Anti-nuclear Fixed Gear Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine!!!!

A few blips from the wire:

Fixed Gear Taiwan has a little post about the Japanese man who transformed his fixed gear bicycle into a human-powered ice shaver for making Sno-cones.

"You put ice cubes in and get a sno-cone out... yum yum fun is all about!"

Mom, dad... if you're reading this I just need to tell you again that you really missed a big chance to purchase my affections by not getting me that Snoopy Sno-cone Machine. Huh!

But on a more serious note, the Anti-nuclear message of this shaved ice reminds be of a Taiwanese song my the now defunct Labor Exchange Band. I have had this song rattling around my playlist since Taiwan's first nuclear debate in 2000, when the incoming Chen administration sought to halt construction of the 4th nuclear power plant on Taiwan's northern coast. Several anti-nuclear protests were conducted and led by the forward thinking Taiwanese democracy hero, Lin Yi-hsiung. The issue prompted a row with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). After a meeting on the issue the KMT leader deemed the meeting "insincere" and continued to use the issue as a pretext to cease any form of cooperation with the Chen administration leading to entrenched legislative gridlock and apathy from the KMT controlled Legislative Yuan. Chen capitulated and the plant is sadly still under construction. Most people say it was rather that all the kickbacks had already been paid, so the plant had to be built.

Nuclear Free Homeland: Labor Exchange Band

我們腳踏著豪邁 我們來自那高山

We are stepping forward with bravery. We come from the mountains.

來自海洋和平原 我們如河般蜿蜒

We are from the ocean and plains. Our lives gather together and go on like a river.

我們腳踏著勤勉 要為子孫和祖先
奠下永續的生態 非核的家園

We are stepping forward with diligence. We are going to set up an environment with sustainability—a land with no nuclear power.

腳踏著豪邁 非核的家園
腳踏著豪邁 非核的台灣

We are stepping forward with bravery, stepping forward with bravery to a non-nuclear Taiwan.

我們豪邁的足跡 就是歷史的分際
我們怒吼的歌聲 就是進步的呼聲

Our brave steps are the dividing line of history. Our ranting and singing is a declaration to progress.

我們邁向的社會 將無萬年的核廢
我們腳踏的土地 生命自然的演替

This society is going toward a land without nuclear power for thousands of years.

The land we are stepping on is a place where lives will be able to move on naturally.

腳踏著豪邁 非核的家園
腳踏著豪邁 非核的台灣

Stepping forward with bravery to a non-nuclear Taiwan. Stepping forward with bravery to a non-nuclear Taiwan.

I have always been touched by these lyrics, but to bring this thread full circle I have to admit that I occasionally like to change the words 腳踏著 (stepping) to 腳踏車 (bicycle). :)

Also:

• No sooner had a major Taiwanese sponsor entered the professional peloton than the dream was over. Last Thursday it was announced that HTC-Highroad, the Taiwanese backed powerhouse with a stable of top talent, TdF green jersey winner Mark Cavendish, was to fold at the end of the season due to HTC pulling its support. This is sad for a number of reasons as some form of Highroad team had been in the mix for a few years now. Furthermore, it is sad that a country at the center of the production side of cycling would lose its largest sponsor. Lastly, I really had never thought about HTC until I made the connection with the HTC-Highroad team. The advertising deal was obviously a winner.

• If anyone wants to bike Highway 86 and get back to me on it, the Liberty Times put out this report on it for cycling.
• Mosaic has plenty of pictures from their Houli ride.

Lastly

• Congratulations to everyone who tried to kill themselves on the infamous 136 Time Trial. SUNe has pics and times.

HTC Taiwan's Team of the Tour?

Here is a video put together by Taiwan's HTC corporation to help celebrate the Tour de France and possibly to highlight their sponsorship of one of the top teams. It is easy to forget that HTC-Highroad, the team of 3 stage winner and master sprinter Mark Cavendish, is a Taiwanese sponsored team. With products like the HTC Flyer, which in too big to compete with the iphone and too small to compete with an ipad, they'll need all the advertising they can get.

Also:

• New Tang Dynasty TV (The Falun Gong TV Station) ran a report on Jack Becker's trip to Taiwan. The report (in Chinese) takes some liberties with the facts and uses the visit to presume Taiwan's bicycle infrastructure is now considered to be "world class". Looking for the validation.

• Check out The Muse of Taichung and his incredible route to tour Taichung.

Weather Notes:

Sadly, we have seen a week of tantalizingly beautiful mornings punctuated by evening rain beginning about an hour before most people are off work. Not ideal for weekday rides.

A typhoon is scheduled to rumble around out in the Pacific... close enough to send more nasty weather our way.

and

A reminder for all you planning long rides when there is a break in the weather: Summer means a steady wind from southern Taiwan will make riding south a virtual Hell. Plan accordingly. This situation should last until December.

Other News:

Seven Estonians have been freed in Lebanon.

Closing the gender gap in cycling.

Prevent skin cancer from cycling.

Levis Cycling Line? Maybe not for the humid Taiwanese summers.

Is the TdF crash crazy?