Survived the 105 climb and back on Linkou plateau (Taiwan, Asia, biking, friends)

Biking Taiwan: Linkou-林口 to Bali-八里 via 105 – Giant group ride

June 20, 2009 | Filed under: Biking | Posted by: Michael Cannon

The 6:30 AM Saturday Giant group ride was canceled and replaced by a 3 PM ride to Bali-八里 via 105. It was four of us, Mr. Cho the Giant store rep who I swapped lead and sweep with. The others were Big Head 大頭 and Odin.

The ride down 105 was a little quicker by my experience for the local Giant group rides. Instead of 20 kph, it was 25 to 28 kph on the flats. I think it was because the two guys were like puppy dogs.

Once into downtown Bali, I kind of forgot I was group lead then and went a bit into my urban assault mode speeding and zipping between moving cars, scooters, bikers and pedestrians. After a particularly interesting close encounter, I was deemed to be a real Taiwanese biker as I don’t stop for anything. As we were concerned about rain, we zipped over the Bali 7-11 by the riverwalk, drank some fluids and turned back.

When near 15 km mark, Odin got a flat. Not a problem except I had never converted my Presta pump to Schrader before. Eventually, we got the flat fixed and started moving only to find out there was another hole. It seems the metal offender went through the tube. After getting back on the road, riding up 105 onto the Linkou plateau was typical group ride slow with them in granny gear mode.

Bike route Linkou-林口 to Bali-八里 Riverwalk 7-11 via 105