Rain Riding to Fulong and Back

All pictures @ Rain Riding to Fulong - Please do excuse the picture quality, it was raining and difficult tot ake pictures.

On the Way to Pingxi

I chose to ride to Fulong today. Queenie was busy so I was free and decided to get on the bike and see how far I could go. It was an awesome ride and I made many new and wonderful friends along the way. The only trouble was, it rained most of the way and I was filthy by the end of the ride (no mudguard on the rear wheel threw all the crap in the puddles onto my back). It was a great ride and I had a tremendous sense of achievement at the end of it. It wasn't the longest ride anyone has done, but for me it was challenging and I am super pleased I got to the end. I left in the morning at around 10:15am and I got home at around 8:00pm: a full 10 hours on the seat of my bike.

The Route

The Beginning

My friend Peter has posted an approximate map of the route I took here (thanks Peter). The basic route is easy to follow. I headed straight down Hoping East Road until it changes into Wolong Street and then onto Jun Gong Road. From there I turned left onto Mucha Road Section 4 and followed the road until it became Route 106. From there I followed Route 106 all the way to Fulong going through Shenkeng, Shiding, Pingxi and Shi Fen. In She Fen I turned right onto Route 2 South towards Shuang Shi and Gong Lia0 township. From there I connected with Highway Route 2 for the final 500 meters into Fulong. From there I turned around and followed Route 5 all the way up to Keelung and then turned left onto Route 5 through Badu, Chidu, Shi Zhr, Nangang and finally home. It was an absolutely brilliant ride.

Not Quite the End - Still needed to ride to Taipei

Starting Out

I knew Queenie would be busy on this Saturday for a long time and so in my mind I had planned a long trip on my bike. Although the preceding week started with some beautiful weather, as we got closer to the weekend the weather started to turn sour and by Friday night it was pouring with rain. I thought I would forget the ride. I had remembered my last disasterous attempt of riding in the rain that ended in failure in Tamsui (Cycle Trip to Tamsui, Via Keelung). By the time Saturday morning came around there was a slight drizzle which cleared up around 10:00am. I planned on going on a short bike ride in the beginning and just head out to the zoo. Once I got down to Mucha I pushed on to Shenkeng and saw the 106 and decided to follow it to Shiding. Once in Shiding it had already started to pour with rain and I was completely drenched so decided to push through to Fulong and back home through Keelung. What a beautiful day it turned out to be.

Near the Zoo


Shengkeng


Shenkeng


Election Posters were all along the route

Rain Riding: Advantages & Disadvantages

Empty Tunnel from Pingxi

The huge advantage of rain riding is that the road is your own which makes it surprisingly safe. At least through the mountains. Traffic was minimal, there were few other cyclists on the road and it was very peaceful. It gave me the opportunity to enjoy nature without much disturbance and allowed me to be alone with my thoughts. Of course the views of the mountains in the middle of the route were outstanding in the rain. The low lying clouds made the views magical and mysterious: absolutely beautiful. The vegetation was a lush green and one could breathe all the fresh air in the world, which can only be good for you. The other advantage is that you don't get sunburn and don't dehydrate as quickly. The disadvantages are obvious: you get wet, the road is slippery, you cannot ride as fast and because of the wind, I started to get severe cramps towards the end of the ride in Shi Zhr in both legs. It was hard to carry on pushing on the pedals but I just breathed through the pain and made sure I got through to the end.

Temple outside Pingxi


Looking Back into the Valley


Lush Vegetation


Misty Mountains

New Friends

New Friends in Pingxi

Along the route I managed to meet a lot of new friends. I bumped into a group of riders in Pingxi and stopped to chat with them and take some pictures. They had also come from Taipei but refused my invitation to ride on to the North East Coast and back home through Keelung. We took pictures together, handed out facebook addresses (some of us are now connected) and I headed off on my own pushing for Fulong.

From Tainan to Fulong in Five Days

In Fulong I met two guys who had ridden up from Tainan over 5 days. They were soaked and where overnighting in Fulong. They felt sorry for me all drenched in rain and mud and offered me their raincoat which I politely rejected arguing I was already soaked and it wouldn't make much of a difference anyway. They told me to get my ass down to Tainan as some of the best riding in Taiwan they believed was in the South. I might just do that and get my buddy Peter to ride with me. It would be a joy to ride with Peter again.

AMD Green Team - Day 15/16 Around Taiwan

As I was heading back to Keelung I ran into a bunch of round island riders. They were on day 15 of day 16. They were heading for Keelung and asked me to join them. Since the North East road was really busy and they had three cars driving with them with one in the front and two in the back forming a safety pocket for the riders, it seemed sensible. They too offered a rain coat which I refused (since I was already wet) and we rode together all the way to Keelung. The only problem with riding with these folks was that they were really fast and I struggled to keep up with them and, very often, landed up behind them. In the end all was good and we managed to ride into Keelung together which is where I took my leave, turned my bike onto the road by myself again and headed along the No. 5 Road back to Taipei.

Abalone Farm


Wild Coast


Fishing Boats

The Last Stretch

This part was tough. I had already been riding for 8.5 hours, I hadn't had anything to eat since I 11:00am in the morning and only a cup of coffee to drink in Fulong. It was cold, I had been wet for most of the day and when I was going up the final incline from Chidu to Shi Zhr both my legs started cramping badly. I knew I needed to eat and drink something. I finally made it to Shi Zhr and stopped at a McDonald's for something to fill me up. After that it was a pretty uneventful, but painful ride back into Taipei and home. All in all the ride took 9 hours and 45 minutes to complete.

Some Additional Thoughts

Dead Lotuses in a Pond

When I got back home everyone thought I was stupid to ride in the rain. I also thought it was a bit dumb but whatever. Was I cold? Yes! Was I wet? Of course! Was I tired? Yes! Was it dangerous? No! Why ride in the rain? Because I can! When I was out there on the road in the rain, especially on Route 106 in the mountains, there were hardly any cars, trucks, motorcycles or bicycles. It was very very peaceful. And I loved it. The mountains in the rain and low lying clouds are beautiful. The vegetation is so lush and green and reminds me of how beautiful Taiwan is. It reminds of how beautiful God's bountiful nature is. It reminds of where I grew up (the climates and vegetation is similar). But most of all it is peaceful and beautiful. When you want to stop, you stop! When you want to ride fast, you ride fast. And when you want to slow down, you slow down! It was fantastic and at the end of the ride I had a real feeling of accomplishment. As I said at the beginning, it is certainly not the most challenging ride one can do in Taiwan, but it was challenging enough for me given the conditions. That does beg the question: would I deliberately ride in rain like that again? Probably not. But if on the road the rain came, it wouldn't deter me: I would just carry on going.

One last thought: Over the past two months I have been doing a committed excercise program. I noticed on this journey my endurance was much better on the bike than before and pushing 10kg less up a mountain road with more muscles in the legs certainly makes things easier. When my speedometer was working I noticed on some mild grade inclines I was able to sustain 30km/hr speeds for significant periods of time. Of course, the steeper inclines made that impossible. Still, being fitter helped the riding and I am happy for that. The leg cramps at the end I believe were my fault for not hydrating and eating properly on the way. Next time I will prepare better.

The Final Damage

My odometer only worked intermittently: the final damage was 114km. But I believe it might have been closer to between 135 ~ 140km (maybe more). My legs were definitely sore the next day and my bike needs some maintenance (the chain kept slipping). Other than that, a brilliant ride and one that would be super amazing in the right, rainless, clear-day conditions. So get on your bikes and start pedaling.

All pictures @ Rain Riding to Fulong - Please do excuse the picture quality, it was raining and difficult tot ake pictures.

Cycle Trip to Tamsui, Via Keelung

I apologize in advance for the poor quality of pictures - the light yesterday was bad and the rain made it even more difficult with water getting onto the lens of the camera.

The Coast Line

The Plan

Kipling once wrote: "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same..." Today I felt I had met both triumph and disaster and I tried to bear these words in mind so as not to get too anxious over the situations that arose. Today I went on this incredible ride from my home in Taipei to Keelung (基隆) and then along the North coast road to Tamsui (淡水), passing Yehliu (野柳), Jin Shan (金山), Bashaiwan (白沙灣), San Zhi (三芝 and finally to Tamsui (淡水). The trip was also meant to include riding back from Tamsui (淡水). to home, another 28km stretch along the river but disaster struck at the end as the gear assembly on the back wheel got completely ripped out and my rear wheel seized up. The triumph of course was the trip, the disaster was the weather and the broken bike.

Before I start I must comment that most of my riding here in Taiwan has been inspired by my mate Peter who has done much to dispel the misperceptions of distance in my head. When a person talks about going to Keelung from Taipei, many people think it is far away, when in fact it is pretty close (only about 25km). The same is true of Tamsui (28km along the river) and Wulai (28km). So after riding to Wulai last week (those damn mountain climbs are brutal for the unfit like me) I decided to head off to Keelung then swing North along the coastal road and head down to Tamsui and from there back home to Taipei. The road from Keelung to Tamsui is pretty simple, as is the road from Tamsui to Taipei. I was just confused about the road to Keelung until I read Keelung to Taipei in 01:03 (騎省道台五線輕鬆地打通基隆及台北的界線) by Jeff Miller. In the article he suggested taking Provincial Road 5 which connects to Provincial Road 2 that takes you up onto the North Coast Road.

Provincial Road 5

To Keelung ((基隆)

So with the route planned, I got up early on Sunday morning and decided to get out the house by 7:30am to make sure I could make some good time and be home by 4:00pm. As it turned out, this was not to be. Leaving early was a good thing. There was no traffic on the road. There was one nearly critical incident when two taxis were racing and got a little too close to the side of the road for comfort, but other than that, the traffic all the way up to Xizhi was pretty quiet with no major complications. I figured the trip itself would be about 120km and my approach was not so much for speed, but more to be relaxed and enjoy an easy pace the whole way (which I mostly achieved).

Taipei 101 Early Morning

Acer Building in Xizhi

Fellow Cyclists

I was surprised to find how good the signage was for most of the way, except in Keelung itself where the signs, I felt, were not as clear or frequent as they needed to be. As I was unsure of the way I stopped an old lady to ask her for directions to Tamsui. She looked at me, carefully measured me up and then with all the sincerity in the world said: "I think it would be better if you took the bus. It is very far from here." I explained to her that I was riding for fun and excercise and her reply was still the same: "I think the bus is better." In hindsight, maybe she was right!

Keelung City

Cidu Station

Keelung River

Way to Go

Despite her insistence on the bus, I managed to figure out the road and started to head out towards Yehlio but up until now I had not eaten any thing. I quickly found a breakfast store on the side of the road, wolfed down a bacon egg roll and two cups of ice tea and was ready to roll within 15 minutes. By this time I knew exactly which road to take and that it would be more or less straight riding from there into Tamsui (which I figured would be about 55km).

Breakfast Store

Breakfast

The North Coast

After leaving the breakfast store I noticed a slight drizzle had started. I then rode for about another 10~15 minutes, climbed a hill and saw the Pacific Ocean in front of me. I then suddenly found myself humming Toad the Wet Sprocket lyrics gently to myself:

We spotted the ocean
At the head of the trail
Where are we goin'
So far away
And somebody told me
That this is the place
Where everything's better
And everything's safe

Of course the first view of the ocean was breath taking. It always is for me. I never get tired of seeing the ocean and it was especially special this time as I had had to work so hard to get there. I felt like I had earned the view. It was a good feeling. On the way down towards the ocean, I saw three other cyclists going the opposite way. Apart from them, and the riding team that passed me in Xizhi, I saw no other cyclists the whole day. I guess everyone else had seen the weather report and decided not to ride. But at this point I was blissfully unaware and really enjoying the view, the light drizzle and the coolness in the air.

First View of the Ocean


The Coast

I rode down the hill and started to enjoy the gentle ride along the coast. The ocean was beautiful and fairly calm. There were not too many cars on the road and even fewer motorocycles. Every few kilometers I would stop under a shelter (as the rain was getting progressively worse) to take in the view. Each time there were a few people enjoying the view and they were all fairly astonished at the sight of the lone cyclist hammering away along the North road in the rain. A few sheepish smiles were thrown my way but no comments or suggestions.

Fishing Boats


Sea Shore


Me and the Model

At about 11:00am I finally made it into Yehliu (野柳). My plan was to get a good picture of me and the Queen's head. Unfortunately, as I approached Yehliu I could see an ocean of umbrellas on the rocks and I realized not even the rain could deter the tour buses. As I got into Yehliu I was shocked to see so many tour buses in the smallest of parking areas. I never bothered to count them but I would have to guess there were at least 30 buses there. That dispelled any notion of getting pictures taken. Instead I settled for a quick drink at the 7-11 and a picture by the sign and decided to take off and get away from the people.

Buses in Yehliu


In Yehliu

Back on the road, the rain was starting to get harder but was still bearable. I had a couple of breaks along the way and took a couple of detours into some of the fishing villages where I saw life saver training on the ocean. At about the 55km mark the rain completely stopped and I thought the day would improve. I found this small, improvised mobile drinks store on the side of the road and stopped for some tea and a decent break. I called Queenie and enjoyed a rain free sky. I got on my bike and headed off towards Tamsui and of course that is when all hell broke loose.

Life Guards


Beautiful Formosa


Mobile Coffee Shop

The Weather Turns

Just before Shih Men (石門) I came round a corner straight into a wall of torrential rain and torrid winds. Within seconds I was drenched and the wind made riding damn difficult. The going got really tough from there on in but I realized then and there the only way out was to smile and ride out of the rain. I was later to learn this was the worst rain of the 2010 season to date. I was pedaling as hard as I could but unfortunately, due to the winds and uphills, progress was really slow. But I persevered. I took a couple of breaks in some of the undercover bus shelters but never once did I decide to stop. At this point I also realized the only way to approach this ride was by one meter at a time and to forget about the overall mileage. It was also becoming increasingly difficult to enjoy the view as it was just becoming very uncomfortable. Nevertherless I stubbornly persevered and just remembered to smile and enjoy as much as I could as there wasn't anything else to do.

Wind Turbine


Dreary View

The rain and the wind held up for quite some time but as I hit Baishawan (白沙灣) the rain and wind started to die down and the torrential rain and wind became intermittent and mostly bearable. The uphill from Baishawan (白沙灣)reminded of just how much further I had to go before I got to Tamsui but for every uphill there is a downhill so it was ok. I finally got into San Zhi (三芝) where I took a short break. I knew I was getting close to Tamsui but with the heavy, albeit intermittent, torrential rains and winds I knew it would be tough.

Baishawan

There were still a lot of fantastic views of the ocean and some greenery but the closer one gets to Tamsui, the more built up it becomes. At around 3:00pm I finally hit the outskirts of Tamsui (淡水) itself and knew I would soon be at the MRT. Stop which was my destination for this leg of the trip. At this point however I hadn't had anything to drink (except for the rain water that fell into my mouth when gasping for air) for about 20km and I hadn't eaten anything all day except for the bacon egg roll I had in Keelung. Of course I was famished. I found a KFC (yes I know) but I was drenched and thought no other restaurant would let me in. The cleaning lady in KFC did not look to impressed as she had to mop up the footprints from my soggy sandals. Ah well! I had lunch and then coasted down to Tamsui's Old Street to get to the MRT and start the final 28km stretch home along the river. And then disaster struck!

Grave Yard


Farms outside Tamsui


Tamsui MRT

Disaster Strucks

As I was pulling up on the bicycle path to leave Tamsui my rear wheel seized up and I nearly tumbled off the bike. I got off the bike to take a look at what happened and the entire rear gear assembly had been buckled and bent and there was no way it was going to be fixed on the road. I dragged the bike back into Tamsui and found a bike shop whose cheapest bike was NTD50,000. I started to think this was going to be an expensive fix. After discussing it with those guys I finally decided to pack it in for the day. I found a taxi (took a while and a few requests) to take me and my wrecked bike back into Taipei. So after battling the elements (torrential rain and wind) and cycling for 91km at a good pace for me, and while I had the fulles intention of cycling home, I was thwarted by mechanical failure! And that is when Kipling sprang to mind: "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same..." And in the taxi home, I had a good chuckle to myself!

Lessons Learned

It was a great ride and one I will never forget as it was so eventful. Everyone I met from fellow cyclists to concerned old ladies who suggested I take the bus were helpful and friendly. The views were spectacular and riding for the first half was cool and relaxing. I will do it again, and this time get to the end. Lesson's learned: ALWAYS CHECK THE WEATHER REPORT. Do I have any regrets? None! Taiwan has so much to offer in terms of natural beauty, and even the wind and rain in its own way has its own beauty. I have no regrets, and once the gear assembly is fixed, I will be back on the road.

More Pictures @ North Coast Ride

Dinner in Keelung

The Dinner Group

Last night I went up to Keelung to have dinner with some colleagues from my old company, IEI. Queenie decided not to join. I was actually quite surprised how easy it was to get to Keelung from the office. Got on the MRT, went to Chunghsiao-Fuhsing Stop. Get out of the MRT at Exit 2 and turn left on Chungshiao. You cannot miss the bus. The bus trip itself in rush hour traffic took no longer than 50 minutes so I was pleasantly surprised. My colleagues all drove there from Shi Zhi, and one of my colleagues also drove me home. Getting home was less than 30-minutes. Not too bad at all! Pretty simple really. The bus drops you off outside the Keelung station and you can also catch the bus from there back to Taipei too. The last bus leaves at around 10:50pm I believe (although I didn't need to catch it).

Outside Keelung Station

My colleagues (actually they were my old lunch time English students) decided to take me to the highest restaurant in Keelung that overlooks the bay. The restaurant was pretty nice but too bad about the dark windows. We couldn't really see the view outside the Window and that would have been awesome. Maybe in the daytime it would be better. The restaurant was on the 13F (not many very high buildings in Keelung) and had parking in the basement so all very convenient.

The restaurantwas a traditional Taiwanese seafood restaurant with round tables and crackly speakers for when a Chinese version of "Happy Birthday" needed to be played. There were a few groups around having fun and some old guys were celebrating a birthday and got pleasantly noisy later in the evening. Of course, seafood was on the menu and we had a ton of it. Shrimps, crabs, prawns etc. And it all tasted great! Of course the question is "What else do you eat in Keelung?"

Fish

Crab

Shrimp

Prawns

No Idea!

It was fun catching up with the group and hearing there plans for the future. Celia is planning to go to the Czech Republic next week and Stacey is planning to go to Tokyo at the end of May so a lot of them are planning there travels. It was also sad to hear some of the old group have been let go but at least they have found new jobs. So all in all it was a great evening enjoyed by all.

Eric and Stacey

Sammi and Vivian

Celia and Stacey

All of Us

Thanks guys! I had fun and it was great seeing you all.

More pictures @ Dinner in Keelung