cool riding in Taipei

Hey,

Just thought I'd share about a really awesome day today, exploring
trails and backroads near Taipei, Taiwan, where I'm over doing product
development for KHU. Perks of the job are a chance to take a couple
of extra days and explore.

Taipei is a great city for exploring on a uni in that it's pretty quick
to get out of the city core into some chaotic narrow streets on the
outskirts, with about a thousand moped riders per city block (OK an
exaggeration but you get the point!), then steep hills and jungle just
outside the city.

I wanted to find a trail called the "Gas Plant" trail, mentioned on the
internet and located beside a highway tunnel and gas plant.

I never did find the official trail but headed up a steep concrete
aqueduct that connected with a trail above the road tunnel, climbing up
to an amazing view of the city and several small religious shrines (not
sure what kind) on really steep terrain overlooking the city. The
trail was fairly technical singletrack and really slippery stairs, and
led through a ridge, over the tunnels, and back towards the city, where
I explored some tiny streets and found a small place for lunch- seafood
soup and rice. The other perk of Taipei- easy to find really good,
cheap food.

After that I pedalled northeast and ascended some very steep streets
heading again up above the city, and by complete fluke ended up on a
steep bushwacky trail. I had a vague sense of where it might end up
so I kept going, riding as much as possible and hiking where it got too
bushy, and emerged an hour later on a small road. The road was
beautiful. It lead through a canyon with cliffs on one side and very
small farms on the other, winding down to a university campus on the
east side of town. It was doubly fun because it was such a surprise,
and refreshingly quiet compared to the city. Eventually I emerged
back into the chaos of east Taipei, and joined the mopeds for a race
back to town, partly on a bikepath beside a large river that skirts the
east side of the city.

Just when I thought the ride adventure was over, in a completely random
location beside the river with only a few old men for an audience,
there was a puppet show playing, mounted on the top of a van, with
earsplitting Asian music and 2 puppets fighting each other, complete
with loud gun noises and smoke and even flames shooting out of the
stage. Totally surreal.

Anyway, just a story of a really cool day.

Kris


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danger_uni
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Moral to the story, always take a digital camera?

Thanks for the writeup, it sounds peregrine.


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pete66

*I think oranges were named before carrots*
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Nice story, but....

[image:
http://www.foromtb.com/attachment.ph...=1159800 622]

Translate into english should be:

"This post without photos don't worth it "



AS pete says take always your camera with you pleaseeee!!!


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filmo
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if its a ride report from kris holm himself, its worth it !


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iridemymuni

maker of the happy birthday threads

ive got:

John Childs, Klaas Bill, Kris Holm, Samia, Harper, Bryan Stevens,
Wobbling bear, Mike Swarbrick, Cathwoood, Scott Wallis, Mikefule,
Raphael (jjuggle), James Potter, ITEMNO530, DogBowl, Yoopers,
Habbywall, Terry and Jagur.
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iridemymuni wrote:
if its a ride report from kris holm himself, its worth it !



Of course it worth it, I was just kidding, but it would be wonderful
with some pics, don`t you think? With the oportunity of Kris traveling
around the world some photos of his trips ( landscapes, cultures and of
course unicycling) will be georgeous in his reports.


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filmo
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I never brought a camera! Seriously. I was too busy riding.

Kris


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danger_uni
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carry it in your backpack nextime silly!


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uni_jim

Beware of the pixies!
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sounds like a reali good day. is this where roger is?


--
amanda.gallacher

--sorry für mein beschissenes deutsch--
'my gallery' (http://tinyurl.com/dpa27)
'unicycle.com' (http://www.unicycle.uk.com)

Smilymarco wrote:
its just too small
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When I travel, I take a 20". But I'm guessing Kris had a 29" he could
borrow. Cuz that sounds like a fair bit of mileage!

You definately should have a compact camera with you. In addition to
some travel photos, it would be interesting to see the factory and
people that make our unicycles.


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phthoruth
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Thanks for the write up! It sounded like a great day.

I think its good to just go riding... Have fun and enjoy it without
worrying about taking photos or video along the way.

Keld


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Keldridge
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