There is absolutely nothing wrong with that bike.
even changing to carbon rims won’t get you much weight saving.
maybe better tires? and a dura ace cassette and chain?
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Nothing wrong with that bike except that it’s not your new bike. 
I finally got a chance to ride around Shimen Reservoir this past weekend. It has been on my bucket list for a solid 2-3 years now. With the perfect weather, it was worth the wait.
I don’t really celebrate Halloween, but it was cool to see my Garmin app updated to have a touch of Haloween on it.
It was surely a glorious 5 days. A bit of scare in the middle of the week with a bit of rain here and there, but overall a great end to October. I have a lot of things planned for November, so let’s hope the weather holds.
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Dam good ride!
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There: you just jinxed yourself.
But yes, it’s been a great October (at least here in Okinawa). Windy AF, though… but that’s God’s gift to Okinawan cyclists. Headwind on way to work, opposite headwind on the way home.
God’s gift in the ironic sense, and also in the literal: makes you strong, like pushing three gears harder always will…
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I like to call that prairie hills.
I don’t miss headwind on those rolling hills in north Okinawa, but I do miss riding overseas.
I went on my usual 25km bike ride. I then got distracted and extended that ride somewhat accidentally to 60km, had a mechanical issue on the way back resulting in the bike sticking in a fast gear, then I petered out on a climb and fell sidewards.
I ain’t no race car, but it was good to be out
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Man, I miss autumn weather back home.
How’s everyone riding coming along this November? Good weather during the week and decent weather on the weekends, right? This wasn’t the case this past weekend though…
I made Rule #5 my bitch last weekend @urodacus
I embarked on my annual double north ride waking up at 4AM to meet the group at 5:30AM at Xindian MRT. Surprisingly, it wasn’t hard to wake up despite hearing the rain drops on my neighbor’s awnings . I put on some rain gear thinking it would subside, but I had to stop halfway to the meet up point to put on shoe covers.
The rain did not stop until we got more into Sanxia/Taoyuan. Luckily, it wasn’t cold, otherwise most people would have turned around by the time we were going to move into the deep mountains.
We were dry by the time we hit Ba Ling, but once we departed from Ba Ling, we did not see dry roads until we got back to Xindian. A rough estimate and I think I spent 200km of my entire 240km wet.
It took me 5 mins to clean all the dirt and grim off the bike and roughly 15-20 minutes to clean my clothes about 3x. I am pretty sure after so many washes, I still haven’t cleared out the dirty from my socks and bibs.
Definitely one ride that I will never forget and probably never attempt again…in the rain.
One picture to sum up the entire ride. This was a few of us departing from the New Taipei/Yilan county lines.
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woah! that is a monster day in the saddle! i’ve done that with an afternoon thunderstorm but in July and August, not November. good job!
Isn’t that climb out of Yilan the worst feeling? and you’re suffering after looking forward to it for 50 k from your last descent!
Thanks! We got really lucky as we got some early September weather in late November. Lots of rain, but temps didn’t really drop below 19-20C.
Toucheng switchbacks up to the county line is ok because you know you have that long winding downhill to follow.
Mentally, I think the toughest climb is Ba Ling to Ming Chi. It just…drags.
Physically, the toughest is Ping Lin to Helen’s Coffee. Kind of given as it’s the last climb of the day, but there’s so many factors like having so much elevation and mileage behind you and the high gradients don’t help either.
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True… Helens is a bitch. actually, now that i think about it, i found another route home via 106 with less climbing.
I always got thunderstorms at Ming Che. and basically always 2 pm.
five years in a row?
Well, at least you’re prepared for it. My first two attempts was all late spring/early summer attempts. So we have been getting pretty lucky with weather up until this year.
I hope to be able to attempt and finish this route 5 years in a row. Might be the only feat I could match the great @urodacus at.
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I wanted to try that, but I’m not sure if I really want it. It looks good on Strava though xD
Wow. Good for you, even if my first reaction to reading about this is torn between “HOW?!” and “WHY?!”
November weather has definitely been a lot better for cycling than October was. I’m getting out a decent amount - two weeks in a row with more than 100km per week, which for me is good - but nothing new for me. These cooler temperatures also mean I don’t need to set out first thing in the morning, so I can enjoy mid-ride lunches at places like Ed’s Diner or Falafel King.
The Apple Watch continues to be, eh, mildly interesting:
Basically I decided I had the money to buy one exercise gadget. I was torn between something perfect for just one sport, or something half-assed for everything - and I went with the latter, i.e. the Apple Watch. I remain unsure if that was the right call. Apple Watch with Strava records the rides well, and adds heart-rate data, but there’s no option for maps or directions on the watch itself, plus no elevation data until I get back to my computer and see the uploaded info. At some point I’ll grave-dig an Apple Watch thread and give more details about it. I also need to investigate different swimming, cycling, and weight-lifting apps that may do more of what I want.
Yes, except for the wind and big temperature difference between lower and higher elevations. I went up to FengGuiZui yesterday in the seemingly perfect weather (looking from the city). It was drizzling when I got to the top and cooler by about 10 degrees. Quickly scratched the idea of stopping for coffee at the top. Will definitely need to bring a windbreaker the next time I go up Yangmingshan.
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I’ve been wondering about the rain variability. When I went up Yangmingshan last week, I was surprised at how wet the road was, along with gorgeous clear skies. I’m not sure if at this time of year those roads never really dry off from morning dew, or if clouds and rain had swept through, and then disappeared.
I never really did much riding in the hills or mountains until this year. It’s fun - there’s a lot more seasonal variability up there than there is in the city. On some of those roads it actually “feels like” autumn, whereas I almost never get that sense at sea level in Taipei.
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Watch out for wet leaves on the wet roads, especially ones that have been sitting there awhile. I rode over some on a climb, and the back wheel just spun in place. Very slippery.
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This was almost always September. 2013 was August.
Start 5 am, Baling about 11 for fried rice and squid. Then monkey mountain. Yilan around 3-4 pm. Home around 7?