numbers serve as the final revelation to the <a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/qa-of-the-straits-times-interview-with-taiwan-president-ma-ying-jeou">ignorance </a>Ma cited leading to the failure of many key policies, including cross-strait relations, economics, tourism, and transportation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/qa-of-the-straits-times-interview-with-taiwan-president-ma-ying-jeou">The Straits Times</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 27px;">ST: And yet, voters delivered a stunning indictment of you, your policies and the KMT (Kuomintang) on Jan 16. What do you think led to such a state of affairs? I know you blame it on communications failure, you’ve said: “Actually there are many good policies that the public don’t understand because we haven’t communicated them enough.” Is that all there is? Do you feel you’ve been misunderstood?</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">... <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20160513-fallen-hero-how-tide-turned-taiwans-ma?ref=tw_i&dlvrit=66745">or (link)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Ma's policies have painted him as for the one percent and China, at a time when society at large is fed up with both," said Jonathan Sullivan, associate professor at the University of Nottingham's School of Contemporary Chinese Studies in Britain. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Adding to these policy outcomes is Ma's personal reputation for aloofness, indecisiveness -- but paradoxically with an authoritarian streak -- incompetence and inability to balance the interests of his party, Taiwan and his own personal objectives," added Sullivan. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even staunch KMT supporters have turned their backs, with the party in tatters having lost its majority in parliament for the first time under Ma. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"We had high hopes, but we saw our faith in him fading away," said Sun Chieh-yi, 59, a retired watch shop owner who comes from a traditionally pro-KMT family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #191919; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0.07999999821186066px; line-height: 22px;">"People do not feel their lives are any better than before."</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The China Post <a href="https://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2016/05/13/466007/Most-Taiwanese.htm">reports:</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The survey also found that about 70 percent of the respondents said they are satisfied with the results of the completion of the Hualien Taitung electric rail system, the Wugu-Yangmei Overpass on a section of National Freeway No. 1 in Northern Taiwan, and the addition of three stops on the High Speed Rail system. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Policies that received wide support include the expansion of bicycle paths around the country</b>, and the distribution of subsidies for childcare and free tuition for children under the age of 5, at 69.8 percent and 65.2 percent, respectively, the results show.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let me remind the reader of what <a href="http://www.taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=240838&ctNode=2194&mp=9">this bicycle policy is, in case you missed it</a>. The central government, with a budget of NT1.2 billion (USD 36.4 million dollars), posted a series of brown sign posts along Taiwan's more heavily trafficked highways and maybe installed a few shower areas (not sure exactly where). This is a system that serves leisure tourism interests to better enable periodic long distance cycling trips between major cities. Unfortunately, these paths hardly do justice to Taiwan's beautiful cycling roads, and serve to be more about keeping cyclists close to businesses and transportation. Much of the main route covers the gritty Highway 1, with little more done than sign to tell riders that they are on the Route No. 1. Few, if any, real changes have been made to the route to make it less of a slog through an eyesore. Moreover, the designated cycling routes do nothing to address pollution or traffic congestion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course, the landslide victory for the DPP to ring in the new year was mostly a referendum on the policies of Ma Ying-jiu, whose popularity <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/09/19/2003628073">struggled to cling to double digits for the remainder of his term</a>. Moreover, an economic policy that saw the economy enter <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-04/29/c_135323981.htm">contraction</a> as opposed to <a href="http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=tw&v=66">the salad days of Chen Shui-bian</a>, who ruined the economy with a growth rate averaging 3.8 percent growth between 2000 and 2008, with two years averaging six percent. Ma tried to replace outsourced jobs with jobs in the service industry and in a heavy emphasis on tourism, which has been a <a href="http://michaelturton.blogspot.com/2015/04/paper-on-parade-yes-chinese-tourism-is.html">net failure for Taiwan</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As far as cycling opportunities outside of tourism, European companies are looking to source less from Asian OEMs and do more of the assembly in Europe to take advantage of the EU. Monday night the editor-in-chief of <a href="http://www.bike-eu.com/shows-events/nieuws/2016/5/seminar-on-speed-to-market-and-supply-chain-flexibility-10126288">Bike Europe held a presentation on cutting lead times</a> and the shift to producing final products in the world's most lucrative bicycle market. Currently, <a href="http://www.iamexpat.nl/read-and-discuss/expat-page/news/netherlands-is-europes-leading-bicycle-manufacturer">The Netherlands is Europe's largest producer of bicycles</a>, followed by Germany and Belgium a distant third. Still, most bicycles are still sourced from Taiwan.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also:</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bicycleretailer.com/international/2016/05/12/giants-first-quarter-report-points-generally-flat-year-sales#.VzVgiVy2_x8">Giant is expecting another flat year with Q1 profits dipping 1.4%</a>, full warehouses in the US and the China market imploding. The Ebike in Europe is the only thing keeping the world's largest bike maker from a more rapid decline. The bike maker aims to "innovate" their way to profits.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Sports conglomerate, Dorel Sports, the umbrella company representing<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> Cannondale, Schwinn, GT, Mongoose, Caloi, IronHorse, Sugoi, Fabric and Charge, <a href="http://www.bicycleretailer.com/north-america/2016/05/06/dorel-sports-revenue-down-5-percent-q1#.VzVhqly2_x8">saw a 5% drop in profits for the first quarter. </a></span><a href="http://www.bicycleretailer.com/north-america/2016/05/06/dorel-sports-revenue-down-5-percent-q1#.VzVhqly2_x8"> </a></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bicycleretailer.com/north-america/2016/04/27/seven-cycles-reports-sales-growth#.VzVikly2_x8">Seven Cycles profits rise 8%</a> in shit market. </span></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-32302289426216229662016-05-08T23:53:00.000-07:002016-05-08T23:53:12.767-07:00A Whole Lotta Lovely!: Ride and Links<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/26872623536/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Untitled" height="375" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7799/26872623536_bce86a7476.jpg" width="500" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the great things about living in Taichung, is the close proximity to the hills. Taichung allows the rider innumerable combinations of hilly routes that sit right above the city. Unlike some other areas of Taiwan, most of these routes offer up the climbs and the scenery, without ever having to backtrack on the way home.</span><br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/26872624216/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Untitled" height="375" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7721/26872624216_b44a42bd14.jpg" width="500" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have done this route dozens of times but it never feels old. I might... but the route never does. This time out I was testing some equipment for a future post and project, and there is no better testing ground that the mixture of high velocity descents, tight corners, distance and heart stopping climbs. </span><br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/26872625516/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Untitled" height="500" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7367/26872625516_15404dd19f.jpg" width="375" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I normally would post on this route as I have so many times in the past, but there is something to be said of the sensation of descending on a well built titanium bike not everyone understands. It allows you to use your hips to fling the bike into the corners as you stomp the outside pedal. It is wonderfully reactive to rider input.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, while climbing over the dreaded 136, my body told me to do this route much more often and get used to the heat. The cramps hit like firecrackers. It was a lovely Saturday on the bicycle and it was the type of ride that keeps me scheming for the next adventure. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/26872626356/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="375" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/26872626356_4882ee8bdd.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<iframe border="0" frameborder="0" height="713" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/3526799-taichung-on-hills/widget/?width=425&extended=1&height=400&unit=imperial" width="425"> </iframe></span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Links:</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the weekend, Taiwan's Huang Ting-ying on the Women's circuit, took the opening stage of the <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/05/news/road/huang-wins-chongming-womens-worldtour_404749">Tour of Chongming Island in Shanghai</a>. It is remarkable that these incredible Taiwanese cyclists such as Huang and <a href="http://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/Mei_Yu_Hsiao">Hsiao Mei-yu</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=36&v=NNyq8Y5bU5c">Sally Wang</a>, among others, have been able to accomplish so much in the sport while viewing their bicycles as accessories, <a href="http://taiwanincycles.blogspot.tw/2016/04/bikes-sex-and-power-taking-back-bike.html">like handbags</a>.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joshua Samuel Brown has a lengthy piece on <a href="http://topics.amcham.com.tw/2016/04/taiwan-bike-kingdom-cyclists-paradise/">how he sees the development of Taiwan's bicycle culture</a>. Lots of familiar tropes and some baffling remarks.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; line-height: 31.32360076904297px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As goes Taipei, so goes Taichung, with other cities around Taiwan following suit. And as go the big cities, so go the smaller towns around Taiwan, thousands of them connected by bicycle-friendly roads, and in many cases dedicated cycling paths.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Readers can assess this one. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-89774739717410509732016-05-06T01:46:00.001-07:002016-05-06T01:46:44.576-07:00Short Rides: Friday Links<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/25244032904/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="375" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1474/25244032904_359eec70e4.jpg" width="500" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ebikes: </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Beginning July 1, <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/05/05/2003645554">Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation will be tightening regulations on Ebikes</a> requiring riders to be licensed and the vehicles to be registered with the MoT. The new regulations will view the Ebike as a light motor vehicle as opposed to a bicycle. The move was due to the sharp rise in collisions between Ebike riders and pedestrians. Taiwan's strategy is a bit more subtle than <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1935082/disservice-people-problem-chinas-e-tailing-taxes-and">the heavy-handed approach China has taken</a> to address the problem by banning the vehicles in several major cities. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Travel and Politics: </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A traveller from Hong Kong uses the bike to take a gentle dig at Beijing by <a href="http://www.ejinsight.com/20160503-breathing-the-sweet-air-of-freedom-in-taiwan/">contrasting Taiwan's urban development to Hong Kong's recent trajectory.</a> </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On our first stop in Taipei what struck me was the freedom of movement; there are bikes everywhere. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s similar to the mainland in that regard, but you soon notice how the government has been responsive to the needs of its citizens. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Everywhere you go in Taiwan there are bike paths, sloped shoulders to drive on and off the pavement, and even lights specifically set up for cyclists to bike diagonally at crossing. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a tourist I felt I could travel anywhere with little concern for practicality.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b> Pollution and Commuting:</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Guardian has put out a piece that claims<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/05/benefits-cycling-walking-outweigh-air-pollution-risk-cities"> the benefits of cycling outweigh the harm</a> caused by inhaling exhaust fumes in traffic.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The researchers modelled the effects of cycling and walking at different levels of air pollution and established a tipping point – the length of time after which there was no further health benefit, and a break-even point, when the harm from air pollution began to outweigh the health benefit. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For Delhi, the most polluted city on the World <a class="u-underline" data-component="auto-linked-tag" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/health" style="-webkit-transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; color: #005689; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none !important; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out;">Health</a> Organisation’s database, the tipping and break-even points for cycling were 30 and 45 minutes per day respectively, while for walking they were 90 minutes and six hours and 15 minutes respectively.<br />While the researchers looked at the levels of particulates – PM2.5 – in the air and not NO2, which has also been established as harming health, “we did lots of sensitivity analyses and the message would have been the same”, said De Nazelle.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Personally, I don't feel braving PM2.5 levels over 150 is enough to convince me to test the researchers hypothesis. I do know that my asthma will flare up after riding in that shit and we should all be lobbying to not have to make the choice to bike in it at all. I guess they are trying to get us all to feel better about the realities. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Disc Brakes: </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Don't throw away that disc brake equipped bike just yet...<a href="http://road.cc/content/news/188345-uci-reintroduce-pro-race-disc-brake-trial-june"> it appears the UCI has decided to give limited testing another go this June.</a> </span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6203074149634807485.post-70700910170535054342016-05-04T17:29:00.001-07:002016-05-04T17:29:15.492-07:00Ride of Silence: May 18th in Taipei<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48945170@N03/26755142161/in/dateposted-public/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="372" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7227/26755142161_9940c813aa.jpg" width="417" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i style="font-weight: bold;">"The graphic above represents Taiwan's bicycle casualties over the past year:<br />Each broken bicycle on this page represents a broken home. We located the corresponding information from the accident data provided by the government, although it has been difficult to find (and not entirely a full account), I hope we can remember those lost riders. They were once a story with blood and tears in their lives, not just a government statistic. May they rest in peace."</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">--Ride of Silence-Taiwan (for the full interactive graphic in Chinese, please go to the <a href="http://t-u-b-a.github.io/rideofsilence/">Ride of Silence Taiwan website</a>)</span></blockquote>
<br />
Taipei will be joining over 250 other cities worldwide in the commemorative <i>Ride of Silence</i>; a rolling memorial to all the cyclists who have been killed on the streets in Taiwan and around the world in cycling solidarity.<br />
<br />
<b>Where:</b> The Ride of Silence starts at the Ximen MRT Station and follows a 10k route to the Songshan MRT Station. <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1CgaXGDLt4r-8uzR_YxFYBFDckUs">(MAP</a>)<br />
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<b>When:</b> 5/18/2016, 7:00-7:30pm.<br />
<br />
<b>What: </b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Organizers hope riders will show their solidarity by wearing either black or white clothing, while keeping the mood respectful of the victims.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Riders should keep the mood subdued and ride in silence at no more than 20kph for the duration of the ride.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Riders will be required to wear helmets and obey all traffic laws for the duration of the ride.</li>
</ul>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0