August 10, 2014: The story of my Central Taiwanese very first ride, the beginning of a wonderful chapter

Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/563227949

91km, 3h47, elevation 429m

This is a very special report for me, as it is my very first ride in central Taiwan. The only thing I regret about this ride is not taking more pictures. I did not have that traveling, photography mindset at the time. Luckily I did have my Garmin GPS with me so I am able to track the roads I cycled. I arrived in Taiwan on August 8th 2014 and the first two days were filled up with getting installed: a room to stay, a mobile phone number etc. On Sunday, the 10th of August, I had a day for myself and this would be my first cycling trip in Central Taiwan.

I set up my bike, which was looking nice with new carbon wheels and an S-Works frame. I had some top-notch gear! I did not know the central Taiwanese roads so I just relied on my GPS to calculate me a round trip of 160km. Of the three options given, I chose the one going south, which ran through Changhua and Yunlin county. I headed out dressed in yellow shoes, yellow helmet, yellow socks,  yellow jersey, completely in yellow.

The road led me to the Taichung Industrial Park. The first climb of the day was already very tough on me and I had to switch back to the lowest gear, which was a 30T cog. On top of that for me exhausting climb I went downhill. I missed a left turn so I had to go back a little. Then I was guided through the Taichung Industrial Park to Route 125. From there I went through Nantun and Wuri, eventually crossing the Dadu bridge. Hwy 1 took me into Changhua city.

In Changhua city, I saw the sign of Bagua mountain. I had read about Bagua mountain in a Taiwanese literature work. I was guided through some very small lanes and therefore average speed was not very high at all. I saw a mixe of roads, by looking on the map I know those roads where 148 and 144. Eventually I was on Hwy 19. I started raining when I was here. Great, rain on my first ride, that sucked! I was hiding under rooftop for some time to wait it out. When it did stop, I carried on. But there were more downpours...

All of the sudden it started raining very hard and intensively. I hid under this rooftop and stood here for quite some time. That was when I decided to aboard that whole ride I had planned. I calculated how for it would be to Xiluo, where there is a Specialized store. It was less than 30km , so that was my plan B

Again I was led by a mix of small roads, but I did remember route 145 which ran across over the beautiful red Xiluo Bridge. When I crossed that bridge, I was thinking what a narrow road. Please do not get a flat tire here! In Xiluo I asked people for directions on how to find the Specialized store. Eventually I found it and I met Duke Lu and his wife. We had a nice chat and I even saw the bike I ordered online. Also,  he explained to me how to go back home via train. Which was very nice of him. We had some food in a nearby store and when it was dark, I decided to go back home.

Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/563227907
23km, 58min, elevation 11m

I went to the Yuanlin train station via Hwy 1. There, I took a train that brought me back to Shalu. It was my first ride in Taiwan and I had various impressions. Obviously, there would be a lot more cycling ahead!