The Great Northern Cross Island Tour: Join Us May 22-23

*CANCELLED!* Sorry folks! Due to weather concerns and other issues, we will have to postpone this event.

I have been conspicuously absent this weekend and sadly I couldn't do any riding. I was judging speeches (yuck!) and attending my sister-in-law's wedding... therefore I earned myself a full weekend of cycling this coming week.

May 22-23 we are planning a great social ride over the Northern Cross Island Highway. This is a fantastic trip for cyclists of all levels and abilities. For these social rides it is not about suffering or competition, but rather about spending time with good people. It is often like sharing a conversation over a beer with friends, but instead of a beer it is over a bike. I am really looking forward to seeing and riding with some great people and I am looking forward to meeting some new ones. I hope to see you all there. There is room for everyone.

* Here is a report Michael T. has posted from a previous trip. Northern Cross

Michael T. has passed along a little info on the trip for anyone interested:

1. Map of the route here.

2. Schedule
Day 1 we start at the Yongning Metro station at 7. On Saturdays certain metro stops accept bikes, please check on Friday where you can put yours on in Taipei. We'll end up in Baling at around 3, approximately 70 kilometers from Yongning. The pace will be leisurely, with stops for lunch and afternoon coffee and slushies. Plenty of time for photos, conversation, or just plain gawking. The ride consists of climbing to 400 m, dropping 200 m, then a long climb of 400 m to Baling at 600m. Dinner and sleeping at the Youth Hostel there, which has washers and dryers and room inside for the bikes. If not there, the hostel across the street.

Day 2 starts in Baling at 7 or so, depending. There is NO breakfast on this day, so breakfast must be purchased the night before in Baling. Ditto for water. If we leave much earlier, like at 5:30, we can make the $300 buffet breakfast at Mingchih Forest Park. Frankly I don't see the need. We should arrive in I-lan around/a little after lunch, plenty of small eateries there. Those of you returning to Taipei for work on monday can take train or bus from I-lan town. A small group of us will push on to Jiaoxi where we will spa, eat ice, and graze our way through the eateries of that tourist town, sleeping over to ride on Monday.

Day 3 (Optional) on Monday we take a leisurely ride up the flat, truck-choked but lovely northeast coast back to Keelung or Taipei. You more sturdy types can take the mountain roads like 9 back to Taipei.

LOGISTICS:
Non-Taipei people: I will be staying in Taipei on Friday night so I can pick up your bikes if you ship them there to me, or perhaps carry them up to Taipei in my van on Wednesday. Contact me (or through Drew from Taiwan in Cycles) privately about that.

REMINDERS:
Weather up in the mountains this time of year is as changeable as an incumbent facing electoral anger. Be sure to bring a light waterproof jacket/gear and front and rear lights in case we find ourselves riding in the dark. Long riding pants and long-sleeve riding shirts might also be a good idea. Light energy snacks are also good as there is not much food on Day 2 until we reach the outskirts of I-lan.

Michael

PS: M O'C, let people know in your organization if you like. Would
love to have you and/or compatriots along.

Another Night Loop

I finally had a chance to do my evening ride again after over a month of century rides, recovery and other events that life likes to put in the way of solid, regular training.

I was a little reticent of doing this ride after not doing it for so long. Aside from last weekend, I have hardly climbed any hills over the past six weeks. Most of my training has been paced for distance and endurance over long hours in the saddle as opposed to sprints and high-speed pack riding. I was down with nasal allergies all week and tonight my stomach was queasy. I have a bunch of work that has been stacking up and a million other excuses that I could have used to give it another few days.

I am glad I went. The speed and time was not bad considering the bad traffic hoodoo I was feeling on the road. The traffic was heavy for after 8:30pm and I had a few more close calls than I am used to. You know the kind like when you are cruising down a hill with a car on your left as a "shield car" to protect you from cars that might want to make a left in front of you and then some asshole pulls out in front of you but doesn't accelerate and when you try to avoid them a scooter driving the wrong way down the street comes right at you... you know those days... just bad traffic hoodoo. You can just feel the vibe on the roads and proceed with a bit more caution. There were also slow cars preventing me from opening up on Hsi Tun Rd. near Feng Chia University. Still, when I hit Wen Hsin Rd. I was able to push up the speed between lights. The best part was that I felt like I still had plenty left in the tank and my calves didn't threaten to cramp up. The new cleat position shifted some of the work to my glutes, hips and quads-- away from my calves. I had plenty at the end with traffic the only thing holding me back from maxing out.

Feeling... not bad! I hate this ride as much as I love it.

Distance: 21.4 km.

Average Speed: 28.3kph

Maximum Speed: 62.9kph

Time: 45.16 min.

Conditions: Meadium-Heavy Traffic

Cycling, Community and Cancer

Sometimes being a cyclist is all you need to imagine a community beyond your own direct experience. With the advent of the internet this has become easier and more dynamic. I have met many people through cycling and there are others I have never met, but as a cyclist I feel a shared sense of community. That is one of the greatest things about this sport.

Aside from this blog as an outlet I participate in some other online communities and one of these communities is full of cyclists.

In November, 2008, one of the community members disclosed that his infant son had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and we received regular updates detailing the little boy's progress and setbacks. It seemed like just as things were looking better an infection would set in and push the boy to the brink. It was also very uplifting to hear when the little boy had fought back with all his strength to eat or play with a toy.

As a community of cyclists, strangers from around the web used their available resources to raise money and awareness to help this family and others like them who are locked in the battle with cancer. Cyclists from all over donated spare parts and time to build a complete bicycle for a raffle with all donations going to the family. Two more bikes were in the works. It was wonderful to see the community rally around this family. It just always reminded me what stands behind those little nods on the road when you pass another person on a bike.

I admit at times the updates were too many and there were times I didn't want to follow this seemingly endless story. Things were looking much better a few weeks ago and after nearly losing the fight the news all seemed positive. I would just scan the post titles waiting for the announcement that the little boy was going home.

I was shocked today when his father posted a message to inform the community of the death of his son, and I actually fought back tears for people I have never met or even corresponded with directly. I could simply empathize with their fight and their deep loss.

Cancer is a terrible disease that does not discriminate by age, race or gender. I hope everyone can make a little effort to support the fight against cancer. It is especially hard to see a little boy lose the fight.

My deepest condolences.

Collin Marsh

April 23, 2008--May 12, 2010

Sugar to Attract The Ants: The Government Seeks Foreign Cycling Tourists

Lief Garrett and The Sychophants

The Focus Taiwan News Channel has just published a CNA article detailing the Ministry of Transportation and Communication's optimistic plans to woo "foreigners" to Taiwan for the purpose of bicycle tourism.

"Taipei, May 10 (CNA) Cycling holidays are a new approach through which Taiwan is promoting itself to foreign travelers, government sources said Monday.

Taiwan is known for its high quality bicycle manufacturing, and the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC) is using this image in its efforts to attract visitors to explore the country using cyclist-friendly routes and integrated infrastructure, the sources said.

The Tourism Bureau under the MOTC has been working with world renowned Taiwanese bicycle maker Giant to target cyclists abroad, with Tourism Board brochures available in Giant's 2,000 stores in the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Germany, along with videos showing Taiwan's scenery.

One area of particular focus is eastern Taiwan, where the mountains meet the Pacific Ocean and where a four-year project from 2009 to 2012 is under way to create a cycling network along the eastern coast, according to a Tourism Bureau press release.

Highways in the region have been improved to make them more cyclist-friendly since the project began, while five cycle routes have already been established and will be further expanded.

The Taiwan Railway Administration is also playing an important role in the government's plan, according to the press release, as cyclists are permitted to take their bikes on board certain trains, allowing them even more travel options." (By Kay Liu) ENDITEM/J

First, I would like to say I am happy there is some dialogue (...Wait! After some thought I retract this statement as I feel it is more of a monologue...) going on to expand the current cycling infrastructure beyond the current scope. Any inclusion of cycling into the discussion is a positive step. Furthermore, I obviously love cycling in Taiwan and I feel Taiwan has a lot to offer the cycling world beyond being simply a manufacturing hub. Taiwan should be regarded as a testing ground for the world's greatest bicycles. I get tired of so many cyclists fixated on touring Napa Valley or Tuscany; beautiful places and cliche. Taiwan is for some and could be to many more, a cycling paradise-- if we can get it right. This means putting together a comprehensive and integrated network of cycling routes that appeals to a variety of cyclists. It also needs to refrain from falling into the Taiwanese concept of the "Tourist Trap", where all roads lead to a sausage stand and T-Shirt counter (which might pay the local "official" an unofficial operations tax). This idea could be very, very good.

I also find the target to be very interesting. Here, "foreigner" means "caucasian" as all Asians are regarded by Chinese Nationalist ideologues as part of the "Yellow Race"... or in the words of Dr. Sun Yat-sen:

"These alien races do not number more than 10 million, so that, for the most part, the Chinese people are of the Han or Chinese race with common blood, common religion, and common customs-a single, pure race." --Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

I think Japan has a very well developed cycling culture that is in close proximity to Taiwan. The Japanese already have a generally positive sentiment toward Taiwan. The Japanese are also the big spenders when it comes to spending tourist dollars. Europeans may represent a type of validity in the cycling world. Europe has a type of classic charm that ignites the imagination. It is the land of Eddie Merckx, Fausto Coppi, Colnago, Pinarello... the Spring Classics and the Grand Tours. Europeans taking cycling vacations to Taiwan may appear to validate our worth as a great cycling nation... possibly. If it is done right. If potential cycling tourists are consulted. If there is cooperation and coordination. If a plan is taken seriously. If bikes can be safely transported at a reasonable price. If there is a little space left for a feeling of freedom and adventure. It is so crazy... that it just might work.

Still, I have my reservations and I have blogged about them here. Based on the current difficulty in coordinating and executing a cohesive network of bike routes, I think this press release may be a little premature and more political posturing than action.

Taiwan's cycling infrastructure is NOT integrated by any means, though I am aware that the R.O.C. government has a history of taking its interpretive liberties with an unsigned press release or two. From the Taiwan Review article I blogged about on April 10, and the handling of the Dunhua Rd. debacle, it is clear that Taiwan still has a long way to go to make Taiwan appealing internationally as a cycling Mecca.

According to the article above, Taiwan's East Coast is now the prime target of the government's cycling investment. According to a number of friends who have recently returned from tours down the East Coast the ride is becoming a disaster. I was actually encouraged by a few people to ride Hualien to Taidong A.S.A.P. before it becomes unrideable. The growing number of large tour busses and tourism activity directed at Chinese tourists is, I am told, making a once beautiful and serene coastal ride, a stressful disaster. The few pleasant routes along the East Coast are now limited, and the stretch from Iilan to Hualien has become even more dangerous. It is hard for me to suggest these routes to Taiwan neophytes who do not understand Taiwan's unique traffic culture.

The Conductor Who Kicked Me Off

As far as trains go...(ouch! Bad pun) I have had mixed results taking my bike on trains around Taiwan. The number of express trains with room for bicycles is limited and I have found myself waiting for a few hours for a suitable train. If a cyclist can not read Chinese, the information is simply not available to inform them when the next available train with a bicycle car will arrive. For my last trip to Hualien I left Taichung at 5:00pm and arrived in Hualien at 11:00pm for an early morning ride across the island. I spent a lot of time waiting for my "bike train". In Taipei the local trains are great with bikes, but in other places I have been met with confusion and contradiction on bike rules. In Yuan Lin I was told there were no bike trains, then I was told that there were, and then I was told that I couldn't get on, then I was told I could proceed... only to be stopped and told I couldn't take a bike on a train. I finally got on a train. It was insane and by no means convenient.

Now one thing in this article did catch my eye. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has one resource available to it that could be invaluable to promoting tourism. Railways!

I am not talking about the existing railroads that are in current use, but rather the abandoned agricultural lines of narrow gauge track that the Japanese installed during Taiwan's 50 years as a Japanese colony.

A Sugar Railroad Line (In Use Seasonally)

During Japan's colonization of Taiwan, the Japanese government initially poured an obscene amount of money into Taiwan to build up an infrastructure to help exploit Taiwan's resources for agricultural and forestry production. By 1908, the Japanese administration already had 395km of passenger rail from Keelung to Kaohsiung. Along with the passenger lines the Meiji Sugar Company, alone, laid over 3000km of narrow gauge track to transport sugar from the farmers to local refineries and then out to the major transport hubs. By 1965 Taiwan transferred from an agrarian to an industrial economy and the old agricultural lines were abandoned and many simply lie in disrepair. Many of these old lines and others like them still exist and are now owned by the central government. They create a ready-made network separate from other vehicular traffic. Many of these railways reach out to some of the distant, rural communities tourists hope to see, rather than another shopping mall-food court or T-shirt stand. This could at least be part of a solution. The drawback is that the railway infrastructure is already in place and may not require the type of meaty government contract that makes the [owners of construction companies-gravel-pits-entertainment venues-alcohol distribution and other services] a lot of money when rigging negotiating a bid. I hate to be so cynical, but experience and research overrules. There was a valiant attempt at transforming a train tunnel from Fulong to Jiao Xi, near Iilan. I have ridden this route before and it is a fantastic short cut, but incredibly dangerous. It is dark and many riders simply stop in the middle of the narrow path. There are often children weaving and stopping without warning. I was terribly afraid I would hurt a small child in there.

The Fulong Bike Tunnel

The potential is here, but I fear the execution will be flawed, premature and the funds better spent elsewhere to promote cycling. I hate having such little confidence in the central government's ability, but thus far, under the current administration I have not seen much in the way of leadership and accountability... nor have I seen much in the way of transparent government disclosure of economic projects that are touted to benefit Taiwan. For many years the Taiwan government has explored... "creative" ways to attract foreign press to the island in the hope of securing favorable stories to boost foreign tourism. Many of these efforts are thought to have ended badly. Maybe I worry too much?

Full Article

Chocolate Milk in your Recovery Program

The Grand Tour season has started for the pros and as summer approaches I hope to put some distance behind me on the bike as well. So far I have ridden over 2000 miles since January 1, including 5 centuries during the first two weeks of January and 500 miles all most all of those miles from just four rides in April.

I am always amazed at how these professional riders can knock out 200km day after day. One key to training for these rides is recovery. Coaches and athletes often tout the trifecta of Training, Diet and Recovery to make the greatest strides as an athlete and avoid injury.

Although it is not necessarily the latest news, I thought I would add a post on using simple old Chocolate Milk as a recovery drink over fancy and expensive alternatives with marketing names that scream "tech-science," and here is why:

"What’s exciting about this comparison is that both of these products have been highly heralded and hyped in their respective arenas. Surge in its exact formulation doesn’t have any peer-reviewed research behind it. However, Berardi et al reported that a solution of similar construction to Surge (33% whey hydrolysate, 33% glucose and 33% maltodextrin) was slightly superior for glycogen resynthesis at 6 hrs postexercise compared to a 100% maltodextrin solution[1]. Effects on muscle protein flux were not measured.

Chocolate milk has thus far had an impressive run in the research examining its applications to various sporting goals [2,3]. It has performed equally well for rehydration and glycogen resynthesis compared to carb-based sports drinks, and it has outperformed them (and soy-based drinks) for protecting and synthesizing muscle protein. A standout study in this area was a comparison of chocolate milk, Gatorade, and Endurox R4 (a sports drink with a 4:1 carb to protein ratio) [4]. Chocolate milk was equally effective as Gatorade for total work output and prolonging time to exhaustion. Interestingly, both of the latter products outperformed Endurox R4 in both tests. The researchers speculated that the use of maltodextrin rather than sucrose (yes, you read that correctly) as the dominant carbohydrate source was the Achilles heel of Endurox R4. More on the virtues of sucrose instead of straight glucose for exercise applications will be covered."

Read the full article here: Chocolate Milk

Da Shueh Shan/大雪山

The Way To The Top

Today was my first real day of riding in a couple of weeks, so I decided to shake the rust off with a little climbing. April was a month of century rides and by the end I was getting pretty sick of the flats and needed to climb something. I was also testing out my recovery and a new cleat position, so I was happy to do a shorter climb today. Michael T. and I decided to hit the road to Da Shueh Shan and see how far we could go before our legs or time ran out.

Orchards of Dong Shih

We met up at the start of the bike trail between Dong Shih and Feng Yuan. The trail is fine in the early morning before it fills up with electric bicycles and wobbly, inattentive riders. The trail empties out near the Hakka Cultural Center in downtown Dong Shih and we then navigated the busy township streets to

Dong Keng Street, which is a gorgeous road that just keeps going and going up the mountain. It changes names a few times on the way up, but as long as you stick to the main road you'll go right up the mountain.

How Not To Store A Bike

Dong Keng road is a relatively gentle climb that could be done by riders at any level of experience. The difficulty depends on how you ride the hill and the gearing you have available.

Michael Climbing

The entire area on the lower part of the mountain is one rolling hill on top of another, covered in jungle and fruit orchards. Many of Taiwan's Hakka come from a culture of fruit cultivation and thus, when their ancestors moved to Taiwan, they headed for the foothills to continue practicing their traditional modes of agriculture. This area is also populated by Atayal speaking peoples, many of whom adopted Hakka farming techniques.

A Woman Enjoying The Ride

The road snakes ever higher, so I just sat on a 14-15kph pace for most of the way up. I really wasn't in any mood to destroy my legs on this one. I really just wanted to enjoy the scenery.

The Ascent

As the sun broke through the clouds, I was wishingI had stocked up on water. I did my best to conserve what I had brought. We met a few other cyclists on the way up and we all exchanged greetings and encouragement.

More Orchards

Michael Poses Above Dong Shih

Michael plugged away at the incline and then we finally decided to stop for food. They really didn't have much in the way of good climbing food, so Michael used a Jedi mind trick to convince them to cook up something entirely off the menu for us--fried noodles. Mine came with a little extra protein in the way of a bug, but I ate most of it.

Bamboo-zled

Just beyond the restaurants at Kilometer 11, the road flattens out for a while and large stands of cedar trees provide cooling shade as respite from the heat. The creaking of the bamboo makes and eerie sound as you pass the groves along the road.

The Valley Below

The road is pretty peaceful with the occasional SUV or luxury sedan that speeds by way too fast. It seemed ever other car was a Lexus or BMW.

The Great Cedars of Dong Shih

At one point we passed a clear cut. I haven't smelled evergreen sap in a long time and it smelled like my childhood in the Pacific Northwest. From high on the ridge you can look down and see all the way to to ocean. The grey riverbeds stand out from Dong Shih and even Feng Yuan can be seen poking through Taiwan's famous haze.

If Only I Believed In Traffic Mirrors

Sometime after 1:00pm Michael gave word that it was time to head back down, so we turned tail and hit the descent like a slalom course. A damned headwind greeted us at the best part for a sprint and so the top speeds were embarrassingly lousy. We hit the road back home content that we had a beautiful ride on a beautiful day. The weather couldn't have been better.

I Ride Off Into The Distance

Total Distance: 120 km/75 mi

Starting Altitude (Base of Mtn.): 1230 ft.

Altitude: 3062 ft.

Vertical Elevation Gain: 1832 ft.

Maximum Speed: 48kph (sad)

The Route

Unfortunately there is no alternate way down and you have to come back the same way you go up.

Here's Michael's take on the ride.

Also :

Check out Michael C. on his rides in Kaohsiung and Northern Taiwan.

Jiu Fen Er Shan/九份二山 in Nantou

A House in Dong Shih, 1999

Although we did this ride a little while ago, I thought I would do a post on it to add to the list of Notable Rides. This ride was also a very meaningful ride for a number of reasons as it traverses the epicenter of what has become known as the 921 Earthquake-- a shallow 7.6 magnitude quake that killed 2416 people, injured 11,000, and left permanent scars in the landscape. The 921 Earthquake of 1999 also had a lasting impact on my life and altered my own perception of my motivations, outlook and goals. This social ride with friends brought back a flood of memories that had remained buried for over a decade.

The Da Keng Scenic Area 3 weeks after the earthquake

In early September of 1999, as a cocky young buck fresh out of school, I was beginning to make peace with my environment and settle into some form of routine after almost a year of living as an expat in Taiwan. The first 9 months are often the hardest as you have to go through the humbling and often humiliating experience of relearning everything you used to know about how to negotiate life. You relearn how to use the post office, go to the bank, order food, pick up girls, shop for groceries... everything! Most expats go through an oscillation between euphoria and depression that mellows out over time, but is never easy. I remember going off on several arrogant tirades about how "they have it all screwed up" and how it would be so easy to solve every stupid problem with this society. I particularly remember being in a snit over the fact that postage envelopes didn't have adhesive on them and you have to apply your own rubber cement. I thought it was the most inconvenient thing EVER! I was working for a marketing/advertising company and we were sending out our catalog to, like, 800 addresses. It was a total pain in the ass. I just thought it was so, "backward". Only much later did it dawn on me that the humidity would probably activate the adhesive and ruin a stack of envelopes if it had been pre-applied. Whoops! My bad.

Todd and Myself

By September of 1999 I had finally avoided several disasters and was finally stable enough to start exploring on my motorcycle. I realized for the first time how close the mountains were to my house and was awestruck by the rural beauty of the foothills of Taichung. On one of my first real forays into the countryside I intentionally got myself lost around Dong Shih Township. I remember my feeling of surprise as if I had landed on a new planet. There was life outside Taichung and I found it by myself. There were children on the basketball courts singing and practicing a choreographed routine for the coming Double Ten Day or ROC National Day (Taiwan is still waiting to realize a new date for its national day). Birds were chirping, the sun was shining... a real happy scene. I then got lost along the winding roads that wrap through the orchards near the Dong Shih Forest Park and I had a real nice day. I was buzzing with excitement over this trip for a couple days. It was the first time I could really see through the grubby urban landscape of rotting concrete and see Taiwan for its natural beauty. Until then I had really been negative toward Taiwan's environment. I thought it was all flat industrial wasteland and I was so very wrong. I still feel twinges of remorse for some of the shit I probably told people back then. The arrogance of youth.

On September 21, 1999 at 1:47am, I was in my underpants getting ready for bed on the 7th floor of a 17 story building. I was on the phone with my then girlfriend and suddenly the building started to roll, twist and sway. I hung up and after about 30 second the power went out. I stood there in the dark, in my underpants, debating whether the danger was great enough to warrant running out in only my underpants or not. I didn't smell smoke, so I found my clothes in the dark and went outside. Pieces of building rained down on us from above as the building shook some more. I'll never forget the menacing sound of the metal security doors that covered the storefronts below. We had a few more aftershocks just under magnitude 7.0 and I brushed it all off as no big deal seeing as I had no real experience with earthquakes to know a big one from a little one. I went to the 7-11, which was sold out of water and I bought a giant Kirin beer to help me better surf the aftershocks.

A Dead Area

After a couple days I got antsy and wanted to see if there was any damage. I took my motorcycle out to explore and maybe see some wrecked stuff. I went through the city and saw some telephone poles on cars and the old Taichung bus station was in ruins. I then headed out to the only road I knew of that led out of the city. I took one of the small roads out and saw a house scattered down the side of a hill. The Army was out and conscripts were helping with a block of apartments that had collapsed. For the first time it was clear that there was a human cost to all this adventure and excitement. I turned a corner behind a car from the city government and watched as the representatives from the coroner's office chased a pack of feral dogs away from the corpse of a man at the side of the road.

I looked around and the steep hillsides that were normally covered in green jungle were completely bare. The roads had breaks and gaps. I then took off up the hill to Hsin She and came upon a family sifting through the rubble of their former home. Three houses at the top of the hill were in ruins. Entire blocks of Hsin She were gone. I had a camera, but I could not bring myself to become a disaster tourist and take pictures of these people's misery.

The next shock came as I turned the corner to the hill that leads down to Dong Shih. The town looked like every building was askew. The buildings looked like a mouthful of broken teeth coming up out of the riverbed. Helicopters were circling above and landing near the river. The "thwack, thwack!!" of the rotor blades really intensified the stress level. The buildings near the bottom of the hill before the bridge to Hsin She were caving toward the road making it almost like entering a tunnel. The township was completely destroyed. Several floors compacted into one. I remember seeing a family sitting on the fourth floor of their house when the entire front wall had fallen off. I saw and smelled death. There was lots of it and for the first time it really hit home for me. I thought about those children I saw in the schoolyard and wondered how many would be coming back to school. The entire ride home was filled with these images. 17 story buildings were lying on their sides. It was complete and total destruction and these images come back to me every time I take those roads.

Once we started to get news, the reports started coming in. Dong Shih alone had lost over 500 people. In Nantou entire villages had been wiped off the map as mudslides buried them in seconds. The thought of people sleeping and then drowning in mud filled my imagination and we all did what we could to help. That's about all I want to say about that. I just really felt for those people and my imagination didn't help things.

When I finally was able to contact people in the United States, I realized they really had not idea what was going on with us and it became apparent to me that everyone in Taiwan at that time had experienced the same event and could relate to each other about it. No matter where we came from we were sharing an experience and could relate. I was becoming a part of Taiwan. This huge event (for me) had hardly registered to my friends back "home".

Why did I write so much about this? Because when I did the ride over Jiu Fen Er Shan, I was again confronted with all the thoughts and imagined horrors of the 921 quake and I have to admit I felt a heightened level of anxiety that I didn't share with the other guys. It reminded me of the frailty of life and how easy it can be snuffed out. Not the kind of thing you like to think about when bombing hills and dodging cars.

The Ride:

For this ride I went with Michael T. and Todd A. on his behemoth mountain bike. We started in Jhongsing Village and headed towards Jhongliao in Nantou County and followed Longnan Road 龍南路 in Shuangwen and passed Shuangwen Elementary School 爽文國小. It is an easy climb that fails to allude to the coming tortures.

The road heads out toward the Longfeng Waterfall 龍鳳瀑布

After a short climb there is a sign pointing left toward Jiufen Ershan right after the Xinfo Temple 心佛寺. This is the way to 18% grades. We stayed on this road and kept climbing. At some points I was way out of the saddle over my handlebars just to keep my front tire on the ground. It is a grueling assault on the quads.

The earthquake park is about 400 meters downhill from the crest. After a rest at the top we blasted down on a forearm bursting descent.

Traversing The Slide Zone

One of the strangest stretches of roads is the tooth-rattling descent across a debris field leftover from the earthquake. The road looks level, but it is an optical illusion and soon gravity takes over and you find yourself riding your brakes to retain control of the bike over the choppy pavement. It starts to dawn on you that you are rolling across a giant mudslide that could easily take off again at any time. Below there is a new lake that was formed after the quake. The geologic power of the earth is truly amazing.

Scars On The Earth

There is a small market at the bottom where you can pick up bananas and fuel for the ride back. Just behind the market is a house that is now sitting diagonally due to the tectonic forces of the earthquake. It brought back a lot of memories. There is one more hill climb up to a restaurant and a vantage point over the epicenter of the 921 earthquake. The entire landscape is turned ever which way. The striations of the earth point in all directions.

The House Is Gone

In the distance you can see a wrecked structure and check out the natural recovery of the local plant life. We hung out for a while and had some lunch amid locals who were making the most of the disaster by selling souvenir picture books and postcards. There is a desolate quiet about the whole area and the proximity to the center of such a powerful event was making me a bit nervous. I guess I am chickening out on discussing the impact of this ride, but I was really feeling unsettled by it.

Looking Back at 921

A Type of Orb Spider

The idea of going back up the mountain and, even worse, coming down the other side, made us reconsider our exit. We headed down the back side to the Nantou County Road #147. This road can go to the Highway 14 or out to Shui li. We decided to go to Shui li and took a right at the base.

A Formosan Deer Farm

Shui Gang's Ship... far from the sea.

After taking it easy on a long, flat road, we were soon climbing again. The climbs were shady and beautiful along gurgling creeks and through quiet valleys. Eventually we hit a fantastic descent to the Nantou Local Road # 131. I love the 131. The 131 makes me feel fast. It is wide, smooth... and mostly downhill. It empties out into Shui li, where we refreshed ourselves with passion fruit slushies before beating it back along the Highways 16 and 3 to Ming jian.

Kayaking in Shui Li

Links:

Our Route

The Simple Route

Todd's Write-up on the route

Michael's Write-up of the route

Thanks to Jason W. and Todd A. for the pictures and details for this post.

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