Bicycle Cafe

 So, my Bicycle Cafe had its first official outing this weekend.

The 2-month long process of designing a trailer, finding a good metal fabricator and having a wood box and counter built, finally came to an end. My carpenter friend did an amazing job with the box and table. It's all plywood, so the weight of the empty trailer is still under 20kg (+ 20kg icebox inside). 

Had seen a spot the week before on the bike path near the 85F building that looked good. Lots of folks playing with their kids at a wading pool and no coffee or tea shops within 500m. It's a 45 min. ride from my house, so I got a good workout riding there and back. The trailer is about 40kg empty + a 25kg bag of ice + 25kg of coffee and Thai milk tea = 90kg. Rolls great on the flats, but at the slightest of inclines it feels like all your tires have simultaneously gone flat.

Lots of folks came over to enjoy some ice coffee and take photos with their phones. All in all, a great first day with a much lighter load for the ride home.

Trail-a-Bike

I recently bought a trail-a-bike copy for my 5-year old son.
Summer vacation is just a few weeks away and I wanted to take him with me on some trips, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Adam's Trail-a-bikes in North America are fairly expensive; $245-320CDN, but this one cost $4,800NT ($165CDN). Mountain Equipment Co-op in Vancouver sells their own version for $190 + tax, but it didn't get very good reviews:

   I was surprised by how much the slack on the joint affects handling for the adult. As the kid pedals or moves, their body weight will shift position significantly and impact the balance on the front bike. I found myself "fighting" it all the time to where my hands and upper body were noticeably tired after riding. Having done a fair bit of cross country mountain biking, I probably have above average handling skills compared to a more novice recreational-riding parent, so I would encourage trying it out before buying. For occasional riding with the family, the trailabike still fits the bill and the MEC one is good quality and priced right.

    I definitely noticed that my handling was affected by weight shifts on this trailer and had to fight to hold my line. Found it best to try and keep my upper body as relaxed as possible and just let my line wander a little. Was really great to be out riding together with my son though. We took the long way home from his school and followed the bike path along the Love River. Got quite a few surprised looks from people we passed and lots of smiles.

Gonna have to go helmet shopping with him this weekend, and get a proper bike helmet that doesn't slip back on his head.

Victoria is Canada's Most Bikeable City

Read an interesting article today about my old home - Victoria.

Researchers at UBC and SFU have recently declared it to be the most bikeable city in Canada. The system they use is an offshoot of WalkScore. It uses factors such as cycling infrastructure (Ex: bike lanes), topography, desirable amenities and road connectivity to give cities a score on how bikeable they are.

*They don't include statistics related to cycling accidents or probability of bike theft in their calculations. I guess they assume that more cycling infrastructure means safer cycling.

I wonder how the cities in Taiwan would compare - Kaohsiung certainly has lots of bike lanes, though connectivity is a problem. It's topography is very cycling friendly, as it's almost totally flat. And desirable amenities are everywhere:

Can read the original article at Victoria: Canada’s most bikeable city
Also, a connected article: From bikeability to bike score that included this graph:

Average Bike Score for 10 Canadian Cities vs. % of Commute Trips by Bike

The Cycling Route Planner for Vancouver was also pretty cool:
I especially like the google function that allowed you to superimpose the data you were interested in onto the map - stuff like designated bike routes and truck routes.

Agongdian Reservoir Loop

There wasn't supposed to be a ride today - the weather forecast said a 70% chance of rain. After yesterday's thunder and lightning, I'd planned a swim at the gym. Woke late however to clear blue skies, so headed out. Haven't fixed the broken spoke on my Kona yet, so dusted off the road bike.

I have a bit of trouble doing pleasure rides on this bike as H.G. Wells described best:

I came out for exercise, gentle exercise, and to notice the scenery and to botanise. And no sooner do I get on that accursed machine than off I go hammer and tongs; I never look to right or left, never notice a flower, never see a view - get hot, juicy, red - like a grilled chop. Get me on that machine and I have to go. I go scorching along the road, and cursing aloud at myself for doing it. ~H.G. Wells, The Wheels of Chance

First ride with my new 50/34 compact crankset.

Earlier in the week, I'd planned a weekend ride out to Cock’s Comb Mountain for a hike, but the thought of starting a 200m hike just before noon made me change my mind. I therefore dedicate today's ride to Bruce Lee who said Be Like Water ( and follow the path of least resistance? )

Started the ride at Ciatou Sugar Refinery MRT station and headed east for around 25min. to Yanchiao and the Agongdian Reservoir bike path. It's best to do this ride counter-clockwise, as there are a couple of very short, but brutally steep, climbs that are easier in this direction.

The loop around the reservoir is only about 7km, but a nice escape from the sounds of cars and scooters. Also has a couple of suspension bridges thrown in.

After finishing the loop around the reservoir, it was time to head back the way I came. I have a fairly strong aversion to out-and-back rides - guess it comes from the limited choices I had for road rides as a lad in my home town: ride 20 miles north of town and back or 20 miles south of town and back.

I saw a fellow on a bike exit a little side road that followed alongside a canal. He said it would take me to Gangshan, just north of Ciatao, so I was off to explore. Turned out to be a very good choice.

A 10 minute blast south from Ciaotao on Highway 1 brought me to the Nantze Industrial District. The name alone should give you a pretty strong mental image of the place. Nantze is in fact an offence to every sense but one, as the high concentration of workers from Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand make it a culinary paradise in the middle of a wasteland. Stopped by my favorite Thai hole-in-the-wall for lunch.

Pictures of the king and queen on the walls, Thai whiskey and beer, Karaoke machine and heaping plates of cheap Thai food. Heaven! Was pretty quiet today due to being the last weekend before payday.

Ride Summary:  30km total
Ciaotou MRT to Agongdian Reservoir :  9km
Loop of Reservoir:  6km
Reservoir to Nantze : 15km

See this ride on Bikemap:  Agongdian Reservoir

Island Getaway

The temperature really shot up this week, so I decided to combine a bike ride with some snorkling. The closest decent beaches to KHH are on Hsiao Liu Chiu (Xiao Liuqiu) island, so I hopped on the MRT early Saturday morning and travelled east to the last station: Daliao.

The convenient elevator at KHH Arena station near my house.

Ready for a day at the beach with flippers in tow.

Not many people ride to the end of the line.

Exiting Daliao station and turning left, you travel south for about 300m and turn left again at a T-intersection and follow this road all the way east to the Gaoping River. Then cross Highway 21 and get up on top of the dyke and ride the bikepath along the river all the way south to Lingyuan.

Riding south on the dyke.

One of the few bits of shade to stop for a drink on this ride.

The new bridge across the Gaoping river on highway 17 has a lot more room for cyclists now.

Arrived at Donggang harbour at 10:45am and quickly boarded a boat leaving at 11:00. $380 for a return ticket + $50 extra for the bike each way.

Didn't realize there are 2 different harbours on Hsiao Liu Chiu and this boat didn't go to the main Baishawei Tourist Harbour. As I circled the island counter-clockwise, I couldn't figure out why it was taking me so long to get to the beach where I wanted to swim. The island also had a lot more hills than I remembered from when I last visited 8 years ago; I'm getting old.

Looking back toward Dafu Fishing Harbour from a viewpoint at the top of the first climb.

The famous crystal-clear waters of the island's beaches.

Houshi Skirt Reef beach had great snorkling.

The lack of cars on the island made for very good riding, with the odd tour bus to look out for on corners like this.

Arrived back in Donggang at 3:45 to be greeted by a brutal headwind for the 20km trip back to KHH. Can't say I enjoyed this portion of the ride very much and took no photos.

RIDE SUMMARY:
1) Daliao MRT - Donggang : 26km totally flat
2) Island Loop : 12km of short steep climbs (+8km when I got lost)
3) Donggang - Siogang MRT : 20km totally flat

To see this ride on Bikemap:
To Dongang and back
Island Loop

Kaohsiung City Ride

Got a Wednesday off and decided to take advantage of the beautiful blue skies in KHH and ride down the Love River bike path to the harbour and university.

I always have to remind myself to be careful on bike paths because they are designed to kill cyclists. Here is a great example of design that kills;  hide those ugly boxes along with cyclists transitioning from the bike path to one of the biggest roads in the city.

Got to the harbour at around 10:30am to find it was pleasantly quiet. I normally avoid the road around the point to the university, but the hoards of Chinese tourists that usually mob the former British Consulate must have been elsewhere today.

Was good to finally see work underway to fix the bike path that follows the waterfront below the lighthouse on Cijin Island. The boardwalk/bikepath was washed away by a typhoon in the summer of 2010. I hope the path no longer meets a deadend at a set of stairs that forces everyone to return the way they came.

Headed back to Tzoying along the newest bikepath in the city. It follows an old rail line that goes north from the harbour parallel to Gushan road. It's not finished yet, but will eventually go all the way to the art museum.