NCR Results and Coming Races

The Foreign Riders of Columbus Team

Sunday morning may have been grey and gloomy, but the cyclists lining up in Wanli for the 2007 North Coast Race were ready to go. A group of close to 20 expatriate cyclists from Taipei joined the 1000+ local riders in the various road and mountain age categories.

The first groups to set out at 8 am were the Elite and Elite Masters. Three teams fresh off last week's Tour of Taiwan- Giant Asia, PZ Racing, and e-Ma- led the field of Elite racers. Several of the riders had finished well in the Tour, including the winner of Stage 4. The rainbow stripes on one rider indicated his status as the 2006 UCI Masters World Champion. Leon and Craig rode well in the peleton and finished strongly on the final climb. Leon even managed to break away with one of the pros at one point before being reeled back by the field.

The age group categories followed at 2 minute intervals. Results were impressive. Mike pushed the 35+ age groupers with Simon and Rock helping out. On the final climb, Mike blasted away, taking first in M40. Barry and Peter forced the pace on the coast as well, with Barry taking first in M55 and Peter claiming another medal for his trophy room with 5th in M45. A number of the other riders were in their first bike race and rode very well- nice job, guys!

Age Group Results
Overall Results

Mike on the podium for M40



Barry on the podium for M55

Big thanks go to Dave and Craig for putting together the post-race tailgate. Craig went to great risks to procure Red Bull and sausages (including a run-in with the Kaioshiung police and Red Bull girls) and make it back from the Kenting Half Ironman in time to drive out to the race the next morning. Dave arrived home from a week with 100 ninth graders in Beijing (85% of whom were angels, 15% of whom were hellions) and 12 hour days on his feet and still had the energy to run out to Costco for food and beverages. You'd never know from the smile on his face after the race that the cassette on his borrowed wheel was skipping every second revolution. Thanks guys.

Thanks also go out to Barry, Bill, Simon and Craig for driving riders and bikes from Tien Mu out to Wanli. We really appreciated it!

Coming Races

The next race is the Elspeth's Hill Climb on Sunday, April 8th. Pre-registration of 100 NT usually occurs at Sean's with race day registration of 200 NT possible. The race goes off in age-group packs beginning at 9 am. Since it is only a 4 km race, it's a quick one...

Registration is now closed for the April 21st-22nd Tour of East Taiwan.

After that, set your sites on the Saturday, May 12th Gongliao-Shuangsi (Fulong) race. In addition to the NCR and the two days of the Tour of East Taiwan, this will be Round 4 of the Taiwan National Club Cycling Championships. The starting and ending climbs are brutes.

Round 5 of the Club Championships will be Sunday, May 27th with the Giant Cup down in Taichung. It will consist of a 11 km lap raced four times followed by a separate 3 km hill climb.

My final Taiwan race will be the Saturday, June 9th Datun Shan climb via the 101.

Hope to see you out at a few more races this spring!

Bill