Riding Solo
Published by Xuyun Zeng at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Xuyun Zeng
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Contents
Touring For Real, 24 April 2011
Back to the Third, 25 April 2011
Race to Taichung, 26 April 2011
Taichung Nights – 26, 28 April 2011
Going to Heaven – 29 April 2011
Descending into Hell – 30 April 2011
A Metric Century to the End – 1 May 2011
Appendix A: Drawing up a Route
I WENT TO TAIWAN in March to attend the Taipei Cycle 2011. It was my first time in Taiwan and I was quite impressed by the way the government is promoting cycling in Taiwan. It seems that there is no lack of people doing this. Ten years ago, it was a rarity for people to do this, but the explosion of government efforts to push cycling in Taiwan since 2007 has led to everybody getting onto Giants and Meridas, often visible in and out of the Taiwanese cities.
I’ve always wanted to do touring, because it seemed like a great way to actually see the countryside and enjoying cycling as a hobby. Adventure on a bicycle is the ultimate expression of touring freedom. On a bike, you can enjoy the sights and have the freedom to stop and go to wherever you want, including places where public transportation doesn’t go.
But on the flip side, there are significant challenges on a bicycle. The terrain in Taiwan is radically different from Singapore, it is quite hilly. Like a mohawk, the Taiwanese mountains are concentrated in the middle, whereas nearer to the shore, the road is flatter. Hilly terrain can quickly turn cycle touring into a painful trip.
There was a lot of planning to be done, and a lot of uncertainties to ease. As my premier tour, I didn’t know what to expect other than the stuff I read on websites such as Bicycle Touring Pro, the Taiwan in Cycles blog and other websites that give general information on touring. I contacted a few people who are based in Taiwan to see what route they would advise me, I went on Forumosa to talk about my route and other websites.
The initial idea was to travel from Kaohsiung to Taipei via the Provincial Highway 1. That idea seemed like the most ideal, since I was a bit suspicious of my ability to ride 100km per day, and the Provincial Highway 1 was 360km long, passing through all of Taiwan’s important western cities. The first idea went out onto Forumosa, and almost immediately, it was shredded to pieces by people who have done Taiwan via cycling.
One man decried, “Provincial 1 is almost always the worst, most blighted, dirty, unscenic route you can take”. I wouldn’t say that I believed him totally at first, but it seems that many people concur with him, so I decided to play it safe and choose another route.
The other idea was to take a train from Kaohsiung to Taitung. Someone once said, “remember the EAST is sublime, the West is grime!” The Taiwanese east coast, apparently, is where the beauty is at. Unfortunately, that is not necessarily what my ideal route is – getting off the plane and riding north all the way. I didn’t like the fact that I had to take a train, which spoilt the ‘feel’ of the trip.
Finally, I contacted a certain Andrew Kerslake, who left his email on his Taiwan in Cycles blog. We talked a bit about my goals, my interests and my abilities, and then he suggested a route for me. He gave me three, but eventually I settled on the one he called the Taiwan Foothills route. This route would start from Kaohsiung and end in Taipei, and followed mostly the Provincial Highway 3, with a few diversions on county roads, country roads and other Provincial Highways.
I was stoked. The route has been settled but I lacked a few things. I didn’t have panniers, I didn’t have maps, and I didn’t have any idea at all how a tour would be like. To settle these uncertainties, I contacted a newly met friend called Jenson, who offered to lend me his Ortlieb panniers. Then, I needed to find a program that could tap into my phone’s GPS and tell me where I am and where I need to go. A little search on the Android Market and I found a program called Locus Free, which allowed me to download maps and use them offline. Bit by bit, I tied up more and more loose ends.
As the days draw closer to Good Friday, many “what ifs” still filled my mind – what if my chain breaks? What if I run out of tubes? What if… etc. I could definitely fix a flat, tune a derailleur, fix brake drag, but any larger problem and I would have a problem. I’ve heard freak stories where mishandled baggage led to broken derailleurs, which was one of my biggest fears.
The hour came for me to go on the plane and head to Kaohsiung. It was one of the most exciting days ever, because my tour would start right after I leave the airport – from Kaohsiung International Airport to the hostel in Kaohsiung.
AFTER THE LONG FLIGHT with stops in West and East Malaysia, I felt great touching down in Kaohsiung. Immediately, I passed through immigrations and headed straight for the conveyer belt. There, I picked up the 27kg box and headed outside to disassemble the bike. Kaohsiung International Airport wasn’t a very busy airport. It was pretty empty when I got there which was a good thing because I needed all the space to assemble the bike.
A few moments later, the bike was ready and I took the bike out, mounted the bike, and went into Zhongshan Road. Unlike in March, the weather this day was quite alright. It wasn’t as cold as it was in mid-March Taipei, but it wasn’t scorching hot as it would be in Singapore. The roads were air conditioned, so to speak.
It felt good to know on Zhongshan Road, there was a separate, delineated lane for scooters. At first, it was a bit scary to have so many scooters whizzing by you – undertaking and overtaking – but after a while I simmered in. And luckily I learnt fast, because this was the way it was going to be for a long time coming.
In Taiwan, scooters are extremely popular and they are everywhere. The popularity of the scooter can probably be attributed to the fact that they are often automatics and a Taiwanese scooter licence can be easily obtained. Every age group was represented on a scooter from the young to the old. The fact that they are automatics also is quite important, especially since in Taiwan, you brake a lot more than you do in Singapore. And that’s attributable to the Taiwanese way of driving.
It was my first night and I had this fear that I couldn’t get used to the road mannerisms in Taiwan. There were many freak stories about their driving, especially coming from a country that respects the law to the word. People don’t really follow a hard and fast set of rules when it comes to right of way, they just do whatever manoeuver they want and make others wait. For example, if you are a car at a junction and you wanted to turn left, you can just pull out as you see a space of about two car lengths, because everyone on the incoming lane will just brake. This is the same when turning right – as a driver, you’ll be on the lane left of the scooter-specific lane, and to turn right, you just inch right and when the scooters give up hope of squeezing through, then you step on it and turn. It is a game of asphyxiating someone’s space. I learnt this best in Hsinchu, without doubt.
So I travelled into the “old” Kaohsiung, which was near the Love River. On my way there, I looked back and saw a bit of a problem brewing. My saddle water bottle holder was getting loose. It was living on a prayer, hanging on the saddle rails by pressure, and it seemed that it wouldn’t take it anymore. Now, it dangling on one side, threatening that I should relieve it of its duty or it’s going to cause a really discouraging scene on my first day of touring, when both my water bottles drop onto the road.
As much as I tried, I couldn’t coax it back to the same secureness as the bike mechanic could. And the problem can be attributed to my newly upgraded Rido R2 saddle, which was supposed to be a breakthrough in comfort that rivals the Brooks B17. The problem is that the R2’s rails spread wider than most saddles. This causes the incompatibility between the saddle and the saddle water bottle holder.
I gave up. I went into the first bike shop – inevitably a Giant dealer – and got a Topeak water bottle cage holder that clamped onto my handlepost. It cost my 180NTD, around eight dollars, but I never regretted my purchase in the next 12 days of my tour.
It was around eight o’ clock already and I really wanted to settle down and relax. I looked at the map and referred to the address which I was given by the hostel:
No.13, Lane 199, GongYuan 2nd Rd., Kaohsiung, Taiwan
What a time I had finding the hostel. I found GongYuan 2nd Road very quickly as I pre-marked the location while I still had internet access. The problem is that I’m not used to the way Taiwanese streets work. The lane system was truly difficult to get used to, but was critical in learning as the whole of Taiwan uses it.
The lane system works like this – along a street, you will see different lanes that are ascending or descending in order, depending on which direction you are heading. The lanes seemed to have little order except for its having the biggest numbered lane at the end, and the smallest one at the start. You could be at Lane 25, then 43, then 96, then 104, etc. There seems to be absolutely no order at all.
It was hard finding the hostel. It was located deep in an alley (aka Lane). I went along the same road again and again, only to realise I’ve gone too far, or haven’t gone far enough. Back and forth until I found Lane 199, hidden in between two factories and lit with a very limited number of street lamps. It took me a good thirty minutes after reaching GongYuan 2nd.
I found the hostel and that was the end of my first day in Taiwan. I spent the next day exploring Kaohsiung. Proudly, I can say that I’ve been in Taiwan’s second biggest city, albeit in a rush.
Touring For Real, 24 April 2011
TWO DAYS AFTER TOUCHING down in Kaohsiung, I decided it was time to leave. I didn’t have enough time to slowly enjoy Taiwan, and I really regret it sometimes. There’s nothing more regretful than to rush on a tour, but that’s probably the best compromise when work demands gets in the way of enjoying life.
The night before, I was really excited. I was going to do my first tour, three thousand kilometres away from home, in a foreign land where I can hardly read their language – traditional Chinese isn’t my strong suit, nor is my ability to speak Chinese. Nonetheless, I imagine my passable Chinese should get me around, and the GPS should lead me to the wherever I am supposed to go.
I slipped into sleep and woke up at 5am. In Taiwan, 5am isn’t like 5am in Singapore. It looks like our 6.30am, where the sky is dark blue and dawn was just breaking. The alarm hasn’t rung and neither have I slept enough. It was still early and I tried to go back to sleep. The problem is that I couldn’t – I felt not fully rested yet I couldn’t go back to sleep. So I woke up, packed my bags, had some coffee and bid goodbye to Alba who ran the hostel.
It was nice being in Kaohsiung, but I must leave to complete what I started.
THE ROADS WERE VOID of the bustle of a city. There were few people and fewer cars on the road which is a good thing. The route for the day was to head east on the Provincial Highway 1E (1戊), turning northward into the 21 and onto the 3. Yesterday, with the help of Alba, she circled out a few cities and villages which have hostels. My route would take me from Cishan through Meinong to Yujin.
The tour really started once I turned left onto the Provincial Highway 21. Turning left into it, I got a sense that I’m out of the city because lesser and lesser do I feel like I’m in civilisation. There was a decreasing amount of shops, and there was lesser traffic, and especially because there were lesser and lesser scooters, the air felt fresher. The corollary is that once I arrived at Cishan or Meinong, the reverse happened.
Many weekend warriors were out on the 21 where I was cycling. These cyclists are around what you’d call leisure riders. They love their platform pedals and sport shoes. They also love Giant, Merida and other Taiwanese brands. They make sure they don’t get tanned either – they’re usually wrapped up with arm warmers, long tights and sometimes pollution filters.
Continuing down the 21, I passed by Fo Guang Shan (literally: Mountain of Buddha’s Light). Fo Guang Shan is based in Kaohsiung County and it the largest Buddhist monastery. I was just passing by, but it was irresistibly eye-catching. From kilometres away, the grand gold coloured statue of Buddha could be seen and the living quarters were sprawling, neat and designed with Buddhist touches. It is unfortunate that pictures cannot truly do justice to how well it looked, you really have to be there to see the scale of what I’m talking about.
An hour on the 21 gave me a good idea on how to define the word “countryside”. In Singapore, there isn’t really a countryside per se, because every nook and cranny where there’s space is developed or is slated to be developed. Otherwise, it would be a military training ground or just plain uninteresting. The countryside represented a place where you could see the wilderness for kilometre after kilometre. Sometimes, the landscape spanned so far that it led your eyes to the horizon. It was truly much more beautiful than being in an urban jungle.
But there was a catch for all this beauty. I was about to face what the most horrible part of non-coastal Taiwan, the undulating terrain. In Neimen, I was caught unaware that it is actually possible to be on terrain that is almost insuperable. The hills were aplenty and I had truly a difficult time going up them without sweating, swearing and suffering. In the end I exhausted the lowest gear on my bike, but in deluded desperation, I tried to twist my Gripshift clockwise, hoping that somewhere a lower gear would magically appear. It didn’t.
Instead, I learnt the most important skill that I would use in the next few days repeatedly – dismounting and pushing a bike. While to some it seems like surrender, it was definitely more tolerable than cranking at 30rpm. By pushing the bike up, the 25kg bike was then much more tolerable, and although I was doing a mere 4km/h up the switchbacks at Neimen, it was better than nothing.
After conquering the mountain at Neimen, I went back onto the Provincial Highway 3, which would take me to Yujin. The final stretch was the most agonising; I was very tired at that point of time already as the hills sapped me of a lot of energy. I wanted to have lunch and sleep.
I kept seeing signs that say Yujin, Yujin, Yujin. It was 12km away when I first saw the sign, but these 12km felt like I was doing 40km worth of flats. It took forever and my morale was becoming lower every time I saw the sign. My speed was slow, the climb was steep and my muscles were stiff. But after getting disappointed again and again, I finally reached Yujin.
Immediately, I asked a teenager where I can find a police station. I’ve heard that the police in Taiwan are kind people who will advise you on where you can stay, and I have even heard you can sleep or camp out in their compound. I didn’t bring a tent, and the plan was always to stay in cheap accommodation.
Surprisingly,
after some discussion, one of the policemen told me that he will take
me to the hostel. I was surprised – how did he intend to take my
bike in his police car? It didn’t turn out as such. What I was to
do was to follow behind his black Mitsubishi. I bet I made him quite
awkward driving around at 20km/h.
We found a little hostel
that was more like a hotel. Initially, there was no one there but a
young boy of seven years. Seeing me, he immediately shouted for his
aunt, informing her that there’s someone at the counter. After some
talk, I handed 500NTD and I got a room.
The room didn't have WiFi, but that was the least of my problems. What was worse was that when I took my computer out, the hard drive decided that it didn’t like being taken for a bicycle tour and gave up the ghost. That truly put me in a truly difficult spot as I had to find a cybercafe (wang ka). That also implied that all the images and videos which I took in Kaohsiung were lost. My molar started to ache too, and it was terrible because in Taiwan because food is one of its biggest attractions. I also developed a cough from breathing in too much pollution – every time I had a deep breath, I would immediately irritate some part of me and I would cough as a result.
Immediately after getting the room, I turned on the air conditioner, lied on the bed and almost immediately fell asleep. It was such a tiring day, maybe because I didn’t sleep enough last night, or maybe because I’m not used to doing so much distance.
Back to the Third, 25 April 2011.
I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND HOW I could have slept so much. In the previous afternoon, I slept, woke up, went out to the cybercafé and had dinner, then went back to the hotel and fell asleep at around 10, feeling absolutely tired.
I woke up at around 9am, and went out to have breakfast. Coffee at 7-11, breakfast from a random stall, and I went back to pack my panniers. It was really useful to have my effects packed into Ziploc bags that categorised various items and also made the panniers easy to pack.
I set off at around an hour later. But before I set off, there was an amusing water filling station right next to the hotel that I was curious enough to try. It looked exactly like a fuel pump, except what came out was reverse osmosis water. I put in 1NTD and immediately the machine sprung into life. A recording was played and it talked about how the water that I am about to pump out is treated by the most high-tech machines from Germany. It didn’t matter to me because all I wanted was some water to fill my bottle up. 1NTD got me one litre, which is a truly good deal compared to the 10NTD I am used to paying on the road for bottled water.
After having a little fun with this curiosity, I turned on my GPS to find my way out of Yujin. There was a bit of a problem – I didn’t download the map with an adequately detailed zoom and that posed a problem – the arrow was as big as the whole town. That gave me a bit of a problem and I did circle around the city for a while before eventually finding my way out of the most rural place I have ever seen.
I got back on the Provincial Highway 3, heading north. The road was flat again, but not for long. I remembered how the elevation data looked like on Bikemap. Today will be the most challenging day of the whole ride because I was about to head to the steepest part of the route, which will take me up 960m, something I have never experienced before.
THE RIDE WAS SLOW, extremely slow. Two hours in, I looked down onto my Cateye Strada speedometer and what I saw was quite horrifying. It has already been two hours since I left Yujin, but the most disastrous thing was that I only covered 20 kilometres. That was truly troubling given the fact that I planned to arrive at a city that is in central Taiwan – Douliu. That aspiration seemed to drift further and further away as I travelled through some of the loneliest roads ever.
My thoughts were scattered – maybe I shouldn’t have done this. Maybe doing a tour alone is a mistake. Maybe I should have chosen another route. These thoughts were depressing, but they haunted me every minute as the road got more and more difficult.
There weren’t too many vehicles on this road, but when they came, they usually were big Volvos, DAFs or Hinos with trailers behind them. What was worse was that this mountainous road had many blind curves, which meant that overtaking me could be quite risky. I couldn’t keep right all the way because there was a drain, and it didn’t have any grills. If I fell into them, it would be game over.
Each climb gave me an exhilarating downhill ride where my speed regularly hit 45km/h, even when I sat upright, and it really proved that aerodynamics matters – I could gain as much as 5km/h by just leaning forward. However, each brief downhill implied a long and painful uphill.
But the more I climbed, the more beautiful things got. I was cycling along a very scenic area around the Tsengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫), which happens to be the largest reservoir in Taiwan, and has purposes ranging from electricity generation to augmenting agricultural irrigation in Tainan County. I looked to my left and I saw a beautiful sight of a blue reservoir, and behind in the distance, layers of mountain under a blue and sunny sky.
It was beautiful, and after stopping to take in the scenery, I had to soldier on.
AT ONE POINT, I almost ran out of water – I had two 750ml water bottles, and one was empty and the other was half full. After many ups and downs, literally, I came to a point where I was near the foot of Alishan. It got very, very uninhabited. There wasn’t a convenience store for miles and the future was bleak - I had no idea how far more I had to climb and where I could get water, but I remembered asking Alba whether people would stop if I was on the road and in need of something, and she said, “they should”.
I decided to try this, given my dire circumstances. I stopped by the right shoulder, took my water bottle out, and started pointing at it to whichever motorist passed me by. A Varica truck passed me by. No luck. Beside it, an SUV was overtaking the Varica. No luck either. Behind it was a motorcyclist, who passed me by as fast as I could catch a glimpse of him. No luck.
It was quite disappointing, to say the least. I thought Alba was wrong, and that my conceptions of Taiwanese hospitality and friendliness were all wrong. I decided that there was no point fretting about this and to continue on.
BUT AFTER A FEW moments, the same motorcyclist whom I saw a few moments ago came back, crossed the lane and asked me whether I needed some water. He mentioned he saw me on the road and saw my frantic call for help. In his bag was one litre of water. I asked him whether he could give me some, and he said, “sure, this bottle is for you actually”.
I was elated and shocked at the same time. I thought I had been abandoned, but apparently not. There are kind souls out there, or perhaps it’s the unwritten fraternity shared between people on two wheels. Not sure, but I was so happy. He turned around and sped away effortlessly, while I filled my bottle up with the cold water and continued pushing my bike up the 7% grade. As I climbed, it got colder and colder, and wind chill made things quite intolerable.
FINALLY AT AROUND 5.30PM, I reached up the peak of this torturous stretch I have been on since this morning. It was getting dark - the sun was going to set in an hour or so and because of the altitude I was at, it got cold. Being 960m high meant that I had no choice but to put my raincoat on, which was supposed to be wind and waterproof. I stopped by the one and only convenience store and restocked my supplies and had instant noodles (paomian) for dinner.
I asked the lady tending the convenience store whether this was the summit, and she said yes, noting at the same time that it will be downhill all the way for around ten kilometres. That was quite shocking, because I never expected that downhills could last so long, and going downhill was probably the carrot that I have been trying to catch all day. Climbing this mountain really was hard work. It took me around five hours just to get up this particular mountain and it was 90% uphill all the way. It was painful.
There was no time to waste – I wanted to be in a Douliu before dark, and the clock was ticking. I had one hour. A little ways from the convenience store, the road started to decline. And at that point of time, I knew that the worst is over, and this downhill would be extremely long. To keep up my speed and reduce brake wear, I was choosing the best line and doing 45km/h again. The sky was getting dark, but that didn’t matter. I was having the time of my life because all I was doing was manoeuvring the bicycle, braking now and then and having the wind make a very loud sound in my ears. No pedalling was necessary.
BY THE TIME I reached the foot of the mountain, it already got dark. I was in a township called Zhongpu and I was quite frightened because it was dark and I was still cycling. Most streets didn’t have street lamps, and I was counting on my safety lights to illuminate the terrain. At times, cars would pass me by giving additional illumination, but only briefly. All in all, the lights were inadequate.
But what was critical was that I found somewhere to sleep. In Zhongpu, there wasn’t any hostels or even hotels. I was directed by the police to follow the Provincial Highway 18 into Chiayi City, because there will be many choices for places to stay there. Unwillingly and fearful, I had to push on in the dark into Chiayi.
I reached Chiayi and to welcome me, they were setting off fireworks. In the distance, there were colourful explosions in the sky along with numerous loud bangs, much like what I saw in Kaohsiung. In Taiwan, people can set off fireworks for numerous reasons, though what I experienced was usually tied to religious events. They would set the fireworks in the middle of the road, usually along a divider, and someone would take his butane torch to light up a square containing nine tubes of firework. As much as it was a beautiful sight, I was honoured, but I had no time for festivities.
I did the same thing as I did in Yujin and Zhongpu – find the police for directions to a place to stay. A police officer told me there was a hostel at the end of LiRen Road. Go to the first “working” traffic light and make a left turn and at the end of the road, there really was a hostel. It went by the name Chiayi City Labor Recreation Center which was an odd name. It housed labourers that did work around Taiwan, but it didn’t matter to me, it was a place to crash cheaply.
I checked into a 600NTD room and it was extremely big. It had two double beds, air conditioning and a nice toilet. The odd thing was that they charge on a per head basis –so if I had a friend along, I would pay 900NTD for the same room, and if I had another, 1200NTD. This place really had an odd way of pricing their rooms, but it doesn’t matter, I have been cycling for so long that all I wanted was a hot shower and some sleep.
Before I slept, I contacted Andrew Kerslake. As you might have remembered, he was the person who provided me with the preliminary route that I was following. He was in Taichung and he told me that he would like to meet me. I would be glad to meet him too, because it’s nice to talk to someone after so many lonely days. The irony is that it has only been two days since I left Kaohsiung.
Race to Taichung, 26 April 2011
IT WAS THE THIRD day on the road and I hit a new low. I dreaded cycling even more because I was so tired. My thighs were destroyed from the lack of training and daily 100km rides, and then my bike felt increasingly slow. I was frustrated about my bike, annoyed at my body and clearly was mildly demotivated.
As I travelled, I noticed that today wasn’t as bad as yesterday was. The roads were flat or at least they had inclines that were more humane. I could keep the speed up, and that was a good thing because I was rushing to reach Taichung. And that’s where I made an observation: if you don’t see mountains in the distance, you’ll probably be blessed with flat roads. And it was true. Today, there were no intolerable hills and I didn’t suffer from single-digit average speeds like yesterday. Best of all, I was rarely pushing the bike up steep inclines.
At around the three-quarter mark, I left the Provincial Highway 3 to go into the county roads of 137 and 141. These roads led into rural townships like Ershui. Ershui felt like a ghost town, even though it was a Tuesday and 2.30pm in the afternoon. Few businesses were open for business, people were a sparse sight and vehicles came once in a while. It was a bit odd, actually, but the serenity was great.
On the way, I saw an independent bike shop that sold Specialized bikes. They had a lot of interesting bikes there, including multiple tallbikes and a Specialized tandem. Best of all, this bike shop was in the middle of nowhere.
But as I was browsing through their wares, suddenly a loud hiss came from somewhere. I realised that it wasn’t the air compressor that they had there, but it was my front tube. Too much roughing from a portable pump caused the seam where the tube connects to the valve stem to tear and leak. I don’t know if I was fortunate or misfortunate, but I was sure glad to use their air compressor to pump so air into the fat two inch wide tubes.
I WAS RUNNING OUT of time. If I followed the route strictly, I was slated to go into Changhua City, but I decided to skip it and directly head into Taichung. Finding an alternate route was quite an easy undertaking given the fact that I had a GPS.
I saw the 74A (74甲) and followed it. It would lead me to the 74 expressway that would lead directly into Taichung. But on before all that joy and celebration, the 74A gave me a final challenge – two kilometres of 8% uphill climbing. And as with all hills of this nature, the downhill lasted long and I was hitting 45km/h again. Great.
And then another problem came my way. It seemed that expressways were meant for only large motorcycles or cars. Although I told myself I would “f*** it”, I want to f*** it and get arrested. So I had to find an alternate route to Taichung, and there was only one – the Provincial Highway 1. And at this point of time, it was knock-off time. Cars and motorcycles were everywhere, creating the bustle that is absent from a countryside.