Whup a Links' Ass!: Bike Links Around The Horn

• World Biking gives Taiwan its endorsement as a bicycle travel destination. According to the authors:

Our Verdict

Taiwan is a good choice for a short bicycle touring holiday or as part of a longer Asia tour. Biking Taiwan can be as easy or as difficult as you want to make it. If you want a challenge, hit the mountains and cycle one of the cross island roads. If you want to take it a little easier, stick to biking the quiet roads of Taiwan’s east coast.

All in all, cycling Taiwan poses few difficulties. You rarely have to cycle long distances without services, roads are in good condition and the country is safe enough that you can camp just about anywhere.

• Giant Recall: The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall on Giant's 2012 Defy and Avail road bikes. There appears to be an issue with the carbon forks. Giant does not see this issue impacting its US sales.

• Congratulations to Taiwan's Hsiao Mei-yu. Hsiao finished first in the 500m Track final and sixth place overall in the UCI Track World Cup Womens cycling competion in Beijing. Hsiao has really cemented her stature in the sport on the world stage.

Other Links:

• Outside Online has a great article on tracking bike thieves. I hate thieves the way Indiana Jones hates Nazis and snakes.
• 
  
• The Adventure Blog wants your cycling movies! The third annual Ciclismo Bike Travel Film Festival is looking for your best work. Deadline is March 1st.
• 
  
• The film Bicycle Dreams about the RAAM (Race/Ride Across AMerica) is being screened. Still not the same without Jure.
• 
  
• Bicycle Super Highway? Sweden has the right idea.
• 
  
• Royal Tennenbaum injured while riding without a helmet. Gene Hackman suffered minor injuries while teaching the grandkids how to mix it up.
• 
  
• Will The Cannibal eat his words? Merckx on the state of cycling.
• 
  
• Red Kite Prayer dishes on the top three Gruppos. You asked for it... and you got it. Dura Ace, Super Record and RED in a Texas-style cage match.
• 
  
• Mark V. on the Cervelo R3.

Dakeng: Taichung's Closest Climbs

I have been off the bike for a six weeks and I am really feeling it. After having my leg realigned I was feeling well enough for another attempt at a ride. I needed something close. I needed something easy. I needed something interesting.

My buddy Chris finally had some time as well. He is new to cycling and has really only ridden through the clouds of scooters and cars in the flats of Taichung City with a couple of other excursions.

We decided to hit the foothills in Dakeng above Taichung to make the most of our time and conditioning.

We met in the city and were soon on the "bike path" out toward the golf course on Taiyuan Rd.

There were a few other cyclists out. It is still technically a work day, so not the same volume as on a weekend.

We stopped at the 7-11 on Buzi Rd. to wait for Michael Turton to join us.

Just as we started climbing toward the golf course, we took a left up the Dakeng Alley toward the CKS Campground.

The ride lazily twists around farms and creeks up to the top of the hill.

Chris got his first taste of climbing by burning all his matches on a couple of the steeper sections.

Michael easily spun his way up in preparation for is exciting cycling expedition to Sabah later this month.

I felt pretty good and my knee was pretty well behaved. I tested out my strength and comfort on the bike. The weather was also excellent.

At the top of the hill, I ran into a woman who looked to be in her late 60's getting ready to tackle the steepest section of the road up to the campground. I love seeing seniors still ripping it up.

Chris was happy to celebrate his first "summit". When I first met Chris, he was 6okg heavier and nowhere near being able to climb stairs... let alone a hill. Just awesome!

We chatted for a while at the top before bombing back down to the city.

What a wonderful excursion to get back into the swing of things.

China's Iron Horse: PRC Deploys Giant To Scare Victory For Ma

In a follow-up piece to the Big Bike pre election rally for the incumbent, Ma Ying-jiu, Bicycle Retailer offers up another cheerleading piece for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Taiwan’s manufacturers will benefit from a stable cross-strait relationship, said Tony Lo, chairman of the Taiwan Bicycle Exporters Association and CEO of Giant, the island and the industry’s leading frame maker.

“Taiwan’s high-end bike export to China has grown 87 percent in 2011. It could double again in 2012. This will have a positive influence of the transformation of the Chinese bike market toward recreational and sport in the future,” Lo said in an e-mail.

Lo cited Ma’s ECFA, or Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, which eliminated duties on bikes shipped between Taiwan and China as of January 1. Since Ma signed the ECFA in June 2010—gradually reducing duties on bicycles and other consumer goods exported from Taiwan—the trade pact has already boosted business in China for Taiwan manufacturers like Giant, Merida and rim maker Alex Global.

I think what is important and puzzling to note is that the DPP challenger, Tsai Ing-wen, gave absolutely no indication of repealing ECFA, nor did she indicate anything other than continued business relationships with China. Without the Chinese Nationalist ideology, Tsai's platform actually appeared more pragmatic and tenable for the long term.

So why is cross strait economic stability continually at stake in Taiwan's democratic election cycles?

Simple... It is not.

This is a fantastic example of some of the levers China uses to influence Taiwan's democratic elections.

The only party which can elect to create instability in the economic relations between Taiwan and China... is China. Taiwanese politicians of any stripe gain nothing from poor economic relations with any state, let alone China. China's "anger" is a strategic device. Now, rather than negotiating against diverging interests, Taiwan is reduced to negotiating against the mercurial device of China's potential anger-- a device with no clear definitions or triggers.

So why would China imply it might consider punitive action should its chosen candidate (Ma) not be elected?

The answer would be that China's economic relationships with Taiwan are not designed to be purely economic and in the interest of creating a better business environment, but they also come tainted by China's political designs for Taiwan, which it seeks to annex as part of a greater strategic program of regional economic and territorial expansion.

Ma Ying-jiu makes the perfect foil for Beijing as he also harbors beliefs in Taiwan as a political and cultural dependency of China and therefore, politically, makes sense to Beijing as the candidate who will best cooperate in bringing China's plans to fruition.

Gaint's Tony Lo simply exemplifies how Taiwanese businesses in China can allow themselves to become pawns of a much larger, more dangerous game.

For a long-time observer, it is a little sad seeing a company that has risen on the back of Taiwanese pride, allow itself to be used as a political lever against Taiwanese democracy.

Ma's Victory: The Election Cycles

Although the elections may be over, there is still plenty to think about in the wake of Ma Ying-jou's victory on Saturday.

Ma has found a well of support from big business, which hopes to take advantage of Ma's desire to lock Taiwan's economic fortunes to those of China, despite divergent interests and needs. It is like the meaning of the oft misinterpretation of "What is good for General Motors...." Part of Ma's desire to make Taiwan an economic dependency of China is pragmatic in serving the business community, the other part is his ideological belief in Sun Yat-sen's Chinese nationalism.

Of course we see this each election cycle, where the business community rallies around the president who supports Taiwan's economic and political annexation by China... and then that same community realizes what the more cautious observers are seeing. This is precisely because of the ideological component of the KMT's program.

The American Chamber of Commerce had such a realization in June:

“Taiwan should pursue greater balance by consolidating its economic connections with such other major markets as Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia and especially the United States, the world’s biggest economy,” AmCham chairman Bill Wiseman told a media briefing on the release of the organization’s annual white paper.

Wiseman’s warning came a few hours before the release of Taiwan’s latest trade data, which showed China accounting for 40.2 percent of exports last month, while the US took only 12.3 percent.

“Over-reliance on one market is always risky,” Wiseman said. “Taiwan should not turn away growth when it can get it, but it needs to lock in the future. It needs to go and start broadening its economic relationships beyond focusing so much on China.”

Just prior to Saturday's election Nicola Formosa from Bicycle Retailer released this piece detailing what is essentially a list of KMT talking points thinly veiled as a news article promulgated by the big movers of the bike industry.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN)—Taiwan voters go to the polls this weekend to decide a close presidential race that bears implications for cross-strait relations between the island and mainland China.

Incumbent Ma Ying-jeou of the Chinese National Party, or the Kuomintang, is being challenged by the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen. A third candidate, James Soong Chu-yu of the People First Party, represents that party’s first-ever presidential bid. In the past four years, President Ma’s administration has eased relations between Taiwan and China, opening doors to Chinese tourists with direct flights from the mainland—previously Chinese had to fly through Hong Kong or Macau before arriving in Taipei—and signing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).

The ECFA, a trade pact that ended a 12 percent duty on bikes and most bike parts shipped from Taiwan to China, has already benefitted the cycling industry. Taiwan’s top two frame manufacturers, Giant and Merida, both realized significant increases in revenue from the Chinese market last year. Merida’s revenue from China was up 124 percent through October 2011 and Giant’s rose 40 percent through August. Rim maker Alex Global pointed to the ECFA when announcing that its turnover in China tripled last year. Taiwan exports about 3.8 million bikes annually to the global industry with the U.S. importing about 21 percent of those units. It also exports $480 million in bike parts.

Another term under Ma’s leadership could lead to further cooperation between Taiwan and China, which stands to boost the bottom line for Taiwanese businesses. But, Ma’s opponents believe closer ties across the Taiwan Strait threaten Taiwan’s future independence as the Chinese Communist Party strives to reunite Taiwan and China. Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party have pushed for formal independence from China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province.

Now that the results are in and we know Ma Ying-jiu will be continuing to shape Taiwan's economic policies with China at the center, we need to wonder what this means for Taiwan's bicycle industry.

The big bike companies will continue making money hand over fist using Chinese labor and selling to a Chinese market, creating Chinese jobs. This is very good for the few people who are associated with those big corporations... but this begs the question.... If all those jobs are being created by Taiwanese companies in China... what does Ma intend to replace them with in Taiwan?

The jury is still out. From what I have seen Ma intends to block the hemorrhaging with cycle paths and tourism-- A far cry from any real jobs.

Baby Kit Goes Bike Shopping

Uncle Rocky thinks about bullets dodged

This Lunar New Year our little baby Kit decided she needed to go bike shopping. I sent her to visit Rocky at T-Mosaic with the instructions that she could have anything in the store... as long as it was a size 52cm frame.

Xiao Lan swoops in to rescue Kit

The choices were enough to bring Kit to tears

Ferrari's are fast, but maybe too tall

Hmmm... It matches my blanket...

I'll have to consider

Titanium like Dad's

Oh, the zing of classic steel!

The New TYA!

The indignity of it all! Enough with the pink.

A little sugar boost to get me home

Dad says to wait

Building The Cycling Community

Cashing In On Taiwanese Cycling

One growing trend in Taiwanese cycling is the introduction of larger cash rewards for a victory in a race.

While the idea of cash prizes is nothing new to bicycle racing, in Taiwan the idea is catching on as a way to attract better riders to regional races i the hopes of walking away with a handsome paycheck.

A great example might be Sean Smith, the rider from Taichung who walked away from the Alishan Extreme Challenge last year with USD$22,500 for under 3 hours of work.

Now the Super Rider competition will be adding larger cash prizes for the top finishers.

The administration will put up a total purse of NT$222,000 (US$7,357) for the April 1 race, which will start from Jialulan, a center for driftwood art in Taitung County, head north as far as Sansiantai, and then turn back.

The top 10 finishers will receive prize money of between NT$30,000 and NT$1,000, while those who finish atop different age groups will win from NT$10,000 to NT$2,000, the administration said.

Any team consisting of at least three members can sign up for another 200-kilometer event, and five teams in that race will be eligible to win NT$3,000 each in a lucky draw.

The administration encouraged people to register for the races starting Monday because the 100-kilometer and 200-kilometer races will each be limited to 600 cyclists.

For some of the slicker teams out there, this could be a fun way to put in for that new bike.

And Then He Touched Me: Traditional Medicine For Overuse Injury

In Taiwan we are lucky to have access to two parallel streams of healthcare. We have the traditional system of hospitals and clinics where white coated doctors wear reflectors on their foreheads and prescribe an attack of pills that often resembles a pack of Skittles.

Then we have traditional herbalists.

Both are covered under Taiwan's National Health Insurance program; a single payer system that covers every citizen, their dependents, and every registered worker in Taiwan.

After a host of overuse injuries and too much time off the bike, I was referred to an herbalist in Changhua. This herbalist is also an accomplished rider, so I was encouraged to feel he might be a little more understanding of my situation and of my injury.

I walked in, filled out my registration form, and within 10 minutes I was sitting with the doctor discussing my problem.

He massaged my knee with a perplexed look on his face, and then asked me to stretch out on the massage bed.

"A-ha!" he exclaimed with delight as he lightly patted my spine, "Your muscles in your back are creating an imbalance that is affecting your knee."

Apparently, my riding has developed an imbalance that pulled my bones out of alignment and resulted in an aggravated sciatic nerve.

The doctor pushed and pulled like he was realigning a bent frame.

I stood up and I felt amazing. The tightness in my back was gone. My knee felt better. My hip was loose.

I climbed some stairs and knelt without any sensations in my leg.

The whole procedure took about 10min. after a slathering of traditional goo-cream pads.

If you are having trouble with overuse or pain from cycling, I would totally recommend this guy.

The visit cost me a mere NT 150 (USD$5) with my insurance.

If you decide to go, be sure you or someone you are with, can speak Chinese or Taiwanese. I do not think anyone there can speak English.

Dr. Wu Chiu-Shiong

No.256-1 Chang-nan Rd.

Changhua City, Taiwan

Tel:04-7388838

彰化市彰南路二段256之1號

電話:04-7388838