Taipei Cycle 2015: Where did all the love go?

Taipei Cycle 2015 has closed its doors, the booths tucked back into the dusty corner of a warehouse and the bleary-eyed industry cogs with their suitcases packed for the next round of glad-handing niceties. The 2016 product year has already started arriving from the future to tell the cycling press what we all need to be lighter, stiffer, more efficient, more aero or simply better looking.

Last week I did my own part to shuffle the carpets between the stacks of products and glassy-eyed brand managers to see what the story of Taipei Cycle 2015 might be.

There were some good products. There were some great products. There were some really great people doing their best to edge their brands a little bit closer to the center of the cycling industry universe... and there were those who were just looking for a date to the dance.

I was asked repeatedly what I thought the story of the show might be. There was a certain desperation in the question from brand managers, and attendees alike. I would venture to say, out of the risk of having completely misread the show, but within the question lies the answer. 

My first impression was that the Big Bike had arrived from America wrapped in bacon to rule the day. Everyone had their fat bikes on display. 

If 2013 was the year of the disc brake, and last year was... who knows what... maybe more of the same. Then this year was really the year the fire went out. 

Maybe it was because it was the last day of the show, but in speaking with a few exhibitors from a wide cross section of the industry exhibitors and journalists I may have stumbled onto the theme of the show. 

Like a marriage that has gone on a bit too long, it felt like the exhibitors and attendees were simply going through the motions of Taipei Cycle for the sake of habit or for the sake of the children... and very possibly for the thrill and excitement of stepping out after hours.

Taichung Bike Week in the Fall is where all the action happens and the future of cycling is cast. Taipei Cycle serves merely to restate what will be available at the retail level before Eurobike and Interbike. Shanghai comes at the beginning of May, so the production end needn't represent. Taipei is the incredible shrinking trade show and everybody knows it. Yet, everybody still puts on their best face to let the industry know they are fine. Some deals are still made and some great products are still on display. But the overall feeling is that there were better places people may have rather been or greater causes they may have rather dedicated themselves to, than merely showing up because Taipei Cycle is still there. 

It is sad to watch the love light go out of your local bike expo, but I wonder just how long it can continue without a serious marriage encounter. Taipei Cycle is headed for Heartbreak Hotel. 

Some takeaways:  


There were countless reconfigurations of carbon frames and every flavor.. to the point of completely losing any flavour altogether. They wash over the senses and are soon forgotten. Keith had his lineup ready. 


I briefly swung by Rikulau, a custom metal frame designer that works in league with Ora to put out some nice frames. They were sporting an updated design.


Several tool makers were there to flaunt their wares. Lezyne has rapidly grown into a major force. I just wish they could engineer another 40min. of power into my headlight.


There were booths dedicated to bottle specialists.


Fancy graphics adorned every type of component imaginable as cycling, individualism and vanity are all close neighbors.


I had a great time chatting up Rob at the Pro-Lite booth over a coffee as he pumped the new line-up.


This frame that looks like it was rigged from broom handles is actually a rosewood bicycle frame that its makers claim to be stiffer than bamboo. The adhesive work was a bit haphazard, but they had some guts.


Steel made an appearance, but the year of the fixie has come and gone. That was something that was very apparent.


Some of the big booths were taken out of mothballs. Others scaled down.


A few famous faces made appearances. 


I was happy to stop by the Sheng Yang booth to see if William Ko was around, but they just had the usual display of retail products.


Birzman was introducing one of the few necessary additions to the cycling toolkit in this day and age with a saddlebag torque tool that can play nice with carbon tubing. It is so easy to over torque CF and compromise a good tube when doing adjustments out on the road. This may be a useful solution.


Taokas, the frame built for the Asian physique has grown in stature. Their name is a very proud reference to Ta-chia's history as a home to indigenous Taokas speaking peoples.


I was also pleased to see how Tern has been growing in its partnerships and product lines. I met with Tern representatives Eric Mah and Dwight ruling to take a look at some new products. Dwight pulled me around back to look at his own Tern commuter, freshly packed up with road grime. It is a usable bike that can be easily broken down and configured to fight through the roads of Taipei.


Industrial and graphic design were major players on the day. They do a lot for any brand these days. 


A Wall of Voodoo.


The Fat Bikes. 


A booth that may be compensating for something....



Then there were all the little things.... The decals, pads, screws, spokes, nipples, hangars and doodads that round out a complete bike.


When Ora comes out with a Titanium Fat Bike mold, you know the phenomenon is at its zenith. 


Disc brakes were in abundance. 



BLK TEC. Wheels made their Taipei Cycle debut after a long road to production.


Primavera had their redesigned Festino on display among other selections. I always love to visit with these folks. They only source their tubing locally. 


A peek at some nipples. 


The bike company everyone runs from. Maybe they hope the name will be contagious. 


I couldn't help but feel an awkward embarrassment for the companies that shamelessly take their styling cues from established companies like Specialized and Trek. 


Lots of tubes to mix and match for the frame of your choosing. 


Then there was lots of phone scanning and looking bored. 


High up in the rafters I saw Rocky Huang with his Tya branded steel bikes. 


By noon on the second day the cracks in the artifice appear as exhibitors break down and make a dash for the exits. 



I can't help but ponder what the future of our Taipei Cycle might be. But it can't keep going like it has. This is not a knock on some of the great people and companies represented, but the show needs to find a new spark. 

It is still a lock for next year as the show will coincide with a Velo-City Conference, but beyond that the future is uncertain. There may be new challenges and also new opportunities for Taipei Cycle in the future... just about the time the products from this year's Taichung Bike Week come to market. 

Tour de Tai-yawn 2015: The Reality and Fantasy of Taiwan's Marquee Stage Race

With the sheen of fresh raindrops on newly paved roads, we are again reminded that March has arrived with it, and with it comes the beginning of the road cycling calendar-- an opportunity to scrunch up in front of the laptop at odd hours to occasionally swat away pop-up ads that regularly appear at key moments of any given race on the European circuit. It is a time when the demands of family life must pause for a key section of cobbles or the official word on the dismemberment of Tom Boonen-- cycling's own Mr. Glass. The soggy farms of the Ardenne, the Spring drizzle of San Remo, the swirling colors of the ebb and flow in the peloton as it bears down on every red-roofed town to devour all the road furniture on the way to Nice, Flanders or Roubaix.  From Taiwan, it is a world that feels more like an echo across the oceans through the distant lens of a periscope.

For a few days every March, Taiwan plays host to its very own UCI stage race. It is an opportunity for Taiwan to show the world its passion for cycling as the self proclaimed "Kingdom of Bicycles" and to share with both professional cyclists and amateur enthusiasts alike, why Taiwan can offer so much to the sport. And every March the cyclists of Taiwan are subjected to another annual embarrassment that diminishes the nation's reputation as a location for top tier cycling. It leaves us having to explain to outsiders that our insistence of Taiwan's ranking among the world's most challenging and rewarding locations to ride and race is not simple hyperbole. The names like Wuling and Tatajia should be uttered in the same reverent tones as Zoncolan and Galibier.

Instead of a coveted spot on the cycling calendar, the Tour of Taiwan plays little more than a blip on the schedule for the Asian continental teams. This is not to detract from these racers who are making their deserved payday, but rather, to reward these riders with a tour of Taiwan's finest in water stained concrete box construction is disingenuous to the competitors  their dedication to training and to their competitive edge that sets them apart from schmoes like me. The only respite this time around is The KOM stage of the Tour de Taiwan, which will be a climb out of Sun Moon Lake to Tatajia. This is significant as it marks the first real significant climb in this race and may be the only stage worth a damn. Admittedly, when I first glanced at the stage I had mistakenly assumed that the KOM would be merely the climb out of Sun Moon Lake. Judging from previous tours, it was not such a ridiculous proposition.  

Still, this Tour de Taiwan will need emergency services on stand-by in case riders fall from their bikes, asleep from boredom.

To illustrate my point I will highlight each of the five stages.

Stage 1: (3/22 Taipei-52km)

The first stage of the Tour de Taiwan is a flat 52km stage that is comprised of a 10k circuit from Taipei City Hall, down Ren-ai Rd. and back. The stage will have three opportunities for the sprinters to vie for points. The riders will get up close and personal with the modern Asian city and all the beauty concrete and rebar can provide as a stellar example of Taiwan's dedication to construction and development firms. Each circuit will finish in the shadow of Taipei 101, where they may swing close enough to have verbal (and possibly physical) abuses heaped upon them from the nutty cadre of pro-China welcome wagon at the base of the skyscraper.

Stage 2: (3/23 Taiyuan-137km)

Taoyuan has some very beautiful places.... And Taiyuan has some not so beautiful places. Back in 1998 I was originally going to live in Taoyuan when I arrived in Taiwan, but after a few days in drippy, windy concrete Hell, I moved to Taichung. The second stage of the Tour de Taiwan spends way too much time skirting retention ponds and the gusty coast near all the beauty of the Taoyuan International Airport before leaving the fumes from jet exhaust and crossing the threshold of rural beauty beyond the Highway 3. There are two opportunities to collect KOM points on hills at 255m and 438m. The Dolomites it is not.

Stage 3: (3/24 Changhua 143km)

The Tour de Taiwan will be skipping the Taichung area this year after gaining a reputation for its ridiculous black lung diversion through industrial Ta-chia in an overindulgent hum job past the Giant Corporation.

Instead, the race will start in beautiful downtown Changhua with a quick warmup in the climb up the Highway 74, which is merely a straight shot to the crest of the 139 on Baguashan. The riders will follow the well groomed 139 before dropping onto the most boring section of the Highway 14丙. The peloton will forsake the drop through Songboling or the undulations of the 137, or the routes out to Zhushan, in exchange for an opportunity to compete along another windy snooze of a coastline on the Highway 17 with its views of mudflats and the concrete pillars of the 63 Expressway. The route will follow the 150 through Taiwan's most corrupt township at Erlin and then onto the nondescript Highway 19 (Highway 1 with different industries to gaze at)  before receiving the small gift of a shot across the fantastic Hsiluo Bridge. It is here that the tour organizers make another slip in sending the peloton back home along the Highway 1, Taiwan's gloomy corridor of slapdash concrete, corrugated metal and industrial decay. They completely missed a chance to send them back through the Route 154 to the Highway 3 to the Route 141 and back over Baguashan via several better options. There are also some excellent farm roads that whip and wend through Dunlin County. They might add a few kilometers, but nothing beyond what a professional racer should be asked to accomplish in a stage. Lots of wasted opportunities in Stage 3.

Stage 4: (3/25 KOM 109km)

Stage 4 of the Tour de Taiwan is about the only stage of this race that fills me with a sense of pride. It demonstrates what makes Taiwan such an amazing country to cycle. Unfortunately for the Tour de Taiwan, this is the exception and not the rule.

The KOM stage takes riders on a loop around Sun Moon Lake as the Taiwan Tourism Bureau needs a way to work its heavily marketed tourist attraction into a race, despite the fact that the bicycle trail that is marketed as a cyclist paradise is completely unfit for serious riding. The riders will be afforded the traffic control necessary to make cycling around the lake an enjoyable experience. From the lake the peloton will climb out through the Highway 21 and straight toward a meeting with pain on the ramps to Tatajia. This is as spectacular a place as any to host a stage of a UCI race. There are curves, tunnels and quad busting ramps. It should be fun to see who takes the polkadots on the day.

Stage 5: (3/26 180km)

The fifth and final stage (yes, only five stages this year) will be through the southwestern core of Taiwan. The last stage of the race will be the only stage of any real distance and will start in the hills around the Tsengwen Reservoir. The hills are pretty and there should be some quick climbs and descents in the early stages before rumbling through the gawdawful Tainan/Kaohsiung plain that makes cycling out of those two cities far less enjoyable. The tour organisers had to insert a loop around a Buddha tourist attraction for the sake of tourism. a couple of bumps just over 20m act as opportunities to collect KOM points, but it would seem a bit embarrassing to compete for a KOM on a 22m climb after peaking the day before at a majestic 2571m. I guess you take 'em where you can get 'em.

And that is it. That's all. There is no more. The event starts and ends with a whimper. The action is over just as it starts to get interesting, and that is the sad reality of the Tour de Taiwan. Our moment of international cycling sunshine is annually squandered by the realities of weather, sponsorship, lack of imagination, and the lack of willpower.

One excuse that made its way through the grapevine was that there were concerns in regard to the road conditions and rider safety. A totally valid point, but when we look at the road conditions in the Strade-Bianche with its hardpack, gravel and dust, or the cobbles in Paris-Roubaix, or even the mixed surfaces and freezing weather of the Giro, Taiwan's relatively smooth tarmac is fair-game for UCI race heads to chew on. There is no reason to confine the participants to the industrial slumlands of the Highway 17 or the Highway 1 that is a concrete canyon, second to only the Death Star trench in terms of industrial greyness. With the bounty of good cycling to be had all over Taiwan, there is no reason for anything less than serving up the entire show.

Then again, what could be more Taiwanese than the yearning for a recognition that never comes?

The Tour de Taiwan is What Is. Then we have What Could Be. The Fantasy Tour de Taiwan. What would make a better Tour de Taiwan. 

Here is my solution from a couple years ago: Fantasy Tour de Taiwan.

1. Some other suggestions might be to turn Sun Moon Lake into the location for the Individual Time Trial instead of opening the KOM stage with a loop. This will never happen as it would deny the location to the hordes of Chinese tourists for half the day.  

2. Why in Merckx name is the Highway 26 in Kenting left out of the race? 

3. A Taichung stage with a Daxueshan finish would be nice. 

4. Dunlin County's 154 and other sections of "green tunnel" roads around Douliu and the Highway 3 would be perfect. 

5. Bringing in the islands would be a good start. Even a circuit around Xiao liu qui would be interesting.

Any other ideas?

Mayor Ko Wen-je Changing Lanes in Taipei?: Opportunities for The Bike in an Asian Metropolis

In a quick note, Taipei city has announced an increase of rental fees for the You Bike program for the first 30min. from gratis to NT 5 dollars. This is really nothing and will hopefully help subsidise Taipei's existing bicycle infrastructure.

You might be asking yourself what that infrastructure might be... and that question is still up in the air as Taipei has far more rental bikes than places to safely ride them.

Taipei's new mayor, Mr. Ko Wen-je, who has taken on the problems of Taipei's culture of overdevelopment, kickbacks and mega-rich interests first, is moving his war on the construction industrial complex to the bike lanes. Much of Taiwan's bicycle policy for the past decade has been crafted from the boardrooms of the largest bike companies and the backrooms of local and central government offices. Bicycle infrastructure is often planned on a build first and ask questions later development plan that fails to address any burning needs other than to apply another superfluous layer to an already saturated tourism scheme for non-cyclists who want to ride bikes.

According to Mayor Ko from an article in the Apple Daily,

Ko Wen-Je's book stated, "I plan to improve bicycle riding environments, including urban bike trails, bike paths and riverside public bicycle system, to promote the use of bicycles in the atmosphere gradually, so that the bicycle has become a part of people's lives. Taipei City is still not enough, "bike friendly", although there are bike lanes, but many places are used as a parking lot, resulting in a serious shortage of bike lanes, bike riders have no way to go. 

 It is with this understanding that the mayor is encouraging all citizens to join the upcoming Asian Cycling Forum, which will be held March 19-20 and coincides with the Taipei Cycle cycling expo and the start of the Tour de Taiwan stage race.

This might be a great start for cyclists to begin taking back their space from corporate and development greed.

Gas Giants?: A Crude Ride Along Taiwan's Petroleum Parkway (中油專用道路)

Cycling and fossil fuels seem to go together like oil and... er....

Anyway, for my first ride of the Lunar New Year holiday I decided to take my quest for the little road northward into Miaoli County for a chance to bisect the range of hills between the Highway 3 and the coast.

I have taken most of the major and minor routes that traverse these ridges-- the 130, the 60, 24, 26, and the others.... But I wanted to see if it was possible to climb to the top and follow the ridge line for the length of the hills. It looked like a project. Now that I have completed this ride and reported on it, I have saved any of you curious souls out there from having to unnecessarily tempt fate. If you have ever chugged up the Highway 3 between Jhuolan and Dahu, and wondered what kind of roads might be etched along those emerald peaks... look no further for I have come down the mountain with such knowledge.



The day started out clear and promising, but Miaoli is the meteorological gateway to Taipei and can quickly transition from sunny and clear to gloomy, cold and wet.



As I passed Dahu, I saw a road that might provide an early ascent to the ridge I was gunning for. I crossed the Bi'an Bridge and immediately launched myself upward along never-ending ramp of high percentage pain. The ramps never seemed to end.

Eventually I slumped over my handlebars at the top, only to find a monastery and a walking path in the direction I had hoped to take. Sometimes Google Maps is too optimistic and Apple Maps too pessimistic. It can be a coin toss as to whether a road is actually passable by road bike or merely a hiking trail.



I had wasted a tremendous amount of glycogen on a gamble that didn't pay off and I did;t need any more dead ends complicating my ride. I was about to enter the unknown and I needed a little more assurance that I was not about to commit precious time and fuel on discovering Taiwan's best, lost dead end.



My hope was that the CPC Industrial Road (中油專用道路) would be my ticket to a hilltop tour of Miaoli County and a rendezvous with the Route 60 that would lead me out to a number of familiar roads that I could use to get home with the wind at my back.

The CPC Industrial Road starts just off the Highway 6 past Dahu at the point where the 72 Expressway disappears into the mountain below Gong Guan.

The road follows a terrestrial vein of liquid oil for the entire length of the hills between the Houlong and Da-an Rivers.

Oil was first discovered at the site in the 1860's and later exploited by the Japanese colonial administration. Today, Taiwan pumps 22,000 barrels of oil per day and refines its crude oil in four different refineries. This explains the refineries and petrochemical plants I have seen between Gong-guan and Toufen.



I knew I needed to be mindful of the road and there could be several service roads that lead to oil wells or other industrial sites. This kept me busy at my phone GPS and put a real drain on my battery life.



This really started out as a strange road. Aside from the hissing and steaming trees that had been rigged with misting nozzles to create an otherworldly effect similar to Tim the Enchanter, there were massive luxury properties with massive gates, a few imposing hostels, tiny farming shacks and several fenced off oil wells quietly littering the roadside.

I wondered if this road might be a total dud.



I nervously checked and rechecked my location and at the top of the hill I made the fateful decision to continue southward... just as a thick blanket of fog doused the area in a quiet, swirling chill.



The feeling was otherworldly as I slowly rolled forward into the clouds. The landscape seemed to have closed in on me and the forest ebbed and floated in and out of focus. I tried to stay glued to the road and not mistake the void for a rare patch of smooth tarmac.



Visibility was between 6 to 10 meters at most times. At one point I almost ran straight into a line of four ghosts hovering in a patch of brightly lit fog-- ghosts that turned out to be men from a work crew who had lost their truck in the fog. I was surprised a d relieved to see other human beings up there in those conditions and they were all so silent. I finally broke the eerie quiet with a question about the road conditions and was informed that the roads ahead are technically passable to Tongluo, but not recommended.

I have heard that before and found beautiful roads and brushed off the comment as something from a person who underestimates the powers of a bicycle.



Even more fog sifted through the tangled canopy above as I disappeared into a chunky path of fragmented cement, mud and ground cover. I dismounted a few timed to walk down descents that were too steep and degraded to ride safely. The last thing I needed was a broken collarbone in an area like that.



Somewhere in the tunnel of shadow and light, I surprised a true of macaques that woofed at me as I passed. It was enough to make me start whistling in the dark to ward off any more surprises. To make matters worse, my constant GPS checks had sucked my battery life down to 20% and I was still a long way from the familiar Route 60.



As soon as I turned a corner and thought I was getting somewhere, I found I was on the wrong road. My GPS was unstable in the terrain and I had plotted the wrong road. That led to a hike  through some orchard or another and up another road. I soon found I my road was blocked by a pack of angry dogs. Being true to Taiwan, the most aggressive of the bunch were a chihuahua that wanted a piece of my heel, and an ill tempered corgi. I was in no position to turn back and had to face off with a pack of unruly hounds. The owner came out and simply ignored the situation as he got into his truck. 

I was soon dropping off down the back of the hill in zero visibility with the hope that any more dogs would not come charging through the orchards to rip me apart in an area so desolate nobody would hear my screams. 

I saw an arrow spray painted on the road and followed it in the direction of the bigger road. It led me deeper and deeper into an eroding creek bed that I hoped would not be the only way out. After sparingly checking my GPS, I concluded that I had missed the real road and had to hike back up into the fogged-in orchard if I was going to have any hope of escaping before dark. 



I emerged from the forest and back out into orchard land. I could hear a chainsaw somewhere in the whiteout and felt some relief before a hellhound burst out of a hidden driveway to send me into a panicked sprint toward the unknown up ahead. 

Boom! I rolled across the path of the rest stop at the top on the Route 60. I knew where I was. Just as the fog became a wet fog, I was in familiar territory. 

I slid down the hill toward the Route 119 and the Route 49 until I was limping along through Sanyi on the Highway 13 toward home. 

I am sure there were some fantastic views from up there. The roads were horrendous and a complete safety hazard. A road bike does not belong up there at all... and it was a hell of an adventure... in retrospect. 

And now I know what is up on that hilltop. 

Little Roads Make Big Rides: 東崎街,苗56, 花草坑農路, 130, 苗54-1, 苗49, 苗51-1

A couple weeks ago I completed an absolute gem of a ride without going too far from home. For the majority of my ride I was alone with no other company other than the occasional eagle hovering above my shoulder or the garbled echo of a Taiwanese radio station being pumped into the orchards over a rusty sound system. 

Considering I was never really more than a dozen of so kilometers from busy towns and more densely populated cities, this type of cycling solitude is almost unheard of. 

It was only by stringing together a few country roads that I was able to put it all together into a single gleamingly clear day of riding. 

(I would love to provide a map, but it seems my mapping tool is experiencing some trouble.)



The official beginning of this ride was in Dongshih, on the Dongqi St. (東崎街). 



Dongqi St. is a shallow climb through the orchards on the ridge above Dongshih. It eventually tops off with a short climb before descending into the Da-an River. 



I briefly linked to the riverside viaduct that leads back to Jhuolan where I caught up with the old Route 55 better known as Pinglin Rd. 



Pinglin Rd. was quiet and delightful as usual. I did have to shoo off a couple of big dogs, but other than that it was its usual charming self. 



After the first climb and descent on Pinglin Rd. near the Pinglin Elementary School, I made a left up the Hua-cao Keng Farm Rd. (花草坑農路). This is a tight climb along a forested hillside that is really a spectacle... until you get to the top of the hill where someone has used it as a garbage dump. 



From the top I couple look out over the ridge to the larger hills looming on the horizon. 



I made a link to the 54-1 that dipped into one of the more remote fingers of the Liyu Reservoir. 



So much of the route was like this. A dip into a hidden gully or an arc along a a bare orchard. 



I was eventually dumped off on the Highway 3, where I plodded up the asphalt onto the Route 130. 
Although I have climbed the 130 several times. I had never taken the 56 from the lower section of the 130. I had exited there before, but never the opposite way. Therefore, I was a bit surprised by the degree of climbing I had to commit to on the eastern end. 



I chipped away at the hill and snap a picture or two as I emerged from the forest into sunlight. Then it was back into the forest for more climbing. 

The descent was a bit rough, but some parts smooth out for a good swooping drop. 

I hit the Route 49 and let gravity pull me to the base of my final climb up the 51-1 toward Sanyi. 

It is a bit of a chug to hack up that long climb into Sanyi. The gradient isn't too bad, but the hill is broad enough to make it a fair bit of work. 



I continued along the 51-1 as afternoon sunshine filtered through the gaps in the canopy above. It was completely peaceful. What a wonderful road. 



By the time I dropped out of the hills, I had been passed by no more that a dozen cars over the course of the ride. 

This is a route that will go on record as one of my all time favourites. 

This was 140km of riding from Taichung that well have been a million miles away.