105km, 5h32, 3431 elevation
This has been a day never to forget. This has been my first real bicycle race. Yesterday I took the train from Taichung all the way to Hualien because I had to report at the hotel for the KOM race. So I took my bicycle bag and cycled from Shalu to Fengyuan, where I took the train. On this train I met one German dude and a bunch of Taiwanese guys. I became close friends with these guys and in Hualien we had lunch together and we went to check out the venue and the hotel. That was a nice experience. I spent the night at Nita Lin's hostel and the next morning I got up early to go to the venue: Hualien city's Qixingtan resort. A beautiful location ideed.
When I arrived I did two interviews, one in English and one in Chinese. I saw Kevin and his team and I also saw the guys from the day before. Everybody was getting ready to depart. I made sure I peed a couple of times before kicking in. I left my backpack on Kevin Huang's car and we were ready to go. I was feeling good before the race.
The first section was from Qixingtan to the starting point of Taroko Gorge, Hwy 8. This section was in group and we had to stay behind the leading car as long as the flag was red. I noticed a lot of people racing in this section. Made me think they were idiots wasting their energy in this part. I took the time to have a picture with Kevin and even take a piss when there was s red light in front of us. The weather was perfect and very sunny. I did not have to dress so warm tbh. But then again; it would get colder as I would rise. Something new for me was riding over the Taroko bridge. I always rode to the starting point of Hwy 8. Actually it does not really matter. There is just a small river entering the see in Xincheng and when I rode it, I would take the first option, today we did the second one.
Right after the bridge the light became green and the race was officially on. Time for action! I did not even take my cell phone for this one so I only have a few pictures of this day. The first part was from Taroko to Tianxiang. This was the section with tunnels and some construction down the road. In this section I noticed I was gradually gaining on others and moving to the front of the race. There was a mini checkpoint at Tianxiang where I saw people from the Taiwan's Cyclist Federation. I took the opportunity to ask them how many people where in front of me. They told me there were four people in front of me with the head of the race leading 10 minutes. At this point we had ridden about 45km. I remember a picture of me being taken somewhere in Wenshan. This picture is also in this page.
I remember I was thinking: Are they serious? Am I riding in fifth position? This can't be true! I had hoped to make it to the first 50 of this race, but this result would be shocking! But careful, the road to Wuling is still 60km of ascent and a lot of things can go wrong. My mindset became keeping my momentum and making sure nobody gains on me, without destroying myself. I wanted to be able to keep this pace all race long. From Tianxiang the road goes on to Xibao (around the 160km mark of Hwy 8). I think it must have been around the 155k point where I saw Kevin's team car, indicated with a black number 1 in a pink setting. I decided to take my chance for a refill. They gave me fresh water and some vital packs. It was a quick stop that was totally worth wile. They encouraged me saying I was doing a good job, JIAYOU!!!
Xibao means altitude level 1000, which means 2200 more to go. I have done this trip several times so I was well aware of the different stages I would have to pass through. Gradually climbing to Hualvxi, Xinbaiyang (around 142km on Hwy 8) and so on to Ci'en, Bilv Shenmu, Dayuling and so on. Between Xibao and Xinbaiyang I gained on number 4, meaning that I was currently riding in position 4. There was a drink stand in Xinbaiyang where people told me I was number 4 being 20 minutes behind the head of the race. As I was alone when I passed here, I told them to give me two bottles so I didn't have to stop. Wonderful way of restocking on water :-) There was another phase like this at "the Sacred Green Tree", which is located at the 128km mark of Hwy 8 with an elevation of 2150. Yes, I know my numbers! Knowledge is power and I surely learned that in this race.
From Tianxiang on I had been riding solo the whole thing. When I was reaching Dayuling, I was still riding solo. Felt great to not see anybody approach. Although I did think they would be coming now as the distance to Wuling started to shrink to tiny numbers. There was a organizer's motor following me for a few km in this section where they filmed me or took pictures. They were kind enough to encourage me to keep on pounding them pedals. Of course that would be my objective haah. At the 121km mark there is a sudden descent, which carries on for four km, loosing 200m of elevation (which obviously would have to be regained afterwards). This descent was a welcome relief, a pause. My thoughts were: if nobody gains on me before the end of this descent, I will finish at least fourth in this race! And so it happened. After passing some construction sites at the 116km mark of Hwy 8, I made it to the 112km mark of Dayuling. This section is famous as three roads come together. One being Hwy 14 from Wuling, the other one is Hwy 8 from Lishan and the last one is the road I had been riding: Hwy 8 from Hualien.
This is were the Grand Final of this race commenced. Going to Wuling from this section is only a mere 11 km but the elevation gain is about 900 meters. Take into account that there is a one km descent in this last final section, that means there was a thousand meters of climbing left. And to top that, this would be a very steep ascent, going as steep as 22%. At this point we are high up in the mountains, with thinner air containing less oxygen. This is exactly the spot where most people drop. Luckily for me I have done this section at least a hand full of times and I knew exactly how to analyze this part. A few very pinchy nasty climbs going from Hwy 14's 41,5km to 38km, then it gets more doable with 7-8%. Right after that it gets pinchy again until 34km (which is the 3000m spot) and after that it goes down until 33km. From there on there is one last nasty climb until 31.5km.
I was feeling a few cramps in this section. I had never had cramps before but today I did. Luckily I was able to repress them by standing on the bike. That is how I plowed through the first section from 41.5 to 38km. From there on I steadily proceeded to the 34km mark, where we meet the final descent and respiratory pause of the day. Upon arriving here I knew two things: 1) I would not be chased by anybody anymore. 2) I would not be able to chase the three men in front of me. In other words, I would be fourth in this race. When I was plowing through the very last 2km of this race, I saw yellow signs indicated that I was almost there. There was also a scooter from the organization writing down my number and saying in Chinese: number four is arriving promptly. At that point I could not help it, but tears were running down my face. The feeling was pride. I have been overweight practically all my life, with all problems attached to it, and I had been working so hard in Taiwan trying to cycle my weigh out of obesity. I have put in literally every spare moment I had, realizing my cycling dream. Coming in fourth in this race was the best way I could reward myself for all this hard labour. I arrived in early August 2014 and today was late July 2015, exactly one year. One year that took me from not being able to finish the ascent to Taichung's Metropolitan Garden to today, where I ride this crazy KOM number 4 position. What a dream! What a delight!
When I made it to the top, there was a host introducing my arrival and I was interviewed by her. She asked me several questions, one about the data on my Garmin device. I also noticed my good buddy Liao Shijie was there, waiting for me to take me back to Taichung. From the smile on his face I could see I had not let down his expectations. That was a wonderful feeling. After that, there were two more interviews, one in English and one in Chinese. During and after I filled my empty stomach and I waited for Kevin's team car to arrive with my backpack. When we were finished there, we headed back to Taichung, where everybody was happy with my result.
A day to never forget, not even after 25 years... Thank you Taiwan for this moment in my life! Please enjoy the few pictures I was able to collect from friends and media!
Really cool that the organization took a picture exactly on this spot, because it is the moment where I escaped from the peloton. This is where I conquered position 5, which I eventually improved to 4 and held on to it until the end. This location is between Taroko and Tianxiang ,at the second section of the race.
The score sheet. I never thought I could perform so well in this race.
A close up picture of me sharing my experiences of this race. In the end I did not regret wearing this super thick cycling jersey.
This is the first section where we had to stay behind the red flagged car. Thanks for taking this picture Kevin!
An interview just after arriving. A nice opportunity to show of with my Chinese skills haha
A picture taken of me arriving at the finish
Feels great to be standing there. Nothing fake about that smile!
This is a picture taken from behind at Xinbaiyang, the 142km mark. This is where I had a rough 40km left.
A picture taken of me in the Taroko Gorge. This is somewhere around the 175km mark of Hwy 8
The first five of the 2015 KOM race in which I ranked fourth
A rough outline of the KOM race. Put simply, a 105km to climb from 0 to 3275 meters.
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