December 11,2023 – Taichung – Puli – 61kms – Puli Town B&B
December 12, 2023 – Puli – Renai – Puli – 56 kms – Puli Own B&B
Gordon: “You know,” Larry said, “I’m the thoroughbred in the Bike Friday stable. Grandma Friday has fat tires, a heavy frame and some sort of weird geriatric handlebar arrangement. I’m lightly built, with racing handlebars and 28 mm racing slicks. Grandma achieves her destiny pulling a U-Haul trailer across Extremadura or the Po Valley or wherever, mais moi, non,” he said with a touch of Gallic insouciance. “I was meant to be in the lead of a peloton of carbon fibre bikes, not pulling an anchor around Taiwan.”
“First off,” I replied, “have a little respect for Grandma. She’s covered almost 5,000 kms in the past couple of years, which is more than your elite frame and scrawny tires. And yes, I expect you to pull a trailer around Taiwan. But it doesn’t all have to be drudgery. How about an unencumbered trip up a mountain road?”
“Oh, yes please,” said Larry, a little breathlessly. “That would be wonderful.”
And so we took a side trip from Puli to Renai, at 1150 metres on the cross island highway. While it was enough for Ruth, Grandma and I, Larry would have preferred to continue on. He looked longingly up the highway, which tops out at 3100 metres before passing through Taroko gorge on the way to the East Coast.
The stretch we covered was quite beautiful, with a number of tunnels, some switchbacks, and a few 12%+ pitches. The struggle to maintain the road in the challenging climate of Taiwan, with numerous repairs to washouts and landslides, was evident. Another of the cross island highways was closed due to damage in the 1999 earthquake and has never reopened.
As we coasted the 25 kms back to Puli, Larry said, a little giddily, “This has been a great day. Can we come up the other side when we get to the East Coast?” Also smiling broadly, I replied “Maybe”.
We spent the afternoon at an entomology museum. Larry was a little miffed to be left locked up in the parking lot, but we had the undivided attention of a guide for almost two hours and saw and handled some fascinating and beautiful insects.
I love talking bikes, especially ones with a little bit of sass!
AC
It’s not entirely sass; Larry is in fact a pretty quick bike, or would be in better hands. I’m also sure that cycling conditions have improved enormously since you lived here.
Larry sounds like he is very happy there. I laughed out loud with his comments as Larry used to reside in our garage until he thought he would have more fun on your travels. We miss him but happy he is having fun.
I think Larry was a little disappointed when I detached the trailer and he wasn’t going as fast as he used to with his previous companion, but he is enjoying his travels overseas.
😁