Day #5 - Xiulin to Fenglin

And the spoke woes continue! What is with these wheels? It's an outrage. My spokes were so very loose I had to hand-tighten them every few miles until we got into the next town where the guy could only tighten them so much but couldn't true the wheel. At least it saved my fingers. They were getting pretty raw.

After limping along (again) into the next town we made it to a proper bike shop and got those spokes fixed. Despite losing a few hours we had a decent day distance wise and finished in the rain in the town of Fenglin. We decided to call it a night in a very nice and inexpensive hotel with a terrific breakfast. 

We biked 81.53 km (50.05 miles) today!

Look how the bean snuggles up to Holly. I love that she's still so very little.

Sleeping in this park was pretty nice. Great view!

Holly is in good spirits all day. 

First bike shop while we waited for the man to true my wheels.

Whenever we stop I try to make sure Golden Rose can stretch her legs and get some playing in. She gets pretty dirty though. That white onsie was filthy. 

2nd bike shop! Meatsticks is explaining to the mechanic what is wrong with our bikes.

They got fun fake construction workers here. And they are interactive with moving arms, too.

Fancy 7 Eleven.

Here's our hotel we splurged. $60.

Came with four beds so we each got one!

Bean got some extra crawling around time in here.

Shower, laundry, and fun junk food and ice cream from the store. Also, watching Yes, Man on television. What a great evening.

Day #4 - Sanxing to Xiulin

We left the prison bright and early to the laundromat to dry some of our gear. If you remember from the movie Jurassic Park II, nothing dries in the humidity. But today is a big day because we got three huge hills. 

We biked 81.83 km (50.84 miles) today! Check out the speeds I got on those downhills!

The three headed monster.

I can grind out hills all day, though. But carrying the bean makes it tough. The downhill is the best because then the bean pays me back dividends and I go so fast. The second hill I somehow made it down without crashing because my spokes were starting to get really loose and I was very wobbly. The rest of the day was spent dealing with spoke issues and finding someone to help us fix them. It sure has been nice having Measticks here to speak Mandarin to everyone (Holly speaks Cantonese). 

I remember an old poem about sleeping when the wind blows. The bean is good at that.

Love the Buddhist temples.

Far in the disance we saw these huge crayons. I wonder if this is where they're made. Check the box of your crayons and see if it says "Made in Taiwan". Then return and report.

That helmet we featured in a previous post was too big to bring for the bean so we got this fitted padded one for her to wear 24/7. Now I'm a real helicopter parent!

Grinding up the first hill.

Our reward after coming all the way back down before we have to go climb up another hill all over again. I asked Meatsticks, "Couldn't they have just built a bridge?" He chortled.

Hey look, monkeys. We saw one after this sign so they weren't lying.

The scenary is pretty neat on the eastern side of Taiwan. Such steep mountain sides.

And unlimited tunnels!!! Although some we're not allowed to ride in 😑

Reward after the second hill! This was a baked bun. So good.

It's neat to see the cut-out from the road far out in the vegetation but when you're looking up at it from below and realize there are more climbs, you get depressed.

We had this part of the highway all to ourselves. It was the best. Before this it was so crowded with huge semi-trucks that I struggled to stay on the road.

I like how here and Japan they do these half tunnels.

I was wondering if there were any movies filmed in Taiwan that you know of. I can't think of any. Why hasn't that market been tapped into yet?

Look at that neat valley with the huge drainage for when the flash floods come.

And our reward after the third hill. See you need rewards in life otherwise you'll be depressed.

We decided to make camp at this park but lots of kids showed up.

They asked us a bunch of questions using Google Translate.

Meatsticks says he's not an extrovert and I suppose I'll believe him this time.

Look how sweet she is. There's nothing you can do about it either.

Day #3 - Gongliao District to Sanxing

Well, there's been a few hiccups but that's OK and it's expected. Now we just need to mitigate them. The main issue is spokes. I'm no stranger to broken spokes as I've had to repair dozens of them on the sides of roads hundreds of thousands of times. It's nothing to write home about but it gets the job done. The bike rental place gave us basic tools none of which included a spoke wrench (or any wrench). So we depend on going to rural shops to hopefully them or least get us limping along to the next town. But I digress...

We biked 61.63 km (37.33 miles) today! Easy peasy. We should do this everyday! Yeah!... 

Bean helping mama roll up sleeping bags and pads.

Onigiri to the rescue. Look at my dorky helmet. 

Blurry photo for all you Gen Zers!

Loved this bike tunnel and it was only for bikes, too. 

The Buddhist temples are pretty different looking than the ones in Japan. I like how each region gives their own flair and artistic touch.

Everyone asks me if Holly is Buddhist. 

And for the curious minds, the bean does really well in her trailer. Rarely cries. She plays with her toys and looks around while make cute noises saying "wow!!" or eats her snacks and sleeps,

Foot baths! What a gem to find after a day of riding. Also, a good stop to change the bean's huge poopy diaper that went up her back and through two layers of clothes. Wished I had taken a pic for you guys. 

Meatsticks found us some pineapple to feast on!

Excellent bike path.

Sometimes the trailer doesn't always fit so we have to be selective with our bike paths.

These rich houses along the river were so fun to oogle at. Somehow these fat cats are allowed to build these houses if they don't live in them. Otherwise it's illegal so they're all empty. 

Love the Gates. Why don't we have this in America?

Heading to our Warmshowers host for the evening.

...which is at a prison!!

Look at all this good food they made for us. Great hosts, Joy and Wen-Wei!

Questions you may have:

What is Warmshowers? It is an organization that is similar to couch surfing but soley for bicycle tourists. My dad hosted a lot of cyclist when I was growing up. We met a lot of fun people, including the son of Einstein. So I use Warmshowers when I do my rides. In fact, that's how Holly and I met! Makes you think huh?

Did we really stay in a prison? Yes! That's where our host lives because he works at the gate. 

What others questions do you got? Comment below! 👇