At this point the days are starting to merge into one another. All this mountain riding and lack of human interaction really causes things all to become a blur. We powered through to Kenting and the wind coming from the South was killer. Arrived by late afternoon and that was awesome…a long day of rest.
Breakfast is always my favorite part of the day when touring.
To the top...again.
It’s always wet and at one point I’m cycling at 9km/hour on level ground because my chain is slipping all over my rear cassette. I can’t apply any pressure what so ever. To add to it all, we’ve got wind and my feet are soaking wet. Seriously. What saved my a$$ this day was the sweet pair of Swrve knickers I have. Kept the chill at bay.
And of course, we are racing against night fall. What’s new? Jason gets a little irritated with my Tropic of Cancer photo shoot. Literally we have 20 minutes to no light.
Funeral
No need for words
My babe.
Ahead.
Always....always...
...getting chased by rain.
Tropic of Cancer looking South.
Something still strange, I never see people. I guess that’s why the East Coast of Taiwan only needs about 2 major thoroughfares.
Always temples.
Not a promising looking day.
Another temple.
Our ride to the top although you can't really see the road.
I love tunnel at the tops of mountains because there is something really awesome on the other side. DOWN!
Baby ducks next the bathroom I found behind the 7-11.
What lies ahead.
On the other side, after my chain snapped twice in about 15 minutes. No photos from that time because it was pouring rain. I've known that I've had some problems with my drive train but this experience really set that into my mind. We are dry by the time we reach here, after going down mountains but we are still racing away from rain. Taiwan is always raining. Yep, it's wet.
when you need to pray going down a mountain in the middle of nowhere.
Secret nook behind.
Hairpins.
Today was a short day. One reason being that my chain broke twice nearing the top of a mountain. Why do snap chains on mountains in the rain?…it’s like my bike is hydrophobic. With the repairs in the rain, being soaked, mountain climbs, and the wind hitting us from the ocean. We had to call it a short day. We stayed in an over priced hotel with Gramps the owner. He told me how beautiful Jason is…funny old man.
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The day started beautiful and ended beautiful. Even though we had to backtrack and most of the day was up. It being a Tuesday we had the road nearly to ourselves the entire stretch. At one point we going on a stretch, like most of it, with no homes no people and they were re-paving the road. No traffic and fresh tarmac (and not the type that sticks to your wheel). Jason told me a story about a cyclist touring Japan and how he would ride naked through these types of roads just because you can…there really is no one.
I’m really happy we went east because the last part of the day was down hill and zig zag, like WWWWWW. I clocked myself at 53km/h at one point. Those are the moments I love…finishing a long day with the wind zipping through your helmet and able to go that speed because of the lack of cars.
Of course we arrive to Toucheng racing for the last of daylight.
We ride to the coast and find a park and debate about camping. It’s right next to beach, the wind is whipping us around, it’s wet, a little cold and if you look at the map…you can see we put in a hell of a day.
Earlier we had ridden past this vacant apartment style building and Jason and I had both chatted about how it appeared it could of been a hotel but the front roll gate was pulled down. Jason asks the security guys where there is a hotel. WEIRD, they ask us if we want to stay there! So after some phone calls we are escorted to an ocean view room for about 12 USD. It turned out that it is a hotel/beach resort but we just happen to be there in the off season. Amazing hot water and comfy beds…along with wifi and cable tv…all I need.
It's really difficult to get out on the road at 7am when you walk out on your balcony to see this. Damn.
.
mei hsiang
.
We had ridden by here yesterday when it was open. The wood is for firewood, to heat up those urn type things in the background. They cook something that was obviously very VERY popular when I saw it the previous day. Yeah, backtracking kinda sucks. It wouldn't have been so bad if we hadn't had such a long first day and had been able to enjoy where we stayed.
More climbing to start the day off...but a top a beautiful tea field.
Tea fields are more impressive in person...and where are all the people. Taiwan and China are completely different. If you want a tour with very little human interaction...this is your place.
Tea time.
Peaceful. Everywhere.
This is what we've been riding through and up...lots of moistness to add to it all.
Finally, the direction I like to go...down like WWWWWWWWWWW.
The end to a long day.
The day started early, warm, uphill…and ended at night fall with a sense of being defeated. We thought we could make it to the coast by the end of the first day, we were wrong.
This was the beginning of the day, but we would end up seeing this again on Day 2. We had already gone the wrong route at this point.
Lunch time, then puppy love time.
The outskirts of Taibei.
If you are going a route where you see no cars, few people, and the road becomes about 10 meters wide...while thinking..."this is the most beautiful ride in the world"...you may be going towards a dead end. Although people had told us we could get to the coast from this way.
Winding up.
If you are going a route where you see no cars, few people, and the road becomes about 10 meters wide...while thinking..."this is the most beautiful ride in the world"...you may be going towards a dead end. Although people had told us we could get to the coast from this way.
This just didn't feel "right" as we pushed our bikes over the bridge after being told by two men that we could cycle through once we got across.
Our greeting on the other side. Do you think this stopped our stupidity?
wow
We have to find somewhere to sleep, and fast, before sunset. Fortunately most of the route is down but it's getting cold fast. It's difficult to camp in Taiwan, in certain places, because it's so wet. Really, really, wet.
After arriving to the first hotel we can find, it's dark out. It's on the outskirts of the main tourist area so we assume it will be a little cheaper. We're their only guests and they are a little surprised that we found them. The first time I had visited this town was my first time to Taiwan. Jason and I traveled here for the hot springs with his family. Jason and I didn't stew...we just walked around sightseeing, i.e. old people half dressed soaking in the water. After unloading int our room we immediately head out to the night market.I didn't get any of this, I'm not a big fan of pork face.
Home made candy - delicious! It's like a harder version of cotton candy. Little hard pieces that melt in you mouth. LOVE
The skewers were all over the ground and I hate skewers and I have a dirty scar on my big toe from one deciding to jump off the sidewalk and go through my shoe in China.
When did “International” Flights from China have a limit of 20kg per person…what?!
Always a learning curve!
Good news though, after 4 bike shops and 3 countries, my cassette has finally been repaired. I’ve been wanting the 2 smallest cogs to be replaced. Today, the 8-speed? chain was replaced with the appropriate 9 speed along with the smallest cog – that’s been driving me insane – was replaced.
