I always scoff at those people who prefer going uphill rather than down. Their reason being that downhill can be pretty dangerous. Granted nowadays I much prefer going uphill as that gives me good exercise while going downhill is basically just a waste of time. But it wasn't until today that I discovered what they mean about going downhill being scary.
But let's start at the beginning. I had taken a small break from cycling, partly because it had been raining for over a month, and partly because I was waiting for my birthday presents. Remember that arm band that holds my phone while running? Well I initially requested it so that i can wrap it around my bike. Meaning I would no longer need to bring my backpack with me while ridding. If you take a look in the picture you can see the phone sitting nicely right by the handlebars.
I had also gotten a bit bored with cycling, as I had been on every riverside trail and mountain road that I knew of and had researched. The only thing left was the "big one." This is what I named a mountain where the road circles all the way around the mountain, until it decides to go straight up one side and back down the other. The total road around the mountain is a bit under 20 miles, but the part that makes it the "big one" is that over 13 miles of it are going uphill without a break. Then the real kicker is the last 7.5 miles of that is extremely steep.
I had been looking for excuses to not do it, but just like with running, it was a phone app that showed me I had no excuse. I found an app for cycling that lets you download and store maps so you can use them while offline. With this I was sure not to get lost, and not be draining my phone's battery, causing it to cut off when I need it most. So with today being a beautiful sunny day, it was time to set off.
The ride there was nice. The only thing that really stood out was one downhill section which there was a lot of construction on so traffic was backed up. I wasn't looking forward to riding back up this part later, especially since by that time I would have done 13 miles continuously uphill, with 7.5 of them being torture.
I eventually got to the mountain and started to go up. The first half is uphill, but a more gentle degree. It was tough, but it was worth it to see the great view and experience the tranquility. There were some more giant houses with large yards, and it really makes me think like I've solved the problem of where I would want to live should I ever buy a place. These large places are very nice and private, and amazingly they are only a ten minute drive outside of the city.
But I didn't have long to day dream about my future home, as I was quickly snapped back to reality. The reality that just because it's in the high 80s in the city, doesn't mean it's anywhere near that up a huge mountain. But the worse fact was just because it's a sunny day in the city, doesn't guarantee that there won't be a thunderstorm in the mountain.
So yes, you guessed it, it started to pour. And this wasn't one of those storms where you can just hide for awhile and then it goes away. Nope this was over an hour of heavy downpour, the kind where in less than a minute you are soaked. Going up the mountain was already terrible, especially once I got to the part that was extremely steep, but doing it in a storm was just a cruel punishment.
After what seemed like an eternity, i was at the top and ready to go down. Let me just tell you now, that going down was both horrible and horrifying. It was horrible because the speed and the rain combine to make the rain drops feel like hail smacking me all over my body. It was horrifying because the rain was so dense that I couldn't see that far ahead, getting hit in the eyeballs makes you want to close your eyes, and the road was not only slippery, but had a layer of water over it deep enough that I couldn't see the road, meaning I couldn't see any holes or rocks which might be present.
Now I will usually complain that my cardio exercises (hiking, cycling, running) don't exercise my upper body, but that was not the problem today. My arms definitely burned as I spent a lot of time squeezing the breaks on the way down. Basically going for as long as possible until my arms burst into flames and I had to take a little break on the side of the road, and rest up so I could risk my life going down another stretch of mountain.
As I got closer and closer to the bottom, the rain let up and the weather warmed back up. It also meant the reintroduction of cars and them splashing large puddles of water on me, but I didn't care, I was back to safety and the sun had quickly baked me back to being dry. I was feeling warm and fuzzy until...
Remember that part with the construction? Well they made the road rather messy with construction byproducts of pieces of metal and rocks. So it was no surprise when my back tire went flat. Now I had to walk my bike up that stretch of road that was full of cars going each way and trying not to have my bike roll over any part that would damage the rim.
Thankfully by this point i wasn't too far away from the southern most subway station, which is also a popular place to ride bikes along the river. To accommodate this, they have a little pavilion where you can rent bikes. This was my destination, hoping that they may have a new inner tube. Alas they did not have one, but the guy was nice enough to give me directions to a nearby bike shop.
No interaction with a Taiwanese person would be complete without making a fool out of myself though. I asked if I could borrow the bike pump, to which he let me, however he and a local security guard enjoyed telling me over and over that the inner tube had a hole in it and wouldn't take air. To which I tried to say "i know this, but i just want to try out the air to see if i can find the hole in the tire. If i can do that, then I can try to tape it up, so at least I can have air in it long enough to walk it to the store without damaging the rim." I could get the first part out, but not the second part which exclaimed how clever and resourceful I am. So I left that rental place to the jeers of "i told you so."
I found the bike shop, and they were very nice. They really could have taken advantage of my situation, but because of my situation they gave me an extremely good price, and some extra services for free. It was really nice of them, so much so that even though it's a bit away from my house, I know that I'm always going to go here for all my future bike goods and services. Over my almost nine years in Taiwan, the amount of places that have made me want to only shop at one place because of their great service, can be counted on one finger.
All in all it was one of those days. You know those days where at the actual time it was just horrible and just want it to be over, but afterwards when you are safe at home and in a nice relaxing hot shower, you can look back and think "well at least I have a cool story to tell." Oh and if you can't tell cause my camera is awful. The picture is of the bike at the bike shop with it's back wheel off. I figured it's a good salute to this noble soldier who also suffered out there with me today.
