An Analysis Of Taiwan's Cycling Infrastructure

A couple weeks ago Taiwan was visited by Jack Becker, a Canadian cycling advocate and director of the 2012 Velo-Cities conference. Mr. Becker presented a paper relating to creating lasting and meaningful infrastructure for cycling. He spent five days in Taiwan feted by local political actors looking for an evaluation of their efforts to transform Taiwan into a "bicycle island".

Becker walked away with a very clear impression: Taiwan can not foster a bicycle friendly environment until action is taken to regularly and evenly enforce traffic laws and to take cycling seriously enough to provide separate space for riders to survive amid chaotic traffic conditions.

Please read his brief evaluation HERE and I would encourage readers to leave a comment.

I think Becker makes some great points about Taiwan's softball approach to cycling infrastructure.

I call it a "softball" approach because rather than addressing real problems with our cycling infrastructure the central and local governments either look for solutions in search of their problems, or initiate a half-baked "solution" that looks good when framed by bullet points in a Power Point presentation, but lack any reasonable followthrough.

Two examples might be the kilometers of leisure trails being constructed that start at and lead to nowhere. In cases like these the proposition is to promote tourism, where there was no real need before (especially now that Chinese tourism has dropped 30% in the past year).

A second example might be the "Bike Trains". They look great on paper and the government can proudly announce an increasing number of these trains. What a bike train means is that a rider may be allowed to bring their bike into a train car, which will be shared with other, non cycling, passengers. There are no racks, there are no hooks or nets or any special devices to make carrying a bike easier. One simply must hold their bike as the car fills with passengers who are annoyed that they have to rest their bags of fruit on your handlebars or get chain grease on their clothes. Michel Turton reported to me that his train car was so full last weekend that one rider had to pass his bike over the heads of passengers packed seven or eight deep into the car. This is hardly a viable solution to encourage riders to use the railway system.

These are just a couple examples, but for a program that has had so much fanfare, there is sure a lack of results in many key areas the government should be focusing on.

A Mighty Feng: Taiwanese Cyclist Takes Win In Beverley Hills Cycling Classic

Taiwanese cyclist, Feng Jun-kai won the opening criterium for the Beverly Hills Cycling Classic, an annual Pro-Am event featuring professional and qualifying amateur athletes from around the world.

Friday night, as Beverly opened the circuit for a ninth straight year, Team Taiwan’s Feng Jun-Kai outsprinted John Grant, of Louisville, Ky., for the opening win.

Feng won all three jerseys Friday, taking the red (sprint leader), yellow (stage leader) and black (overall leader).

The victory came courtesy of a gutsy call late as the Taiwanese rider pulled ahead to win primes (money awarded to lap leaders) and was able to hold off Grant for the win.

“The breakaway stayed together for the most part, but his move at the end was definitely the defining moment,” Grant said. “In the breakaway, we never felt like anyone was getting away from it. (Feng) did a good job going for those sprints, and it was a hard race.”

Feng and Grant were part of an eight-man breakaway that separated itself from the field midway through the 60 laps. With fewer than 20 to go, the group lapped the field, making Grant’s job that much easier.

It is great to see a Taiwanese cyclist making an impact in international races.

Congrats!

A Hill Too Far: Overreaching On Da Xue Shan

Yesterday I thought I would teach my legs a lesson they'd never forget and I was poised to climb Da-xue Shan (Great Snowy Mountain).

Recently, my training has focused on sustained climbing and endurance building. These two aspects of my cycling seem to have suffered the most during my down time from my injury.

I had a massive day last Sunday climbing in some high heat and then I spent the past few days pushing around boxes of books to move to our new apartment. Physically, I am beat.

My hips and lower back felt tight. My legs felt dead. I went in for a massage, and it helped a little, but my hips still felt wound up tight. I knew I was not up for what I had been envisioning as my assault on Da-xue Shan. It always feels so much easier in the imagination. I hoped after a few kilometers my legs would warm up and maybe that was all I needed. I was wrong.

I pushed along to the Hou-Feng trail feeling ok, but I overinflated my tires, so not as smooth as I would have liked.

The Hou-Feng trail is one of Taichung's showcased leisure bike trails that is coated with a speed-robbing coating that makes it feel like you are riding through Molasses Swamp at maximum effort. Maybe Taiwan is so technologically advanced, they have a secret plan to steal energy from cyclists and use it to power unicorn farms.

I huffed on through to Dong Hshih and began climbing Dongkeng St. toward the top of Da-xue Shan. The cross winds didn't do much to help things either.

I have done this route several times and this time felt only slightly better than the first. I just kept pushing and trying to play mind games so that I wouldn't think about the soreness. I thought Da-xue Shan would be great with its gentler grades than the Route 136.

It was getting late, so I turned around at 3300ft. Nowhere near my goal, but good enough for me. I was riding like crap anyways.

My body had an adverse reaction to all this. I had overreached.

Overreaching is the phenomenon in endurance sports where the body reacts to the repeated stresses of hard training with fatigue.

If the "bonk" is stage 1, and normal fatigue is stage 2, then overreaching is stage 3. The next step in the progression of feeling like crap from exercise is overtraining. Overtraining can last for weeks or even months and can severely limit one's athletic improvement. The body feels under assault and rather than strengthening to combat the physical stresses, it works to conserve and protect itself from those stresses. The last step on the scale may be pathological fatigue and illness.

I will dial it back a little to recover and keep the improvements coming.

The View From The Northern Cross Island Highway

Michael Turton posts on his latest Northern Cross Island Expedition. An excellent ride report with stunning photos. Give it a look HERE. I know for a fact that a couple of the riders who joined him were just getting started on bicycles only one year ago.

• A big congrats to Sean Smith, from Taichung's own Team Caffe Terry, won the Elite classification in the Alishan Challenge. Smith climbed 7541ft over the course of 47 miles in 2:45:29. Smith averaged 17.1 mph on his climb and walked away with a USD$22,500 purse. Not bad for a day's work.

• A new study shows Taiwanese women prefer walking to cycling. Whereas Taiwanese men are far more interested in showing off their gadgets. The New York Times reports this is not just a Taiwanese phenomenon.

The Tour de France will start the third stage in a couple of hours and I am actually pleasantly surprised by how the first two stages have unfolded. Stage 1 started out as a full stage as opposed to the routine opening Time Trial and it was marred by several incidents and a couple of decisive crashes that put Tour favorite Alberto Contador way back in 82nd place, while his main rivals made ground near the top. The first stage was won by Philippe Gilbert, who has just had a phenomenal 2011. Gilbert won the Tour of Belgium, Ster ZLM Toer, Liege-Baston-Leige, Amstel Gold , and La Fleche Wallonne among others.

The Stage 2 Team Time Trial was won by Team Garmin-Cervelo with Contador's Saxo Bank finishing in 8th behind his challengers in Team Leppard, Radioshack and BMC. Team HTC-Highroad, partially sponsored by Taiwan's HTC electronics juggernaut is also in good position to make an impact. What does all this mean? Not much as a lot can happen, but it does put pressure on the reigning champ, especially if the competition is in fine form and can avoid crashes or mechanicals.

Hammering Hills: Route 88, Highway 21 and Route 136

Nanyang Rd.

Sunday was another day of hill climbing. I have been gradually extending my rides and making them more difficult. One constant in my weekly riding schedule has been, and will continue to be, hill climbing. It is the first thing to go when you're not training and it is a really great way to get the lungs and the legs back from the dead. I decided today I was going to push my limits a little bit and ride some of my favorite local routes.

Bike Trail

I started out with a warm-up pace into Fengyuan. My Garmin was misbehaving, so I lost the complete info for my ride. It had me riding along a 246% grade from Taichung to Fengyuan.

I did happen to ride one of Taichung's bike trails in Fengyuan City. I would rather ride the cobbles of the Paris-Roubaix.

Colorful Tower

From Fengyuan City I turned up the Local Route 88 a.k.a. Nanyang Rd. which peaks in Longjing, a higher summit than simply taking the Route 129. Even at 8:00am the heat was unbearable.

Looking Down the Route 88

Route 88 is a really nice climb, but a better descent as a couple of the ramps registered 20% grades. The pain is over soon enough and the road levels off high above the city.

Sky Rider... A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man... who does not exist.

I bombed down to Route 93 at about 65kph. and stopped for some coffee with several other local cyclists at the great big 7-11.

Route 93 has a lovely technical descent down to Zhonghe Village and out to the junction with Highway 21 and the route over Baimao Shan (White Whisker Mountain).

Up The 21

The Highway 21 is one of my all time favorite roads. It makes a nice climb with the most scenic views or Heping Township, a largely Atayal indigenous area of northern Taichung.

View Near Top

The highest point on the mountain is 2808ft. but it is not a terrible ascent. I actually settled in to a nice rhythm all the way to the little cafe at the top, where I thought an iced coffee would do me right in that kind of heat.

I also had to stock up on water seeing as I had left a full bottle of water back at the 7-11 earlier and had to climb with nothing but backwash in my bottle.

Rest Stop

I was soon blasting down the other side on one of the greatest descents... EVER!

It is not uncommon to keep speeds around 60kph all the way down. The only real drag were all the hotshot riders on their Big Bikes (motorcycles). If those fuckers are so Lihai/厲害 (skilled), then why can't they stay in their lanes. Share the fucking roads guys. Share the fucking roads. I mean it!

Sorry, but really...

Iced Coffee

As I rolled through Guoxing I was facing a pretty good headwind. This made my enjoyment quotient on the Highway 14 plummet. I hate that road when it is windy. It just becomes too much work for that type of flat roller of a Highway. I then decided to take the Route 136 back over the mountain. This meant a third climb over 2000ft. for the day. The temperature was a broiling 40C/104F, but it sure beat a headwind.

The Other Side Of The 136

I pedaled squares all the way to the summit. It was agony. I was ready for a speedy descent. It was fine at first as I sliced my way through hairpin corners and dug into banked turns... until I was hugging the rear end of a Toyote Previa van. It was a slow coaster the rest of the way down.

I was beat. I had pushed myself to my limits and that was fine with me. This will make me stronger and take me one step closer to my goal of getting back to and surpassing my prior state of fitness.

I got home and cleaned up before flopping on the couch. Within minutes both inner quad muscles severely cramped up leaving me in agony for several minutes, frozen in the contortions of pain.

Strangely, my legs feel lively and energetic. I don't feel like I beat them to a pulp.

What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger.

Bike route 1084322 - powered by Bikemap

Taichung Ups and Downs

I found a little more time than usual yesterday, so I decided to look for a better hill training route.

I am still trying to build back up to a place where I can charge up the hills and have plenty of gas left for some speed on the flats and a sprint home. I would also like to do a few more hill century rides like these. Here, Here.

I figured I would have enough time to do an evening of climbing and get home in time for dinner.

I left along Wu Chuan West Rd. and through the Industrial Park. This makes a nice little climb through the back gate of the Tunghai Market and over to Taichung Harbor Rd. This is a better climb with less traffic than simply charging up Taichung Harbor Rd.

I then prudently bombed down the Highway 12 into Shalu. I had to slow down a little and remember how the roads worked. I wanted to go directly into Ching Shui and not back up the Highway 10.

The Highway 12 splits at the Highway 10 junction and, with some traffic heroics, you can make another easy descent into Ching Shui. At the southern end of Ching Shui, at the back of the town, you can go up on the Highway 10乙. This is a fun little ascent with a 5% grade. It has some switchbacks and some straight climbs. The Highway 10乙 goes past the Taichung Airport and links to the regular Highway 10, which goes directly into Daya.

I turned off to Highway 10 to go up to the Taichung Municipal Park. This is an excellent little climb with some flat sections on the top to spin the lactic acid out of the legs. The road ends at the highest reaches of Hsitun (Xitun) Rd. with a fantastic descent off the top if you can get it free of traffic. Hsitun/Xitun is narrow and packed with vehicles. Lots of fun, but dangerous.

I would normally turn on Wenxin Road, but I needed to stop by Mosaic and make one tiny adjustment. I left the Garmin on... whoops! Then I went home on Huiwen Rd.

It was a really nice way to shake up the legs a bit and get back into sustained climbing. i highly recommend this route for anyone in Taichung who is looking for a short, hilly training loop.

Tour de France and Some Taiwan Cycling Events

Michael Cannon Astride His Speedone

This weekend kicks off the 98th edition of the Tour de France, the peak of the professional cycling calendar. After last year's bore fest I am not looking forward to it as much as I was the Giro. With Alberto Contador riding with a vengeance following his positive test for clenbuterol and the doping ban he has hanging in legal limbo, I am just hoping the Schlecks from Team Leppard (Yes, I know.) or some brighter dark horses can make Contador and his Saxo Bank comrades work a little harder for le Malliot Jaune.

Honestly, after watching the Spanish rider eat up the competition in the Giro d'Italia, I wish everyone luck.

Tour de France:

Brought to you in part by EPO.

VeloNews has a stage by stage breakdown and Contador to be, what Professional Wrestling might describe as the Foil of this Tour. MSNBC chimes in on why Contador sucks.

Cavendish is going green.

BIG George make his 16th Tour appearance.

Cervelo will use the TdF to unveil their new carbon fiber S5. According to Cervelo's new marketing literature, the "S" stands for Supercalifragalisticexpialadocious.

Official TdF page.

Meat Is Murder! David Zabriskie of Garmin-Cervelo hopes to use Tour results to tout the benefits of the vegan lifestyle.

Despite his retirement and an aggressive doping investigation leveraged against him, Lance Armstrong keeps busy at shoring up his golden image.

Cycling Tips keeps tabs of the incestuous relationship between media and sport.

Tour de France viewing online can be found HERE.

Taiwan Events:

The TUAA Alishan Challenge is this weekend. Good Luck! I wish I could join.

The Iilan Road Bike Race will also take place 7/2/2011.

Bikeman's July Events Calendar (Chinese)

Never Stop Wuling Challenge 8/21/2011 (More events listed in Chinese)