Over the past four years we have seen Taiwan shirk from a place of prominence and pride... only to seek a position of marginalized ambiguity. This platform of mediocrity and ambiguity comes as a directive from Ma's office, which is seeking to rein in the two decades of Taiwan centered policies promoted by both the former Lee and Chen administrations; policies that resulted in giving recognition to the Taiwan centered outlook shared by most Taiwanese.
For Ma Ying-jiu, "Taiwan" has been a dirty word. He uses the word sparingly and through clenched teeth as if being forced to take some bad medicine.
Now we see his hand again in his yearning to appeal to his glory days during the latter years of authoritarian rule in the 1970's.
This cycling event will be called: "ROCbike Taiwan Bravo."
The bicycle tour, “ROCbike Taiwan Bravo,” is a nationwide bicycle tour launched by Ma’s campaign office earlier this month. Ma’s team embarked on a similar tour during his presidential campaign in 2007.
The “long stay” bicycle tour, which saw Ma and his campaign team travel through 18 cities and counties through the country’s western plains and finished in then-Taipei County, was believed to have helped bolster Ma’s chances in the last election.
This year’s 15-day “ROCbike Taiwan Bravo” bicycle tour will cover 1,181km and finish in Hualien County.
King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), executive director of Ma’s campaign office, met the cyclists last week in Taitung County as part of a campaign activity, while Ma is expected to join more bicycle-related activities as the presidential election approaches.
I just hope he does not feel the need to inform the public on the state of his junk this time around.
In Other News:
After running into health and injury troubles, Taiwan's delegation for the Paris-Brest-Paris race in France have appealed to the Taiwan Representative Office in Paris for assistance, but have been denied.
The deputy representative determined the riders to be too far (5 hours) outside of paris to lend any help and referred them to their travel agent. Complicating issues was the fact that Taiwan's chief representatives have all been called back to Taipei (coinciding with election activities) and were unable to be on hand to make the call on how to handle the situation.
During the ultra-long bike tour, two members of the Taiwanese team were stricken by health problems, which included hallucinations and severe sickness.
In the end, they were forced to hitchhike back to Paris.
Please enjoy TIC reader and occasional Taiwan cyclist, Emmanuel Thiry's multimedia tribute to riding the dreaded Route 136. The musical score is also an original Thiry score. Awesome!
Taipei, March 10 (CNA) Taiwan's first international cycling marathon will take place in Pingtung County in May on a new road around a bay in the southern county, the Tourism Bureau announced Thursday.
The Dapeng Bay International Cycling Marathon, sanctioned by French cycling club Audax Club Parisien, will run May 21-22 on the 12.3 km road around Dapeng Bay, said Johnson Sheu, director of the Dapeng Bay Scenic Area Administration, at a press conference held at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
The news came following an announcement that 47 local cyclists are scheduled to participate in the 2011 Paris-Brest-Paris 1,200 km event -- the world's oldest bicycling event on the open road -- in August 21-25.
Led by Cheng Wen-chang, who in 2007 became the first person from Taiwan to complete the cycling challenge, the participants finished 200km, 300km, 400km and 600km rides this year to qualify for the French event, which began in 1891.
"It will be a great achievement if I can complete the ride," said Hana Hung, one of eight female cyclists to register for the race.
The cyclists will ride individually and will try to complete the ride, also called the Brevet, within 90 hours.
The French event, beginning on the southern side of Paris and traveling west 600 km to the port city of Brest on the Atlantic Ocean and returning alone
What I find really exciting about this news is that Taiwanese are integrating themselves into world cycling. With more Taiwanese interested and passionate about cycling, we can only hope to see more Taiwanese included in global cycling events. As the sport in Taiwan matures, the possibility of a Taiwanese breaking in to the pro peloton becomes even more likely.
