Notes From Palm Desert

My internet access has greatly diminished and I am writing on a nasty Windows box that is set up for senior citizens. I an now in Palm Desert without a bike... I am getting jittery like a crackhead thinking about riding.

Still, a couple of notes from the end of my vacation.

1) I am saving up a few things to share.

2) I saw a few guys out in 117F. heat.

3) I am getting fat and really want to get back on the bicycle. I really can't keep up with this lifestyle. Oce you feel not-full, it is time to eat again. No wonder my father'd triglycerides are above 300 and blood sugar 200. I love my dad and want him to be around for a while longer, but he doesn't live his life to make that possible. One reason I love to bike and stay healthy is to avoid getting old like that. It is really too bad beacuse he is a great guy.

Riding Wine Country

Changhua's latest step in transforming Taiwan into a tourism Mecca has been kicked off in the hopes of enticing tourists to ride Changhua's wine country by bike. Ummm... interesting.

Tour de Fat: A Look At American Bicycle Culture

Everyone Is Included

Having been in Seattle for a couple weeks, I have been trying to find expressions of Seattle's cycling culture to export back to my readers in Taiwan. Although I have been documenting a trip away from the usual subject matter of this blog, I hope some of these pictures and stories from a foreign country can be used reflexively to give all of us who ride in Taiwan a different perspective of our own cycling culture.

As much as cyclists worldwide are bonded together through a shared activity, our expressions of this activity vary from place to place and much of what I have seen in Seattle has reminded me of how diverse bicycling culture really is. Even in Seattle's different districts the bike culture changes like regional accents.

In Seattle cycling has become deeply integrated into the social landscape and the built environment. Cyclists have become a ubiquitous element in the transportation structure which has resulted in the unexpected dividends of infusing declining neighborhoods with new economic vitality and creating jobs through cycling related construction projects (wider lanes, paths, routing etc...). It is really exciting to see the bicycle used for recreation, health, and transportation all at the same time.

Bike Path

Yesterday we attended the Tour de Fat, a one-day cycling event held every summer to help celebrate American cycling culture. The event looks like some kind of counter culture event, but really it brings out all types of cyclists and non-cyclists alike for a good time and a community building moment.

Ryan Along the Ship Canal

We rode across Seattle to get to the event at Gas Works Park; a park established from the ruins of Seattle's former natural gas utility. The red-rusted pipes and tubes provide an excellent backdrop for a cycling event with echoes of human triumph over industrial expansion.

Double Parked

Bikes of all shapes and sizes were locked to about every freestanding structure available. I think I saw only a single carbon fiber bike during the entire event. Compared to Taiwan there is less of a self-conscioussness about bikes... and I guess about lots of things.

Festivities

People were just out to be silly and have a little fun. I am not sure I have seen too many Taiwanese cross dressing and trying to look ridiculous in public to make asses of themselves. Maybe it happens, but not often.

Ridable Art

One section on the grounds was devoted to "ridable art". Artists had fashioned absurd, ridable vehicles based on bikes. Anyone could try as long as they acknowledged that it would be at their own risk.

Shoe Bike

Dave's Penny Farthing Tat

I saw quite a few bike related tattoos. Lots of cranks, gears, and chains. The body art thing is quite the thing in Seattle. It used to be more discreet. Now it seems all body art must be visible at all times.

Colorful Characters

32 Spoke Parasol

Many people brought their own bike related props, costumes and plain silliness. A little more prompting from the beer garden added to the atmosphere.

Ryan

Blowing Out The Back

Joyce Drinks In A Beer Garden

Tony Rises

After some bands had played, a car was traded for a bike and there were other bike giveaways with lots of crowd participation. The finale to this theater of the absurd came with a gigantic present box that opened up in a flurry of smoke and noise into a towering effigy of Tony Danza with outstretched "pride arms".

Who's The Boss?

U.S.A. Drinking Laws

Phallic Symbol

Before long the event was over and it was time to head out to the Buckaroo Tavern to get drunk enough to barely ride home. My wife was happy to have a bike to ride as well and actually circled Seattle as her final Seattle ride. I am happy she is now riding. So happy I picked up a killer deal on SIDI shoes from REI for her. $90 for a pair of ladies Dominators.

Lake Union

Kite Hill

Dunk At The Buck

I-90 Floating Bridge

I ended up taking a ride around Lake Washington and across the I-90 floating bridge. Seattle is surrounded by water on all sides. Puget Sound, Lake Union, Lake Washington and Green Lake make up the liquiscape of Seattle and provide some spectacular views. I didn't take too many pictures as the weather was cold and foggy for most of the morning. The sun eventually burned through by around 11:00am making the ride much more pleasant.

I was feeling better and more powerful in my legs, but my stomach was having a bad reaction to something. My main route was Lake Washington Blvd., the main round-lake road. It is flat, fast and filled with triathletes. Later on I will write a detailed comparison between Seattle and Taiwan riding, but I must say that for a population of under 2 million people, King County, Washington State, has a very high number of active people and especially cyclists on the roads and trails.

That does not mean the saturation of cycles could prohibit a random stranger from shouting, "bicycles are retarded!" from the passenger seat of a car.

I had to ride across the bridge, which is the longest floating bridge in the world and disastrously sunk during a storm in 1989. The road sections are built upon hollow pontoons that are fastened into place. This avoids having to anchor supports into the deep, muddy lakebed.

Good riding!

Seattle Peeks Over Capitol Hill

I-90 Floating Bridge

A Friendly Rider

Enjoying The Speed

Looking East Toward Bellevue

Marymoor Velodrome Races

Earlier in the trip we went out to the Seattle suburb of Redmond to watch the races at the FSA Grand Prix on the old velodrome.

We had a great time watching the races all evening as they started with the kids and worked up to the championships.

A little smuggled beer helped set the mood for the night.

The racers came from as far away as New Zealand, but included some local talent as well.

There were both individual and team events taking up the bulk of the nights racing.

As the night wore on the riders, who had been competing all week, looked like they were aout spent.

Lots of fun!

Why Bike Commuting Will Not Work In Taiwan.

According to this Aussie blogger commuting by bike can not work in Taiwan.

Link

Also:

Taiwanese win medals in Commonwealth Games. Why Taiwanese were invited to a commonwealth games is beyond me, but I am glad they did well.

Taking An Italian on a Tour of Seattle

This has been a pretty busy week and I have had only a little time to arrange photos and post them. Although I have been dealing with family things, I have managed to get a couple-few rides in during this break in the weather.

The bike I am riding is a loaner from my cousin, who happens to be my exact size, so switching bikes is easy. He is loaning me a steel, Bianchi Veloce with a mix of Campy Veloce and Centaur in a triple crank. The ride is stable and smooth, but lacks the feeling of speed of my regular bike. The shifting is crisp and accurate.

All in all, I am happy to be riding in this town.

I started in Beacon Hill and took the Jose Rizal bridge to Capitol Hill and crested Broadway, which is Seattle's own little Castro... or at least it was until the junkies took over in the late 90's. The area is changing drastically with new apartments and other gentrification that heals the bad, but kills the soul. I stopped for a minute at the Jimi Hendrix statue on Pine and Broadway. I remember seeing the Hendrix family dedicating the statue many years ago. I always remember seeing Jimi's cousin walking around the Renton Highlands, just unable to let the image die.

I continues on until Aloha St. and then climbed the hill up to Volunteer Park, which used to be a prime cruising spot. When I was a kid I guess we wandered into some bushes that were in use and surprised a couple of dudes in the act.

Volunteer Park houses the Asian Art Museum where I would ride the camels. Decades of child camel jockeys had worn the originals, which now sit in the Seattle Art Museum.

After passing through Volunteer Park, I detoured into the Lake View Cemetery where Bruce and Brandon Lee are buried.

I took off down the hill to the Harvard Exit and passed through the University District and paid my respects to the University of Washington. I spent many a day enjoying all the sights on campus.

The weather was beautiful and Mt. Rainier was clearly visible from the Rose Garden.

I left campus and headed up University Way to Ravenna Park on 55th St. The cool shade of the tall trees was a welcome relief from the direct sunlight. I then took off down the hill to the University Village and headed up 25th St. to 65 and then took it all the way to Greenlake Ave. These places are all very special to me and I enjoyed the feeling of passing through them again. Greenlake is a small, urban lake that is used by walkers, joggers and cyclists for recreation.

I was quite famished after a morning of meandering, and so I headed for the closest place I could think of where I could eat and watch the bike. I knew I had to go eat Dick's.

Dick's was established in 1954, and my father was there for the opening. They have the best burgers in town and even better fries. The shakes are the only thing to wash it all down.

With a mouthful of Dick's, I took off again and headed for the former Hippie hideout of Fremont. During the 1960's, Fremont was a district full of radicals and rabble. It is now full of Techies as Adobe makes its HQ there.

One feature of Fremont is the famous troll under the Fremont bridge. I remember discovering the troll when it was first built. I was a preteen and I remembered the site as a place to take future dates. Lot's of neckin' at the troll.

The Fremont signpost proudly points toward Taiwan, so I always remember where home is no matter how long I stay.

I then took the Burke Gilman Bike Trail out to Ballard and visited my friend's tea shop. Miro Tea is in Old Ballard and they serve a huge selection of some of Taiwan's best teas. After a refreshing iced Baozhong Tea from Pinglin, I went to the Hiram Chittenden Locks, a series of locks to make boat traffic possible between the fresh water lakes and Puget Sound.

A fish ladder allows the visitor to watch the salmon swim up to Lake Washington from Puget Sound.

The Locks let me pass the ship canal to Magnolia, where I headed back on Admiral Way and then over to the low side of Queen Anne Hill. I first had to pass through the Seattle Center on Dexter and 5th.

Seattle Center was one the site of the 1962 World's Fair, where "it" happened. Many of the old "Space Age" attractions still sit. Unfortunately, the Flight to Mars is long gone.

I then climbed a killer hill on Queen Anne Blvd. to the top where the view is absolutely stunning.

After a tip toeing my way back down I stopped at Top Pot Doughnuts on 5th and Lenora for a maple bar.

Finally, I headed through town to the Pike Place Market, one of the oldest continually run farmer's markets in the US.

My escape route was through Post Alley, and the wall of bubblegum.

The Hammering Man was right where I left him in front of the Seattle Art Museum. I still like him better with the massive ball and chain the guerilla artist Subculture Joe a.k.a Jason Sprinkle, attached to his leg on Labor Day.

I finished up in Pioneer Square and Smith Tower, once the tallest building west of the Mississippi. I then returned through the International District.