Changhua Schools Make Students Suffer On Bikes Before Graduation

Several Chinese language news outlets were reporting on the cycling event organized by the Changhua Bureau of Education that went horribly awry yesterday when 15 students were admitted to the hospital suffering from symptoms of heat stroke and broken bones.

The Changhua Bureau of Education hosted a cycling event for 2000 junior high school seniors as part of their end of the year activities. The event happened to coincide with one of the hottest days of the year and involved 18km of climbing.

After a few kilometers several of the students began suffering from symptoms of heat stroke and heat exhaustion, while others suffered physical injuries at the result of collisions with other cyclists, and in one case, a student suffered physical injuries after falling from the bike in exhaustion. Fifteen students were admitted to the hospital with one in serious but stable condition.

It takes time to acclimate the body to riding in higher temperatures, and whoever organized this event used poor judgement that hurt some young people. Furthermore, these kids spend way too much time indoors studying (especially junior high school seniors who have been cramming for their exams) and not exercising, so it is no wonder their bones are weak and they buckle during a bike ride. I applaud the idea of promoting cycling for these young people, but proper preparations would have been helpful.

(Video) Cycling Central Taiwan: T-Mosaic Video Montage

Check out Rocky's new video of some of their various rides around Taichung.

Hills over Taipei: Ralph Jennings Takes A Look At Taiwan From On High

Central Cross Island Highway

Ralph Jennings has a nice piece in the Taipei Times detailing some of the steeper riding that is available in the foothills above Taipei.

The accordion-shaped Pingjing Street (平菁街) climb from Zhishan Road (至善路) just above the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院) cures hangovers while penetrating deep into the less trafficked backside of Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園).

It’s just one in a maze of well paved, vista-packed and challenging roads in the park, the boundary of which is 30 to 60 minutes cycling time from central Taipei.

The article gives several route suggestions and rider opinions on the roads up to Yangming Shan, which would be extremely useful to riders who might be visiting Taiwan and do not really have to get out much further than the greater Taipei area.

What the article does not articulate, is the difficulty in getting from the city to the mountains. The RED LINE of the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit), which skirts along the Taipei foothills through the Shih Lin and Beitou districts, has several stops that allow bicycles in marked train cars.

Another consideration on weekends is the traffic. Taipei is Taiwan's most populous city and Yangming Shan is a closest and better known "get-away". Weekend traffic can be a pain.

Still, unless you live in Tainan or Kaohsiung, Taiwan's hills are always close enough for a bit of climbing.

Also:

• Taiwanese students win award for their bicycle tent. The device allows a rider to pitch a tent anywhere.

An Encouraging Sign: My Ride Through The Hills of Dakeng

Encouraging Sign

I have been taking things easy and doing some interesting stretches which seem to be working, and so I decided to test my knee in the hills of Dekeng above Taichung city. I figured I could easily coast home if things went poorly. As of today, all signs are pointing toward a solid recovery.

Refreshing

I took things easy and got a late start with an easy warm-up out to the 85C on Dong Shan Rd. near Dakeng. The weather was already oppressively hot and humid, so and iced coffee made things a wee bit better. I also had a chance to stretch my hip. What you can't see in the picture above is my leg tucked up behind me against a railing.

Climbing

I followed the road up the Buzi River toward the CKS Campground and hiking trail No. 4. I casually retraced my first excursion out of Taichung City many years ago, when I discovered mountains and hills had been hiding behind a veil of mist and fog.

Making It Up The Hill

When I ordered the parts for this new bike I had been feeling confident and self assured. I had been doing some great climbing with a standard 39/53 tooth crank with a 12-27 cog. I decided I would harden up and abandon my old compact crank. I was missing it today. After 3 1/2 moths of limited riding my strength and endurance is suffering. I could keep above 20mph in the flats and 10mph climbing, but I was getting tired. I also was not going to try and push or really stand on the pedals. I already put myself out an extra month by trying to climb too much too soon.

I made my way up the hill and stopped to stretch the hip BEFORE it turned into knee pain.

Action Shot

My New Friend

Warning?

I was surprised to be able to push up over the hill and it was over sooner than I remembered. I was feeling pretty accomplished.

Dakeng Scenic Area

Map

Feeling On Top Of The World

Resting

Go Anywhere. Do Anything

The Fun Part

I took a few minutes to rest and then "Ka-thunk!" I shifted to the big ring for a fast descent along a twisting, narrow road.

When I Smile

I was flying along at about 35-40mph. One thing I really love about this bike is that it descends like a guided missile. You pick a line and stick with it. On the old bike I was always over-shooting my turns. This bike slices through them like a scalpel. So much fun.

Friendly Rider

I slalomed down to Taiyuan Rd. and then headed up to the Warehouse 185 for a coffee. The knee was feeling great. I headed out for a family function in Daya and then stayed in the big ring for a fast, but tiring, stretch back home. I pushed my knee and it felt healthy. Today was huge for me in getting back into form.

Distance: 42 miles

Max Speed: 40mph

Average Speed: Never Mind

Knee: Pain Free

New Feature in Dakeng

Made In Taiwan: A Giant in Seattle's Bike Scene Makes His Bike Taiwanese

Mark V. over at Bike Hugger writes an interesting post about his new ride, which he bought partially in response to all the purists who buy Colnago because it is not an Asian brand.

“Dunno why stuff from the mainstream guys like Giant & Specialized puts me off…..I’d go for Colnago CX-1”

I found this post yesterday, proclaiming a popular sentiment that European bicycle companies have more character and/or quality than “the mainstream guys”. The fact that two companies strongly associated with Taiwanese manufacture were singled out (and not say Trek*) is notable. What kills me is that the message board poster spews on lovingly for the Colnago CX-1…because I’ve been to the Giant factory in Taichung, Taiwan, and that vaunted CX-1 comes down the SAME production line as the Giant TCR. That’s right, Taiwan makes that Colnago.

It is funny how most people associate the brand of origin with the place of origin. In most cases this is not true. There are very few mass produced bicycles made outside of Asia. Colnago still makes their steel bikes in Italy and the new Limited Edition C-59 Italia carbon fiber bike was made in Italy, but they only made 59 of them using Toray carbon fiber from Japan (T-Mosaic has one on display). With many of the European brands, they simply need to do some minor labeling or finishing to qualify as domestic, when in fact, they were produced in Taiwan or China. In more cases than we'd like to admit, the frames were designed by a Taiwanese ODM and then branded by the buyer of the mold. It is possible that those sleek Italian curves or French lines had their origin in the mind of a Taiwanese engineer.

Also:

• Oz Soapbox waxes poetic on his Long Haul Trucker. The only rust is on the low-end Tektro brakes. The steel frame is looking good after a mere 14,000km over 3 years.

Sunday Morning Coffee Ride

End of Tunghai Descent

I am still battling knee soreness and couldn't decide which flat, easy route to take on my Sunday ride, so I threw my hands in the air and just took an easy loop up to Dadu Shan and Tunghai University.

Urban Greenspace

The weather in Taichung was gorgeous with enough of a breeze to keep things comfortable.

Mojo Coffee

My main goal was to enjoy a couple cups of coffee and just relax. I know... biking to coffee is such a hipster thing to do... so I indulged.

Terry's

I enjoyed the gliding descent into Taichung city and landed first at MOJO Coffee on Daye Rd. There were three people there just reading and it had the total feeling of a lazy Sunday at coffee. They make a wet cappuccino. I chilled there for a while and read the papers before leaving for more coffee.

I love a good cappuccino

Next, I went to Caffe Terry after zipping through Taichung's uncharacteristically placid city traffic.

mmmmmmm!

At Caffe Terry I had another cappuccino and just hung out at an outside table to enjoy the light breeze. I noticed Terry has a Jango Flick folding bicycle available for visitors who are looking for wheels around town.

The mountain to get back to my prior form and fitness grows by the week. I just hope my down time will allow me to become healthy again to get back to 100%. This is the most frustrating process.

Terry's Flik

Taiwan's Exercises Its Soft Power Through Bicycle Diplomacy

Michael Turton at The View From Taiwan has recently posted on a look into Taiwan's use of "soft power" in creating a type of informal international space that is not regulated by the language of international diplomacy, charter associations, membership agreements, historical tropes or the murky world of real politik. Taiwan's soft power seeps through the diplomatic cracks in the walls of international protocol and invades our individual and collective mind-space, despite the best work of professional propagandists to block or subvert the message.

The bicycle has become one arrow in Taiwan's often unintentional quiver of defecto national and cultural independence.

As I mention in other posts, Taiwan has gained a reputation for providing some of the world's best OEM/ODM manufacturing for bicycles and bicycle components. Despite its former pejorative label, "Taiwan" has become synonymous with quality bicycle production. This awareness has even trickled down to the consumer who is now confident in the quality of a Taiwanese frame that it is often preferred over a Chinese model. This is also a key point as the consumer who might not be even remotely aware of Taiwan's geographic location or complicated history, may be fully aware that Taiwan and China are different and that difference translates into the perception of a disparity in quality between Chinese and Taiwanese products. In the mind of the consumer there is already a huge quality gap between Chinese and Taiwanese goods and the recent melamine scandal and other health scares from adulterated products has further cemented the perceived differences.

Taiwan's government and ordinary Taiwanese cyclists have used the bicycle numerous times as a convenient meme to gain international awareness, recognition and greater international space. Here, here, here, here!!!

The Taiwanese bicycle industry has not only raised Taiwan's profile internationally, but it has also led to a domestic awareness of the bicycle's symbolic power in expressing and exporting the Taiwanese identity.

This type of soft power that both creates international space and projects a type of national pride is also the source of internal friction as Taiwan's political actors are divided on whether to exploit these popular images and perceptions to raise Taiwan's international stature, or seek to rein it in, in deference to China and Chinese pressure. This friction becomes more acute during a rising election cycle as each politician wants to be photographed on a bike, but not every politician wishes to raise Taiwan's international stature with soft power.

It will be interesting to see how the soft power of the bicycle will be used in the future and whether China will be able to erase the perceived gap in quality in the short to medium term.