Saturday, October 29, 2005

8 am Sunday, 10/30

We've changed the time for the Sunday ride- 8 am at Sean's Tien Mu Giant shop. We'll head out to check out the Pali race course. I expect to be back by 10 am.

Come along!

Bill O'B

Friday, October 28, 2005

6:30 am Saturday 10/29

The semi laid-back ride continues to be regularly scheduled for 6:30 am each Saturday.  Meet in front of TAS.    This week’s ride has no chosen venue or time frame, but we should be on the road by 6:45. I’ll have my road bike, so we won’t be doing the ride we did last week

 

Also, is there a well-laid out map for the 101 loop?  I headed out there last Sunday, climbed up to the cemetery overlook, and then just went back through Tanshui again, since I wasn’t sure how much further I needed to go to connect with a familiar road.  Of course, part of the fun of riding in Taiwan is being adventurous, but a little knowledge can be a good thing!

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Le Tour de Hualien & Weekend Riding


This past weekend saw some fast and furious racing action down in Hualien. Reedus, Seymour, Maggio and I flew down Friday evening whilst Director Sportif White Dog drove the steeds down in Sean's van. After several days of carbo loading, spirits were high and energy levels were spiking by the time we reached the hotel.

Saturday morning saw the four Team Columbus riders line up along side 193 other riders, including 61 international Elite riders. National teams from Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and elsewhere were represented. Giant Asia had swelled their ranks with the #3 finisher of the previous week's Sun Tour in Australia (who beat out Baden Cooke in 6th). I later Googled one of the racers who had flown in from Colorado- #1 US Pro in 1990, raced 1991 Tour de France for Motorola, etc... In short, the field looked impressive.

From the gun, the pace was high. Unfortuntely, Reedus answered the call of nature early on and never caught back on to the main group. Seymour pulled away with the pros on the first hill, while Leon left me for dead half way up. After a number of km along the flats, the race again turned into the mountains for about 30 km. Steve still hung in with the big boys, while I managed to catch up with Leon and the female Merida pro (whose wheel he was very closely drafting) just before they descended back to the flats.

With 70 km to go, Leon and I formed a group of 8 or so riders who we pushed as hard as we could. Unfortunately, only one other Hong Kong rider was willing to put in much of an effort into the brutal headwind. With 15 km to go, we split our group on a rise and Leon and I and the HK rider pulled ahead. In the last 5 km, Leon drifted off the front, forcing the HK rider to bridge the gap. I then pulled away. Leon waited until the gap opened and then sprinted across, leaving the HK rider hanging out on his own. He was overheard later talking about “getting worked over by a couple of Columbus guys”…


Leon and I finished together in 58th and 59th place, just inside 5 hours for 167 hilly headwindy km. Steve placed an impressive 32nd, just ten minutes behind the winners. Reedus finished with a solid 77th place.

I flew back to Taipei that night, but the others stayed down to do it all over again Sunday morning on a hilly 5 km circuit. Leon and Reedus rode hard and hung on to the brutal pace for 9 laps. Steve was sitting pretty with the pros until he flatted in the 14th lap. Impressive effort!

We had a terrific weekend and we owe a large thanks to Sean Huang. Without Sean's support, we never would have been able to even enter the race. Thank you Tien Mu Giant!



The next local racing will be a hill climb on Sunday, November 13th. This is a good race for anyone to enter, as it will be low key and requires no special riding skills. Sign up with Sean Huang or drop me a note if you’re interested.

Word on the street is that the illustrious Lanslow will be joining the boys for this weekend’s riding. At the moment, the plan is for a 6:30 am departure Saturday for a two hour ride (although that time may be moved a bit later- email to double check). Sean may give a tour of the race course Sunday morning, and Land is threatening to show up as well.

Hope to see you out there!

Bill O'B

Friday, October 14, 2005

Friday afternoon and Saturday morning

Leon and I are going for a very easy spin out past the National
Palace, leaving TAS at 4:05. Saturday morning's ride departs at 6:30.
We're heading out through Tamshui and along the coast towards Jinshan
and then back. I believe we'll be doing some short pushes to continue
with our race prep. Sunday should be an easy spin- I'm not sure of
the time yet- probably 6:30ish again. Let me know if you'd like to
meet up for any rides...

Bill

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Races and race training

If you're interested in racing, there's a 7.5 km hill climb race on
Sunday, November 12th over in Bali by the red bridge on the way to
Tamshui. Entries close November 5th. See Sean Huang if you're
interested.

Leon, the Steves and I continue to train for "Le Tour de Hualien" on
the 22nd and 23rd of this month. We'll be doing intervals on the
Switchbacks this afternoon around 4 pm and we'll be heading out for
another hard push Saturday morning followed by an easy spin Sunday.
Next Wednesday afternoon will be our last hard push before the racing
on the weekend. If you're interested in meeting up with us for any of
these rides, just drop me a note.

Bill O'B

Friday, October 07, 2005

Riding 10-10 weekend


The girls and I joined Joe Earley and the boys for a spin out along the river this morning- beautiful!

My ride tomorrow will be departing TAS at 2 pm for a race training ride up the Satellites to the Saddle, down to Jinshan, along the coast and back up 101. I know Steve S. and Leon will be there; hopefully others as well.


Sunday's ride will be an early morning departure (6 or 6:30 probably) out towards the airport along the flats with a couple pushes.

I imagine Saturday will be a recovery ride.

Let me know if you'd like to meet up!

Bill O'B

Saturday Oct 8th Ride

Well, I hope any of you that are off today (Friday) are out enjoying the great riding weather.  The rest of us sit in offices and look at the rain forecast for the weekend!

Anyway, if the weather looks OK, I plan a ride at 6:30 at TAS on Saturday Oct 8.  Maybe up Helens, along the coast then Jinshan?.  Or maybe reverse depending on wind direction. 

See you there.

Thanks,

Simon Moore

Simon R. Moore
Director, Fab Business Development
Air Products Electronics
Taipei, Taiwan
Office Phone (886) 2 2537-9326
Mobile Phone (886) 921-939-974
Fax (886) 2 2568-1602
mooresr@airproducts.com


Thursday, October 06, 2005

Saturday, Oct. 8

A group of us will be meeting in front of TAS at 6:30 am for a semi-leisurely ride. (Most likely, no hills involved on this ride.)  Itinerary to be determined Saturday.  Brenda

 

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Riding week of October 3rd

I'm up early for a ride this morning- sorry I didn't post anything
earlier. Wednesday, Leon, Steven and I are going to launch an assault
on the Switchback times (actually, Leon and Steve will be launching
the assault; I'll be setting a benchmark for this year...). We'll be
up there in the afternoon (departing Tien Mu around 4 pm). I'm hoping
to get out for a spin Thursday afternoon as well (around 4 pm). If
you'd like to join either ride, let me know.

As TAS has a four day weekend coming up, we will probably have two
big days of riding in preparation for the October 22nd race. At the
moment, those days look like Friday and Sunday. More details
forthcoming.

Bill