Update after Taiwan

One of my favorite host families. Jonathon picked me up one night during Tour of California for a little escape from the hotel. I had a nice visit to see the parents and then out for some local Fresno sushi.


The day before I left for Taiwan I went on a little mountain bike adventure. I prefer to call it an adventure because when I ride someplace I've never been before it seems a little more "out there". In this case, it was pretty out there. I rode it rather safe since it got into my head that if I screwed up I'm not sure anyone visited this area much too find me. It's about 50 miles outside of San Diego. Since I happen to be a former Boy Scout, I was prepared. Plenty of water, extra clothing, and even some matches in case I had an unplanned bivy. The wind was howling and the temperatures were 20 degrees colder at the highest point. In the picture I'm pointing to a dirt road at some point I had started out on.


Looking for a public restroom after one of the stages I stumbled across this temple.


This is my image of Taiwan. Every city looks like this to me.


Driving is somehow pretty orderly even with all the scooters everywhere.


During our "cultural exchange" tour we were taken to a place that had something to do with the important history of smell sticks. From what I can gather it was about incense and it's importance in religious ceremony. Our hosts tried their best to interpret in English what the Taiwanese tour guide was saying. Many people lost interest but I thought they were putting in a great attempt to share something with us that was important to them so I followed them around and just nodded my head as if I knew what was going on. I basically made up my own version of what we were looking at. This stump is a carving of one of the woods that is used in incense. Very old carving...I think?


This is the Tour de Taiwan tech portion of the blog for my cycling friends. These CKT bikes were nice looking. Very color coordinated. In case anyone needed to know if those wheels were tubular... it say so right on them.


Never have seen this White stuff. Taiwanese stuff made by Microshift.


One day the director asked for some help. Said they were not shifting well. I had go with it. Seemed like it didn't release from the cogs very well. He indicated this was the first race with the bikes. I did notice the drivetrain was built with some brake housing and the director said "hmmm, that's interesting."




Prototype rim made by Citek. Thin aluminum disks on a carbon rim.


One of the frustrated things about the Taiwan race is the bike racks we have to use. They don't fit modern bike tubes. I had to rig it up to work and most of the time the bikes were at a odd looking angle. Toe straps and Thule straps are my favorite items to travel with.