Solo Saturday since Karen is due to take off on her Starship trip sometime this morning. The road bike decided to take me up to Four Corners via Peitou. Man, I have not done hills for a long, long time. And with God as my training partner again, it was a tough little climb for me. Going up via Peitou is about 5 miles, all a gradual to not-so-gradual uphill. I didn't stop and rest going up, although I thought about it a few times when the wind blasted me as I rounded some of the corners. It was a nice accomplishment once I arrived at Four Corners. It was also sweet, because I passed four bikers also heading up the hill. Usually I am the one getting passed.
Had a bit of a break, then went down, this time via Cherry Hill. This way has much more of an incline, plus it is a shorter distance to the bottom. I actually stopped going down to give my braking hands a break. Once I got to the bottom of the hill, I just rode around on the streets for awhile. Short ride, but a pretty good workout. Doesn't get much better than this.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
October 26, 2008
Oh, what a fun morning solo ride. Wasn't sure where I wanted to go, so the newly tubed road bike led me to the bike path, over the bridge, then right toward Daijia Wharf. I just missed the end of a fun run, which was good, because there were tons of people, but not like there would have been in the middle of the run.
Got onto the smooth part of the path and over at the wharf they were setting up rental bikes and very colorful canoes. Got off to watch for awhile, realized nothing was going to happen for an hour, so I rode on. When I came back, there was just 20 minutes to wait, so I hung around. Took some pictures, chatted with a young family whose kids had not been afraid to say hello to a foreigner. Finally, the loudspeaker announced it was time for the festivities to begin. Well, I guess that's what it said.
Probably 20 people were instructed in how to use the paddles, outfitted with life vests, and proceeded to get into their canoes and paddle off down the river. Fun to watch. (especially the Fire Department guys)
Friday, October 24, 2008
October 25
Today I did the River Loop ride with Karen P. Haven't done this ride for a long time. Nice to do something different. Not so nice to change a flat back tire. Man, am I slow at that! But, got it done, so Karen and I were free to continue training with God. Headwinds made Him our training partner today. And we enjoyed it by golly!
Weather Conditions: Some fine mist, some pretty blue sky, one full rainbow, some white clouds, some gray clouds, definitely wind in all directions. Temp 84°, 70% humidity, felt like 91°. C'mon fall...I am tired of being hot here.
Today's ride was somewhere around 23 miles. Don't know for sure because my computer is still not working all the time. I've talked to the guys at the bike shop three times, each time they look at it, spin the wheel, and pronounce it good to go. Guess I need to look at it myself. And boy oh boy, do I need to clean the bikes! I just never seem to have the ambition to do that, partly because as soon as they are clean, they get mussed up again from the gunk here. And partly because I don't have a good place to clean it, although since I moved furniture around again, I may be able to use the front balcony. I think there is even a hose out there. Guess that takes care of the place issue. Now to work on the laziness issue...
Weather Conditions: Some fine mist, some pretty blue sky, one full rainbow, some white clouds, some gray clouds, definitely wind in all directions. Temp 84°, 70% humidity, felt like 91°. C'mon fall...I am tired of being hot here.
Today's ride was somewhere around 23 miles. Don't know for sure because my computer is still not working all the time. I've talked to the guys at the bike shop three times, each time they look at it, spin the wheel, and pronounce it good to go. Guess I need to look at it myself. And boy oh boy, do I need to clean the bikes! I just never seem to have the ambition to do that, partly because as soon as they are clean, they get mussed up again from the gunk here. And partly because I don't have a good place to clean it, although since I moved furniture around again, I may be able to use the front balcony. I think there is even a hose out there. Guess that takes care of the place issue. Now to work on the laziness issue...
Friday, October 17, 2008
October 18
Solo Saturday past the Grand to the end of the path and back. Lots of people, lots of sunshine, lots of wind. Lots of up and down emotions for me. Nearly didn't go out because it had just rained here and gray clouds kept rolling in. Changed my mind about taking the road bike and went out on the good old Freeda. Turned out to be a very good ride, even though the wind made me work. Will NOT complain about that...I'm blessed to be able to go out on two wheels. Or two feet. Not so one of my good friends who is battling cancer. She has shown some progress, though, so hopefully after the final two rounds of chemo, the one remaining tumor will have also disappeared.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Karen P., her friend Bianca, and I had a nice ride from TAS to the end of the bike path past the Grand Hotel. Had to go around a barrier to get onto the next path that just goes for a short ways. Then it was onto the road, past concrete trucks, and onto the path again. This path is definitely not my favorite because it is made of bumpy tiles instead of half-smooth blacktop.
At any rate, we took this path to the end, then came back. Thought about taking the road back into Taipei, but Bianca said it was a super busy one. I stopped at the bike shop on the way to my apartment. Got new brake shoes, a bit of adjustment, but still no satisfaction with my intermittently working computer. I'll have to play with the magnet myself and see if I can get it to work all the time.
This turned out to be a pretty nice day in which to ride, even though we had some heinous headwinds every once in awhile.
At any rate, we took this path to the end, then came back. Thought about taking the road back into Taipei, but Bianca said it was a super busy one. I stopped at the bike shop on the way to my apartment. Got new brake shoes, a bit of adjustment, but still no satisfaction with my intermittently working computer. I'll have to play with the magnet myself and see if I can get it to work all the time.
This turned out to be a pretty nice day in which to ride, even though we had some heinous headwinds every once in awhile.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Solo Sunday
A nice sunny, solo Sunday ride this morning. Out to Dadaocheng Wharf and back. It was equal opportunity day with near misses by a car, a scooter, and a bicycle. Really close on the bicycle near miss. I don't keep count of the number of times I have to swerve to miss bikers, walkers, scooters, or dogs on the bike path. I also rarely count the number of times I have to swerve to avoid people who decide red lights don't count for them when I'm out on the streets. That's just life in Taipei.
Friday, October 03, 2008
First October Ride
Not much to say here...rather an uneventful bike ride with Karen P. out past the Grand Hotel to the end of the bike path and back. It was nice to be able to get out and not have a typhoon keeping us inside.
On another note, I just sent an email to the Larry King Live show. I started watching it when I got back this morning. There were four participants discussing the VP debate. Well, discussing is a rather loose term. Mostly there were two panelists butting in when the other two were trying to make a point, and I found it very caustic and contentious. I found it to be so annoying that I changed the channel and decided to send a letter. Sheesh, if you have people on the show, let them speak! Each of them has a voice, they should be allowed to use it. And Larry decided to just sit back and let the loudmouths speak out over the other two. But then he does that a lot of the time. I'd love to see him try to control a classroom full of enthusiastic students.
On another note, I just sent an email to the Larry King Live show. I started watching it when I got back this morning. There were four participants discussing the VP debate. Well, discussing is a rather loose term. Mostly there were two panelists butting in when the other two were trying to make a point, and I found it very caustic and contentious. I found it to be so annoying that I changed the channel and decided to send a letter. Sheesh, if you have people on the show, let them speak! Each of them has a voice, they should be allowed to use it. And Larry decided to just sit back and let the loudmouths speak out over the other two. But then he does that a lot of the time. I'd love to see him try to control a classroom full of enthusiastic students.