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Seattle in Cycles

Here is a video I slapped together a while back of my cousin riding Seattle's mean streets.

I am already devising my summer plans and I know they involve Seattle.

This summer I will take a hiatus from my Taiwan cycling to take the show on the road. I will be doing a few weeks in Seattle for family matters and then off to Palm Desert for provisions and a visit with dad. Needless to say, there will be plenty of cycling this time around. I am not taking my bike, but I have bikes to borrow as my cousin, featured in the video above, is a dedicated cyclist. I am not excited about American drivers, who seem to be oblivious to smaller vehicles. In Taiwan the driving is chaotic, but there is an awareness that there may be small vehicles buzzing around. In the US... not so much. I am also concerned about laws. I have heard of people getting ticked for passing cars at stop lights and other crazy stuff. I dunno.

Anyway, if anyone will be in the Seattle or Palm Desert areas during July and August, I would love the chance to ride with you.

March Recap: Spring Riding Photos

Happy Three Day Weekend!!!

Bikes and Beer

Time to break out the beer and enjoy a long weekend with friends, family and Flanders.

The Tour of Flanders is this weekend and Paris-Roubaix next weekend, so the cobbles are calling. My heart is with the Spring classics. They are just brutal in length and ride conditions. There is something "macho" and "masculine" about the Classics; two adjectives that rarely make their way into discussions about cycling. Racers must often battle wet weather, slippery and uneven cobbled roads as well as each other. With equipment getting stupid light these days the chance for catastrophic failure is even more pronounced. This year we even have His Royal Highness Lance Armstrong jumping knee deep in the shit and joining the scrum. LA is often regarded as a princess of the sport for concentrating on only the Tour de France, unlike iron men like Eddy Merckx who fought to win them all; even breaking bones in the process.

Velonews has a great write up of what to expect.

As for myself, I hope to get a windy century ride in to test out the top section of my Hell of the East ride to Kaohsiung on the 24th. I would like to test pace, nutrition and route quality. Afterward I would really like to enjoy a good beer. I just don't drink enough anymore. It messes with my riding too much.

I hope everyone has a safe and productive weekend of friends and cycling.

Phil Wood Passes

Phil Wood, the renowned engineer, designer, cyclist, and manufacturer of bicycle hubs and other accessories has passed away at the age of 86.

Phil Wood hubs are regarded among cyclists as some of the finest hubs on the market. Phil Wood along with Chris King and White Industries helped set the gold standard for light weight, reliable, high performance hubs and Mr. Wood will be sorely missed. Fortunately the brand is still going strong thanks to Wood's attention to detail and craftsmanship.

Most buyers and retailers splurge on the frame and skimp on the wheels. In my opinion this is an ass-backwards approach to building up a bike. There are lots of frames that will work, but the rider needs to choose a wheelset that matches their abilities, needs, preference and purpose. I am often surprised how many builders neglect the wheels when considering a build for a customer and how many sales people negligently send customers off on a bike with wheels poorly built for what the customer is looking to achieve. For lot of sales people, bikes are for moving... out the door. For example, a dedicated tourer should build up with strong, reliable wheels and simple components made to be resilient and long lasting with more spokes to bear the load of full panniers. A racer less spokes and a preference for lightness over rigidity. A mountain biker needs something that can float over stones and roots and take the abuse of the singletrack world and a good Taiwan bike needs something built to be abused over potholes and bearings tightly sealed against moisture.

A poor wheel build can make a really good frame feel really terrible, really harsh, really sluggish and really result in more pinch flats and truing problems. I would highly recommend Phil Wood hubs as a good place to start a new build and I would highly recommend a custom wheel build over a fancy paint scheme.

Fight Cancer... Ride A bike!

This morning I received the sad news that one of our good friends has been diagnosed with testicular cancer. The cancer has metastasized into his abdomen and lungs. Needless to say we were devastated by this news and especially feel for his family.

"D" is only 31 years old and has been married for just a couple years. He will immediately start treatment and we wish him the best and will be there for he and his family should they need anything. My second thought upon hearing the news was that he is fortunate he is in Taiwan and does not have to worry about how they are going to pay for his chemotherapy.

Testicular cancer strikes 1 in 250 men and usually occurs in men between the ages of 15 and 40. It is detectable and has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers; almost 100% if it has not metastasized. Furthermore, it is relatively easy to detect and I recommend all men regularly examine your junk for any abnormalities, swelling, tender spots or lumps.

Although many cyclists eschew Lance Armstrong for several reasons, primarily because he was too successful and became the ONLY name in cycling for every "Fred" and "poseur", Armstrong still deserves tremendous credit for the magnificent job he has done in raising awareness for the fight against cancer.

As most people know, Armstrong is also a cancer survivor, having survived a battle with testicular cancer that rendered him a shadow of the athlete he had once been with only a 40% chance of survival. Upon his recovery and following his 7 successive Tour de France victories, Armstrong founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a non-profit organization designed to increase cancer awareness, raise funding, offer support networks for cancer patients and their families, and help local groups promote activities to help fight in the battle against cancer. Team Livestrong has become a visible symbol in the cancer fight for cyclists and non-cyclists alike.

Not only has Armstrong used his personal fame to battle cancer, but he has also contributed to cancer prevention by raising the profile of cycling as a means to greater fitness and health.

Studies show a correlation between cancer and weight gain. According to studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine, weight gain can raise your cancer risk by as much as 50%. Cycling, combined with a healthy diet, is a great way to reduce the risk of developing a myriad of cancers as well as a means to achieving overall good health. We owe it to our loved ones to be there for them when they need us and staying fit certainly helps.

If you know someone who is on the fence about buying a bike, it is time to take them riding.

My thoughts go out to "D" and "C" and their family during this difficult time and to other families going through a fight with this disease.

Ba Gua Shan--139 (大彰路)

Often, when a person first starts cycling, they go through a complex and passive aggressive relationship with hills. You start out realizing that hills were so easy to climb when you were an eight-year-old and now, as an adult, the mild rollers are laboriously difficult. We all harbor our secret shames on hills we failed at that now seem to melt away beneath us. I know my shames and elevation failures. I have to pass them all the time. It is not uncommon to start out avoiding hill climbs to avoid the pain and the shame of walking a bike up a climb as cars pass. No 加油s and garlands from passing cars. You so badly want to climb, and dream about going to the far-off hilly places, but you know you would just fail and hobble home. As you get a little stronger you start attacking hills with more success and rather than avoiding the hill climbs, you look for every opportunity to make a climb. Every ride must have a hill or there is an empty feeling for the lack of accomplishment. Then, once this phase passes and you gain confidence that you can take ANY climb, you become more at ease with any type of ride with more mixed terrain. One such even route around Changhua is the 139 over Ba Gua Shan 八卦山.

Changhua Bank

With this ride I always start at the base in Changhua city near the banking district of Japanese Era Changhua. There is an old Kendo dojo near the start of the climb which has recently been restored. During the latter part of the Japanese colonial period, Japanese and Taiwanese boys were often trained in Kendo to learn how to better incorporate themselves into the militarist vision of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Kendo Dojo

The climb starts out steep, but it doesn't last too long. You can ride past the gaudy temple at the top with the gigantic buddha. This was formerly a major Shinto shrine that, like most Shinto shrines, was transformed under the Chinese Nationalists into something far less threatening. Also along the route for a true Sunday In Hell, is the Taoist Hell amusement park; a funhouse-like walk through the horrors of Taoist Hell.

Sprawling Family Farm

The road crests and there is a nice descent past scrapped military surplus and scenic lookout stations. At the bottom take the left turn and it leads to a long, straight, sustained climb that goes past a home for geriatric soldiers who followed the Kuomintang to Taiwan. Be careful because ambulances rush in and out of that place on a regular basis.

A Strange Taiwanese Insect

At the top of the hill there is an intersection that either heads Right, to Changhua, or Left to the crest of Ba Gua Shan. The left turn has a nice descent along a shady road and up another hill where you can take a left or right down the 74甲 , which is a great descent if you like speed. It is straight and steep. Left goes right back to Taichung and left empties out into the Changhua plain. I like to go straight.

A Pineapple

The Changhua-139 undulates along the ridge top past scenic tea and pineapple farms. This is road has been designated as a recreational cycling road and there are bike supply stores that pop up infrequently along the route.

Bike Route

There are a couple places to abandon the ride early, but the road continues until it empties out into Nantou from Song Bo Ling (松柏嶺). The right turn down Feng bai Rd. (豐柏路). A gorgeous treelined descent into some little tea village where they like to come out and gawk at foreigners. Don't stop. Keep going down the hill. This is a speedy gem of switchback heaven.

Tea Farms of Songboling

At the bottom of the hill you can turn right and trace the base of the hill all the way back to Changhua. Another option is to go straight to Yuan lin and take the Highway 1 back.

Either way it is easy to make this a substantial ride. Easily over 120km if you go all the way. It can also make a quick route if you have other things to do later. You can abandon the ride at several points along the way and come back on the Highway 3 through Wufeng or Caotun.

The Spanish Inquisition!!!

The whole ride on top of the hill offers scenery galore and enough variation to mix things up. The return is flat and speedy for a little bit of everything.