Friday, February 24, 2006

YCC Riding Notes: Spring Racing, Internet Resources and More


Hello cyclists-

The weather is warming and the mountains are drying- time to ride! If
racing is your thing, you should really consider the March 12th North
Coast race. It's about 45 km of flat riding along the coast, followed
by a 5 km climb. It might be tricky to stay with the fastest riders,
but there are usually a variety of ability races at Taiwan races. Pre-
registration is 500 NT to Sean Huang by tomorrow, February 25th. Race
day registration is available. Let me know if you'd like more
information.

There's also the two day Tour of East Taiwan coming up April 15th and
16th. The first day is a 130 km ride from Hualien to Taidong and the
next day is a 160 km return ride. In the past, there has also been a
non-race challenge ride over the same course at the same time. See
Sean if you're interested in doing this.

I'd also like to organize an end of school year ride from TAS to Helen's in May. I believe our record for riders is around 46; it
would be great to beat that this year. Although the ride to Helen's
is not easy, past experience shows that if you've got a bike, a bit
of courage, and you don't mind possibly walking a stretch or two, you
can make it to the top. More info on this ride to come.




I've found a few internet resources that may be of interest to Taipei riders. First of all, if you haven't checked out Google Earth (earth.google.com) for Taiwan, do it! Now that there is a Macintosh
version, I've been zooming in and circling around all of the local
peaks. I was thinking of putting together a few image maps of some of
the local rides- let me know if you think that would be helpful...

I've also found some weather sites.

The Central Weather Bureau (http://www.cwb.gov.tw/V4e/index.htm) is
always good for current conditions.

I usually complement this with the National Weather Service's 24 hour summary (http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/RCSS.html).

And the coolest- weather cams! Check out http://twcam.www.gov.tw:80/
webcam/english/scenery/main.jsp?who= and select Taipei City and
either Yangmingshan or National Palace Museum. The images are in real
time and the temperatures are fairly accurate. The Yangmingshan
camera is at the final corner on the way to the Saddle (just above
the Switchbacks).




Were you interested in Jesper's report of a 22% gradient and 1000's
of meters of climbing? If so, an altimeter might be the gadget for
you, and you're in luck- Claus has an extra one. He writes:

I recently ordered a VDO MC 1.0+ computer (identical to Jesper's) with altimeter online at Wisecyclebuys.com. They send me the old model MC 1.0!
When notified, they immediately shipped new model with lots of apologies. Came back next day and asked whether I could sell the old model locally at good rate instead of the hassle of shipping it back to them...

Long story short - I have a brand new in box VDO computer for sale @79 USD/2.600 NT - new model retails at 139.90 USD. The two models are showcased at http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=3786

I'd take it myself but new model already shipped when they send me price - and I was ready to pay 140 USD anyway...

If you're interested, you can contact Claus via the comments on this page, and I'm sure he'd be happy to send you his email address.





And finally... Peter Langslow is back in Taipei this weekend, and so
Steve, Steve, Leon and I will ride with him at 10:45 from the TAS
Main Gate on Saturday. We'll ride out through Tamshui, along the
coast to Jinshan, and then up the March 12th race course hill, coming
out at Helen's Pagoda. It should be about 3.5 hours riding time. The
pace should be quick, but all are welcome.

See you in the hills!

Bill

5 comments:

TaipeiDave said...

claus - i'm interested in altimiter - thanks
dave,
wittry@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

what would you say was a "quick" pace for your group, as i might join you but only if i can keep up!!
seejayw@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

Quick pace... Well, everyone's on road bikes and we tend to push each other in spots. On the other hand, we also regroup periodically. I guess the average is probably around 30 km/h for the entire ride, but we hit 40's and low 50's at times on the coast. It would be great to have another rider along.

-Bill

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