環島網誌越寫越長 It's taking longer than I thought

完整版的單車環島網誌越寫越長，越寫越覺得要好好把它寫好，畢竟人一生中這樣的經驗不多... 所以，看來有可能要再多等一陣子...
The more I write in updating my round-island-ride blog article, the more I feel like I was writing a book. After all, you don't get to do things like this that often in your life time. So I think it will be a while before I publish the complete report of my ride...

環島網誌何時更新? Round-island report yet to be updated

我的支票跳票了... 一個月過去了，環島網誌還沒更新! 我今天下午就開始更新，希望12月初之前能完成... 屆時會通知大家!

I broke my promise... Give me another chance and let me extend the due date to early December. I will start updatng it this afetrnoon !

No excuse for the delay. Not really because I am that busy...well, kind of, I bought myself a new road bike one week after I returned from the round-island ride. You can imagine how much time I spent with my new love... However, my new Kuota Kredo is not really to be blamed for the delay. Actually I had an accident 2 weeks ago when I was riding my new Kredo. The injury on my thigh was bad enough for me to stop cycling for two weeks. That's plenty of time to update the blog. Yet I did not. Somehow I have been shying away from this over-due task. Two days ago, Jason, one of the two friends I made on the round-island ride, finished updating his round-island blog and passed it to me. I read his blog up to the day we met... and I couldn't continue... it all came back! I was so touched... then I realized why I have been shying away from updating my own blog... it would be like re-living the ride one more time... and this time it will be more emotional, because I won't need to pedal, nor do I need to watch where the front wheel is rolling, everything that touched my heart on the ride will have my full attention this time...

Day 9 report - dream comes true 完成九日重裝單騎環島

10月18日，兩位路上認識的"零元環島"車友決定在墾丁多待半天。清晨7:30，我自己一人在墾丁大街的Seven吃­完早餐後出發，10小時25分鐘，騎了160公里，終於在傍晚5:55抵達台南市終點，完成生平第一次的單車環島！

親愛的朋友們，這一路上有太多太多的經歷和感受，目前這個部落格上和我 Picasa網路相簿上有的文字和照片，不到我想post的內容的百分之五。我會儘快整理好文字和照片，做一個完整的記錄，與各位分享。 (可能需要2到3週)

昨天最後一天的簡要記錄，請看: http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/denys.chen/CyclingIslandOfTaiwanDay9#

1200 kilometers (750 miles) around the island of Taiwan in 9 days, 2008/10/10 ~2008/10/18

Day 8 report 挑戰壽卡，重回墾丁

Some highlights of the photos from today are here: http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/denys.chen/CyclingIslanDay8#
More will be posted later after I get home.

Tomorrow (Saturday, 10/18) is the last day of this ride. If the 落山風 and 東北季風 will not be going too much against me, I should get to the finish line (台南市中華西路府前路口) around 5 or 6 PM.







9:50 AM, 重裝(13公斤馬鞍袋)攻上壽卡















5:40PM, 在天黑前一分鐘趕到環島路線(也是本島地理位置)的最南端: 鵝鑾鼻燈塔





Denys in 墾丁

Day 7 report 風雨無阻，黑夜趕路

Safely arrived at Dawu at 8:06 pm last night (Day 7). It was a long ride... through down-pouring rain, up-hill roads, and 90 minutes' total darkness on a coastal road ...

Selected photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/denys.chen/CyclingIslandOfTaiwanDay7#

More photos and stories will be posted after I return to Tainan tomorrow. There are a lot of stories on the trip I would like to share. Please stay tuned.














今天(Day 8)行程: 挑戰壽卡，重回墾丁！ Yeah ！
壽卡乃環島路線最高點，10公里連續爬坡450公尺高。預計8:00AM開始爬，為我加油！

預計明天週六傍晚抵達終點，也是起始點，台南市中華西路府前路口。

Day 6 report 花東的好山好水從一個完美的花蓮清晨開始

因為天已黑又下雨，今日行程縮短20公里，在長濱過夜. Tomorrow's destination will be 大武.

See photo albums here: http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/denys.chen/CyclingIslandOfTaiwanDay6#
(Sorry they are pictures only without stories, for now.)

Denys

Day 5 report - 難忘的蘇花公路!

Dear friends and family,

I made it. I am in Hualien now. I need to get enough sleep for tomorrow's ride to 台東縣成功鄉(海線, 105km) so I will delay Day 5's report to a later time. Too many things happened on Day 5. It will take me hours to write the report for Day 5... For now, you can browse my Day 5 photo album below with limited text remarks. One quick note: as you will see in the photos, 我在新澳隧道內翻車撞壁受了點輕傷，無大礙，不影響騎車。What happened? It's a combination of the following: 狹窄老舊又漏水的隧道，滿地泥濘，不願讓環島騎士的大砂石車。I am OK, not to worry. 但還好當時後面沒車，否則後果不堪設想！這次隧道內翻車給這次環島添加了一項終生難忘的回憶...

Photo album is here: http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/denys.chen/CyclingIslandOfTaiwanDay5#


I want to thank many of you who sent me cell phone text messages (as far as from Switzerland), e-mails, and MSN off-line messages. For those of you who did not send I know many of you have been monitoring my progress through the GPS web page. Thank you all so much for your encouragement ! I did it my way...

Denys in Hualien

Day 4 report 結識一位正港的環島勇士 - 零元環島 !

看圖說故事比較快: http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/denys.chen/CyclingIslandOfTaiwanDay4#
Full report to be provided after the trip.

明早重裝備上蘇花公路，請為我加油！ 我一定會征服它的！

Denys in 蘇澳

Note: GPS定位圖如果看起來怪怪的，是因為中華電信在東岸訊號不良，又因離島上有發射站所造成。



在三貂角南邊附近，背景是龜山島。在這裡結識了一位零元環島的年輕人。

國境之東

在三貂角(本島最東的地理位置)，想念現在國境之南的同事,朋友,及單車同好…

Denys

Day 3 report 苦盡甘來

The ride started with a cool morning. The temperature dropped to only around 20 C. There was still some NE wind from 新豐 to 楊梅, but not as bad as yesterday. Still lot of up-hill climbing in 楊梅. The NE wind disappeared after entering 桃園 county. When entering 新莊 from 龜山, the earlier climbing got rewarded by a long dash downhill, where my highest speed reached 45km. Starting from that point, things just got better and better. Mild NE wind, even on 北濱. Starting tomorrow it's all 順風 ride! (Except the 恆春落山風 on the last day back to Tainan.. that I will worry later :)

Again this is a brief post. I will re-post a full version later with more 心得報告 and photos. 往後幾天沒有逆風，希望能有多一點時間寫我的blog. For now, here are some highlights from today:








埔心車站













苦盡甘來...
到了美麗且具有里程意義的關渡。往下的路程就沒再被東北季風給折騰了 :)










淡水捷運站















在熟悉的淡水捷運站附近逗留了一個多小時，背景是淡水河和觀音山











石門鄉, 這裡是我這次單車環島公路最北點，也是台灣公路最北點，當然也是我離台南的同事和單車同好最遠的地方。嗯，有點想大家了...




Denys in 基隆
(明天行程: 基隆 到 蘇澳)

我愛龜山!我愛關渡!

中午到了龜山要入新莊時,我才知道今早在湖口和楊梅我爬了多少坡,一路俯衝速度最高達45公里!新莊,五股一路順暢,終於看到關渡大橋!騎過橋後往左後方再看一次橋的雄姿,也看到身上黃色薄風衣迎風拍打著~~一陣感動又湧上心頭!啟程後這是第二次…

Denys在淡水捷運站

Day 2 report - 逆風爬坡，爬通宵宛如下地獄

Dear friends,

Day 2 turned out to be a tougher day than day 1. The NE wind in 通宵 was the same as or stronger than that in 雲林. What made it worse was the hills in 通宵. As a result, I am falling behind for about 20 km. I am staying at a motel in 新豐鄉 in Hsin Chu county. Today's ride started at 7:30 AM and ended at 7:47PM. Mileage was 147km. Destination for tomorrow is Keelung 基隆(台1線到新莊轉關渡，淡水，石門，金山，萬里，到基隆)。 Without the NE wind, I should have no problem making it to Keelung by 7:00PM. But I am worried about the ~15km from 淡水 to 石門. I may be fighting with the NE wind there again. In that case, it should be worse than the past 2 days, as that is a coastal road right along the ocean. So I have to get up early to launch early to catch up. As I am also very tired, so I will not post any photos today... sorry. I will make it up in the next 2 days.

Some highlights today:

1. Met several cyclists cycling the island on the road. They are all doing clock-wise. Two groups were heading home (last day) in Taoyun and one young man heading home in Taipei.

2. 經過新竹，感觸很多...

3. 今天又是我體能極限的另一次突破。Making records every day! That's one of the cool things about 單車環島

Again, I am sorry for delaying the full report. Come back to check Tuesday. (The full report will not be a new post. It will be this one with contents added. 沒加中文版，也請包含，因時間不夠.

I should really go to bed now.

Denys 品憲 at 明星花園 (a motel across the from 明星工專 on 台1線 in 新竹縣新豐鄉)

1:40pm,行至通霄

七點半才出發,路上遇到一些環島同志,多拍了一些照。到通霄後東北季風又大了起來,且艷陽高照,可能趕不到中壢。要趕路沒時間貼照片了,繼續和東北季風博鬥!

Denys 在苗栗通霄台1號上一家Seven

Day 1 report - Against the wind 環島第一天台南到彰化市152公里 -

Thanks to the northeast wind, today's ride has been the toughest I ever had. Riding against the wind is worse than riding in hot summer day or rainy day. On my one-day ride to Kenting at the end of August (same distance 155km), I was able to maintain an average speed of 25 or 26 km/h and when I got there I still had energy to play. Today my average speed for the first 120 km was probably only 13 km/h and in a break around noon, I was already so exhausted that 我整個人攤在地上. Anyway, I checked into a hotel at 7:50 pm. After getting things done (eat, washing clothese, shower, etc.), it's now already 11:00PM. So I have to make this report short for now. I will fill in more stories later, maybe after 10/18. By the way, I had a bit of problem with posting to my blog from my mobile phone. That's why nothing was posted today so far. Hopefully the problem will go away tomorrow.

Key messages for the day:

1. Don't ride against wind (東北季風), don't ever try. You will lose miserably. Today in 雲林, I decided to change course and headed west to an inland route: 省道 19. The wind on 省道 19 was about the same as that coastal road in the morning but got much milder after entering 彰化縣. To morrow I will connect to 省道1號 (縱貫公路)

2. The west coastal road 西濱 省道17 was the most boring road I ever rode on (or driven on) in Taiwan. 好荒涼! 省道19 was the same until getting near 彰化市. (The pictures below will tell you how boring it is.)

3. Today was my toughest ride ever.

4. Both my body and my bike and gears survived. My toe that was injured yesterday, surprsingly, did not hurt at all today :)

Now I will let the pictures tell the story. I will add more lines to these pictures after 10/18.

6:20AM, 出發地點

My high school buddy 吳醫師 from Hua-Lien. He got up early 來為我加油送行

The ride was launched at 6:32 AM. That's the starting line 中華西路府前路口

轉身回頭向吳醫師道別並致謝, "I am taking off now!"，突覺一股熱流往上半身衝，卻哽在喉嚨... 這時耳中的iPod也開始播放上路的第一首歌: 五月天的"憨人"

Eating lunch at a Seven

台西最有名的是什麼?

.

.

.

.

.

Several more pictures in between here... I will post them later

.

.

.

.

.

7:45 PM, finally found a motel

Denys in 彰化市

.

.

.

歌名:憨人 填詞:阿信, 作曲:阿信, 編曲:五月天

試聽source 1
試聽source 2

我的心內感覺　人生的沈重　不敢來振動(行動)
我不是好子　嘛不是歹人　我只是愛眠夢

我不願隨浪隨風　飄浪西東　親像船無港
我不願做人　奸巧鑽縫　甘願來作憨人

我不是頭腦空空　我不是一隻米蟲
人啊人　一世人　要安怎歡喜　過春夏秋冬

我有我的路　有我的夢　夢中的那個世界　甘講伊是一場空
我走過的路　只有希望　希望你我講過的話　放在心肝內　總有一天

看到滿天全金條　要煞無半項　環境來戲弄
背景無夠強　天才無夠弄　逐項是攏輸人
只好看破這虛華　不怕路歹行　不怕大雨淋
心上一字敢　面對我的夢　甘願來作憨人

(Below is a translation attempted by Denys)

Deeply in me I feel the heaviness of life
So heavy I dare not stride wide
I am not a good kid, nor am I a bad boy
I just love dreaming

Don’t want to go with the wind, tossed by the wave, like a wandering boat without a harbor
Would rather be seen foolish than being crafty and opportunistic

I am not dump, nor am I a waste to the society
Year after year, how do I make it worth my life


My road planned, toward my dream
Would I find only emptiness when I get to my dreamland?
On the road I pedaled, I left nothing but hope
Hope what we promised each other, deeply in our hearts, will come true someday


Daydreaming is always easy, yet so hard to grasp
Eventually you learn from being fooled by reality
Without a silver spoon, nor a good talent, eventually getting used to being a loser
Glory and vanity are now history
Rugged road will not slow me down
Pouring rain will not stop me
Bearing only one word on mind
Toward my dream dare I
A fool you see get on the bike

天有不測風雲，我會小心 Accident does happen, I will be careful

出發前一天中午，在辦公室摔了一跤。右腳拇指輕微扭傷，不影響踩踏，只希望不要惡化。我會小心，也不會勉強... after 2 months' prep, been thinking "萬事皆備"... been thinking "got to be careful on the road!"... yet it happened before I take off... oh, well, learned a lesson... God just taught me I need to be careful anytime anywhere, even before I start it...　

謝謝多位朋友加油的e-mails !

(To those of you who can't read Chinese: I strained my toe yesterday noon. Not serious enough to stop me. But I will be careful... )

Six hours before taking off,

Denys at home in Tainan