2011-04 Taipei Bike Ride

I went on a bike ride with one of my co-workers on Saturday.  We rented bikes along the riverside near the National Taiwan University.  Although they had a lot of nice bikes to choose from, they didn't have a bike that fit me too well.  I ended up with a mountain style bike and raised the seat up has high as possible, but it wasn't enough to get full leg extension, so I felt the muscles starting to get a workout as soon as we took off.

We headed north with a plan to go to Danshui at the mouth of the Danshui river.  It was only about 13 miles as the crow flies, but we didn't know how far it would be along the trails.  The trails along the river are very  bike freindly with many bike related statues and artwork, like the giant Paul Bunyan sized bike tire buried in the ground.  There are also lots of sports fields and courts including soccer, basketball, baseball and even croquet.

We stopped in Guanshui for a donut, which was very light with a minimal coating of sugar.  They were warm from the fryer and went down very good.  There is a very large temple built into the side of the hill, and a lot of people were visiting this morning.  It is a long holiday weekend in Taiwan as Children's day is Monday and Tomb Sweeping Day, which is similar to Memorial Day in the US as it is a time to remember the ancestors and visit the cemeteries.

We ended up getting to Danshui about 2 hours after we started.  Since it was near lunchtime, we headed down a street filled with multiple vendors and stared eating our way down the street.  Kenny was picking and choosing some of the best and most well known foods along the street for us to eat.  Our first stop was for breaded, deep fried cuttlefish, which is a large type of squid.  What made this delicious was the powdered spices they sprinkled over the hot cut up pieces.  I had plum spice along with a touch of curry powder.

Next we stopped for some milk tea with pearls (giant tapiaco balls)  in the bottom.  It was cold and refreshing.  This was followed by a stop in a very small restaurant with benches and tables specializing in dumplings and fish balls.  The dumplings were pork filled and the fish balls were served in a hot broth.

Midway down the street was a temple with some wonderful stone carvings on the walls and intricate pottery or china statues on the roof.  There were 3 monks in front of the temple soliciting donations.  Each one was about 6" taller than the previous, ranging from 5 to 6 foot tall in a perfect stair step.  I started to take a photo because I thought it was interesting, and as soon as I raised my camera, they raised their arms to cover their face.  I first thought it was just part of their routine, but then realized they did not want their photos taken.  I erased the photos and went to apologize, but don't know if they understood.  No photo, but it is a site and experience that I will remember quite well without the photo.

We then headed farther north to the fisherman's wharf, which is the port at the river mouth.  The pedestrian bridge spans the port opening.  We got on a ferry and took that across to the other side of the river, which is called Bali.  Both the Bali side, known as the left bank, and the Danshui side were very busy and it was difficult riding our bikes along the sidewalks.  We headed north and went to the Museum of Archeology and learned about the aboriginal natives of this area and their early iron and smelting capabilities.  After the museum we stopped for a shaved ice treat.  The ice was shaved from a block of mixed ice and milk, and then topped with a choice of flavors.  I got a mango topping.  The shaved ice ends up being very light and airy, and is also known as snow ice here.

It was time to head back to turn our bikes in and make the trek home.  By this time my bottom was very sore and troubling me, so we decided to stop along the way to try to find some bike shorts to give me some more padding and protection.  Back at Guanshui, we find a roadside vendor who had a pair shorts in my size and let me try them on before purchase.  They fit great and really helped for the rest of the ride.  This ride gave me a great appreciation for the proper fit of a bike and why a poor fit bike could make someone never want to ride a bike again.

We got a a little turned around on the way back and put a few more miles on than anticipated.  One of the upsides of this was that we were able to be riding as the sunset over the west bank of the river.  About 2 miles from the return center, my seat loosened and started to shift around.  I kept pounding it down, but then the nose was too low, so did a lot of standing pedaling at

the end.  We got back to the rental location about 6:30, and my thigh muscles were killing me, especially in the car on the ride back to the hotel.  I took some Advil at the hotel and walked around the area a little to stretch them out and by 8:00 they felt OK. 

All in all it was a great way to spend an afternoon.  We ended up riding a little over 40 miles on the trip and saw a lot of beautiful scenery, tested a lot great local foods, and got some much needed exercise.