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