Fat Zoning and Muscle Memory

Here are a couple articles that may be of interest to those who are training or want to start training.

The first is Matt Fitzgerald's new book, Racing Weight, about the myth of fat burning zones and on strategies to increase your weight to power ratio.

The second is a little article concerning some new research in which a team of scientists have discovered that muscles retain their memory of earlier form, far after you have destroyed them under layers of doughnuts, beer and reruns of Three's Company.

Taiwanese World Cyclist Goes Into The Wild

Taiwanese world cyclist, Wu Shih-chang, has safely arrived in Vancouver B.C. after a harrowing test of nerves and strength pedaling through the Alaskan wilderness.

Wu reported encounters with hunger and bears during the Alaska leg of his global adventure in which he hoped to stick to his meager budget of only $8000 USD allotted for his entire trip.

The Taipei Times reports:

Wu said he first thought that riding around the world on a bicycle was a romantic thing to do. After setting out, however, Wu said he came to realize there was nothing romantic about it, as he instead had to deal with loneliness and learn to survive.

Every day, he was busy thinking about how to make his food last until the next food stop 100km down the road and about where he would set up his tent that evening.

Wu said that during the first few days of his ride in Alaska, he miscalculated and didn’t bring enough food. With the next shop more than 100km away, his blood sugar levels dropped and he started feeling dizzy, as all the trees seemed to be white. After that experience, he said he never dared set out again on an empty stomach.

The bears probably wouldn't be a problem during the fat days of summer, but should be avoided in the spring when there are young cubs and in the fall when food supplies dwindle before hibernation as Timothy Treadwell learned in 2003.

Carrying enough food may be a greater issue, especially being from Taiwan, where there is always a 7-11, roadside stall, betel nut stand and in some cases roadside produce available for easy purchase. Many Taiwanese underestimate the vastness of continental living. My father-in-law could not understand why I could not take him to visit Seattle, San Francisco, L.A., Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon in 4 days of driving. Concepts of "far" can seem much different around the world.

Most of all, I would really like to applaud Wu for his spirit of adventure. It takes guts, brains and courage.

Thinking About The Future

A Random Sign On The Road

I think I have said it before and I will repeat it here again... I have been thinking a lot about cycling on this trip and especially in the comparison between the cycling I am seeing in Taiwan and what I happened to experience in Seattle and Palm Desert.

Component Pioneer, Phil Wood

Both places offer a wide gradient of cycling culture and share many similarities in execution, but there were also many structural differences that left me wondering.

Cycling Events Advertised

I think many of the structural differences stem from a common source: Our history and relationship with the automobile. When the idea crossed my mind I was taken by the idea that the relationship with the auto, which is often viewed as the antithesis to the bicycle on the roads, may actually be one of the chief drivers behind how cycling culture developed and continues to evolve in both Taiwan and the United States. The Seattle cycling communities seemed to greatly differ by city, neighborhood and city block. The type of riders you would encounter might change from weekend triathlete to urban commuter in the space of a hill. In Taiwan both utility, recreational and competitive riders can be found clustered together in and around urban centers with bike shops serving at the... er... hub of the group. Although this is similar to what many American bike shops do, I think there are some important differences.

Bike Shop

To keep from getting too long winded and at risk of over simplifying many of the dynamic forces, I feel a large part of the American cycling experience is built around the infrastructure and values that evolved around the U.S. Interstate Highway System, which was commissioned in 1956 under the Federal Aid Highway Act and with the support of the Eisenhower administration in promise and guise of "self defense". The "interstate" grew into the world's largest network of limited access roadways that could rapidly move goods and people from less densely populated areas to the highly concentrated urban centers. My grandfather was one of the chief architects of Washington State's Interstate network and believed freeways were the future of America.

Some Bikes On The Street

What my grandfather could not envision was the extent of suburban sprawl that would eventually creep further and further away from the cities and encroach into ecologically sensitive areas and watersheds. The cities became less populous as residents moved into the suburbs to grab up more space to enjoy the lifestyles of leisure being promoted as the "American Dream". Urban environments in many American cities fell into decay and many districts were left to the poor or deserted, especially at night. Rent control was often the only thing keeping some urban blocks populated. Even many of the poor moved into some of the more dilapidated suburbs. Urban centers were becoming less dense with more Americans requiring more land and resources.

Bike Touring

The focus of life in the suburban periphery became the automobile and the US transportation networks focused its sole purpose of providing infrastructure for the car. It was only in the past calendar year that this status quo has been challenged and changed to include bicycles and pedestrian traffic. With the challenge of the American romance with the automobile and lawmakers eager to snap up tax money to support the oil habit, cycling became a type of counter culture in opposition to car culture. Cycling was less convenient, less direct and impractical in a world where everything is a 10 min. drive away. Out of pet food? Hop in the car. Need to get stamps? Drive up the street to the post office. This is the world I grew up in.

Urban Grocery Getter

As the suburbs have moved to the limits of a practical commute and traffic congestion continuing to worsen despite the ever expanding system of roads, federal, state and local governments have begun asking government officials, citizens and land developers to rethink the future. The ideal environment for sustainable living is one in which people can live in more densely populated centers where a person's employment and needs are within non-driving distance. Many metro-areas have already begun repopulating the cities and making urban centers more livable and affordable.

Bike Racks

Seattle has begun investing in far reaching networks of bicycle routes, park & rides, bike-fiendly mass transit systems and other light infrastructure to better accommodate and integrate the bicycle into the new urban landscape. In an even bigger move, King County, the county in and around Seattle, has initiated a program to exchange sky for land, allowing developers to build higher downtown in exchange for buying and not developing green space. The counter culture of bicycle commuting is becoming a normal and integrated network with plenty of community support.

Bikes At Fancy Restaurant

Taiwan experienced a different economic and industrial trajectory in which much of the industrial infrastructure was built up by the Japanese during Taiwan's 50 years as a Japanese colony. Much of Taiwan's development occurred parallel to development in many parts of the United States. By 1906 Taiwan's transportation system was complete and would remain largely intact and unchanged until the 1960's and by 1935 there were over 7000 factories employing 68,000 Taiwanese workers. This number jumped to 143,000 industrial workers by the height of WWII.

Simply Enjoying The View

Despite the rise in industrial labor, Taiwan would not be counted as an industrialized nation until 1965 when the urban population reached 5 million. Taiwan experienced rapid economic growth as the United States supplanted Japan as Taiwan's chief market for export. Many Taiwanese families that could not leverage their ethnicity for government work, higher education used family capital to start small to medium sized industrial enterprises on land that had once been family rice field. 3.75 million urbanites over 12 years of age were gainfully employed.

Many Places To Lock A Bike

With economic growth came growing affluence and one symbol of that affluence was the light 2 stroke scooter or motorcycle to replace the bicycle and pedal-cab. Automobiles were still largely considered out of reach for most families until the mid 80's. The scooter provided a quick, reliable and relatively cheap form of transportation that not only reduced reliance on other forms of transportation, but also allowed more Taiwanese to enter the workforce; especially women. The utility bicycle became representative of "the poor" and the scooter became a prestige item.

Bike Lane On Bridge

Wide Shoulder For Bike Traffic

Taiwanese cities expanded and continue to expand, but remain densely populated with most people's needs within a short walk, bike or scooter ride away. In many general ways Taiwanese cities represent the modern American aspiration for the city. There was no need for suburban sprawl and Taiwanese live together in the urban setting despite socioeconomic class and many families only have one car, not one car for each member. The roads do not act as great dividers of populations as they do in America where the wealthy in Bellevue all live in a certain area and buy carbon TT bikes for a weekend with friends... or the poor urban dishwasher who rides an old steel beater to work. In Taiwan a Colnago might live next to a Jelum.

Bike Corridor

Power Line Trail Converted To Bike Corridor

This very efficient urban lifestyle in Taiwan is in decline as bubbling housing prices and exaggerated property values that are prone to speculation have begun making the cities unaffordable and unlivable for all but the most affluent Taiwanese or potentially wealthy Chinese who are being courted to fill the bubble and make very few... very rich. The centers are becoming unlivable.

Cyclist On Freeway

Father And Son Out For A Ride

Taiwanese are being pushed further and further from their workplaces and the efficiency of urban living is in greater decline. More Taiwanese, especially in the North, are seeing their commutes stretch into the hours with little sign of respite. While the United States is busy courting a Taiwanese-like model for urban living, Taiwan is beginning to emulate the United States.

Space Savers

Actual Awareness "Give Cyclists 3 Feet".

From what we have seen as of late, the central and local governments have placed a higher priority on recreational cycling over utility cycling with an expanded tourism infrastructure, but little development for the growing need for commute-friendly pathways, safe bike lockers and practical spaces for bicycles.

Bike Lockers

This is where Taiwan can learn from cities like Seattle and start seriously integrating the bicycle into the transportation infrastructure to make it easier for residents to avoid automobiles and scooters in their commutes and employ alternative forms of transportation like mass transit and park & rides that work in conjunctions with the bicycle for transport and not just recreation. I know this is a simple narrative, but it gives me a great deal of food for thought

Mixed Messages

Happy To Be Home: 91 miles Around Miaoli County

Despite my month of traveling to exciting and far away places, I was happy to be home and on my own bike. I was even happier to be again be riding through Taiwan's beautiful countryside.

I had planned to ease into my weekly riding again with a route that wouldn't be too demanding and I also wanted something new. I checked my map and thought the Miaoli 60 to the 119 looked good and I had never ridden that road. So with thoughts of boundless adventure, Michael T. and I sent out for a day in the saddle.

By the time we found the Miaoli 60 just before Dahu the sun was ablaze overhead and we were drenched in sweat. The hills looked a bit more intimidating than I had envisioned, but it is always worth a try.

Everything seemed ok until the road practically disappeared. It abruptly went from road to track. Luckily (or not) we ran into some strawberry farmers who shared their prickly pears with us and told us the road was passable and moreover, they would applaud us if we rode up it. I took the bait and hammered up the grade with all my weight over my handlebars just to keep the wheel on the ground.

The brutally steep roads continued up to a peak where I prematurely congratulated myself for making quick and easy work of such a bastard of a climb.

My spirits were dashed as we descended into a quiet valley that merely promised more climbing to get out. We were both burning up by this point and begged a farmer to let us douse our heads under a hose.

The climb out of the valley was darkly shaded... if only to conceal the steepness of the climb. It seemed there was a double digit grade behind every corner with no space for recovery. The only thing I could think of to make light of the situation was the descent on the other side.

Finally, we reached the peak, where a family nominally ran a local tea stop. Rest, water, sport drink and a lengthy examination by the kids later, we were ready for a forearm busting descent down similar grades as those we had just ridden up.

The nerve wracking decline eventually mellowed into one of those verdant river valleys that hide along the hills of Taiwan's plain. We just glided down hill, along newly paved roads and through villages that have not yet been infected with the tourist bug. The 119 took us out to the 128, where we could make it to Tong-luo for lunch.

After a filling of dumplings and noodles, it was again time to make hay for home, but not before hitting the coast and the shade of the 61 Freeway.

We hugged the coast and passed countless groups of locals who had moved their old furniture out under the viaduct to make a defacto clubhouse beneath the span. The area is quiet and sometimes desolate and the cool breeze coming off the ocean was exactly what we needed.

At last we hooked up to the 140, a long, flat, straight and direct road that doesn't have much to admire other than its directness. It took us behind the Red Burned Mountain to the 13 under the Sanyi Interchange, where we could head toward Houli and Fengyuan to home. Right as we started pulling into Fengyuan, the clouds opened up and I was quickly sopping wet. I just continued home at a rapid speed and took a nap.

I would seriously recommend the Miaoli 60 to anyone who is a good climber, who wants to be a good climber, and completely trusts their equipment. Those are some hill climbs!

Bike route 651228 - powered by Bikemap

Taking The Other Woman to Kenting Has Become Even Easier

Jaunty Angle has a really interesting report on the Yoho Bike hotel in Kenting. They now make it possible to take the mistress to Kenting in style. It amazes me how much the infrastructure for recreational cycling has outpaced utility cycling in Taiwan.

Oasis or Desert?

For the final week of our American adventure, we drove my father and his friend to Palm Desert, California. Now that I am blogging, I am trying to pay more attention to the various forms of cycling going on in these exotic and far away places. I was looking forward to seeing what the cycling scene in the Coachella Valley has to offer. The place is ideal for cyclocross bikes and mountain bikes. The bills are covered in trails that duck through canyons and over desert. Lots of dirt roads and singletrack. For road bikes there are some nice roads, but it seems a little limited for a dedicated roadie. I WOULD love to ride Joshua Tree some day.

The daytime temperatures varied between 106F. and 117F. Still, I saw several people out on city bikes, flat bars, and BMX bikes. It is a dry heat, so I can easily imagine how those temps could be tolerated during the summer months. Still, the majority of the population receives a pension and prefer golf carts to Campy.

I was pleasantly surprised to find an extensive system of marked bike routes and marked shoulder space for cycling. I saw a few men in their 60's riding some expensive road bikes in the heat. The TREK Madone is a big seller.

I thought I would look for something to buy at one of the local bike stores. Velo Bum is one of my favorites as it is run by a diehard and he doesn't carry much. He sells mainly Look, Time and Felt bikes. He had a real nice Calfee in there as well. He just didn't have much of anything. He told me to drive to Laguna on the coast if I wanted more of a selection.

I then went to Palm Desert Cycles, which is a novice-friendly shop where they assume you don't know much about cycling and charge an arm and a leg. I asked if they had any small jerseys, but they didn't and told me to go to Laguna.

Bikeman was great. I stopped by 15 min. after the posted opening time and it was closed. I stopped by again an hour later, but it was still closed. Finally, I returned again and it was another one-man operation with the owner/wrench busy working on a bike. He gave me a hello, and resumed his work. The owner, Kevin, seems to be an old racer with a great supply of new and used Italian bikes. I looked around, but nothing I could use.

The last place I went to was Tri A Bike. They are the big Giant dealer. There was a sign on the door advertising the "Composite Challenge", a Pepsi Challenge for bikes, and a silly gimmick to get the novice to part with their money on a scam as the "feel and comfort" of a bike can easily be manipulated with a quick adjustment in air pressure or wheel choice.

Next time I'll try Laguna.

Naked Cycles (NSFW)

On a quiet evening in Seattle, we thought we would take a leisurely stroll around Greenlake; Seattle's urban oasis, where Seattlites go to run, walk, yoga-cize, bike and show off on disco-rollerskates.

There is a 3 mile path that goes around the lake and it makes a nice route for urban athletes to train. Most of the cyclists are families and recreational riders who just want to do a few loops around the lake on a summer's evening.

As we rounded the southern end of the lake, a commotion of bicycles bounced down the path like tsunami of gears and chains. The pack of cycles enveloped the entire trail.

Seeing so many bikes at one time, I naturally took out my phone to capture the event.

It was only then that I noticed that several of the riders were riding in the buff. They were buck naked. Even the jaybirds were blushing.

In an earlier post I made the connection between counter-culture and cycling in America, where, in opposition to the auto-centric lifestyle adopted by most Americans, and in response to a built environment originally conceived exclusively for cars, many urban riders make a point to thumb their noses and give the finger to the automobile lifestyle.

Since before Lady Godiva, nudity and protest have been linked in a long passionate embrace. I think this is especially so in America where there is the historical friction between puritanical ideals and radical liberalism; a conflict that has dogged the USA since the days of Thomas Jefferson.

Where else would the human body, an instrument possessed by every person on earth and limited to two basic configurations of varying similarity, be used so overwhelmingly for its ability to invoke the intense reactions of shock and awe? Still, it is a lot like religion... it doesn't work unless you choose to buy into the program and seek to be motivated by the actors. It is not going to shock and offend unless people wish to be shocked and offended by it.

It reminds me a little bit of immature art students in college who would resort to explicit nudity as a short-cut to imagined poignancy, in which case it is not the viewer who is shocked by the display, but rather the imagination of the artist who harbors those feelings and projects them onto an imagined audience in a similar vein as Marcel Duchamp's deconstructionist joke, The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even, a piece in which the actors depicted in the work are physically separated on different panes of glass and therefore the masturbating bachelors are not being turned on by the bride, but rather by their own imaginations as they can not possibly occupy the same space as their object and thus Duchamp expresses that the emotion we feel for others is actually our own subjectivity projected outward, thus turning ourselves on rather than being turned on by others. It shows the actor's own perceptions [and insecurities]. I remember very clearly in college when a group of lesbians decided to go down to the mall and grope, kiss and flash senior citizens in an attempt to be normalized by society. Riiiiiight..... huh!

In this case at Greenlake, nudity was somehow being used to draw attention to cycling, but in fact it may detract from the message. I found it odd that a few months ago there was an attempt to do the same type of protest in Taiwan. I have no idea how the event went off.

I wonder how many hits this post will get. Everyone is a total perv whether they'll admit it or not.