A Ride On The Straight

May 02, 2009 By: thenhbushman Geotag Icon Show on map Category: Lifestyle, riding, Taiwan

Photos by MJ Klein & Hui-chen

After arriving back in Taiwan in the evening on Friday, we were welcomed Saturday morning by a glorious day! I’ve been waiting for fine bike-riding weather to return to Taiwan and I was ecstatic when Saturday turned out to be so perfect. We decided to take the trike down to the coast, to Yong An, for a nice ride.

I don’t yet have a car rack to transport the trike, so I just bungeed it to the car like this. I know what I need to get for a rack though, and I’ll be working on that in the next week.

We have 2 cars, and the “little car” as we call it, has a spoiler on the trunk. I used this to hold down the front of the trike.

Then I ran a bungee through the trike’s rear rack, and down inside the passenger compartment of the car, where the hooks are coupled together.

This is how it looks from the side. The trike rode from Hukou to Yong An and hardly even bounced. Notice that I have disconnected the seatback and folded it down to reduce drag. Other trike models that don’t have a fold-down seat would present a lot of drag when carried like this.

The reason that I wanted to ride at Yong An is that not only do I really like the area, Yong An is very bicycle friendly with lots of people out riding on nice days. While I went off riding down the seacoast road, Hui-chen took some photographs:

Taiwan’s coastline is rather rugged in some places, and Yong An is one of them. This is the second place that I’ve ridden along the coast.

Fishermen standing on concrete erosion barriers.

The Taiwan Straight is a busy commerical shipping corridor.

Since we were last in Yong An, it’s gained a lot of popularity, and as such has way more vendors than it used to.

Now, when you’ve had enough bike riding, you can sing karaoke.

Today the vendors were out in force.

And there were lots of people enjoying the outdoors, riding bicycles.

At intersections, it became that kind of organized chaos that we all love about Taiwan, with dozens of cyclists criss-crossing every which way.

The day was just perfect. Not too hot, with a nice sea breeze.

The circuit that I rode is 5.0 KM long, round trip. Going north there was a sea breeze pushing against me. The trike is so low that it has a definiate areodynamic advantage over an upright bicycle.

Now this is the way to get fit! The trike is so comfortable that it’s almost like you’re not exercising, but you’re getting one of the best cardio workouts going.

Recently I had installed a new headrest bracket. The weather was so lousy (and we were in Thailand for a week) so this was the first day I had ridden the trike since that install. I had to stop and make an adjustment to it because the bracket was rotated too far back (I carry tools with me). Once I fixed that minor issue, it was smooth sailing!

Here is a video I shot with my mobile phone:

A Ride On The Straight from MJ Klein on Vimeo.

On the way home to Hukou, we saw this brush fire. Someone was trying to clear a bit of land but it looks like things got a little out of hand!

All in all, it was a perfect day!

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this article, please leave us your comments and a rating.

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15 Responses to “ A Ride On The Straight ”

# 1 mike01905 Says:
May 2nd, 2009 at 11:48 pm
This is only the 2nd place you’ve ridden along the coast…. I ride along the coast all the time.

Ride from Lynn to Marblehead… ride from Lynn to the tiip of Nahant… ride from Lynn to Winthrop.

If its a hot and sunny day… when riding out to Nahant or to Winthrop… there is usually a LOT of nice sight-seeing to be done… and I don’t mean the buildings or landscape

mike01905s last blog post..Red Sox Game 01

thenhbushman reply on May 3rd, 2009 10:17 am:

Mike, things are a bit different over here with the roads on the coastline, etc. but the sightseeing here is great too
# 2 owshawng Says:
May 3rd, 2009 at 4:00 am
MJ,

That trike looks like a lot of fun. Can you get a tandem trike to share with Hui-chen?

owshawngs last blog post..Taiwanese Water Torture

thenhbushman reply on May 3rd, 2009 10:16 am:

hi ownshwng. yes, there are tandem trikes available but they are quite expensive. Hui-chen wouldn’t enjoy riding a tandem with me. she prefers to ride her own bicycle. thanks.
# 3 Todd Says:
May 3rd, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I’m quite jealous, I haven’t taken my bike along any of Taiwan’s beautiful coasts yet! Looks like a lovely route MJ. From the video it looks like a great workout!

Todds last blog post..Daily Photo – Sticker Ads

thenhbushman reply on May 4th, 2009 10:55 am:

Todd, you’re welcome to come visit us and ride in Yong An!
# 4 Brunty Says:
May 4th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Mj, looks like a nice place to cycle. I am a little worries though. No stray dogs to make you ride faster when they chase you.. You look really comfy in teh trike MJ. I might fall alseep in something like that and end up off the road. Thanks for sharing mate.

thenhbushman reply on May 4th, 2009 10:55 am:

Brunty, yeah this was the first time i didn’t have any stray dogs to keep me on top of my game! nevertheless, it was enjoyable just the same. i hope you’ve noticed that my gut is now about 1/2 the size that it used to be (compare this article: http://www.thenhbushman.com/2008/11/27/bushman-gets-bent/). sorry we weren’t able to hook up on our last trip to Thailand. next time! thanks Brunty.
# 5 Links 4 May 2009 - David on Formosa Says:
May 4th, 2009 at 9:06 am
[...] The NH Bushman goes tricycling in Yong’an. [...]
# 6 cfimages Says:
May 4th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Looking good MJ. I see you’re using clipless pedals – how do you find them on the trike? I couldn’t imagine riding an upright bike without them, but never really considered that they’d be good on the the trike.

cfimagess last blog post..Urban Nomad Last Day @ Taipei

thenhbushman reply on May 4th, 2009 10:53 am:

very astute, Craig! yes, clipless pedals are very necessary on a recumbent to prevent “recumbent suck” – which is where your foot accidently slips off the pedal, makes contact with the road and sucks your leg way back under the bike or trike, necessitating a trip to the hospital. this doesn’t happen on an upright design bicycle. i find the clipless pedals very useful as i can push and pull with the opposite leg. also when i want to rest i can just pull over, apply the parking brakes and just let my legs hang off the clips.
# 7 TheNHBushman.com | Exercise Update Says:
May 7th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
[...] David on Formosa: Links 4 May 2009 [...]
# 8 Carrie Says:
May 8th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Great photos! John and I have been wondering about you and your recumbent trike, and we’re both glad to see you getting good use out of it.

thenhbushman reply on May 9th, 2009 10:29 pm:

hi Carrie. i’ve been investigating different bicycle carriers for the car in an effort to be able to take the trike to different places for riding. i found the carrier that i want but i have to wait another month before it becomes available. in the meantime, i’m bungeeing the trike to the little car and that seems to be working out well. one of these days i’m going to take it up to Taipei for a ride with David Reid. maybe we could all get together for a nice ride? thanks and take care.
# 9 TheNHBushman.com | Today’s Ride 090516 Says:
May 17th, 2009 at 11:06 am
[...] David on Formosa: Links 4 May 2009 [...]