Sunday 24, November 2024

Today, I was going to clean the bikes before our last day of riding and because I haven’t cleaned them since riding into the City of Taipei on Friday. Ralf suggested we wait until we get to the last hotel and clean them before packing them into their bags. I agreed as I wanted to do some retail therapy and see if I could find a Taiwan cycling jersey. I had googled cycling clothing and there were four chances of finding a nice jersey. As it is Sunday, a lot of the shops didn’t open until noon.

The other odd thing I wanted to check out was a steamer insert for our Le Creuset pot. When we were in Taitung, we spotted a new Le Creuset pot, which would be cheaper than buying it in Canada. This pot had a steamer insert. Ralf wanted one, but I persuaded him that we should wait until we got to Taipei and see if we could get it here. When I googled Le Creuset, there were outlets in most of the big department stores.

After breakfast, we headed to the Metro and to QSquare shopping mall. As we came out of the Metro in that area there was another shopping mall opposite the Metro. I knew they would have a Le Creuset store. I found the housewares etc. on the 7^th floor and spotted the Creuset store straight away. The poor assistant thought she was going to get a good sale from us, until we translated that we only wanted the insert. We tried to pay with Ralf’s visa, it wouldn’t work, we tried mine, it still wouldn’t work. We had to go upstairs and pay and get the GST/VAT Tax refunded and then it worked. We got 112 TWD refund which works out to be about $4.80 Cdn. It was a bit of a faff, but we have our insert and are happy.

After that we walked to Bike Works. This is a small independent bike shop, that rents bikes and panniers to cyclists who don’t bring their own bikes to cycle the Island. The owner was kitting out a young Israeli cyclist. He had recently arrived in Taiwan after spending 50 days in Vietnam. We got chatting to him as he was putting his clothes into the two panniers and was wondering how he was going to fit it all in. I asked how many days he was taking and told him he only needed three changes of clothing. One on, one washing and one spare. He repacked his clothes and was happy that it all fit. He was allowed to leave the rest of his clothes and backpack at the bike store. We continued to chat to him and told him about the cycle route we had taken. The owner had already advised him to take the train down the east coast. He said to us, that he had heard some people cycled it. We said yes, and then told him of our experience with the amount of truck drivers, the narrow roads and the tunnels. Take the train, we advised. The owner said she should take a video of us giving advice as we were so experienced and everything we said was really helpful and encouraging. The Israeli said he was a little nervous, we told him it takes a few days to get into the routine of cycle touring, but once you do it is a great way to travel. I told him to take his time, enjoy the scenery and be open to meeting new people and enjoy himself. I wish I had told him that there is nothing wrong with taking the train, or a lift or pushing your bike. You are supposed to enjoy the ride not endure the ride.

I couldn’t find a jersey, but we had a nice chat with the owner as well.

From there we got back on the Metro and headed to our next bike shop: Velo City Flagship store. Another independent store, with a huge array of bicycles even a wooden one which he said was very comfortable to ride. We chatted to Nelson (the owner) for quite a while. He told me that there were no Taiwan jerseys, because there isn’t the market for them. He showed me a website where I might be able to get one from, but he wasn’t impressed with the material that these jerseys were made from. I am going to have to wait until I get home. Nelson also gave us some great advice with regards to adding Ergon handle grips to our touring bikes. Both of us have suffered a little with hand-pain, due to the grips. We are used to having multiple hand positions. We will either go with butterfly bars or the Ergon grips. We must see if the butterfly bars work with the fold of these touring bikes.

Finally, we went to a Giant (LIV) store. By this time, I was getting tired and achy. It is so much easier riding a bike, than walking a city. We saw the Ergon grips again and Ralf was able to see the different sizes and which size would fit him better. Again, no jersey, or new waterproof jacket.

Although I didn’t get a jersey, it was nice to chat to the owners of independent bike stores and see what they had to offer.

We got on the Metro and headed back to our hotel. Both of us are a little achy and tired.

The weather forecast is good for tomorrow, so we will be cycling to our last hotel before flying home on Tuesday.