October 27, 2022
October 27th
out with Ralph
It's just gone seven when I gain consciousness and mumble something to Debbie about Ralph emailing soon to propose a rendezvous for a ride. She then briefly hears about my energy being low and me being a bit unsure about riding before I drift back into the land of nod.
The wall clock says it's almost eight when I reawake and sure enough Ralph has emailed. It's a short messsage: Any interest in a ride? The title being even briefer: 28!! He's referring to today's predicted high, not tomorrow's date.
With a such nice day is store, it's seems daft not to get out and we agree to meet at nine in town, and then ride south. It's gone 8:30 when I wheel my bike out the front door.
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There's the usual array of commuters mixed with delivery people on scooters whizzing along as I pedal into town. There's not a cloud in the sky and it occurs to me to put some sun cream on, but I tell myself later. This fairly early hour in late October has that reasuring coolness to it. With the local elections being next month, large campaign posters cover various walls and buildings - the candidates' portraits looking down at the traffic with facial expressions and poses that signal concocted postivity. They're just in for the money.
The forecast was right: it's warm when I stop at lights. In fact the predicted high of 28 may become an underestimate and as I get to the riverside sports center just before Ralph, a twentysomething man walks past stripped to a pair of running shorts, already soaking up some early morning UV.
Being five or more minutes early, there's enough time to pop across the road to get a bottle of cold drink (tea) from a convenience store. I'll need it.
Ralph and I follow the riverside path south and for a few hundred metres we ride along a wooden elevated section and our wheels rumble over smooth 3" planks that are slightly loose and make the sound that a train does.
It's only a few minutes before we're riding beside rice fields that look about ready to harvest, with the odd metal-clad industrial unit here and there. The path lasts for quite a while and we cross a couple of small roads before getting to a district called Yangmei and are spat onto urban streets. Ten minutes later we're in a roomy Starbucks that looks like it could comfortably seat 100 or more and Ralph orders a pumpkin spice latte. Mine's a grande cappuchinno with a cinnamon roll as a sugar rush appeals.
About 20 minutes of chat later, we're back in the sun and after going under a flyover to cycle west, it's an urban artery that's lined with all kinds of shops and new, 20-storey apartment blocks that make it feel we're in a canyon. A handful of small fluffy clouds have materised and hang around above.
The road eventually leads us to the older part of Yangmei, where the road gets narrow and market stalls selling meat and veg give off a much more traditioanal vibe, though many are currently unmanned and bare.
Ralph gives me directions. He's like a GPS amnd we ride into countryside and start to climb up route 11, which is fairly gentle. There's little traffic now.
A while ago we did this same ride, but there's a slight variation today and we make a right and then get to a fork that Ralph says he missed last time he was here. The right looks like one of those dead-ends, but we take it and it kicks up.
At one spot we pause for a drink and a pixelboard display reads 10:57, then switches to 30 degrees. There's a few kilometres of spinning away with bamboo and shrubs hemming us in. Pine cones litter the road surface as we get higher and signs say we're still on the 11. After the crest, the lane eventually drops us at high speed onto a wide road.
This route - the 115 - must be slightly down as our speed means I need to be in my biggest gear to pedal away.
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The wide road has a shoulder and that's what we ride along, not that the traffic is serious enough to cause concern. At one junction Ralph asks if I'm up for anther climb and I feel good, so up we go at a brown sign pointing to a peaceful spot named Jioucyonghu.
There's something of a farmers' market held here, but being a weekday there are few vendors or customers around. Judging by the amount of cheap parking available, weekends must be busy and no doubt families from the nearby city of Hsinchu flock here for a fresh-air + fresh-produce combo.
We get to the end of the road after about 10 minutes of slow riding. It really is the end of the road. A visitor map shows various hiking paths snaking around the surrounding hills and we try one lane that's very steep, but after 100 metres it leads us to a farm gate. In the end we decide to turn back and five minutes further along the 115 there's another right turn onto a back lane, one which has a number - 15 - and we start another climb, heading back north.
Election posters are dotted around - these ones being mostly flags that fluttter in the wind. By far the most common one shows a smiling man in his 50s with glasses, whose image seems to have been airbrushed into a banal portrait. I doubt his own mother would recognise him.
It's a bit steep in places, so much so that Ralph has to get off and push while my lowest gear gets my heart rate maxxed out. The temperature is about 30 now, but the whole climb is less than 3km and connects us onto route 13. This is a new one to me.
The 13 is decent enough. It's got something of a shoulder and is smooth and our speed is helped by a backwind. There ar emore rice paddies and teh odd settlement consisting of a few low homes. The route slowly rises and falling a couple of times before connect to the 14, where we ride west.
It's more built up now with what you might call ribbon development, but that makes it sound organized. Ralph takes the lead and I spot a window grill on a derelict house that looks nice, but don't stop to take a snap as I know it'll be hard to catch him up. We seem to be in a wide valley with the sides too far away to see. the next thing I know is a 7-Eleven appears and it's one I know from previous rides.
My lunch is something labelled 'Rich Spaghetti with a New Orleans Sauce'. It's pretty good, but is actually tagliatelli, which is called 'flat Italian noodles' in Chinese.
Right across the road is Baozhong Temple, with a pair of big golden lions gaurding its entrance. From here we'll go along route 117 and the train station is just 15 minutes' ride away.
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We only have to wait 20 minutes for a train back north. There are a few roadies on board already bt t there are empty seats for the two of us to sit holding our bikes. My skin feels frazzled and the sun cream in my barbag should have been applied at some point, but never was.
The 40-minute journey passes quite fast on the commuter service that stops everywhere and at jut gomne 2:00 we say bye and head to our homes. I ride knowing that in an hour I'll be cycling back towards the train station to catch a bus for a class I have later.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,880 km (1,167 miles)
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