Taiwan Cycling and Air Quality: A Tragedy of Commons

Taiwan Air Quality
 
This past weekend presented some great riding opportunities. The rain held off long enough for some people to brave Taiwan's notoriously unpredictable traffic. But maybe the wet roads and automobiles will not be what eventually kills off the Taiwanese cyclist. It may be something even more insidious and unavoidable. We may be felled by the air we breathe.

Over the weekend the pollutants on the 2.5 PM scale, or particles under 2.5 million micrometers in size, reached unhealthy levels measuring 154 micrograms per cubic meter or air from Taichung through Miaoli County. Later in the day the index in the Puli basin peaked well above 350mcg/m3. This is not and will not be the first time.  

According to the Taiwan Healthy Air Alliance, the poorest air quality can be found in Yunlin's Mailiao Township, and in Nantou County's Puli Township. This is mostly due to the coal-fire power plant and the massive Formosa Plastics complex in Mailiao and Puli's natural basin trapping the air from the Nantou industrial area and the Dalin coal-fired power plant. With Puli being the gateway to Sun Moon Lake and several major tourist attractions and national parks, the government has been slow to take action. 


Taiwan Air Quality 4/18/2015

Taiwan's air pollution is not merely the problem of individual localities and townships. This is a tragedy of commons. 

1. Taiwan can partially blame the poor air quality on the winter monsoon that sweeps China's industrial and natural air pollution across Taiwan during the winter months. In recent years deforestation and  environmental degradation in western China has led to an increase in seasonal sand storms that blow across Asia from the Gobi Desert. 

2. China can not be blamed for all of Taiwan's poor air quality. Taiwan draws much of its electrical power from six coal-fired power plants. Taichung's coal-fired power plant is the largest in the world and the world's largest single source of carbon-dioxide emissions with over 40million tons of CO2 emissions annually (more than the entire nation of Sweden emits annually). Five of the six coal-fired power plants are located along Taiwan's densely populated western plain shifting the dispersal of emissions lengthwise over most of Taiwan's population. The sixth is located in Hualien, one of the mainstays of Taiwan's eco-tourism push. 

3. Traffic emissions have gotten worse as more Taiwanese take to the roads on weekdays in order to arrive at their jobs that are moving further away from affordable housing on a Taiwanese salary. 

4. Another major source of Taiwan's air pollution is, in part, natural. Taiwan's soil is mostly loose clay pushed out of the seabed and as a narrow, steep island, Taiwan fails to retain much of its water runoff, leaving vast, dry stream beds. During periods of high winds, fine particles of dust billow up out of the dry stream beds and fill the air with dust. This is a phenomenon that had been observed as early as the 19th Century, so it is not the result of more recent industrialization. 

Still, I say the phenomenon is "in part" natural, as manmade factors also help to contribute to the problem. Like many other places worldwide, human initiated climate change has resulted in the increasing severity of seasonal drought with development and deforestation leading to greater erosion on hillsides and riverbeds leaving more land exposed to high winds. Moreover, much of Taiwan's topsoil is contaminated from agricultural and industrial toxins that can become airborne with loose soil. Heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, and lead can be blown from the soil to mix with carbon-dioxide, carbon-monoxide, nitrogen-oxide sulphur-dioxide...the last three being the major pollutants from cement manufacturing... a mainstay in Taiwan's ubiquitous construction industrial complex. 

It is not difficult to see why this writer is incredulous in the face of vast government expenditures on leisure cycling when the government's plans will only encourage residents to go from the basketball court, swimming pool or badminton court to a bicycle lane. A leisure cycling path does little to curb emissions from where they are generated. It is simply politicians playing the all too cynical game of Three Card Monte with public funds.

Do the positives of cycling outweigh the negatives of breathing pollution?  

 ...as it turns out, face another peril: pollution. New research has found that bicycle commuters inhale twice the amount of black carbon particles as pedestrians. Inhalation of such gunk (aka soot) is associated with reduced lung function and even heart attacks.
The researchers, led by Professor Jonathan Grigg from Barts and the London School of Medicine, compared carbon levels in the lungs of five healthy bicycle commuters those of five healthy pedestrian commuters. The bicyclists had 2.3 times more of the bad stuff in their lungs. Presumably, the cyclists' heavy breathing -- all that good aerobic stuff -- is responsible for the increased presence of black carbon.

So, as cyclists in Taiwan where do we go? 

1. Taiwan could be entirely run on renewables. We have the engineering and infrastructure available to devote toward energy independence without the nuclear option. We do not have the political will to challenge Tai-Power. Renewables do not have the same patronage potential of the massive, centralized "power plant" that requires mountains of concrete and billions of dollars of rigged bids. One friend who worked for the Number 4 Nuclear Power Plant has confided that it was impossible to work on the facility without being compromised by corruption. Thus, he quit. Wind farms and solar arrays do not provide the "necessary" structural requirements that conceal the flow of expenditures. 

2. Taiwan needs to cooperate with other Asian nations to find multilateral support to help curb Chinese pollution in general. Moreover, Taiwanese companies need to avoid using China as a toxic dump by proxy as Taiwanese firms have invested in Chinese manufacturing, the pollution is coming home to roost. 

3. Higher wages, lower housing prices, better integration between pedestrian, bicycle and mass transit including urban bike lanes and bike racks on busses would be a great start for the commute. 

4. Increased efforts to both clean and eliminate industrial waste in the soil would be a great start. 

As we saw with the Kuokuang Petrochemical Complex in Changhua, awareness and activism can, sometimes, beat corporate interests and Taiwan's colonial economy. 

Until some major changes are implemented, we, as cyclists in Taiwan, must head out onto the roads with the understanding that we are being poisoned.

Taiwan will not be able to tout its bicycle tourism until Taiwan is finally breathable.


Appendix:

Taiwan Air Pollution Index: Real Time Tracking

Monitor Air Pollution app

Taiwan's Air Pollution Rank Worldwide

The Central Cross Island Highway Gets Paved: Magazine Features Taiwan's Toughest Climb

After a reader notified me that the Fall 2012 issue of Paved Magazine features an article about cycling in Taiwan. I was curious and downloaded the issue from the iTunes News Stand.

I have to admit, as a long-time resident of Taiwan and a frequent rider on its roads, I was skeptical and opened my new digitized magazine with a mixture of jaded "What did they fuck up this time?", and "I can't wait to take out my long knives and serve this up well-done for my readers."

I was absolutely wrong. This article is the best piece of cycling writing to cover Taiwan that this blogger has ever seen in print and it should serve as the gold standard for other writers and editors who hope to detail Taiwan cycling in pictures and words.

The Paved article is not the usual Taiwan Tourism Bureau talking points other writers are bound to adhere to in appreciation of a free trip on the TTB's dime or to please a big corporate sponsor.

This article by Bruce Minnigh and photographed by Stephen Wilde provides a vivid expose on what makes cycling Taiwan such an amazing and addictive way of life.

I can not recommend this article highly enough. There are a few minor quibbles here and there, but nothing I would care to nag about. This is really a solid piece of writing. It is honest and highly entertaining.

It is certainly worth the price of admission. The article can be purchased HERE.

Excerpts:

The dull pain of lactic acid burned deep in my quads, and my head ached from altitude and dehydration. My will power was in danger of being trumped by a mounting list of physical impediments. I lowered my head and attacked another lung busting climb, gasping to extract as much oxygen as possible from the increasingly thin air. 

Suddenly the road began to level out, its steepness supplanted by a stiff wind sweeping across what appeared to be a giant alpine meadow. Though I couldn't see Hehuan Shan or Cilai Ridge, it was clear from the clouds racing by that I had crested the pass. I had done it. I had ridden my bike up one of the world's toughest paved roads.

----------

For the next few hours we were treated to a deceptively swift descent through the mind blowing Taroko Gorge-- the namesake and main attraction of Taiwan's most diverse national park. The strikingly narrow heart of the gorge stretched for about 13 miles, hemmed in by marble walls that soar for over a thousand feet above the riverbed, often blocking out the sky.

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Cycling Interest Rate Drops

According to this link below the recent bicycle fad in Taiwan has passed and sales are dropping back down to normal levels.

Not long after the spike in fuel prices in 2008 cycling joined egg tarts and hoola-hoops as another Taiwanese fad. Since Taiwan is the world's largest producer of bicycles it brought an added public awareness of cycling as recreation and as a sport.

In a prestige culture, such as Taiwan's , cycling embodies the image of affluence, foreign knowledge and leisure. It embodies the value of technically advanced equipment and a smart looking kit. Cycling, if done right, looks clean, sleek and graceful and has its "Top Guns". Unlike current Taiwanese values, cycling involves hard, physical work and outdoor training to become a strong rider. Many Taiwanese do not value physical exercise and it is not promoted as a worthwhile past time for children when they could be in cram school or learning an instrument. Exposure to direct sunlight is discouraged and brown skin is still regarded as "ugly".

This is not surprising as traditional Han cultures have equated strong, muscular physiques and brown skin with degradation and barbarism.

Many of the Qing era records of frontier peoples fixate on the athletic and muscular physiologies of their object. Frontier gazette paintings would often exaggerate the body types of indigenous peoples in contrast to the more "refined" Han. This imaging is still in use today, valid or not in the process of "othering" the Aborigines in Taiwan. Despite the high value Taiwanese put on science and mathematics there is still a tendency to project folk beliefs into understanding human physiology. One traditional belief is that skin color was a direct corollary to the purity of food and thus influenced the character of the person. The enlightened or degraded properties of a person could be determined by their diet and location. Location, of course, meant proximity to the Emperor. This helped to explain the "savagery" of the frontier. These folk beliefs were later incorporated into Sun Yat-sen ideology and largely contributed to the racialism at the core of contemporary Chinese nationalism.

To bring this back into the frame of cycling:

It is not uncommon to ride past indigenous villages where the people are represented by statues depicting "braves" in traditional dress, rippling with muscles like action figures, hunting or holding their traditional knives. These images only serve to reinforce the otherness of the Aborigine and create distance from non-Aborigines and affirm their need to be tamed by the Sunism of the R.O.C.

I guess I am probably straining to relate these ideas together, but I do think cycling as a popular activity in Taiwan highlights several conflicting values in contemporary Taiwanese cultural life and some of the anxieties of cultural change in Taiwan.

Still, an expensive carbon frame becomes a Rolex, BMW or Apple computer; a demonstration of ...er... mobility.

http://life.chinatimes.com/2007Cti/2007Cti-Rtn/2007Cti-Rtn-Content/0,4526,110107+112010022200430,00.html

To Gu Guan and Beyond... (just barely) :

On Saturday Michael and I took the opportunity between the days of drizzle to explore the mythical Central Passage, a rumored short cut to the base of Li Shan along the dirt track formerly known as the Central Cross Island Highway. According to some sources, the route is passable with dirt tires despite the continued construction and frequent avalanches. It sounded a bit dangerous and perfect for some high adventure.

I had taken the Central Cross in about 2000 on a motorcycle after they had cleared it following the great 921 earthquake in 1999. At that time the road was terrible. There were long tunnels filled with deep potholes and debris. I arrived in Hua Lien in 8 hours unable to sleep with visions of "road" in my head.

The road was later buried again in subsequent earthquakes and storms, but it seemed passable by light vehicle. I guess not. The danger of avalanche is currently too great to allow bicycles to pass through.

On this particular trip we left Tanzi and followed the Highway 3 to Dong Shih. Several of the buildings in Dong Shih were built following the 921 quake. I still have vivid memories of the town just days after the quake when over 500 residents lost their lives. Every time I pass through the memories come back. In Dong Shih we connected the to Highway 8 and headed East.

The Highway 8 is a four lane road with very little in the way of a shoulder, so at times the traffic can be a little annoying. Some assholes really don't know how close to pass a cyclist, some don't care, and some delight in seeing how close they can get.

The scenery of the Da Jia river valley is gorgeous. Most of the road is quite smooth. We saw a half dozen pace lines go by at high speeds. Cycling clubs seem to enjoy fast group rides down the river valley due to the slight grade which allows even the novice to reach impressive speeds. I never did see any groups going up river.

There are a few places to eat and hydrate along the way. Lots of sweet sausage stands.

I strapped on a new set of knobbies for the trip and didn't get to use them. It was such a shame too, considering how baddass they make a bike look.

We eventually arrived at Gu Guan after about 2.5 hours or so. Gu Guan is a little like a Kenting in the mountains. Taiwanese like to come here for romantic trysts at the hotels with natural hot spring water piped into the rooms. Going out for a hot spring just sounds better than going to a motel. Funny how nobody has trouble telling friends and coworkers about going to the hot spring, but they would never announce going to a motel for some "wham bam".

After dodging tourists in Gu Guan we wound up the virtually abandoned road to a check point. The betelnut eater at the checkpoint told us there was no possibility of entering the area so we turned tail in retreat. All in all it was a great ride. From my house in Taichung City to Gu Guan and back, it was about 75-80 miles total. Our maximum elevation was slightly under 3000ft. A lot of fun.

SiMa XianShan (100 Miles of Pain)

SiMa XianShan

The hardest single hill climb I have ever done was this route up the Da An River. I had been thinking about this trip for a while as it is one of my favorite places in Taiwan. Just outside of Juolan in central Taiwan there is a road that parallels the Da An River. It is a gorgeous ride up into some Atayal villages.

The first time I went up there I was looking for the route a group of Pazih (Pazeh) speaking people used to cross into the Puli basin in the 19th Century. One of my 96 year-old Pazih contacts recalled the story of how her great grandfather packed up the family from near the Nei She area below the Long Teng Broken Bridge to join other Pazih speakers in Ailan. Some of the family remained in the area and have since forgotten their Pazih ancestry and have become "Ex-Aborigines". My Pazih friend knew her family had hiked into Puli, but didn't know from where. I figured the Da An river was a good candidate for the route out of Juolan.

Up the Da An river there are a handful of villages primarily inhabited by Atayal speakers. The mountains rise up right out of the river and the sense of "wow!" can quickly overtake you. You can pass Elephant Nose village and go on to the bridge under Sky Dog village. What might not be apparent is that you are sitting right in the line of fire of Japanese light artillery.

During the first 40 years of the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan (1895-1935), the Japanese administration set out to "pacify and subdue" the highland indigenes who inhabited the mountains of

central Taiwan. Much of the impetus for this was colonial in nature, in the repetitive cycle of the government continually seeking to exploit the resources the indigenous people seek to retain. We are seeing this phenomenon again in the aftermath of Typhoon Morikot as the Ma administration seeks to remove indigenous peoples from their current homes and move them into new homes outside their traditional and commercially viable locations.

After several years of combat the Japanese succeeded in installing several artillery pieces on several strategic mountainsides to better control the indigenous peoples. From the installation on the mountain above, the Japanese had control over the three valleys below. The remains of the base are not entirely visible at first, but if you inspect the site a little more the trench works, barracks, and gun emplacements come into view. It wasn't quite The Guns of Navarone, but it is easy to imagine the area as a military outpost on a colonial frontier.

When I did this ride I arrived at the base of SiMa XianShan and started my climb. The road keeps rising up with some serious sections of steep ascents. There are a few mellow areas where you can catch your legs, but then the road takes off again. Sky Dog (Tian Gou) village makes a good place to hydrate. They seem to be trying to turn it into a tourist village, but there is still a lot to do. It was a rough, rough climb. I finally got to the top to find a bunch of mountain bike riders playing on the trails. They had all driven up the back side in cars. Bastards! I chatted them up for a while until the idea to continue up hill another 300 meters to the Japanese base. It would have made for great pictures, but I wanted to start my descent.

For this ride I put on my 32c fast dirty tires because the roads had been washed out on prior trips. The descent goes alog a cliffside road through tall cedars before going back to the jungle. The road is a little slick with light debris over the pavement and some steep descents where the braking gets technical. The rule of thumb is to stay right at every intersection if it is unmarked. It will spit you out into Dahu. The climb takes you 1640ft. from the river to the peak.

I hit the Highway 3 home, but I forgot about all the long, rolling hills on the way back. I rode embarrassingly slow as I lost time and hours of daylight. At the top of the hill over Juolan I took the LiYu Tan Rd. over the south side of the reservoir. I love this road, but I was too beat to enjoy it. I finally limped back to Feng Yuan on the 13, which has one last annoying hill at the end. It took me way too long, but not a bad ride at all.

Bike route 497684 - powered by Bikemap 

Mapping 5 Centuries

January Cycling: 5 Centuries in 14 Days

January Cycling: 5 Centuries in 14 Days

The first weekend of January passed uneventfully. I thought I didn't have anything going on.

Then I got it in my fool head to do 5 century rides before the month was out.

My good friend Michael started out as a casual cyclist a year ago with new Carrefour specials for the whole family. Then the bug hit. As everyone who rides regularly knows, when the bug bites... it bites hard. He was soon putting a few kilometers together at a time, huffing and puffing about how he'd never make 20 miles. 20 miles came and went. Before his first anniversary in the saddle was through he was ready for his first century. Michael is 46 years young and... got a little heavy for a time...so the amount of dedication he has exhibited is inspiring to all. He has trimmed up and is a lesson for anyone sitting on the fence. Most people lack the courage to get started and so I am very proud of Michael and I gladly volunteered to accompany him for his first 100 miler. Numbers are just numbers, but somehow 100 anything is worthy of a little extra attention. It is the welcome mat to the triple digit club. From there on out 100 can easily become 200 and then you simply get bogged down into the physical limitations of the human body and the dangers of riding in the dark.

Century 1:

My first century for January was a warm up for Michael's the following week. I wanted to make sure he could do 75 miles to best pace his endurance and calorie intake. The additional distance to and from my house made it over 100 miles.

We Took off up the Highway 3 through Feng Yuan and into the foothills of Miaoli County. We passed through the strawberry chaos of Dahu and took the Highway 6 and a couple other roads to Tongluo and down through Tongxiao, Dajia and then someone had the wonderful suggestion to climb the back side of the hill before Chingshui. We then hit the most dangerous stretch of roadway in Taiwan: The bike path. Bike paths are a swarm of slow moving, weaving amateur cyclists who make it a shooting gallery for anyone riding straight. I then took a creative way home to round out the 100 miles.

Century 2:

The second century was done with Michael from Taichung along the nasty Highway 1 to

the #145 across the Great Xiluo Bridge. We took in some calories at a Breakfast place and then stayed on the 145 to the Highway 19 past Tuku. That area is a fascinating area to pass through as many of the

people are relatively recent converts from being Plains Aborigines. I often look at grave markers on my rides to get a sense of the ethnic composition in the area. A little roadside ethnology to keep the ride interesting. If you check many of the graves down past Tuku, you will notice the place of origin is often local. It is common to find the ancestral home being "Deer Field" or the name of the locality.

We stayed on the 19 until getting a little lost near Madou as we tried to take a short cut. We finally rolled into Tainan before sundown. I powered into Tainan at about 30mph in an adrenaline fueled flat sprint across the final bridge. We finally found some kind of flop house near the train station where I was attacked by mosquitoes all night and we fueled up for the next day.

Century 3:

The next day our distance was uncertain. The plan was pretty much to go as far as we could and then take the train out from there. We were both on one gear easier than the day before, but felt pretty good. We managed to make good time all the way up to Chia yi. We ate at the only restaurant in Chia yi that doesn't sell Ji Rou Fan. It was just after leaving that place that I tweaked my knee and continued on in pain. I would ride out ahead and michael just thundered along at a good pace. We were getting close enough to home that we both thought we could make it back to Taichung... at some point. I gritted it out and we rolled along into Wufeng at sundown. We finally parted ways after 7:00pm having done back to back centuries.

Century 4:

I decided that since I had done two centuries in two days, I could easily pull off two more before the month was out. I also had a day off coming up. I decided to head back through Nantou and Mingjian, Zhushan and into Douliu. From there I had a rough idea of where to go and quickly got lost going through Huwei. I kept second guessing myself and ended up heading through Tuku. For the first time in Taiwan I was totally turned around and had no idea which way was North. I asked a gas station attendant... and he had no idea. I asked a 7-11 clerk and she hadn't a clue. In Taiwan people have no abstract clue of directions. Seriously. Nobody really knows where in the hell they are. I finally figured it out and went back to Huwei and up to Xiluo along the 145. I had originally hoped to take the Highway 19, but nobody could confirm where it was or that it was actually quite close, so I went back to an old road I had been getting quite bored with and made it to Xiluo where I meandered home against the wind and still feeling a growing pain in my knee. It sucked, really.

Century 5:

I had one more to go and my knee had been bothering be for a couple days, but on two days rest I decided to see how a final century up toward Miaoli would work out. Michael joined me for the first 30 miles and then turned back. The pain in my knee was just a dull ache. I decided to grit it out and just go for it. It was only 14 days since the first century and I figured if I could do it it would be baddass and if not I would call Michael for help. I took the Highway 3 all the way to the #126 near the Ming De Reservoir. The rolling hills didn't seem to aggravate my knee anymore than regular riding. I actually felt stronger despite the knee pain. The Ming De Reservoir is a great ride. I got into the monochrome colored city of Miaoli and since I forgot how to get to the Highway 1 through an easier route I took the 13 all the way up the big hill to the 119 and then through "charming" Hakka farms to the industrial old Highway 1. I powered my way at speed all the way to Changhua to avoid any more hills. The pain in my knee was intense by that point. I had

actually been popping Tylenol all day. I limped through the door and took a week off.

Of course in post script I got a bad chest cold the week after my week off... and then I had a couple rides before the rains of New Year. So I am expecting to lose most of the gains I had made through all that riding. Typical.

The bike I built for Taiwan riding

In 2007 I returned from a trip to the U.S. where I spent some time looking for a bike that would suit the type of riding I do in Taiwan. At the time I was really torn because I really didn't ride with anyone and most of the expats I knew were riding heavy mountain bikes or XC bikes. I really didn't like the idea, but kept the option open. I really liked road bikes, but after a dozen years in Taiwan I understood how the roads could get. I finally narrowed my search down to a Cyclocross bike. Cyclocross purists hate the idea of a CX bike in any condition other than a race, and roadies cry at the sight of drop bars and fat tires. I would be in a position I could deal with... hated by everyone. A CX bike would be perfect for Taiwan's mixed road conditions. I searched high and low in Taiwan and in the land of bikes I could not find a single cyclocross rig. None! I searched on line and could not find a manufacturer that could ship internationally. Things were looking bleak. I finally found a bike I could work with at a fire sale price. I took my frame to Rocky at T-Mosaic in Taichung and waited. In 2007 the world was going through a spike in oil prices and suddenly bikes became a more attractive form of transportation. There was a run on components. It took 6 months to get the components I wanted to build my bike. A painful 6 months.

--My Rig--

Frame: Salsa Las Cruces

The Salsa Las Cruces disc frame and fork was being discontinued and the prices were dropping, so I snapped one up and had it delivered to my friend's house in the USA. He then sent it to me... still $300 below MSRP. The frame is scandium alloyed aluminum and weighs in at 2.5lbs. It came with a matching carbon fork in "dreamsicle orange". I figured the orange would be a safety color on Taiwan's insane roads. A cyclocross frame offers a slightly upright geometry for better visibility and longer chainstays for 38c tire clearance and a smoother ride.

Drivetrain: I opted for the 10spd. Shimano Ultegra 6600

gruppo for the weight and reliability. I chose a typical compact crank 50/34 and a 12-27 cassette. This allows a good balance of speed on the road and steep climbing on Taiwan's hills and mountains without needing a triple.

Brakes: I really wanted the stopping power of disc brakes for riding in mixed conditions. I ended up going with the Shimano Br-505 R mechanical disc brakes. The nicest thing is that my rims look pristine.

Bars/Stem: Deda Elementi Newton Ergo bars.

Post: Selcoff Titanium. A lot of weight can hide unseen in a seat post. The titanium saved a

little weight there. I put a Selle Italia Flight seat on that.

Pedals: Crank Brothers Candy SL. I wanted some light and easy clipless pedals that would engage in muddy conditions.

--Wheels--

I wanted light, durable wheels that would be strong enough to hit hidden gaps in the roads and trails. I chose DT Swiss RR 1.1 and 1.2 rims, spokes and brass DT nipples laced to Chris King disc hubs. The Kings are fantastic. Gotta love the "angry bee".

Tires: Ugh! I am always looking for the magic tire. I love my Conti 4000GP 25c road tires. They last forever. For dirty conditions I use Michelin Cyclocross Jets, Michelin Mud2, Ritchey Speedmax Pro tires.

Total Weight: 18.2 lbs. (8255.3 grams). Not bad for a CX bike.

The bike is fast and comfortable. I can sustain speeds at 20-25mph (35 to 40kph). I can spend up to 12 hours in the saddle without much fatigue. I feel agile in busy traffic and stable on 45mph (72kph) descents. It makes for a good all around Taiwan bike. That does not mean I don't have bike lust for other set-ups, but not bad for one do it all bike in Taiwan. If you can only have one bike, then a cyclocross bike fits the bill. I would eventually like to build a pure road bike and then reserve the cyclocross bike for dirtier riding, but just not now.