Since, the organizers of the Tour were on a budget crunch due to lack of sponsorship funding,  they were squeezing riders and support people into the rooms.  So it was four people into one room (2 riders in one bed) and while this is hard enough among the teams but at least they knew each other. Imagine trying to sleep in a bed with another person you don’t even know?! Following logic, it would have been the right thing to do by giving NZL a room regardless of how many people. But I was initially squashed in with the Belgian riders and their support crew. No offence, but I knew I could not sleep with them. So I moved all my things out into the lobby and asked for another solution.  In the end, I was given a satisfactory solution, but it was only for the night.  The next night, I agreed to stay with the Czech’s in Tainan since I had become friendly with their trainer who spoke good English. Fortunately we were able to arrange the beds so that four people could sleep separately and we all slept in peace. The next night, however, in Kenting, was different. I was attacked in the middle of the night by the Czech coach who thought he should be sharing the bed with me. He had been out drinking with others and came back late, after the three of us had gone to sleep. Before going to sleep, we had discussed the sleeping arrangements and the trainer had already made his bed on the floor while the Czech rider was sleeping on the big double bed. I was told that the coach/manager would sleep on the same bed as the Czech, no problem. I had the second bed to myself and was sound to sleep when I was shaken awake by the burly Czech coach. I was confused and since he can’t communicate in English nor I could use sign language, it was hard to convey the arrangement. The Belgian coach comes running in and is yelling at me that two people should be sleeping in the bed… anyway, the trainer got up and calmed the two men down and told them of our arrangement. The Czech manager apologized and proceeded to sleep on the bed with his rider.

During the middle of the night, I woke to see that the Czech rider was now sleeping on the floor (found out in the morning that he had moved because the manager was snoring and causing the bed to vibrate violently). But what was even more perplexing was that the manager had also moved to the floor space in-between the beds and was using a bag for a pillow and no mattress!  Things were going ok with the Czech’s till the crash incident at the finish of stage four. The Czech manager had blamed me for causing his rider to crash in the final 250m to the finish when my left foot clipped him as I surged ahead in the final sprint. You can watch the Youtube video here – Last 4kms of Stage 4 (those in China will need a VPN to access). The Czech rider’s tubular had rolled off completely and I suspect that is part of the reason why he went down like that – apparently the tubular was nearly 2 years old and had not been re-glued! Had the tubular not rolled off, it might have been possible for the Czech to re-correct himself as my clip was hardly a blow to him – if it was, I would have become entangled too. So, after this incident I was kicked out of the Czech’s room and I was faced with talking to the organizers again to get a room. I managed to stay with the Aussies for one night and then for the rest of the Tour I was kindly put into the room with one of the Chief Commissionaires and had a bed to myself.

It was quite stressful as you can see and as the only representative from New Zealand, I had to do most things myself like cleaning the bike, adjustments, pinning numbers, washing race kit, organizing my daily race food, getting massages, making sure I got enough rest etc. On top of all this, I also was writing the official daily race reports for cyclingnewsasia.com which took some time – once I had found internet access!  Some nights I would not get to bed till 12am and was lucky if I could be in bed by 11pm and rise at 6am for breakfast.

Communication was difficult for me since I did not know sign language and has made me realize that it will be essential to learn more sign language to actually communicate well with the other riders.  I did establish some great friendships and now I have a nice network of World Deaf Cyclists who share the same passion as myself for the sport. The standards of Deaf cycling is increasing all the time and there are quite a few that compete well at the PRO/1/2 category level in the United States. The next big Deaf Cycling event is the World Championships held in Quebec, Canada in June 2011.

We had a big seafood lunch, Taiwanese banquet style, in Hsinchu which is about half-way to Taichung. However, Jen was having neck/shoulder issues and could only do an additional 30kms to total 120kms for the day. It was sensible to jump on the bus before the condition got worse. She did comment that her legs and lungs felt fine and had she not had the neck issues, she would have made the distance.

Prior lunch Jen maintained an average heart rate of 161 bpm, with a max of 191bpm for 3.5 hours! which is pretty high for anyone over that length of time.

The biggest tip (it was also mentioned in the first article also) is to push your wife along if she wants it. Depending on how fast you want to go, it can be an excellent workout for you while your wife can enjoy the speed without the same effort. However, she is still pedaling hard herself and is still maintaining a high heart-rate. She can coast or soft pedal whenever she wants and she’ll be pushed along. This is only advisable on roads with plenty of space.

Further advice is to be always encouraging and be patient especially when your wife is struggling. Words of encouragement go along way and she will continue coming out on rides with you. Just two days after the epic ride, Jen and I went out on a short 30km ride that included a 4km hill and she made it up the hill without any pushing and completed the ride with ease. No longer felt tired like she has been on previous rides.

If you have any further ideas or tips for riding with your wife, please leave your comments below.

The down-hill from Helen’s Cafe at the top to Xindian provides good practice for fast twisty descending. You’ll find yourself back into the thick of Taipei’s traffic competing for space as you ride home – becareful! A safer alternative is to take the River Path back at the Bitan Scenic Area. Allow for about 2.5 hours for the complete circuit. The climbs are great for doing 20 minute plus hill intervals if you are looking to improve your climbing.

Taichung definitely has better weather than Taipei right now with its clear blue skies and warmer temperatures!

I met with Colon Lai from Champion System Taiwan and he showed me the National Taiwan Championships circuit. It was a nice circuit, 10km with a punchy 5-6 minute climb. The road was super-smooth and goes through the Taichung Science Park.

The Taichung Science Park circuit is quite popular with riders coming out to practice on. Feng Chun Kai – the national champion from Team Exustar was the clear winner at the Taiwan National Champs late in 2009. I did one “hot” lap of the course, 42km/h average and 20km/h average up the climb. Colon had enough of riding and took me to a cool place to eat breakfast at a cafe where you can take your bikes inside. Breakfast consisted of a delicious tasting black sesame bread roll filled with german sausages and fresh vegetables. Some small brownie style cakes came on the plate and were good with the Latte I had.

After riding with Colon for most of the morning, I continued exploring Taichung on my own. I found myself in the mountains fringing the outskirts of the city – where the Da Keng Park is located in. I found some really nice narrow mountain roads without any traffic and spent the afternoon riding up and down the small mountains that ranged from 250 to 500m in height. There were other much bigger mountains in the distance, however I did not have time to do those as I needed to be back in the city to meet my wife who was doing a commercial shoot.

I clocked up 150kms of riding in Taichung and got a taste of what riding is like. It definitely lives up to the fact that it is sunny 330 days of the year and seldom rains. Makes for even better riding than in Taipei since you don’t have to clean your bike every couple of days!

Highly recommended areas for riding in Taichung (at least what I got to see anyway!)

• Taichung Science Park Circuit - great for doing multiple loops and to race your friends. In the fact, the local cycling community holds races on this circuit regularly – I had just missed a local race that had about 30 riders on Saturday
• Dakeng Nature Park Area - its the next most accessible area for riding and there are countless number of small roads that zig-zag all over the mountains. Excellent for spending a day to explore and you are never far away from a 7-11 or some kind of convenience store should you need to come out of the mountains to re-fuel

Some additional photos below:

This was an epic ride with a group of strong riders from the local top Taipei team. Met the group at 7.30am to ride to Yilan over the hills. There was a substantial amount of climbing with very little flat riding. On every hill climb, the Columbus boys were on a mission to be the first to the top. The first hill I saw this happen, I saw them take off and I responded with some power-riding myself, but mostly it was just to keep up. However, one by one they dropped like flies, till it was just me and a young fast 19 year old up the road. I punctured half-way up the climb before I could catch him! I made the change and in five minutes we were on our way again.

The weather was considerably colder today so far this year! It was 10 degrees in Taipei City and 4 degrees up on the mountain tops. I was wearing all of my winter gear and was pretty warm. The Champion System custom made clothing makes some good stuff. The jacket I wore was wind-proof and kept me warm once I started moving and had good breatheability.  If we stopped for too long at the 7-11 stops (greater than 10 mins, I would get quite cold and it would take a good few minutes of pedaling to warm-up again). If you are wanting to keep your feet shielded from the wind as well as keep the shoes clean, then the Champion System shoe covers work fantastic. If I did not have a skull-cup today, my head would have become frozen on the descents!  It is important at this time of the year to keep warm whilst out training and getting all the clothing items can be quite expensive, but it is a good investment to continue your riding enjoyment.

The racing up mountains and the odd attack kept the ride pace quite high throughout the 6 hours we were on the bike. The average speed was quite low at 25km/h but this was due to the several big climbs we had to go over on 47-1 and Highway 9. After going through Pinglin, the pace picked up considerably and we were reduced to four of us and I knew we were all suffering. After the next guy popped, I pulled through and mentioned that perhaps we should slow down as we still needed to come back the same way (another 80kms!). I think they were glad to slow down and just ride tempo all the way to Yilan City. The descent down, overlooking the ocean, was quite nice although there was quite a head wind that forced you to keep pedaling down!

Stopped to re-fuel at 7-11 in Yilan.  Seven-Eleven’s here are everywhere and they even have Merida bike floor pumps and a set of tools available at many stores!

Normally on Sunday’s I go riding with the No.7 Park Bike Shop on Sundays, but since they were doing the running event I went with the Columbus Team. Their main focus during the ride is a good quality workout mixed up with some racing while No.7 Park Bike Shop rides center the focus around enjoying the views and times socializing with good coffee. The Columbus ride is catered for the more serious rider and they don’t wait for you at the tops and if you get dropped you are riding on your own till the next re-grouping spot – the 7-11 convenience store. The guy pictured above, is a talented 19 year old rider who is one of the best climbers in Taiwan – he apparently forgot his helmet for this ride! He was smoking everyone on the climbs and he is a future rider to look out for.

Ride summary:

• 160kms
• 6 hours
• Five major climbs 
• Food/drink:  1 x Hammer Gel, Oatmeal Raisin Bar, chocolate milk bun, 1 x 600ml chocolate milk tea, M&M’s, egg pudding, 2 x 600ml REV 3 surge drinks, and 2 x 800ml sports water from 7-11.
• Started having cramp issues with 40kms to go – but was able to control them with more fluid in-take and out-of-the-saddle riding. I put this down to not drinking enough fluids + intensity during the six hours.
• Almost swiped by a bus on the final climb and chased by a massive dog coming back into Taipei
• Suffered yet another puncture (I never seem to go an entire month without puncturing!)
• Training Peaks file viewed here

After the immense success of the 2009 Deaflympic Games in Taipei, the Chinese Taipei Sports Association in conjunction with the Chinese-Taipei Cycling Association has decided to hold a Tour de Formosa Cycling race in 2010 for all the hearing impaired cyclists in the world. It is hoped that it would become a Deaf’s equilivent to the Tour de France and be held bi-annually indefinitely. Deaflympic Cycling Events reports can be found here

The objective of this Tour de Formosa:  

To raise awareness among hearing-impaired cyclists the opportunity to race and develop friendship ties, as well as improving the riding standard of the hearing-impaired cyclist world-wide. Additionally, to encourage more of Taiwan’s hearing-impaired young talented athletes to develop their cycling skills. 

Another big reason for Taiwan to stage this cycling event is to raise Taiwan’s Profile in the world by showcasing the beauty of Taiwan’s stunning landscape and unique culture. By putting Taiwan on the world map will ultimately increase tourism to the country. 

The Cycling Tour will be modeled on the historic Tour de France race and it is hoped that the competition will become a major international cycling event. Stay tuned for the course details.

As more information is made available, it will published on my website. If you have any questions about the Tour de Formosa please contact me on djcarruthers@gmail.com.

This event also represents a unique opportunity for companies to develop partnerships with the Cycling Teams that will take part.

Jen and I were both up at 6am and out the doors at 6.45 to ride along the river path for 10 kms to meet the group at 7am. We managed to get there 15mins late, but fortunately the group were waiting for others to turn up. There were several girls present and some quite new to cycling! Since Jen is all decked out in her Hansaton-Champion System cycling gear, she looks a pro and people thought she’d be pretty quick! She informed them that she just has the looks but likes to ride slow.

Since I was riding with my wife, I had to make sure she would be ok and happy during the ride. I asked her what she thought if I should ride on ahead with the faster guys and let her ride with the girls. She did not like the sound of that, so I duly stayed on her wheel and ensured things would go smoothly.  She told me that if I was not with her the whole time, she would not have been able to make it through the ride. It was her longest ride to-date, totaling 52kms including hills and rolling terrain. One of the biggest enjoyments of the ride was actually getting to Wulai and being able to relax at Helen’s Mobile Coffee drinking good coffee, eating waffles and cheese cake, while savoring the splendid views of the river and bush clad mountains.

• Pushing your partner/wife up the hill if she is tiring
• Buy coffee or have scheduled coffee stops
• Making sure she is comfortable
• Making conversation about topics other than cycling or advice about training

1. When out riding with your partner and she complains that she is tired, don’t bring up your amount of training that you have already done that week to justify that you should be more tired. Bottom-line: when she says she is tired, it is best not to tell her she shouldn’t be!
2. Do encourage your partner/wife to go riding with you on a frequent basis
3. Wearing matching uniforms can help your partner/wife feel like she belongs next to you on a bike OR feel more like a pro even with beginning riding skills
4. WIVES: Since cycling is a big part of his life, do make an effort to go riding with him once in a while and enjoy time together on bikes 

More photos are posted below for your enjoyment. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next blog article which will be about a recent race I competed in here in Taiwan.

Jen is enjoying a nutritious USANA Oatmeal-raisin bar that provided sustainable energy to complete the 52km ride

Jen and I posing at mid-point of the Wulai ride

Riding through some nice scenery on the way to Wulai

Riding through the Wulai Market Street that was not too busy since it was still very early