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China Diary
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2013/14 - Week 27 (WT: Wk6/12)
Mon - Misc. Core #22
Tues - Rest
Wed - Rest
Turs - Rest
Fri - Rest
Sat - TT41: 230W Sweet Spot with 300+W Bursts
Sun - Easy Ride
Quiet week. Pollution was terrible, worst I've ever experienced I think. PM2.5 exceeded 500 for 3-4 days straight so I didn't want to even chance training indoors. Cleared up towards the end of the week but college kept me from doing anything. Anyone who thinks college is the easy life is certainly welcome to give Chinese a try and see what they think. Lots of pull/chin ups, push ups and mountain climber reps on Monday. Good intense session on the turbo on Saturday but I nearly bonked again and had to eat a few bananas and biscuits and even a gel, first time in a long time I've had one. Must be my diet timing. I submitted my diet report to Barry Murray and he should have something for me by Tuesday or Wednesday. Was supposed to do a nice 65k loop with a group this morning but abandoned after 1/2 an hour. First spin outdoors in nearly 3 months and only had windstopper gloves on. Hands were numb after 20 minutes so I came back home. AQI isn't great anyway today.
Spot the difference.
AQI/PM2.5>500
AQI: 27/PM2.5: 9
Have an interesting week coming up. Going to the Taipei bike show on Tuesday in Taiwan. Will help me with a project I'm doing for college plus I might throw out a few CVs while I'm there. Would love to get a job in the bike industry after finishing up college and what better place to go to meet people in this industry. Have a few big rides planned also which I hope I'll have the endurance for. The first brings me around Sun Moon Lake which is supposed to a really picturesque place. Day 2 has 4000m climbing and will push me to my limits I think but it will be at a snails pace with plenty of pit stops. I'm going up to 3250m altitude so i hope I don't suffer from altitude sickness. It's the famous summit used for the taiwan hillclimb except I'll be approaching it from the west instead of the east.
Puli Day 1: http://connect.garmin.com/course/5525439
Puli Day 2: http://connect.garmin.com/course/5525615
Goals for the week
- Network at the bike show
- Complete the 2 planned epic rides
- Start on the improved diet0 -
2013/14 - Week 28 (WT: Wk6/12)
Mon - Rest
Tues - Trip to Taiwan
Wed - Bike Show
Turs - Easy Spin
Fri - Muscular Endurance 1 (Strava)
Sat - Muscular Endurance 2 (Strava)
Sun - Back to reality
Eventful beginning to the trip the bike show. My wife, youngest daughter and wife's sister were in Beijing and were going to come to the airport with me. Said we'd get a bus to the subway stop as I had a massive bike case and a carry on case so it was handy having a bit of help. Was just about to hop on the bus when the driver decides there's no more room and closes the door and shouts out to get the next one just behind. In the meantime wife, daughter and wife's sis have already got on. Cue scenes of "did you get off at the subway bus stop (it's only 500m down the road)", "no, we'll get a taxi back"....said I'd head out on my own instead. A lost in translation situation which usually happens a few times a day and I'm guilty myself so I can't complain.
Bit of a nutter of a taxi driver. Lots of tailgating on the way and lane switching without indicating. No need for it. The only good thing is taxis are still relatively cheap here. A 30km trip cost me €16 roughly. Was at a Bank of China in the airport getting some Taiwanese currency and I see this fella with a suitcase trolley with bags on it. He's yapping away to another Chinese lad and I see them do an exchange. €50 notes for Chinese RMB. Strange. I get my ticket and enter the queue and next thing he comes up to me asking me do I want to exchange my money with him, he'll give me a better rate than the bank. Gives me his business card. Seems too good to be true. Give the number on the card a call and his phone rings to see if the number is legit. He must have €50,000 cash in lots of denominations including Taiwan dollars, RMB and Japanese yuan but I decided against the better rate and go with the bank. I ask the bank staff is he here everyday and they just nod. China is a bizarre place.
The flight had a bit of turbulence coming into Taibei which was a bit scary but apart from that it was grand. Taibei is so much different to the mainland. First of all no visas are required for Taiwan which makes life much easier. Efficiency is the name of the game here. At the airport entrance there was an airport staff member asking everyone where they were going and making a note of it. He'd then have a taxi pull up that was appropriate for the amount of baggage (5 door/estate/ppl carrier - all span new Toyotas). The taxi driver was bang on. Wasn't tailgating and actually knew how to use an indicator. Driving here is like back home. The mainland is like the Wild West. A free for all with the first person to get to wherever the winner. Arrived at classmates place and didn't have any phone numbers but through the help of a security guard I managed to find my way to the right apartment. Went to the shop for some grub and after paying for it the salesperson thanked me which I thought was strange and gave a little bow. Didn't really know what to do. I'm used to salespeople in China not even looking at me and giving me the change as if it is painful for them to do it the service is that bad. Here is the complete opposite. The customer is king. The next day I went to the bike show and the politeness of everyone is something to behold. Bus driver thanks me when I get off the bus. All very helpful people who go out of their way to assist me. The MTR (metro) is absolutely spotless here, could literally eat your dinner on the floor of it. No pushing either unlike Beijing where you get an elbow if you don't stand up for yourself. I could go on and on about the differences.
The bike show was great. Tested out the Xpedo power meter which looks good although there's still a bit to work to do I'm told. Release date of around September but no price decided. The Teschner frame was incredibly light at about 800g and had a mounting bracket for the rear brake instead of the traditional screw through the seat stays. My favourite frame of the show was made by a Taiwanese company called Step. Lovely profiles and had an aluminium plate so protect the ahi stays if the chain came off. Really clever little design that one. Met a few useful contacts which will hopefully serve me well for the future. Had planned to cycle the hills of Taibei on Turs morning but it was raining and cold and didn't fancy it. Had a train at 2:30pm to Puli so I had to disassemble the bike and repack it in the case. The bike case I got (OGNS) is a great one. It's a monster of a thing size wise but a great asset to have for travelling in the knowledge that the bike should be safe once packed properly. If you want attention in Asia buy a bike case. Everyone was looking at me hauling it around and wondering what was inside. Before going to the train station I went to a shopping centre to get something for the Mrs. Lots of people bowing at me when I passed there shops. I think it is a Japanese influence as Taiwan used to be a colony of Japan until the end of WW2. Got to the train station early and I was offered an earlier train if I liked. I couldn't believe it. Incredible service. So I took a 1:00pm train which arrived bang on time 58mins later. It was a bullet train and covered the 300km journey in that time. Loads of leg room and exceptional service on board. A bus then from Taizhong to Puli. Amazing infrastructure here in Taiwan with highways on giant stilts some 50m above the ground in places. Raining when I got here so I couldn't get out for a spin but I was wrecked from all the travelling. Got in a tour of the town at night.
Had a massive spin on Friday. Luckily the weather was fine. Had a good breakfast of fruit and cereal and had plenty of food or so I thought. First climb hit me hard as it went straight to 14%. I hadn't really any WU before that and was soon panting like a dog. I was wearing a Swords jersey and Castelli Transparente top as well and it was getting really hot. The Transparente top was later hidden in a box I found on the side of the road and stashed away as I was boiling at that stage. Some really nice climbs 2-3km long and I was taking it easy and stopping lots for photos. I got to Sun Moon Lake and the views were incredible there. The water was incredible blue. Was feeling a bit hungry at that stage after about 2 hours on the bike when I got a whiff of sweet potato. In China people bake it on a barrel with a fire in it and this was the unmistakeable smell of the same thing so I did a quick uturn and enquired to see if my nose was right and it was. Weather started to get hot at this stage and the sun came out so the top was discarded as previously mentioned and the tough climbing began. The mountains here are incredible. I had planned going to 3000m slowly today but things didn't quite workout as planned. When I planned the route I tried to get in every hill possible instead of sticking to the main road. This meant that some of the roads I took were not very well paved and had some really steep sections up to 30%. Going down these is probably worse than going up. I hadn't done much muscular endurance work during the winter and it start led to pay on the last big climb of the day. I was saying to myself I'll stop every 500m I ascend but this quickly changed to every 100m ascended. It was just so steep in places that it had me in bits. I might have been able to handle a steadier gradient. So at about 900m altitude I decided enough was enough and turned around. I couldn't face the prospect of another 2000m climbing on a poor surface. I had to collect my jacket on the way back and was keen to avoid one particularly steep part. This was a big mistake and I took a path which I had mapped out on Garmin courses in advance but didn't realise it was so bad. I probably ascended 300-400m on really poor surface covered with dry leaves and was half expecting a snake to bit me at any moment as I read Taiwan has quite a few snakes in remote areas but thank God I didn't bump into anything save for a logger who told me to turn around as the path doesn't lead anywhere. So I wasted a lot of energy there and had to go back and up the steep part I was trying to avoid. Had to walk it and even at that I was nearly in Z4 HR. didn't have any food left at this stage after going through 2 bananas, a bag of mixed nuts and fruit, 8 oat biscuits, 3 gels and 3 bottles of water. I had also eaten a large sweet potato. Was worried I wouldn't make it back before dark but once I got back to Sun Moon Lake I took the most direct route home and it turned out to be mainly all downhill. Tailed a moped for about 5-10km as well which was deadly. Got back to near the hostel and went straight into a Vietnamese restaurant and ordered a big bowl of beef noodles. Was starving. Absolutely gorgeous. Was an epic spin with over 2400m climbing with a few scares along the way. GP4000 tires are the bomb. Took me over some really rough roads today and no punctures.
I'd planned 157km with loads of climbing for Day 2. In hindsight I should have planned a more local route and stuck to good roads with 2000-3000m gain. I also should have got a bigger cog on the cassette. Was using a 2x which wasn't enough for the steep climbs. Even though I wasn't going above my threshold HR, it was really hard to turn the pedals on such a steep gradient. Had planned on going for a really long out and back ride that would have taken me to 3250m. I don't have the muscular endurance for it at the moment however. First climb of the day had a gradient of 14% that seemed to go on for ages and it was difficult to decide whether to remove clothing or leave it on. Stopped and hid my jacket again (this time a light rain jacket). Held onto Gilet and arm warmers. Gradient steadied out closer to the top at about 1000m and then I went through a really long tunnel that wasn't very well lit. Came out the other side and realised I'd gone off course, should have taken a right hand turn before the tunnel. This was the route I was supposed to be on on the way home. I'd switched off the guidance on the Garmin as I find it annoying at times. Didn't fancy going back through the dark tunnel again so went down the other side of the mountain and into a small town. Lots of friendly faces and waves from the locals. Got back on the route and through another tunnel and when I got out the other side it started to rain. Must have been a sign and I heeded it. Thoughts of going deep into Taiwan with nobody with me in rain was kind of worrying. For this kind of spin you'd want someone with you and possibly a support car if resources permitted. The mist was coming in thick blankets also and above 1000m it would probably have been much worse. So I turned around and climbed back up the mountain I had originally planned on. Unbelievably steep gradient which must have been up on 30% for stretches and even walking them had me bent over with a sore lower back. Met a guy in a van on the way up and chatted for a few minutes. Kind of hard to understand Taiwanese Chinese as the pronunciation is a bit different from the Beijing accent, also they use different words for the same thing. For example a 自行车(bike) in China is a 铁马 in Taiwan so sometimes it can lead to confusion. Similarly they don't usually refer to China as 中国 but instead as 大陆 which means mainland. On leaving he gave me his business card and told me next time I'm back to call him and go for dinner at his home. I think maybe the Irish used to be as open as this but not anymore. Reading the Irish news with the amount of murders you can't blame people for not being so inviting to strangers. I finally got to the top and it peaked at 1500m. My average cadence must have been in the low 40s which had given me a bit of a sore knee. Took plenty of photos of the mist coming in. How people live up here is beyond me. On the descent I hit a ridge in the road which blew the front tube. Only had one spare tube (thought I had 2) so it was a good job I didn't venture too far. I was always only about 15km from a hostel I was staying in but the mountains made it feel further. Some dodgy rarely used roads on the way down and it had rained more on this side so I was cautious going down. Several areas where the road had fractured near the edge. Was glad to get back down to level ground again and collect my jacket. Had about 1500m climbing in a little over 50km.
Taiwan is a beautiful place to go with a bike. The whole country is divided from top to bottom with a ridge of mountains and is populated all along the periphery with its capital Taibei in the north and Taizhong (the bike manufacturing centre of the world) on the west coast. I wish I had more time and better weather to explore there. A much better location for a 1.1 world tour event than Beijing with huge mountains, clean air, unbelievably friendly and obliging people, great food, efficient transport, really good national roads for cycling on with great paths which would be more suited to mountain biking but are still doable for a road bike. I couldn't ask for much more. Just in relation to the transport. I travelled from Puli to Taizhong to Taibei to Taoyuan airport, a journey of about 350km in a little over 3 hours today. Taxi from hostel to bus station and got straight on a bus (they run every 15mins) to Taizhong high speed rail station. Had booked a 9:15 train but if you arrive early and there are seats available you can choose an earlier train. Trains run 2 every 1/2 hour separated by 6 mins. It's about 250km and the train travels about 300km/hr so it only took 50mins. Arrived at Taibei train station (all trains run underground coming into the city) and went upstairs. An attendant helped me with my suitcase into the life. When I got out a person was waiting to inspect my ticket and duly clipped it. She must have communicated by earpiece. Small things like this make life so easy here. No need to go through queues. Just so efficient. Out the door and hop straight into a taxi. Driver was a bit unusual in that he was wearing no shoes and the ground was a bit cold and wet. Looked more like a homeless person than a taxi driver. Was a bit wary but he seemed a. Decent chap. 40mins journey to the airport. Dropped me straight at the front door and when I got in the door the check in desks were right there, no looking around for signs or where to go. Everything is just so well planned. Would advise anyone coming to Asia to give the place a visit.
6.6Km to the top. Nothing but twisting winding roads up to 30% gradients I think.
In Taiwan Beer we Trust0 -
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Bullet trains are bang on time in Taiwan. Photo taken 1 minute after arriving.
Top of the range laptops in the train station with free internet. Would these last long in Heuston train station? Me thinks not.
You know you're not on the mainland when everyone is lining up in an orderly queue and not spitting 2 minutes.
Magnetic visors are a nice touch to this helmet.
Giant's president King Liu unavaliable for comment to boards.ie due a hectic schedule.
My fav frame of the show.
Anyone recognise the Irish rider in this pic? He rode a lot in the Asian circuit and was an ex-teammate of Martin Irvine and also a previous winner of the Taiwan hillclimb.
Rather similar to my Dengfu frame
Bikes without brake calipers look strange. Took me a minute or two to notice the disc brakes.0 -
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Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Regional Midwest Moderators, Regional West Moderators Posts: 16,724 Mod ✭✭✭✭
Join Date:Posts: 15163
Class pics, Swords jersey was the 1st cycling jersey I ever owned, passed onto me by a boardsie and then I passed it on when I sold my 1st road bike.
What you make of the frames, are they chinese?
Not sure on the Irish guy, is he the 1st lad on the left
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David McCann 3rd from left. That Taiwanese (not Chinese, big difference) guy rode The RAS in 2011. Really nice chap too but wasn't keen on the Irish weather. Frames are Taiwanese made. I'm no expert but to me the majority of carbon frames made nowadays are pretty decent. Granted Specialized and other big brands haven't excellent R&D but the cost of these are mad. 0
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