Exercises To Help Strengthen The Lower Back And Core In Cyclists

My last couple of years have been in and out of the saddle with sciatica/piriformis syndrome and an unstable spine in the lower back. Despite my use of core exercises, daily stretching and regular massage, I have still had trouble in the lower back. A few hard rides before New Year had erased my gains and I found I was chasing my spine back into place. 

After a couple weeks of light riding, the sciatica erupted again at the end of January as a dull, steady pain ran down my leg and into my upper calf. It took about three days to really appear. It was Super Bowl Sunday that I had to admit to being off the bike indefinitely. 

After a less than stellar ride with a physician friend, he directed me toward Foundation Training as recommended by Dr. Eric Goodman. I am always skeptical. I am not one to jump on to internet exercise or diet fads. I am a firm believer in the logical simplicity of human physiology. 

As a sufferer of prolonged, daily acute pain-- Imagine a deep migraine in your hip and leg that comes and goes for weeks and months-- I am also a willing test subject. Sometimes in Taiwan it is hard to find sport related treatment information. 

I have been using the exercises above and have felt immediate results and prolonged results. The inflammation in my hip and leg has almost completely subsided. My back is becoming more stable. I used to go to bed with a perfect trough along my spine. I would wake up with the curvature flattened out. Lately the movement has greatly, greatly reduced. I will continue with these exercises and whatever else Goodman has for FREE on YouTube. 

The exercises make physiological sense. I know there are many others out there suffering with recurring lower back issues from cycling, and like me, want nothing more to be back in the saddle eating mountains. 


DISCLAIMER: I am not employed by or receiving any compensation of any kind from Dr. Goodman or any other organization. My experiences are mine alone and I am not responsible for any injury incurred from following or improperly following the instructions in the video. 

BREAKING! Taiwan Tourism Bureau Infotisement Doesn't Suck.

The Taiwan Tourism Bureau has a paid cycling tourism infotisement in the latest volume of the Smithsonian Magazine.

Over the last two decades, Taiwan has transformed into a cyclist's paradise, opening thousands of kilometers of interwoven bikeways through some of the island's most beautiful landscapes. The extensive new network of routes has earned the country many accolades, including a spot on Lonely Planet's 2012 Best Countries to Visit list and CNN Travel's top "Cycling Routes That'll Take Your Breath Away," and for good reason. By bike, visitors can cruise past hillsides painted with colorful flower farms, marvel at the geology of Taroko Gorge's marble walls, follow old rail lines through retired mining tunnels, cross thrill-inducing suspension bridges and sample sweet pineapple cakes from local farm stands. 

The countless routes provide plenty of opportunities for individual exploration, but here are six of the most spectacular bikeways to fuel the imagination.

My biggest quibbles would be that Sun Moon Lake is not a route for cyclists, but for non-cyclists who want to hop on a bike for the first time in decades and follow the shore. It is an environment that, at least on weekends, is not suitable for regular cyclists. 

The other issues I might have would be inviting cyclists to jump into the streets of the Xinyi District with no knowledge of how Taiwan traffic functions, and the loop through a bunch of prefab buddhas and a brand new temple of concrete and rebar. For me, personally, it does nothing. Someone might be into those things. Bagua Shan can be great, but the Buddha they affixed to the site of the former Japanese Shinto Shrine is a bit of a contrivance. 

The Yuli Bikeway and the interior of the Rift Valley is exquisite. Taroko Gorge is also something a visiting cyclist should hope to see. Though Taroko is best visited early before the hordes of tourists and motor coach trains start up the gorge after 9:00am.

A Giant Step Backwards: LA Times Promotes Giant

Something is afoot as there seems to be a sudden influx in cycling related news regarding bicycles and Taiwan. And why not? There is something to be sold. 

Tiffany Hsu has a very lengthy piece that made it into the Los Angeles Times detailing Giant as a major shaker in the bicycle industry. Hsu does an admirable job in her reporting as she refrains from annexing Taiwan to China or creating artificial conflict in that regard. The more interesting pieces of the article are the points where Giant CEO, Anthony Lo, speaks his mind and reveals a little bit about Giant, the company's trajectory, and moreover, it sheds a little light on how Giant is writing its own mythology.

Tony Lo says he has the solution for traffic- and smog-choked Los Angeles: Get people to hop on bikes. 

For Lo, it’s a convenient proposal to make. He’s chief executive of Giant Manufacturing Co., a Taiwan-based company with U.S. headquarters in Newbury Park that calls itself the world’s largest bicycle producer by revenue.Such concerns weigh heavily on the small island nation, which is trying to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels as smog drifts across the strait separating Taiwan’s western coast from China.

Of course, as I have recently written in an earlier post, it is not entirely accurate to simply blame China for our own air pollution. For much of the year Taiwan's air pollution is the result of domestic polluters and our reliance on coal-fired power plants. Naphtha cracker production is also a major source of airborne pollution as we have seen with the Formosa Plastics foundry in Yunlin, which was recently the focus of a protest against PM2.5 emissions as the topic has gained some political traction. Taiwan continues to rely on the burning of fossil fuels with two recent dips, which correlate to periods of negative economic growth.

In recent years the Taiwanese have embraced cycling culture as never before, Lo told a group of American journalists last week. 

“In the past 10 years, Taiwan has turned from a biking desert into a biking island,” he said at Giant’s original manufacturing and assembly plant in the Dajia District of Taichung City. “If Taiwan can do this under not very favorable conditions, there’s no place where it cannot happen.” 

The number of motorcycles and scooters in the country is declining, he said. Increased demand for bikes allowed Giant to launch a hotel that caters to cyclists, a public bike rental system with more than 5,000 bicycles and a brand dedicated to women called Liv.

Mr. Lo's assessment is a cynical one at best. According to the government's own statistics (through 2013), while the number of scooter drivers has dropped in recent years to 2007 numbers of 6073 scooters per 10,000 residents, the number of private automobiles has risen to 3152 for every 10,000 residents, an increase of 204 vehicles. The data spanning from 2007 to 2013 shows shows very little change in the reduction of private motor vehicles and, at first glance, appears to follow Taiwan's economic health as opposed to an interest in physical health. The numbers do not include bicycles for transportation, but the real difference seems to be from mass transit, such as trains and MRT systems which respectively saw large increases in ridership with the introduction of more frequent trains an expanded MRT systems. The bicycle is really insignificant in Taiwan's transportation infrastructure.



Of Course, Tony Lo should know this. Both Lo and Giant's founder and president, King Liu, have close ties to the government as the latter served as a special presidential advisor on transportation and bicycle policy.

This partnership between the corporation and the government has produced little by means of emissions reduction-- the U Bike program being the only meaningful program that is aimed at transportation-- and instead focused largely on the more lucrative side of the business, which is to view the bicycle as a tool for prestige and leisure. I have written multiple times that there is nothing wrong with leisure cycling. It is a great way to exercise and see Taiwan. I would also argue that it does little to reduce emissions as it is simply replacing other activities that also do not produce emissions-- activities such as jogging, badminton and crochet. I might also argue that the focus on leisure cycling could potentially be adding to the very problem Giant claims to be solving. Since leisure cycling does not act to limit an individual's regular carbon emissions associated with necessary transportation it is important to look at Giant's goal of producing and selling more product.

If we consider the environmental impact of bicycle production, it is far lighter than a car. On the other hand, industrial bicycle production requires sourcing raw materials, energy from fossil fuels, toxins and other emissions. It is important to consider the greater environmental impact of these machines of leisure. As Giant has helped reduce the cost of leisure and recreation bicycles, it has increased the number of carbon fiber frames and components on the roads. Carbon fiber is not a commonly recyclable material and will often end up in a landfill. The longer a bike lasts, the smaller impact it will have. Unfortunately, the bikes Giant wishes to sell are the bikes with the highest profit and the highest rates of turnover.  Giant's recommendation to the government has been to construct more leisure cycling paths. One of the best studies on the topic concludes over the course of the 20 year lifespan of a bicycle path, it would require 115 cyclists 440 commutes per year over 5km to offset the carbon footprint of the cycle path. Of course, this is for commuters in which the cycling is a substitute for other forms of transportation. Read the whole paper HERE.

Giant launched in 1972 making bike parts for companies such as Schwinn Bicycle Co. but introduced its own brand in 1981 after losing orders to China. 

Not long after, Giant and its Taiwanese rivals decided to focus on high-end bikes to distinguish themselves from the cheaper models churned out by Chinese competitors.

I find this section of Hsu's piece very interesting as it almost entirely focuses on the Chairman, Tony Lo, rather than the president and founder, King Liu.

Giant has, at great expense, promoted the story of King Liu to capture the hearts and minds of Taiwanese. I personally enjoy this recent characterisation from Want Want China Times:

I find King Liu a very interesting case, in examining how much of the story was left on the editing room floor.

The King Liu story is built upon the foundations of a Horatio Alger narrative-- scrappy a down-on-his-luck figure overcomes adversity to pull himself up by his bootstraps and realize his ultimate boon.

He began his own business raising eels at the age of 35, but he was brought to the brink of bankruptcy when a typhoon destroyed his eel ponds. 

He subsequently founded Giant in 1972 as a contracted manufacturer of bicycles, where he struggled for three years to keep the new company from collapsing.
Just when he was able to turn his company from running in the red to running in the black, a client whose order accounted for three-fourths of Giant's revenue suddenly stopped working with Liu's company. 

More miseries lied ahead, he says in the book. At the age of 63, Liu was diagnosed with gastric cancer and had to have half of his stomach removed, and then many of Taiwan's bicycle component makers moved overseas, causing Giant to lose nearly all of its suppliers overnight. 

At 73, Liu found himself plagued with sleep apnea, blood clots, and a slipped disc. Despite the obstacles, he decided it was time to ride around Taiwan on his own Giant bicycle in defiance of the opposition of every one of his family members and friends.

In many ways this is the Taiwanese monomyth that resonates throughout Taiwanese culture. As the locus of multiple colonization projects, Taiwan's social, economic and political structures have been forced to adapt to changing realities. Taiwanese have a history of pragmatic change and adaptation. The unfolding narrative is one of survivors. An examination of Taiwanese popular music and literature is full of fantastic tales of the wandering man who leaves home to make his fortune, only to return home or to dream of returning to his hometown. Songs such as, 離開故鄉來流浪, 舊皮箱的流浪兒 and 出外人 are classic examples of the popular image of the wandering man.

The myth of King Liu is, in my opinion, deliberate in this type of imagery to appeal to an existing sense of local pride. The moniker "Bicycle Kingdom" that is often used in fawning print articles is a cute reference to King Liu. 

What Giant seems to ignore in the mythologizing of King Liu, was the mighty hand of the KMT party-state and the role of the Lo family in Giant's success.

By the mid 1960's Taiwan was entering unfamiliar territory. As a sojourn state, the prospects of American aid in "retaking the mainland" were quite dim. Taiwan was under strict martial law with an strong state controlled economy (price restrictions, monopolies and tariffs). Taiwan had been protected from world economic fluctuations due to artificial government stimulation, few foreign investments and the infusion of American aid. (See Gold;1986)

Under pressure from the United States, Taiwan embarked on economic reforms that stemmed from multiple state directed plans to use Kuomintang funds to spur investment and economic growth in the private sector. As the term "private enterprise" tended to euphemistically mean "owned by local Taiwanese", the state hoped to curtail opposition. These SMEs became subcontractors for Japanese manufacturers in an export economy. Taiwanese' close ties to Japan made the arrangement a smooth transition. By 1972, the KMT party state searched for a new 6 year plan and investments to boost the economy. This is the time of King Liu's misfortune with eels. He essentially was given a KMT backed loan to switch from the local economy to the export economy. There is speculation that Tony Lo's "mainlander" background may have served as a buffer or guarantee for the fledgling bike manufacturer and its state patron. I am curious if Lo will be stepping up to replace Liu as the "Visionary Giant". 

About 2,000 people work in Giant's Taichung complex. Roughly 20% of them hail from Vietnam and Thailand and are housed in dormitories. 

Like many other major economies, Taiwan is facing a disconnect between employers and the workforce. Many companies have positions to fill but can’t find the needed applicants locally. 

“We don’t have enough labor in Taiwan,” Lo said. “Young people don’t want to go into manufacturing.”

I find the quote above to be quite interesting. In Taiwan we often see tycoons and wealthy politicians lament the "laziness" of young Taiwanese. In one recent Want Want China Times article: 

Pan Wei-kang, a lawmaker from Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang, says members of the country's younger generation lack ambition and have lost competitiveness compared to their contemporaries in mainland China and the Philippines, writes our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.  

Pan said young people in Taiwan are generally well educated but many of them are unwilling to face reality. Many college graduates fail to find jobs and continue to depend on their parents financially or go on to graduate study or take part in working holiday visa programs to defer joining the workforce, the lawmaker said. 

These sentiments were often hurled at the students who came out in force to support the Sunflower Movement and are, in general, feeling ever marginalized in Taiwan.

The anthropologist, Anru Lee, in her excellent work on labor in Taiwan In The Name of Harmony and Prosperity: Labor, Gender and Politics in Taiwan's Economic Restructuring, writes:

The myth that Taiwanese young people are spoiled and lazy is false. Young Taiwanese with college degrees take low starting salaries. Last year, Terry Gou, another famous tycoon based in Taiwan, insisted the young people of Taiwan were spoiled and that a reasonable starting salary for a college graduate at the technology colossus, Foxconn, should make NT22,000 per month (roughly USD$729). Many Taiwanese are pressured into working massive amounts of unpaid overtime. Many foreign workers make just over NT15000 per month. 

I was recently privy to both an applicant and potential employer's negotiation. The applicant has 10 years of experience as a buyer. She had been a stay-home mom for two years and was hoping to go back to work. She demanded NT26,000 per month. The potential employer would edge no higher than NT24,000. 

When we consider the problem of unaffordable housing from the current housing bubble, where the rich have saturated the housing market for safe investments, the rising cost of utilities, young people can not afford to work for Giant. 

Meanwhile....

Tony Lo is in China helping to shift the leading role of the Asian bicycle industry to a China based organization that will likely promote industry centered growth for whatever is best for the few at the very top of the food chain. 



Lee, Anru. 2004. In the Name of Harmony and Prosperity: Labor and Gender Politics in Taiwan's Economic Restructuring. New York, State University of New York Pres. 

 Gold, Thomas B. 1986. State and Society in the Taiwan Miracle. New York, M.E. Sharpe, Inc. ISBN 0-87332-399-8

MOTC Launches Bicycle Route Advisory App: It is yours for free... if you can find it.

  

Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications has, apparently, launched a new web service, including a mobile app. to help cyclists better navigate their way around Taiwan. The service is in Chinese and English. 

The app, prepared by the Directorate General of Highways under MOTC, aims to serve people interested in a biking tour of the Fulung- Toucheng section of Highway 2, Taroko-Wuling section of Highway 8 and Highway 14-A, Xindian-Wulai section of Highway 9-A, Taitung-Changpin section of Highway 11, Puli-Wuling section of Highway 14 and Highway 14-A, and Chukou-Alishan section of Highway 18.

The service also includes information on hill gradients, lodging, restaurants and services along Taiwan's six busiest cycling routes. 

The app. is all yours... if you can find it.  

As this writer has experienced, the service and mobile app. is elusive and does not appear in the MOTC press release or the residual media reports. 

If anyone can find this service, please direct me to it and I will update this post. 

Focus Taiwan

Want Want China Times

Taiwan News

MOTC Website

It may or may not be related to the Inno-Biker app. from the Taiwan External Trade Development Council.  

Or it may be related to the Institute of Transportation's GoBiker app. with was released in 2012. The Institute of Transportation under the MOTC seems to be an extra bureaucratic layer meant to duplicate, confuse and mis/redirect web inquiries. The MOTC and IOT sites are not linked, but seem to fall under the same authority. 

I'm glad they are making it easy on us. 

Oh... Taiwan Information Technology Specialists... What would we ever do without you?

Chinese Manufacturers Eat Merida's Lunch

 
Bike Europe is reporting that Merida's profits have declined compared to last year. 

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a reporter from Bike Europe during Taipei Cycle as we amiably sparred over the prospect of Chinese manufacturers edging out Taiwanese companies for both design and production. 

The reporter seemed to doubt that China would ever displace Taiwanese manufacturers as he felt they had done a very good job holding onto sensitive data and processes that enabled the Taiwanese firms to merely exploit cheaper Chinese labor without losing any advantage. I was doubtful. I always revisit the great debate over silicon wafer manufacturing in China from 2002, when Taiwanese firms and economists alike declared that there would be no leakage of sensitive technology to China through Taiwanese operations in that country. We see how that all worked out. 

We then saw the world rally around ECFA, the trade agreement signed between Taiwan and China with the aim, as Fortune mentions, to "end Taiwan's economic isolation." Regardless of Taiwan's decades of deep supply side economic ties to the United States, Japan and Europe. 

Giant's Tony Lo was an early champion of ECFA as evidenced in this Taipei Times article:

Anthony Lo (羅祥安), chief executive officer of local bicycle maker Giant Global Group (巨大集團), said the government needs to establish a vision.

“What Taiwanese enterprises want to see is the government striving to help businesses build unique brands that can provide innovative products and services,” Lo said on the sidelines of the forum.

Lo said Taiwan needs to integrate into regional markets as soon as possible so local firms can enjoy the trading privileges that other nation’s companies do, such as tariff exemptions.

“The markets are changing so fast that the rules have been reset, and if we don’t catch up, it is going to be harder for us to hold our own in the global market,” he added.

If anyone would like a little more spice with your shock doctrine, you can also read up on the threat to Taiwan without signing the Cross-Strait Services Agreement, a non-procedural agreement that was illegally passed, then assailed by the Sunflower Movement. 

Despite the promises of greater exports to China and increased sales of Taiwanese goods to the billions in need of a toothbrush, The View from Taiwan points out how ECFA has not improved Taiwanese exports vs. Chinese imports. 

Ho hum....

So what was the cause of Merida's profit troubles? 

JPMorgan Securities Ltd. reported in the Taipei Times that, “A lack of fundamental improvement in the outlook of its Chinese business remains the biggest structural issue facing Merida Industry Co.” Given Merida’s continued weakness in business in China amid intensifying competition with Chinese manufacturers, JPMorgan foresees a 7 percent increase in turnover this year. 

Last year Merida officially opened a new Chinese factory with an annual capacity of 2 million units making it the number two premium bike manufacturer in the world.

Moreover, the Chinese sport and leisure bicycle business has failed to materialize in all its glory due to pollution and a preference for alternative forms of superficial prestige. Even the Tour of Beijing, which was to serve as a major marketing tool for high-end/high margin bicycles in China has been shelved due to concerns regarding sponsorship, organization and China's notoriously toxic smog. 

Lots of bike industry eggs in this one basket. 

Maybe the next administration will discover a regional friend with mutual interests.... Oh, hello Philippines!

Taiwan Tourism Bureau Wants YOU to Boat, Bike and Run: East Coast Rafting Triathlon

The Taiwan Tourism Bureau is looking for some foreigners to join the annual East Coast Rafting Triathlon & is offering 40 slots with FREE TRANSPORT, HOTEL & RACE ENTRY!

Race Date: Sun June 21. Travel down on Sat June 20

Discipline: Rafting 10km plus, Run 10-12km, Bike 40km
(2015 event details yet to be published. Last years 2014 info here - http://mmweb.tw/act/27809)

In teams of 6-8 for the rafting portion then running + biking on your own

To join please send the following ASAP to Carrier Ho:
1. Scanned copy of your ID showing name, nationality, DOB, ID no
2. Your mobile contact number & email

Taiwan Cycling and Air Quality: A Tragedy of Commons

Taiwan Air Quality
 
This past weekend presented some great riding opportunities. The rain held off long enough for some people to brave Taiwan's notoriously unpredictable traffic. But maybe the wet roads and automobiles will not be what eventually kills off the Taiwanese cyclist. It may be something even more insidious and unavoidable. We may be felled by the air we breathe.

Over the weekend the pollutants on the 2.5 PM scale, or particles under 2.5 million micrometers in size, reached unhealthy levels measuring 154 micrograms per cubic meter or air from Taichung through Miaoli County. Later in the day the index in the Puli basin peaked well above 350mcg/m3. This is not and will not be the first time.  

According to the Taiwan Healthy Air Alliance, the poorest air quality can be found in Yunlin's Mailiao Township, and in Nantou County's Puli Township. This is mostly due to the coal-fire power plant and the massive Formosa Plastics complex in Mailiao and Puli's natural basin trapping the air from the Nantou industrial area and the Dalin coal-fired power plant. With Puli being the gateway to Sun Moon Lake and several major tourist attractions and national parks, the government has been slow to take action. 


Taiwan Air Quality 4/18/2015

Taiwan's air pollution is not merely the problem of individual localities and townships. This is a tragedy of commons. 

1. Taiwan can partially blame the poor air quality on the winter monsoon that sweeps China's industrial and natural air pollution across Taiwan during the winter months. In recent years deforestation and  environmental degradation in western China has led to an increase in seasonal sand storms that blow across Asia from the Gobi Desert. 

2. China can not be blamed for all of Taiwan's poor air quality. Taiwan draws much of its electrical power from six coal-fired power plants. Taichung's coal-fired power plant is the largest in the world and the world's largest single source of carbon-dioxide emissions with over 40million tons of CO2 emissions annually (more than the entire nation of Sweden emits annually). Five of the six coal-fired power plants are located along Taiwan's densely populated western plain shifting the dispersal of emissions lengthwise over most of Taiwan's population. The sixth is located in Hualien, one of the mainstays of Taiwan's eco-tourism push. 

3. Traffic emissions have gotten worse as more Taiwanese take to the roads on weekdays in order to arrive at their jobs that are moving further away from affordable housing on a Taiwanese salary. 

4. Another major source of Taiwan's air pollution is, in part, natural. Taiwan's soil is mostly loose clay pushed out of the seabed and as a narrow, steep island, Taiwan fails to retain much of its water runoff, leaving vast, dry stream beds. During periods of high winds, fine particles of dust billow up out of the dry stream beds and fill the air with dust. This is a phenomenon that had been observed as early as the 19th Century, so it is not the result of more recent industrialization. 

Still, I say the phenomenon is "in part" natural, as manmade factors also help to contribute to the problem. Like many other places worldwide, human initiated climate change has resulted in the increasing severity of seasonal drought with development and deforestation leading to greater erosion on hillsides and riverbeds leaving more land exposed to high winds. Moreover, much of Taiwan's topsoil is contaminated from agricultural and industrial toxins that can become airborne with loose soil. Heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, and lead can be blown from the soil to mix with carbon-dioxide, carbon-monoxide, nitrogen-oxide sulphur-dioxide...the last three being the major pollutants from cement manufacturing... a mainstay in Taiwan's ubiquitous construction industrial complex. 

It is not difficult to see why this writer is incredulous in the face of vast government expenditures on leisure cycling when the government's plans will only encourage residents to go from the basketball court, swimming pool or badminton court to a bicycle lane. A leisure cycling path does little to curb emissions from where they are generated. It is simply politicians playing the all too cynical game of Three Card Monte with public funds.

Do the positives of cycling outweigh the negatives of breathing pollution?  

 ...as it turns out, face another peril: pollution. New research has found that bicycle commuters inhale twice the amount of black carbon particles as pedestrians. Inhalation of such gunk (aka soot) is associated with reduced lung function and even heart attacks.
The researchers, led by Professor Jonathan Grigg from Barts and the London School of Medicine, compared carbon levels in the lungs of five healthy bicycle commuters those of five healthy pedestrian commuters. The bicyclists had 2.3 times more of the bad stuff in their lungs. Presumably, the cyclists' heavy breathing -- all that good aerobic stuff -- is responsible for the increased presence of black carbon.

So, as cyclists in Taiwan where do we go? 

1. Taiwan could be entirely run on renewables. We have the engineering and infrastructure available to devote toward energy independence without the nuclear option. We do not have the political will to challenge Tai-Power. Renewables do not have the same patronage potential of the massive, centralized "power plant" that requires mountains of concrete and billions of dollars of rigged bids. One friend who worked for the Number 4 Nuclear Power Plant has confided that it was impossible to work on the facility without being compromised by corruption. Thus, he quit. Wind farms and solar arrays do not provide the "necessary" structural requirements that conceal the flow of expenditures. 

2. Taiwan needs to cooperate with other Asian nations to find multilateral support to help curb Chinese pollution in general. Moreover, Taiwanese companies need to avoid using China as a toxic dump by proxy as Taiwanese firms have invested in Chinese manufacturing, the pollution is coming home to roost. 

3. Higher wages, lower housing prices, better integration between pedestrian, bicycle and mass transit including urban bike lanes and bike racks on busses would be a great start for the commute. 

4. Increased efforts to both clean and eliminate industrial waste in the soil would be a great start. 

As we saw with the Kuokuang Petrochemical Complex in Changhua, awareness and activism can, sometimes, beat corporate interests and Taiwan's colonial economy. 

Until some major changes are implemented, we, as cyclists in Taiwan, must head out onto the roads with the understanding that we are being poisoned.

Taiwan will not be able to tout its bicycle tourism until Taiwan is finally breathable.


Appendix:

Taiwan Air Pollution Index: Real Time Tracking

Monitor Air Pollution app

Taiwan's Air Pollution Rank Worldwide