Go Biker, Hi Taiwan.

From Nov 14 - 22, 2015, I'll be riding a bike around Taiwan just taking pictures and getting immersed in the culture. 562.5 miles total in the 9 days. averaging 65 miles per day. This blog will capture the sites, sounds, people, food, coffee, and whatever else I encounter along the way.

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Last day - Taipei 101, hotsprings, resturant, street scene Jules guitar solo

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Last night. Decided to keep Jules properly fueled to perform in the streets of Taipei

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Day 9

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Day 7

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Taiwan Formosa 900 Day 5 - Checheng to Kaohsiung

Today was our first on Taiwans west coast. The west is littered with big city after big city, which is a stark contrast to the east of the island, which is drapped in nature. The past few days riding on the east coast of Taiwan has been the most dramatic scenery i’ve ever had the privilege of riding through. The sunlight filtering through the dense jungle gave a sensation of riding through some distant prehistory.

Today was a concrete jungle. As we approached Kaohsiung, it appeared to be a city in a cloud, only the cloud brushed the buildings, and a hazy sunlight and sky appeared overhead. The smog and pollution here are undeniable. And the riding here was not for those weak of spirit.

At first, there’s a thrilling strangeness, even the traffic lights (horizontal rather than vertical) take some getting used to. But there’s a secret to survival on the streets of Taiwanese cities - follow the scooters. The scooters outnumber anything else on the streets by a hefty margin, and while their progress through the streets is at times haphazard and their accompanying whine bothersome, there’s a certain grace to their movement as they surge and weave through traffic. Riding through this environment, you just have to take a deep breath, dive in, and surrender yourself to the flow. Once I went with this nstead of trying to force it to bend to my american preconceptions, it was all smooth sailing. 

We are headed to the night market tonite. I’ll have a separate entry on that experience. 

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Night Market Pics. Don't have time to write much, going to only have 5 hours of sleep as it is before the 130km ride tomorrow, after only 5 hours of sleep before the 90km ride today, and the temps are in the 90′s, so here’s a quick version.

The dude from SF ate a snake. I fished for shrimp, ate that, stinky tofu, and a foot. 

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Here’s a quick vid of Day 4 just as we entered the jungle

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Taiwan Formosa 900 Day 4 -  Zhiben to Checheng

This ended up being one of the most beautiful rides of my life.But it didn't start out that way.

By day 4 of a 9 day cycling trip like this, people start hitting the wall. Our group was no exception. We had two people come down with a fever, a couple people looking like tomatoes with sunburn, a few bad knees, and a general feel of discomfort heading into what was suppose to be the toughest day. 4 climbs, culminating with a 12km climb towards the end of a 120km ride. 

After the last climb, we descended into a jungle. for 15km, we wound through buttery roads alongside aboriginal villages with red faced monkeys and spiders the size of small chainrings on the side of the road. for 40 min, not one word was spoken in the group. Everyone was taking in what was the most remote beauty any of us had seen as dense green mountains darted up on either side of us. The only sound I eventually heard was the 19 year old musician from San Fransisco humming a song for a stretch during the middle of it all. This was absolute tranquility. For a day that started out so daunting, by the end of our smooth cruise through this small patch of southern Taiwan, everyone was ear to ear grinning. I don't have any photos of this jungle ride, because grabbing my iPhone was the last thing I wanted to do.

After dinner a few of us wondered through the village we were staying in for the night. Nothing was open. A few families were on their porches, and fishermen were coming in from a long day under the sun. 

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Taiwan Formosa 900 Day 3

This was a long flat EXTREMELY windy day. There are people here who are in running shoes and hybrids, who had to deal with 20-3omph headwinds. I could only imagine how miserable they must have felt during this ride. My own personal training and ride experience was going to have to be put on hold to help out some of these riders. We have people in their 60′s who I thought might faint on this ride. We had a small girl who couldn't have weighted more than 73 pounds on this ride. It was a long day, but I dropped back to the slowest riders all day and taught them how to draft off my wheel, and I would pull them to the next rest stop. Everyone was beat, Today we just had to make it to the end, and we did, eventually, and by the end of it, with a sense of accomplishment and high spirits. 

hroughout our rides everyday, we’ve seen flashing neon lights all day in every nook and cranky of this country. Today I found out what they were. These lights let people know that Bettlenuts are sold there. Beetle nuts are a nut grown wild on this island, and if you chew them and spit out the juice, it has an effect much like caffeine. It’s popular among truck drives. I bought the entire group some. I didn't feel any effect, but one guy said it took his headache away.

Our reward for the day was a 5 star hot spring resort. 

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Taiwan Formosa 900 Day 2 - JiaoXi to Ruisui

Lets see, woke up to a chinese breakfast, which looks like more like dinner to me. There’s pork belly, noodles, veggies, stew, etc.. after we all agreed that we overrate, it was time to embark on the days journey, which started with a hour and a half train ride heading south to JiaoXi.

The ride was mostly flat, through a valley cut between two mountain ranges. we pasted rice farm after rice farm. The clouds looked like they were going drop a massive amount of water on us, much like the descent in the dark from the day before, but the rain held off, and made for dramatic scenery atop the mountain tips as we rode 110 km to our destination.

Our hotel was a hot springs resort in the middle of nowhere, Taiwan. after dinner, we gathered on my rooms porch, drank beer, and listened to the 19 yo musician from SF play his guitar and sign original song after original song for 2 hours. oh, and before that I was invited to some elderly locals house for Rice Whiskey. I stayed for just long enough to take 2 shots with them. They swore I was native american, the others in our group joined me at the house. 

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Taiwan Formosa 900 Day 3 - Ruisui to Zhiben

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Quick video Day 3. Ruisui to Zhiben The food! ate beetjuice nuts, small intestine stuff with rice, Sugarcane, and traditional chinese dishes for lunch and dinner. The Hotel. stayed at the F Hotel. - 5 star hot spring resort. The ride. Included drafting behind 2 vans going 45. Road bikes on dirt. and pacing straglers back to the group.

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Mid ride Day 2

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View from our doorstep at our hotel on night 2. We stayed at a hot spings resort in Ruisui.