Great ride out with the folding bike company Tern last night.
Several photos to come when I have collated them, but I was delighted when the challenge of getting a third floor restaurant with 50 cyclists was solved in the only realistic way.
If only all shopping centres were so accommodating.
Brief update on the cycling in Taipei story.
Managed to hire a bike from one of the cycle hire stations which are positioned along the linear riverside parks which have some of the most impressive leisure cycling infrastructure I have seen. They run for miles right round the city.
But then I knew I was not going to be satisfied unless I actually rode in Taipei itself which meant passing through the flood defences and out into the terrifying kingdom of the scooters.
At this point I always believe what makes cycling possible in a new city is a role model.
And as I approached my first entry into bedlam a woman on a cargo trike pulled out slowly and sedately from a side street and instead of heading for the side of the road she boldly took up the whole lane of the busy highway.
“If she can, I can”
Another vote of thanks to the fearless cycling women of Taipei for your example.
More, lots more, to follow.
Very frustrating first couple of hours this morning failing to hire a bike.
Apparently to use the Taipei Youbike system I need either a Taiwanese credit card or mobile phone.
The bikes are plentiful, the weather is warm, there are cyclists about and I am hoping to cycle about rather than use the MRT every day. In fact this Youbike station was huge – and full of bikes!
Plan B is now in operation – one of the leisure bike hire stations by the river.
*The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
“Water water everywhere, nor any drop to drink”
Just found my cyclist of the year.
Out in the middle of a multi-lane junction. With the swarms of buzzing scooters that frighten the life out of me here in Taipei.
I had to look twice because this brilliant lady with the look of steely determination was unexpectedly tucked on the end of the scooter row like a Belgian cyclo-crosser about to start a race. No hiding on pavements or waiting behind for her.
Chapeau!
Just looked back at last year’s blog posts when I was a novice blogger and a bit overwhelmed by the Taipei Cycle Show. Where else does the President turn up to open a bike show and I get to shake the hand of Ernesto Colnago.
So much cycling bling, so much sensory overload.
Now looking forward to a great week, it will be flat out but should be time for a few photos and posts. Click the Taiwan tag below for a preview from last year and for why I am going here’s this year’s advert.
I cannot believe two weeks have gone by since I was enjoying the sunshine of Budapest – it has a sort of “last summer” feel already with the mini-winter that has hit Belgium.
I realised that while I was musing on the Danube and food I didn’t finish my post about the cycling, which is somewhat of an oversight for a cycling blog. I thought I should complete the process because Budapest is such an important milestone in the Danube Cycle Route and a major part of Eurovelo6, the rivers route linking the Loire, the Rhine and the Danube so it may be of interest to fellow travellers. And I want to thank the campaigners at the Hungarian Cycling Club (Magyar Kerekparosklub) for their hospitality.
Whenever a league table of European cycling levels is published many people are surprised to see Hungary competing with Denmark in second or third place. In fact when I showed the graph to some Hungarians in Budapest they were surprised too.
This is because there are still really high levels of cycling in the rural areas of Hungary, largely driven by economic circumstances. But Budapest itself followed the trajectory of most of the Eastern European capitals after the Iron Curtain came down by embracing the car with enthusiasm. Not long later they had the joys of congestion and cars had overwhelmed residual levels of cycling. Unfortunately this rush to the car was also supported by the economic engine of the EU which financed a whole load of so called improvements in the form of new roads.
When I was first in Budapest in the winter of 2008 with the ECF board we were taken on several bike rides around the city which showed the first signs of a counter-revolution. There were lots of plans to improve the infrastructure and particularly to create attractive riverside routes for the Danube Cycle Route.
However back then it was very hard to imagine because what was in place was disconnected and dysfunctional.
Five years later you can see the benefits of that investment. It’s not a wholesale transformation of the whole city but it is clear that there is a really big change, especially along the river. OK, there is a heck of a difference between freezing December and sunny March too but there were also a lot more cyclists everywhere I walked and cycled. The confidence of the bike industry seems to be up too, the cycle show Bringaexpo which was hosting my visit has just moved to a bigger venue.
And credit to the EU funding programme too, from previous spending on “roads to nowhere” a significant proportion of the EU infrastructure subsidy to Hungary has now started going on cycling facilities, especially where it can boost tourism. It means the job can be done properly, for example the Margit Bridge is a protected heritage structure so this tunnel through the bridge footings cost around 3 million Euros so the EU share meant it could be done safely and in keeping the integrity of the structure. There were also wide paths across other bridges, cyclists shared with pedestrians but with plenty of space for both.
In the city areas there were fewer segregated facilities but the on-carriageway routes were wide, direct and seemed to be respected by the drivers.
Once we got further east towards the exhibition centre there was a nice ride through parkland which is symbolically important to the advocacy community here because it is the final point of the Budapest Critical Mass. This amazing gathering is not the underground movement of other cities, at its peak it had over 80,000 participants and was joined by significant politicians. Interestingly 2013 will see the last ever CM here because the leaders feel it has achieved as much as it can as a protest movement and it is now joining forces and trying to bring its energy to the broader cyclists groups. It was great to be at a meeting with them and see the injection of passion that comes from that direct action side of campaigning. Diary date 20th April if you happen to be able to get to Budapest – should be a good party.
As a visitor who really appreciates the Danube and as someone who has always loved cycling and walking by water I can perhaps permit myself one moan. Like so many countries and cities the waterway is a corridor for other modes of transport.
In the really bold cities like Paris we see city administrations trying to claim that space back for people. I think the authorities here have bottled it in places, for example south of Margit Bridge they have let fast roads keep the river bank and pushed
pedestrians and cyclists up onto a raised embankment. This means the views are nice enough but distanced from the calm of the water. Just look at these two photos. Stunning view of the Parliament building – then pull back the lens to see what the actual view shows.
t isn’t like this all the way along, but I can’t help but feel that was an opportunity lost.
However if you are planning a ride down Eurovelo 6 or even just a short stretch of the Danube Cycle Route can I recommend you include the Budapest stretch and do take a few diversions across the bridges and out to areas like Hero Square, it is becoming a good place to ride a bike again. See my earlier post for just taste of the architecture and history in Budapest and from what I heard the ride round Lake Balaton is a treat for future occasions..
And credit to the cyclists organisations and their friends and supporters. The movement is relatively small and underfunded compared to many in Western Europe however they have lots of creativity, bags of energy and a real willingness to work together to go forward. And they do some rather amusing campaigning, always good to see advocacy with a smile.
I look forward to more chances to visit them too, it really feels that I am among friends
Oh my. Can I say again – I am so over snow.
Woke up this morning to almost the worst possible scenario for a road ride – snow and sleet beginning to lie on the fields. The road outside looks clear of ice, but it is soaking wet.
I am not free again on Sunday again for several weeks and after all the psyching up of yesterday there is no way I was going to back down from my first Belgian club ride unless it was truly unrideable so I put on my thickest winter layers including the neoprene overshoes and set off.
Unfortunately the prospect of a soggy cold day had a much bigger deterrent effect of the rest of the club because there were a grand total of two other riders out. I was assured that I was “unlucky” because there are usually up to twenty riders per group.
However no-nonsense Philippe was waiting for nobody and set off bang on 9.30. I was told this was planned to be a ride of around 55kmph at a speed of around 25kmph. Amazingly despite the conditions and the newcomer he delivered me back to the start point at exactly that time, just by riding at a well paced and constant effort throughout the whole ride, regardless of which of the other two of us was riding beside him.
What should I say? By all normal standards it should have been horrible. The sleet never stopped, stinging our faces on the downhills. The roads were awash and the minor roads were covered in mud and grit. From following Philippe’s wheel a few times I am afraid I will be getting the grit out of my teeth and eyes for the rest of the week. The bike looked like a mountain bike when I got back.
But inevitably I loved it. The roads were almost car free, a combination of the foul weather and the fact that there is almost no Sunday shopping in Belgium (yippee!). It made a great cycling route with the knowledge of a local guide and every road was new. We stayed away from the steep sided valleys nearer where I live so it was all rolling farmland which made the pace about right for me, no need to worry about saving something for climbing. In fact with the open fields, strong cold easterly wind and lack of hedgerows it could almost have been my native East Anglia except that the architecture of the farms and small towns and villages was unmistakably Wallon Brabant. The villages themselves just about managed to look attractive and well kept under the grey skies although I cannot say that for the road surfaces which were potholed and badly broken.
For the record: From Ottignies to Saint-Géry, Chastre, Walhain, Tourinnes St. Lambert, Nil St Martin and Corry Le Grand, my first Belgian club run.
I haven’t done that for nearly nine months. Boy I missed it.
Thank you Club Cyclotouriste D’Ottignies. I’ll be back.
It is with enormous trepidation that I announce I am going to go for a bike ride with a local cycling club tomorrow.
It is one of the greatest failings of cycling as a social activity that jumping this barrier is a nerve-wracking experience even for someone like me who has been riding in clubs all my life. I have had some of the best cycling experiences ever and great friendship from my long term clubs Godric Cycling Club, Durham University CC, Cardiff Ajax and Reading Cycling Club but each time the first ride was a big step.
If I feel like this today then I know why people can own a sports road or mountain bike for their whole lives and never hook up with a club. Both they and the clubs miss out so often.
A quick examination of my symptoms please doctor:
Will I be able to keep up?
Will my bike fall apart?
If they leave me will I have a clue where I am?
I don’t climb too badly for a bigger lad, but my descending is pretty rusty at the moment – that could be embarrassing.
I’ve never really had a bad first ride on any of these counts, but I have a deeply repressed memory of something odd happening on one of my first club rides in Cardiff. Can’t even remember the details but one of my creative repairs revealed itself during a ride and as I did a patch up by the roadside I could see the eye rolling going on in the background. “We’ve got a right one here” they hinted to each other. I could easily have become one of so many one-timers who never returned instead of enjoying many more years of riding and club life because many do have a really unwelcoming first experience.
Rugby was my other sport for years and despite being a complicated, physical sport it handles this sort of thing so much better. It has the advantage of taking place at a fixed location but the most important welcome to new starters used to be “the fourth team”. (Replace with 5th, 6th, 7th team as appropriate). Can’t run, can’t catch, don’t know the rules and have a long distance relationship with anything called fitness? We’ll give you a run out in the 4ths and see how you get on under the avuncular support of an almost retired older player with a gammy leg and a deaf ear. Everyone plays because a proper 4th team has any number of players between 9 and 17, except the required 15. A proper 4th team is like the boxes of reject broken biscuits we used to love as kids. All shapes and sizes and only occasionally you turn up a complete custard crème, but its the mix that counts. And when you return to the clubhouse the 4th team creates its own legends of the bar. In short, a place for everyone.
This is the biggest argument out for entry level cycling groups in every town in the world.
Back to the matter in hand.
Tomorrow I am going out with the local Belgian cycling club.
This throws up a whole new set of challenges. At least in the UK I know the stock formula for most clubs is a Sunday ride – 60 miles with a coffee stop for most road clubs and maybe shorter distances with elevenses and lunch for the CTC groups.
Here club cycling seems to follows the French model. A racing club is just that, a club focussed on competition with a supporting network of ex-riders and officials. A cycle touring club looks to all intents and purposes exactly the same – club colours, quality road bikes, helmets and a calendar of events but the purpose is to ride together as groups and not to compete. So I reckon they fill the gap that I am looking for – strong-ish riders but not going to rip my legs off, like a club run or a faster CTC group in the UK.
Connection to my most local club has already failed because they are mainly interested in touring events – this weekend they are driving out to events both days. Sounds great, 100km including the legendary Mur de Gammont today but I actually want to learn about this area first and I certainly don’t want to give up 2 hours cycling time to sit in a car. So I’ll save that for another day, tomorrow I’ll try plan B with another club.
Checklist:
- I have found where they start
- My bike is scruffy but unlikely to be a laughing stock
- I can do the distance
- I have a domestic pass out
So it is time to get a grip Mayne ……. But they are Belgian, born to be hard cyclists. But my conversational French is awful. And what if I fall off on the cobbles, and what if they ……..
It’s been a bit of UK week. Speaking about UK cycling at a public enquiry by video link on Monday, then the slightly odd feeling of being a returning visitor to London on a lovely spring day yesterday. Only six months away, but it did feel strange.
I’ve got a couple of posts that will come from both those experiences but first a travel thought.
So many visitors that arrive in London by Eurostar train just head for the underground (the Tube) so they leave their arrival station without ever stepping outside. Because I walk and cycle I always get to take in the wonderful Victorian buildings of St Pancras station which I regard as the finest railway station I know, an opinion apparently shared by travel writer Simon Calder who apparently called the redeveloped terminus “the world’s most wonderful railway station”.
Yesterday the low afternoon sun picked out the gothic detailing almost perfectly. I have never stayed at the Renaissance Hotel which took over the refurbished Midland Grand Hotel in the main frontage but one day I am going to treat myself. However even if you are just visiting London don’t dash off to the West End or the City without appreciating London St. Pancras.
For the history of this great station the Wikipedia entry is here
I walked onto my host’s stand at the bike show I was visiting in Budapest this weekend and the hairs almost stood up on the back of my neck.
Right in front of their stall was one of the legendary bikes of cycle sport – the extraordinary bike ridden by Italian star Francesco Moser in 1988 to break the “the hour”, one of cycling’s most extreme records.To anybody immersed in cycle sport at the time this was the stuff of legends. It even had a photo indicating authenticity.
I couldn’t be true. I just couldn’t make out how this groundbreaking machine wasn’t in a museum or the collection of the man himself.
So I poked around on line over the weekend to see if I could authenticate the bike and I came across a fun new blog I haven’t seen before – the Lo Pro Cycling Club, a site dedicated to the whole generation of aerodynamic bikes that became super fashionable in the racing scene of the 1980s.
I this great post the blog tells the story of how former professional track rider Kiss Ferenc from Hungary built a Moser replica for fun. I can only assume this is the beast.
The replica is a bit naughty, but what a designer – one of the bike companies should give him a job.
Searing bright light, forcing me to squint, making sightseeing almost painful.
And it was absolutely wonderful. After weeks of overcast cold weather this spring day in Budapest was like a huge injection of life.
I wrote on Friday how much the Danube always impresses me. But now in the stunning sunlight with the architecture of Budapest on either side I just didn’t want to stop wandering and taking photos. Almost a shame that I had to go and talk cycling!
Last time I was here was December 2008. It was freezing, overcast and we spent quite a bit of our time cycling in the dark. But even then I remember being impressed by the buildings and bridges of several eras overlooking the water, but today they were resplendent in spring sunshine.
As well as the riverside I had a short time to go into the centre too and I enjoyed the quiet squares just beyond the busy thoroughfares. These grand buildings and statues are typical of these central European cities that were once part of one of Europe’s greatest empires.
Hungarians are a warm hospitable people too, with an extraordinary compulsion to fill visitors with enormous quantities of food. It doesn’t get much better for a hungry cyclist.
If you’ve not been, go.
At bike shows there are rules.
Fixies must be bling.
Electric motors must crop up slightly unexpectedly.
And somewhere there must be a lovely Bianchi in celeste blue.
These are given.
The company will remain nameless for discretion’s sake, but I have to say this is the very first image as you walk through the door at the Bringaexpo today in Budapest. Another rule – at every show there must be one piece of marketing that makes you go “what were they thinking?” 
Even though I am stepping out on a cold misty morning today the Danube never fails to excite me.
Partly it is the huge size, partly I can look down river and catch a first glimpse of the buildings of Budapest along the banks. But it has always done this whenever I have come to it on trips.
But also I think about this amazing corridor that links so many capital cities and countries, running from Germany to the Black Sea. How much human history has been seen along these waters. Something of the exotic perhaps? As a Brit we are often far removed and sadly uneducated about much European history, but when I get the Danube I always feel I should know more.
It is a long standing ambition to cycle the eastern section. Today I will have to content myself with this first view and some cycling along its great cycle paths later.
Bless the twittersphere and blogosphere.
How else would I be pointed to the new promo videos from the great tours and the Italian classics if links were not popping up all over the place today.
Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, Strada Bianchi, Milan San Remo, Tour of Lombardy in four minutes.
As one blogger put it “goosebumps”
Bring on the season.
Couldn’t work out why this is so frustrating for me but doesn’t seem to bother anyone else here.
Then as I wobbled back home through the slush and the blowing flakes tonight I realised. List of wants. Dry bum, dry feet, warm face, stable road surfaces……..and more covered bike sheds in Belgium.
30 years of work. 3 years as a student. 7 years cycling to school. Not once have I travelled anywhere where I had to leave my bike outside daily. The dear old UK might be Europe’s cycling dunce but I must have struck lucky with our legacy of bike sheds, some of them probably dating back to the 1960s or even earlier in the case of at least one factory bike shed I can recall.
I mean those saddle covers I see at the bike parks are awfully naff, but now I know why they are so popular everywhere else in Europe and its not just for advertising SRAM.
I Do Not Despair 