cycling_taiwan

Empty streets, foreign country, tailwind: my trusty Cannondale and I are soaring. This is a night ride.

I left Taipei at 10 PM.

Up close: the hum of my tires, the whir of the chain, and the warm, balmy air rushing past. From afar: a tiny, throbbing light travelling through the vast darkness, loosely following 環島1號線, Taiwan’s Cycling Route #1.

Past midnight, a 7-Eleven glows ahead like a lighthouse. I glide in, still buzzing. The clerk nods. I grab onigiri and a local electrolyte drink. They give me exactly the kind of boost my body needs, and I roll back into the dark.

video_note

The landscape is a mystery of dark shapes: rice paddies, I think, and low industrial buildings. I’m not exactly a tourist seeing sights; more of a ghost passing through, connected to the island by this thin strip of road.

Convenience stores! These little oases of light become my only landmarks. At the next one, I report to a couple of my buddies on Telegram: I’m at mile 80, somewhere in Taiwan, feeling great. Phone’s internet is sluggish. Takes a couple minutes for the video note to go out, but I’m not sweating it. I got me a lemon cake and milk tea this time.

lukang

Past 100mi the ride no longer feels like soaring, but also far from grinding. Rolling through a town asleep, I hear how loud the spring-loaded pawls become, rapidly snapping into the ratchet teeth. CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click. I catch myself pedaling quieter, marveling at an old temple, its weathered grace. Pressing the brakes, I unclip into complete silence. This is my halfway point. Another town I’ll never know by daylight. Not in this way.

Облегчённо вздыхают одни
Друзья говорят - “устал”
Ошибаются те и другие
- это привал…

sunrise

The second half is bound to be a battle against the heat.

At sunrise, Garmin reads 130mi and my body reads hungry. Let the sun climb, but I need a full breakfast. My Warm Day cafe (麥味登), next to Fried Chicken Master, looks like it’d take Apple Pay.

I pop in. The girls are giggling. I realize I’m a spectacle with my orange helmet on. I point to noodles with black pepper sauce, chicken, and soy milk. The food is here. Gotta log it. The Oura app says: high in protein, carbs & fats, low in fiber, and moderate in processing level & added sugars. Classifies it as barely nutritious. I classify it as great!

200mi

Almost 200mi in, the heat is a physical force. My legs are getting heavy, my nose sunburnt, but I can fool my senses for a little while: I pretend I’m racing the cars beside me. I glide past them, and for a moment I’m winning. Every dog has its day. They are not racing, of course. Just commuting, running errands, hauling. The road does not care, it takes us all. Mine is just this sweet illusion, helping me battle the heat.

tainan stoplights

The last 28mi cross into Kaohsiung, toward a train station. The roads get busier and things slow to a crawl. Feeling accomplished, I don’t resist the stop & go as much. This is my island etude: playing it slow, playing it long, playing it home.

The train swallows me, my bike, and 225 miles of road. Two hours later, I’m back in Taipei. Beitou hot springs remind my legs they are just legs. Soaring is over. What’s left is the quiet throb of having experienced it.