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.
兔子！
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.
View taiwan3 in a larger map
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.
