June 25th

June 25, 2021

Out with Michelle

My ex-student Michelle has just finished her second year at uni and she emailed me this week to say she likes the idea of getting out for a ride and tasting freedom again. She let's me know her last ride was one with me - about two years ago.

My suggestion is to do a pretty easy loop through Bade, Yingge and Daxi, mostly along small lanes. It'll all be new to her.

We meet up at 10 o'clock outside a 7-Eleven very close to my place and I set up the tripod and take a snap of us both, with a new, 14-floor apartment block under construction as a backdrop. It now obscures where I live and Michelle says she and her mother inquired about buying one of the bigger units, but found them quite small and the price of around NT$10 million didn't help. That's about US$300,000.

The temp' is still around 30°C even though the sky is overcast and rain is a distinct possibility, with dark clouds quite low over to the south. We're heading roughly east at first, down Route 114 to Bade.

The small town is only about 5km away and the 114 is reasonably safe. It's just that there's nothing much to see, as the view is one of shops and small warehouses and we zip along to get it over with as soon as possible.

Once in Bade, we cruise past lots of apartment buildings over 20 storeys high that are in various stages of construction. It's a mystery to me who buys them. Most people in Taiwan simply don't earn enough.

Michelle follows my back wheel and we soon get onto a small lane that incorporates a couple of hairpins as it drops steeply down an escarpment to a farmers' lane that runs parallel to the main highway to Taipei. We're basically riding northeast now.

The noise of speeding highway traffic is noticeable, but the vehicles are out of sight, roughly four metres somewhere above our heads. Smallholdings and allotments are on our left, with the occasional boxy home nestled towards the foot of the green escarpment. This is more like it.

The narrow lane seems to go down very gently and it's certainly easy riding. After a few kilometres we make a turn under the highway, using one of numerous 50m-long, square tunnels that are spaced along the route. This is the last one.

After a short section of main road, we drop to the Dahan River, where a bike path takes us the rest of the way to Yingge.

It's barely 11 o'clock when we get there and as Michelle isn't in urgent need of a coffee, I suggest skipping the town centre and riding over a nearby long bridge that crosses the Dahan, then cycling back southwest on the other side to Daxi. We can have a coffee there - either at Starbucks or Louisa. That's what we agree on.

The bridge is a bit nasty, with no shoulder. It's having serious work done to it and looking across the two lanes it appears there'll be a second bridge with each likely being one-way. There doesn't look to be any bike path included in this major revamp, which doesn't surprise me.

Once we're over the bridge and I've navigated our way onto a riverside road, it's tranquil again. The first 10 minutes or so are flat, but then the route starts to climb. I haven't mentioned this to Michelle. It's actually tough, 2km slog.

The first time I cycled this way I'd assumed the route would simply trace the river bank and be easy, like it is on the north bank. Why this side rises up so much is a mystery.

Unfortunately, Michelle's road bike doesn't have low gears like mine and it's real test for her legs. Inevitably she has to get off and walk a couple of times and after a kilometre of hard work we pause at a temple that has a water dispenser and we fill up our bottles and take snaps of the river and broad valley below.

My shirt is soaked with sweat and if it'd been sunny today, this climb would be an absolute killer.

After the temple, the road has a couple more particularly steep sections that are likely 15 percent or so and we stop a couple of times to have another drink, wipe away the sweat and take a few snaps.

Once we're at the crest, where there's a more secluded temple that never seems open, Michelle sits down on a concrete bench under some trees and we chat for 10 minutes and I decide to dig out two snack bars tucked away in my saddlebag for emergencies like this. I bought them a week or two ago.

Just as we're about to continue our merry way to Daxi, I spot a 3-inch long spider that'd give anyone with arachnophobia serious nightmares. Its back has a pretty scary, metallic-looking pattern. It's one I haven't seen before.

Neither of us is in an actual rush to get home and the descent is technical and narrow, so we take it steady. My damp top gets a bit drier as the wind wafts over my torso.

The bendy drop eventually takes us to wide Route 3 and we follow that for roughly 10 minutes, when we reach a small turnoff you'd easily miss that drops steeply for 100 metres onto a grid of farm lanes.

Among the rice fields and poly-tunnels is what's called the Lee Family Mansion. It's a single-floor house over 100 years old and Michelle says she's heard of it, but has never been, so we ride that way and stop by.

We're out of luck. Under the current lockdown rules the place is closed to the public and we have to make do with taking snaps by poking of camera/smartphone over the six-foot-tall perimeter wall.

As we ride towards Daxi, rain starts to lightly fall, but it's only five minutes to get there and I lead Michelle up a path off the main road that was specifically made for the Lee family as a short cut to what's now dubbed the Old Street.

Usually this street, lined with former merchants' home-cum-shops, would be full of tourists, but there's just the two of us.

The rain is coming down steadily now and we use the shelter provided by these 100-year-old places and make our way along their arched walkways towards where Louisa is located, just a couple of blocks away.

Our bikes get parked outside a convenience store called OK Mart and I get cold coffees and two small quiche and we stand there looking at the rain splattering off the road for about 20 minutes or so.

Once it's eased off, we zip back down the hill and go over the original bridge that I've cycled across a couple of times this month. Again, there's nobody else around. Michelle has never seen like this. It does seem odd.

On the north bank we get on a small road that turns into a lane and there's basically no traffic. It's drizzling again, but we're both damp anyway from the high humidity, so agree we might as well keep on riding.

The lane gives access to the small route that runs next to elevated highway and before long there's the steep hill to conquer, with its couple of hairpins.

It surprises me that Michelle makes it up, hanging onto my back wheel until we get to near the top where I pause to take a snap. Before I get the chance to tell her to say cheese, she tells me about a huge snail that's making its way along a mossy wall. It's a monster, measuring about four inches long.

We go back along the road we took coming out but then veer off to get on a lane instead of taking route 114. This way back adds a couple of kilometres to the ride but I'm fine with that.

There's another traditional house that's now hemmed in by tall apartment blocks. It was renovated a few years ago but stands empty. It's rook has swallowtails and there are ornate decorations on the corners that have geometric designs covered in red, green and yellow tiles.

The rain seems to have passed overhead. We're both warm enough in our lightweight clothes. The humidity must be as high as it can get. My shirt couldn't be any wetter.

The lane we take weaves past fields. The odd car comes past. I tell Michelle where we'll be soon as she has no idea where we are at the moment, even though we're only just over 5km from home. It's about 3:00 now.

Five minutes from home I wave Michelle bye and pedal home as she makes her way to her mother's place. It's not far to go for either of us.

Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 312 km (194 miles)

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