Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/676382212
109km, 4h09, elevation 1672m
Today I participated in a bicycle race. It was my first bicycle race ever and if it weren't for my Taiwanese friends, I probably would not have participated at all. I rearranged my morning classes to be able to take part, but I had some classes in the afternoon left.
The night before the race I had prepared the WayPoint of the start in my GPS. It was at the Buzi park in Taichung's Taiping area. I left early in the morning because it was still 30 km from Shalu to Taiping. Early in the morning, my GPS was giving me lousy instructions, getting lost the entire time. I lost quite some time because of that. In the end i just cycled into Taichung city and let the navigation continue from there.
I met some other cyclists on my there and I got there well on time. I waited for my friends who showed up some fifteen minutes later. Today, Liao Shi-jie and Shu-wei would be joining me in this race. There would also be one other colleague of Shu-wei. There was a lot of people at the venue.
A crowded start for the 2015 Triple Mount Challenge in Taichung
Getting ready for departure, a picture with Liao Shi-jie
Shu-wei's colleague, Dan Jun-yu
Then, qt 06:30, when daylight was upon us, the race began. I was cycling right next to Liao Shi-jie. We were discussing game tactics. I was telling him to take it easy for the first part and to power it up further down the race. We were cycling for about one mile when he told me he had a flat tire. At first I thought he was joking, but he was serious. He had a flat tire in less than five minutes in the race. At least he was first in something today! He told me to continue my race and don't mind him but I felt that would not have been right. I stopped and helped him fix the tire. That took us about 20 minutes and a lot of people were passing us by. When we were finally back on track, we were literally last of all 1000 participants. My first race ever was a complete success!
The race encountered a first climb en route to Zhongxingling. That is where I decided to attack. I was racing past people all the time. I was climbing nicely and by the time I was on top of Zhongxingling I had already left a whole lot of people behind me. That felt good. From Zhongxingling we descended via Route 129 back to the Dongshi bridge. During this section my number 533 flew off my helmet. I was worried that this meant I would not get a result. Nevertheless, I did not stop the race. I continued. Wherever possible, I passed by people on my descend.
A picture of me taken at the Dongshi bridge. This is where Hwy 3 changes into Hwy 8 and heads further east. I was riding in attack mode here.
Shu-wei was riding in front of us at the time of the flat tire so he knew nothing of it. He was far ahead of me and he was wondering where we were.
The rest of the race is without pictures unfortunately. I cycled along Hwy 8, without stopping for drinks or snacks at the first checkpoint. I entered Hwy 21 and started attacking Baimaoshan. Again, I was racing past a lot of people and that felt great. Best of all, at the last km of the race, I recognized Shu-wei by his helmet. I pushed very hard and I just made it to race past him before the summit. I yelled his name and went passed him. He was like what?? Also funny, one of his friends was offering snacks at the top of Baimaoshan. He give me an energy pack which I ate while cycling. Then I descended all the way via hwy 21 to Guoxing. I noticed some people were better at descending than me.
I stopped for a piss in Guoxing and continued my journey. It went through Guoxing, back to Hwy 14 and then the famous 136 to Chikanding. I had never done all of this without a break so that was new today. I felt a little tired during the last climb but I still had juice left. At the last climb I met two guys in a purple cycling jersey. They were cycling past me and then I gained on them again. The longer the climb got, the further they fell behind. There was another snacks and drinks spot at Chikanding, I did not stop there and raced downhill at once. In this section, the two purple cyclists gained on me but were not able to go past me. We raced until the end in Taichung. I managed to end before them haha.
This is a picture of me finishing the race. The official distance was 92 but my GPS only displayed 87. Not that much actually.
Liao Shi-jie ending his race. He ended some 20 minutes behind me.
Game over for Shu-wei.
After the race we chatted and took pictures. There was even some free food and small boots selling cycling gear.
I took a picture together with the two purple guys. They were to brothers, named Cai and they lived in Changhua. They said they were impressed by my cycling skills haha. That was funny.
Officially I finished in 3h38, but we should detract 20 minutes for fixing that tire though. It was nice that they could still provide me with a certificate by just saying the number. This race has not been in vain!
I was also given a medal, depicting the three hills the race went through. Zhongxingling, Baimaoshan and Chikanding.
A group picture with the four riders and the crew responsible for reinforcements
A week after the race the results appeared. What a coincidence, the purple riders indicated our times in a purple color haha. Actually I ended before them but it took the staff some time to make my ticket again. Doesnt really matter, it was a nice experiemce.
After the race we went back to Fengyuan for tea. In the afternoon I went to Taichung for my classes. The next day I came back to repair Liao Shi-jie's tire.
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