The only way to avoid the traffic is to get up plenty early for a ride.
There were a ton of people today for Team Neko's Sat. ride. Dr. Ke/柯醫師 got his full Team Sky presentation today. Very cool!
Most Team Neko riders had their jailbird jerseys on. I felt I should have gotten one on just for how I had been feeling riding in Taizhong- couldn't wait to escape. (Sigh!)
We must have stopped about 20 million times for the lights before we got to the second meeting point in TaiPing/太平, right before the Route 136 climb. There we met up with 10 plus more riders.
This is the beginning of Route 136 climb. They told me the first 3k would be mild but it would average about 12% after that. I didn't think it was all that bad since I don't hustle on climbs but every turn was looking pretty similar. At some point, I actually got off my bike to take a break. My lower back was killing me on Kitty's bike and they kept telling me only 3k left every time I checked with them on the distance. I was so thrilled finally when someone told me only 400k left. Thank goodness! I hate it when I don't know what I have ahead of me.
Luckily, the views were spectacular once we got there or all the hard work would be in vain in my view.
And the drink vendor was definitely a plus!
Group photo was a must.
And then, half way down the hills, I got my flat #1. Sweet Terry volunteered to fix it for me. Thanks so very much, Terry! It was very sweet of you.
Some people waited around for me. Some went to the bottom of the hills to wait for me at the convenience store.
I promised my family I would be home no later than 10 and it was almost 9:30 once I got to the convenience store down the hills. I thought it would be CaoTun/草屯 down the hills but CaoTun was another 18 kilometers which meant it was another 35k back home. I had to tell them bye and take off on my own. A little disappointed that no one offered to go with me but oh well...
XiaoZhang/小張 and three other guys caught up to me some kilometers down the road so they pulled me for some time. Thanks so much! But then we stopped for regrouping once we had to take turn. After waiting for what seemed forever, a guy offered to pull me and take me to 63 Expressway first. I would have totally just go on my own if I had known the way. Unfortunately, only about a kilometer, I got my flat #2. I couldn't believe my luck.
This time, XiaoZhang volunteered to do it for me. Thank you, XiaoZhang. Also, thanks to Jennie's and Kondo's spare tubes for my flats. Thank you, A-Feng for your tools!
This was the view I spotted while realizing I got a flat. It might be a hint for me that something else good was out there even under some what-seemed-bad circumstances but I just had to look carefully? I certainly couldn't seem to spot it at which point.
After flat #2, we found a convenience store to pump up my tire some more before we headed home. I was home close to 11 and very fortunately, no one was upset with me. Thanks to everyone's help in getting me home as soon as possible.
Not the best day for me but hopefully, what doesn't kill me will make me stronger.
There were a ton of people today for Team Neko's Sat. ride. Dr. Ke/柯醫師 got his full Team Sky presentation today. Very cool!
Most Team Neko riders had their jailbird jerseys on. I felt I should have gotten one on just for how I had been feeling riding in Taizhong- couldn't wait to escape. (Sigh!)
We must have stopped about 20 million times for the lights before we got to the second meeting point in TaiPing/太平, right before the Route 136 climb. There we met up with 10 plus more riders.
This is the beginning of Route 136 climb. They told me the first 3k would be mild but it would average about 12% after that. I didn't think it was all that bad since I don't hustle on climbs but every turn was looking pretty similar. At some point, I actually got off my bike to take a break. My lower back was killing me on Kitty's bike and they kept telling me only 3k left every time I checked with them on the distance. I was so thrilled finally when someone told me only 400k left. Thank goodness! I hate it when I don't know what I have ahead of me.
Luckily, the views were spectacular once we got there or all the hard work would be in vain in my view.
And the drink vendor was definitely a plus!
Group photo was a must.
And then, half way down the hills, I got my flat #1. Sweet Terry volunteered to fix it for me. Thanks so very much, Terry! It was very sweet of you.
Some people waited around for me. Some went to the bottom of the hills to wait for me at the convenience store.
I promised my family I would be home no later than 10 and it was almost 9:30 once I got to the convenience store down the hills. I thought it would be CaoTun/草屯 down the hills but CaoTun was another 18 kilometers which meant it was another 35k back home. I had to tell them bye and take off on my own. A little disappointed that no one offered to go with me but oh well...
XiaoZhang/小張 and three other guys caught up to me some kilometers down the road so they pulled me for some time. Thanks so much! But then we stopped for regrouping once we had to take turn. After waiting for what seemed forever, a guy offered to pull me and take me to 63 Expressway first. I would have totally just go on my own if I had known the way. Unfortunately, only about a kilometer, I got my flat #2. I couldn't believe my luck.
This time, XiaoZhang volunteered to do it for me. Thank you, XiaoZhang. Also, thanks to Jennie's and Kondo's spare tubes for my flats. Thank you, A-Feng for your tools!
This was the view I spotted while realizing I got a flat. It might be a hint for me that something else good was out there even under some what-seemed-bad circumstances but I just had to look carefully? I certainly couldn't seem to spot it at which point.
After flat #2, we found a convenience store to pump up my tire some more before we headed home. I was home close to 11 and very fortunately, no one was upset with me. Thanks to everyone's help in getting me home as soon as possible.
Not the best day for me but hopefully, what doesn't kill me will make me stronger.
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