On Sunday, 15 January, 2012 I did my first 300km bike ride.
This was a chance occurrence and just the right combination of things came together to give me the whole day for riding.
It seems that the vast majority of longer rides end up occurring by chance, rather than being explicitly planned. This has its upsides and downsides, but overall it’s quite nice to just have some rides in mind, and then just jump on one when the opportunity presents itself.
The Night Before
The plan was to head North for 150km, turn around, then head home. At least, that was the plan.
On the Saturday morning I was not feeling too well, in retrospect I think that terrible eating the day before was carrying over to the next day. Well, it only took one small waffle to set my stomach alight and that was it for the Saturday afternoon. I’ll spare the details, but I did lose my meal and only felt better that night after my custom created stomach remedy…
Popcorn and sweets.
This combination is not as crazy as it sounds, and here’s my completely BS reason why. The popcorn helps to softly absorb much of the nasty stuff in your stomach, soothing any discomfort. The sweets, in this case Frutips, help to replace sugars lost when throwing up and not eating well. This is not intended to hold up to critical study, but it is what I do.
In any case, by midnight I was ready for sleep and lay my head down for a pretty good four hours of sleep.
Heading Off
At a tad after 4:00 in the morning I set out for a long slog into the North wind that is a constant companion on any riding on Taiwan’s West coast.
I was prepared for some pretty cold weather and had bought a new (my first ever) outer shell for the ride. It was good in the beginning, but didn’t stay long for long as my body temperature inside the jacket increased rapidly.
Early in the morning is a fantastic time to go riding. There are no cars on the road, or at least incredibly few on the roads I ride on and you get the benefit of cooler air and slightly lower humidity. It’s extremely peaceful and I’ve always had a liking for mornings even though I’m not an early riser on the average day.
First Puncture
It was around the 14km mark that I heard the dreaded hiss that was to be my first puncture of the day.
I thankfully had all the equipment I needed, so without too much fuss I changed it. At this stage I still had the thought of going home, but the challenge of setting a new personal goal was enough to keep me on track. And besides, I had planned more than enough time to get my ride done even if there were a few mishaps.
It took a little longer than expected to change the tube because of the limited light, but like much of Taiwan, there is always some light, so I waited for passing cars to provide any added light when needed.
I pumped up the tube and headed along, taking in the sounds of the birds bustling about nearby.
Slow Going
I didn’t quite realize how slowly I was going until I clocked in the first 60km in close to four hours. Now, even with the puncture stop that was a little on the slow side and realized I would not get the speeds I had managed with my 200km ride two months before.
By this stage the sun was out, but the weather was still coldish. Only my continuing movement stopped my body from really feeling the chill from the outside. My arm warmers continuing to perform their function adequately after more than a decade of use.
My speedometer was giving me an ominous message when I got this puncture.
I was also feeling a bit better than when I started my ride.
Being more prepared, with plenty of sports drinks and sandwiches to keep me nourished my stomach was feeling much better and was pretty much on its way to recovery from the abuse I had dished out to it the day before.
And then that familiar sound started again. This time a much smaller sound, but that same distinctive hiss that threatens to pounce at any time.
The Second Puncture
This time I was out of tubes. So out came the patches.
I have a bad habit of holding on to old tubes far longer than is probably healthy. Many look like a patchwork when they reach the end of their lives. The end coming either when there is a valve failure or some kind, or they find themselves at the end of the line when a new tube happens to arrive on the block.
Having to sit and wait for a tube to dry is quite refreshing at times. Being forced to stop and just wait gives me a chance to just take in my surroundings and notice the vegetation and animal life.
The tube that I had taken out earlier in the day turned out to be a total wreak. The nail that had caused the previous puncture had severed the tube from one side to the other, leaving one smallish hole and one much larger one, so I opted for fixing the tube I had brought, which had one small hole.
Breakfast Time
At around 10:00, I stopped for breakfast, and for the first time ever I had a hard time finishing a small pasta meal. Considering the four fat sandwiches I had already eaten that shouldn’t have been surprising.
But the breakfast stop also gave me a chance to use the bicycle tools available at all 7-11 stores in Taiwan.
Every 7-11 has a rudimentary set of tools for bikes. These are all-in-one tools which won’t help for any major overhauls but with a spoke key and a range of allen keys, there is very little that can’t be fixed. No patch kits though.
But the most important thing is the floor pump.
When I used the floor pump to inflate my tires I realized that in my haste I had only pumped my rear tire to 1.5 bar (25 psi), which is a far cry from the 4.5 bar (65 psi) that should be in there.
I suddenly realized why I felt a little heavy when riding. Duh!