A Better Day

I decided to head out for a ride around 11:30 this morning. Figured I could avoid the mad "going to work traffic", plus the rain that had been threatening all morning never appeared. So I thought I'd try for the Taipei Zoo again, since my plans for that destination were thwarted yesterday. The start of the ride was pleasant, not many people out on the bike path and the wind, while strong, wasn't bugging me too much. This picture is a view of Dadaocheng Wharf in the distance...one of our favorite bike stopping places.



Hmmm, what is this? Past Dadaocheng Wharf? A bunch of typhoon debris. Well, the guy on the other side is going over it, so I may as well follow suit.



Unfortunately, not too much farther from the first debris, the bike path was covered in mud, and virtually impassable. So, I turned around, climbed over the pile of junk again, then decided to do a reverse River Loop, which meant I had to walk the bike up a long incline at the Taipei Bridge, and instead of being able to ride in the scooter lane, since I was on the wrong side of the road, I had to carry the bike down these steps.




Once on the other side of the river, and after pushing the bike UP the pedestrian bridge on one side and carrying it DOWN the steps on the other, I very nearly turned around. This side of the river was an absolute mess. Mud everywhere. Debris in piles dotting the landscape like old-fashioned hay bales. Workers in big trucks were out in force performing a massive cleanup. Still, I travelled through some mucky standing water and plenty of mud. I think this is the dirtiest I've been on any bike ride.




This bridge is just off WenLin Road, and is pretty much right at the beginning of the bike path. The typhoon did a number on it!




On the way home, I stopped at a place that washes cars and scooters by hand. One guy was nice enough to let me hose the bike off, then after getting over his chuckles at seeing how dirty I was, proceeded to soap off the rest of the mud on the bike for me.