Joe Knows Cycling: Cycling Around Taiwan

The wife and I went for a little recovery ride up to Dakeng, at the base of the foothills in Taichung. The big tree round-about makes a nice little destination to meet other cyclists.

While circling around the blogs I found this little gem from Oeshoe:

Joe's Cycling Around Taiwan Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5

Lots of great information here for anyone thinking about doing the same and lovely write-up as well.

Merida Cup

Well... I guess I will be doing the Merida Cup ride this Sunday. I haven't had much time to think about it, but it should just be a fun little ride around Changhua with a bunch of fellow cyclists.

Anyone else going to be there?

Link

Nantou 149: Climbing Through The Foothills

Over the past month I have hardly done any riding. Last weekend was a 60km reintroduction to my bike at a leisurely pace. November looks like another month with some limits on my free rides. I will do the Merida Cup next weekend, and then the weekend after that I will be forced to participate in a bit of disguised electioneering for a detestable candidate who happens to be our chairperson.

Therefore, I wanted to make this trip count. I wanted to go some place I had never ridden before.

I had been eyeing this route for a long time as it looked like it went right up a river valley, which, in Taiwan, can often mean some amazing scenery. Michael Turton was keen on the idea and we made a go of it. We decided to roll from Taichung up the 149 out of Zhu Shan in Nantou County.

It was pretty easy going the entire way down to Zhushan, but the traffic on Highway 3 always sucks. You can just see the start of the 149 on a little road off one of the major intersections. The road is also where the 49投 empties out off the Sanlinxi, beyond Lugu. That is a climb for anther day.

The 149 is light on traffic and heavy on scenery. Unfortunately I am still using my Nokia camera while the battle damaged Canon gets repaired.

Another nice thing about the lower end of the 149, is that it has not been transformed into another tourist hole, as it does closer to Gukeng and Meishan. People along the lower 149 are just living and working and doing their thing.

We passed the gate of the Deshan Temple (德山寺), which traces its genealogy to a temple constructed in 1765, has only been based in its current location within recent memory.

At the base of the temple we noticed a strange set of Christian and Han style graves scattered about at odd angles adjacent to another odd collection of graves and memorials. These little discoveries make the long rides worth every long hour of pedaling. I will save my commentary for another post.

What was really noticeable was the economy at work in the foothills. As we rode along the 149, the local economy shifted from rice farming, poultry and light industrial, to forestry products.
By forestry products I mean tea, coffee, fern, palm, betel, timber and other products that can not be easily manufactured on the plain or through wet farming. I think this has as much to do with Taiwan's social history as it does with the natural environment. I might seed the thought a little bit with the question, "How did these people get here to do what they are doing?"

After working our way higher into the foothills that lead up to Alishan, we took a right onto the gorgeous 158甲. The road is a steady incline, but not too steep... persistent. The climb had almost no traffic and was just peaceful climbing bliss... save for the dude in an excavator playing with dirt on the side of a cliff.

We screamed down the other side into Douliu in time for lunch before making our way back up the Highway 3. A nice alternate route is to take the 141 at the base of Bagua Shan and then the 152 to Ming Jian. This is a beautiful, tree-lined route that avoids the cement truck routes.

Unfortunately, in Mingjian we were approached by a pair of Mormon missionaries, who attempted to introduce us to their program and it cast a pall over the afternoon.

I am sure some of my readers will be offended, but in writing about Taiwan and matters that are cultural, I need to point out that missionary work, no matter who is conducting it, IS a colonial enterprise that can not be conducted without casting its object in a pejorative light. You can not seek someone's "transformation" without first determining that that person needs to be transformed or is lacking. It also implies the project of the missionary is capable of transforming their object into something subjectively "better". Furthermore, these projects do not just seek to transform the hearts and minds (souls), but they also contain a political component that seeks to motivate citizens to act on behalf of a larger organization and the goals of that organization. Proposition 8 in California was a very clear expression of that political motivation and it hurt lots of families. Religion is fine. The missionary enterprise is wrong. We should not seek to transform different cultures, but accept their difference.

It took some good hard riding with a group of Taiwanese riders to lift my spirits again.

To Be Continued...

Total distance: Just shy of a Century. 97mi.

*Be sure to check Michael's Ride Report.

Bike route 748774 - powered by Bikemap

Taiwan Customs Makes Us Feel Like Duty

Ozsoapbox has a really great post about ordering bike parts from overseas. Sometimes they tax you and sometimes they don't.

I have blogged before on Giant's competitive advantage, and duties on foreign bike parts (manufactured in Taiwan) contribute to some of the disparity between local and foreign bike prices. In the case of Oz, the government is actually double dipping.

Later investigation revealed that cycling gear above $1000 TWD (a ridiculously stupidly low amount of about $30 AUD) attracted an ‘import duty tax’ of 5%...

...This itself wasn’t too bad but the government then double dips and applies a further ‘business tax’ which was another $420 TWD ($13.80 AUD) in taxes.

Combined, these two taxes brought my total import duty to nearly $826 TWD or $27 AUD, roughly 10% of the order cost.

Additionally, when calculating the import duty and business tax, the idiots at the customs office decided to include the cost of my shipping from Wiggle which was approx $1500 TWD alone ($48.87 AUD).

Also:

Taiwan:

December 4-8 is Taichung Bike Week, for all you who want to look at bike stuff. I will be outdoors riding.

World:

• Does Republican surge mean doom for America's new, progressive stance on transportation funding? For the first time since the Eisenhower initiated the Interstate Highway System, an American administration has shifted the focus of transportation away from the automobile. Now the impact of that change is in doubt as many cycling proponents on Capitol Hill are out of work. Maybe the USA is in for a cyclist revolt, like the one in LA over the city's bike plan.
• If you are not working... ride a bike and volunteer.
• Popo tesitfies!
• UCI President wants 4 year bans, which could be potentially career-ending.
• Training in heat improves cool weather performance. That is not my experience in Seattle. The cold, damp air brought on an asthma attack... and it sucked.

Bits and Pieces: Looking At My Parts

Since returning from Seattle I have hardly logged any saddle time, but there are things that need to get done. One of the things I did do while I was in Seattle, was buy a new set of pedals.

I picked up the Crank Brothers Eggbeater 3 pedals to replace my Candy SL set. I was very pleased with my Candies, but I was ready for something different.

What I really like about the Crank Brothers system is its simplicity. The four sided clip makes for easy clipping and unclipping. I think the latter may be the most important. I have actually seen a few people struggle with popping out of the typical Shimano-style pedals. This is good for mud, dirt, areas with heavy traffic, and especially for beginners. The worst is watching someone run out of gas on a hill and panic to unclip or fall over. The CBs are intuitive. The clipping process can also be done back to front or front to back. If you over step, slide back or under-step, slide forward. The CBs provide plenty of float to allow the rider room to adjust for comfort and position.

I chose the Eggbeater over the Candy because I felt the plasic platform was unnecessary. It is actually easier for me to clip-in when there is only a clip and no platform to slide on.

Crank Brothers has released all new redesigns this year with more rigid construction and bearings that are sealed from water and dirt. Bike Radar has an excellent article about the redesign and the entire line of CB pedals.

From my initial testing I have found these pedals to be an excellent replacement and would implore anyone interested in SPD pedals to use Crank Brothers.

Update: 

Over longer term use I have found Crank Brothers pedals to be unreliable and very high maintenance. Crank Brothers offers a rebuild kit... and for good reason. You're gonna need it. The down side is that you are constantly riding without peace of mind. and when you send pedals in to be repaired, you are out of action for however long it takes to repair the pedals. 

The second piece of equipment I would like to gush over are my Chris King hubs.

I noticed my rear wheel wasn't spinning like I wanted and thought I would have Rocky at T-Mosaic take a look.

I guess I have been busy riding and using my bike, so my hubs were in sore need of servicing after 3 years of use. Rocky cleaned out all the crud, re-greased and my wheel is rolling like a brand new wheel.

Chris King has a reputation for being expensive and light, but not the lightest components on the planet. The difference is that King components are made to last and are completely serviceable. Many component companies make parts that may last three years, but once they are done... they're done. Replacements can get expensive and the spent parts sit in a landfill.

I'd rather spend the money up front than take an unexpected hit in the wallet down the road.

Unfortunately, King hubs are hard to find in Taiwan. a lot of people just can't or don't want to front load a purchase with more expensive gear. Hubs are usually a weak point of a complete bike purchase and that is where companies feel they can skimp and move bikes. I actually had to order my hubs from Aspire Velotech. They have free worldwide shipping and I had my hubs in 5 days. Kings are worthy of serious consideration and are well worth the price.

An Autumn Chill

The weather will be cooling off over the next couple of months and it really makes for some ideal cycling temperatures. It has just gotten chilly enough in the evening to warrant a light windbreaker.

It is also a great season for Taiwan to host another cycling event.

The Tour of Formosa is now on, with the Russians taking the early lead.

The Tour of Formosa is a cycling event held between October 29th and November 7th, featuring deaf cyclists in a seven stage tour around Taiwan. The Tour of Formosa is being organized by central and local governments, as well as by the National Sports Committee, which outlines their objectives as follows:

Objective:

To raise awareness among hearing-impaired cyclists the opportunity

to race and friendship ties, as well as enhance the hearing-impaired

cyclist of the technical standards, as well as to cultivate Taiwan's

bicycle more hearing-impaired young athletes, through organized

Tour de Formosa tournament race, marketing the beauty of Taiwan

culture and landscape, and enhance Taiwan's visibility; modeled on

the historic Tour de France tournament, who wish to apply for this

competition to become a major international cycling event. ...read more

Over the past few years Taiwan has been the host of several international sporting events, including the W World Games and the Deaflympics. This is definitely a step to achieving international recognition as a center for sport. Too bad we have to use that gawdawful "Chinese-Taipei" moniker.

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Speaking of chills in the air...

I would like to bring attention to a recent event that, although not directly related to cycling, can have some very severe implications for bloggers like myself who are not shy in dishing out criticism.

Apparently, Taiwan's Ministry of Education has called on National Taiwan University to curtail students activities on the university message board concerning political commentary as far as it criticizes the party in power or their representatives.

For this blogger and others who also happen to teach in schools (where I am blogging right now), this can be seen as a very slippery slope and an attempt to impinge on our freedom of speech. The trend to monitor and limit free speech has been on the rise since 2008 and I hope more people will pay attention to these troubling events.

Anybody else feel that chill?

Read more: here, here, here, here

Hot Wheels

Flaming bike-maker Neil Pryde tests his new machine

Check out Michael Turton's report on a new expat owned bike shop.

Mark Blacknell posts some great photos of his trip. here