Mountain Biking in Japan - Great article in Bike magazine this month. Well done w/ excellent pictures. Much better than the crap article that ran two months ago in Bicycling about biking in Taiwan. That article about Taiwan was so bad and the photos sucked. Maybe Bike magazine can send over a real writer and photographer as God knows, the ones here are lame.
[quote]That article about Taiwan was so bad and the photos sucked. Maybe Bike magazine can send over a real writer and photographer as God knows, the ones here are lame.
[/quote]
Why?
Have forwarded your comments to the photog/writer.
I have read the article about Taiwan you talk about and I truly dont see what the issue is. I dont want to have an arguement - I just honestly cant see what your problem is. :s
PUT YOURSELF HERE
HAVING IT MADE IN TAIWAN
Last winter, I neatly stacked my collection of shoes in a Calgary, Alberta, storage unit and set out for Taiwan to ride undiscovered singletrack and to immerse myself in terrain totally fresh to my cycling experience. My mountain biking expectations were instantly surpassed-after all, I’d swapped sub-freezing conditions for temperate, dense jungles with soundtracks dominated by the howls of Formosan rock monkeys. But the longer I stayed, the more I appreciated Taiwan off the trail. Rather than berate cyclists for taking up roadway, drivers often spur us on with shouts of “Gio!” (go). At rest stops, locals inevitably come over to inspect our bikes, a process that always ends with a thumbs-up and judgments of “OK! Exceptional!” It’s not the riding itself, but the people I’ve met while cycling that have captured my imagination.
In Hualien, I paid $7 for Room 105 in the Wu Jou Da Lu She hostel (next door to a sex shop), which, the flirtatious hostess promised, “will be complete with your own fan and bug-free bedding.” The ancient fan woke me every half hour with a prompt squeak, reminding me to scratch my fresh bug bites and give thanks for the creaky blades that helped keep the 86-degree night tolerable.
After easing past the hostel’s perpetually sleeping dog, my friends and I cruised the market amid food offerings both, surprising (pig head, above left) and familiar except for context (California table grapes atop Ba Gua Shan pineapples, below left). The man sitting on the box is smoking a cigarette named Longlife.
Thanks for forwarding my comments to the photo/writer for the Japan article in Bike magazine. Glad to know that you enjoyed it too. They must have gotten a good laugh when they read the article in Bicycling. I know I did. Maybe you can have them give the guys in Taiwan a few tips.
John… I mean FFTASUCKS, you still havent outlined why you disliked the Taiwan article so much. I am sure the photogs, writer would very much appreciate your wisdom and constructive criticism so they can be become better writers, better people… just like you.
At first when I read the article on cycling in Taiwan, I thought that one of my friends from home tried to trick me by putting in a “fake” article in the magazine I was sent. The pictures and the writing were not what I expected from a magazine published by Rodale Press. Anyways, I got a good laugh and I’m sure you did too. Once again, thanks for sending my comments to the guys who wrote the Japan article. It was pretty good wasn’t it?
AWOL, do you really expect constructive criticism from the guy? I think he’s made it clear that he dislikes Taiwan, dislikes people and thinks he’s hot shit because he knows how to ride a bike. Bicycling is a great sport, but it does attract a fair share of antisocial personalities. I’ve ridden with many road bikers and mountain bikers over the years and most have been very nice. And cycling of course is a great sport. But it can also be very intense and to excel one must put in many grueling miles on a regular basis, rain or shine, alone on the bike for many hours, thinking alone, getting pissed off at bad drivers, dogs, broken glass, etc., on a consistent basis week after week, month after month, or if one rides with others it often gets competitive, and I’ve found that because of those aspects of the sport it is not unusual for people with strange, immature or antisocial personalities to be drawn to cycling. Of course not all cyclists are like that and I feel it’s good that such people have found cycling, because the sport can help them to grow both physically and emotionally. I don’t mean any offense with the above description; it’s just something I’ve observed over the years.
Anyway, I hope you guys are both still riding. I was out there this morning, splashing through the puddles, having a great time. 
AWOL, do you really expect constructive criticism from the guy? I think he’s made it clear that he dislikes Taiwan, dislikes people and thinks he’s hot shit because he knows how to ride a bike. Bicycling is a great sport, but it does attract a fair share of antisocial personalities. I’ve ridden with many road bikers and mountain bikers over the years and most have been very nice. And cycling of course is a great sport. But it can also be very intense and to excel one must put in many grueling miles on a regular basis, rain or shine, alone on the bike for many hours, thinking alone, getting pissed off at bad drivers, dogs, broken glass, etc., on a consistent basis week after week, month after month, or if one rides with others it often gets competitive, and I’ve found that because of those aspects of the sport it is not unusual for people with strange, immature or antisocial personalities to be drawn to cycling. Of course not all cyclists are like that and I feel it’s good that such people have found cycling, because the sport can help them to grow both physically and emotionally. I don’t mean any offense with the above description; it’s just something I’ve observed over the years.
Anyway, I hope you guys are both still riding. I was out there this morning, splashing through the puddles, having a great time. [/quote]
I’m with you MT… I have only met a few fools through biking in Taiwan but am lucky enough to have a very tight group of people (foreigner and local) that I love to ride with. We arent competitive and have always been supportive. Not to sound like its some sort of love in, but FFTASUCKS represents everything that is rotten with modern day MTB. Shame, as Taiwan is chock full of awesome trails.
I totally agree with you that the article in Bike was great. Those guys who went to Japan are the best. I will admit, the article done on Taiwan did do some good. No one who is serious about riding off road (I think there are two guys in all of Taiwan) would ever come here to cycle if they read the article. Looking at the photos in Bicycling, the two idiots are riding their mtbs on pavement. WTF is wrong with that picture?