23 January 2009
new bicycle inauguration tour
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A spontaneous ride: I left the shop and rode around until I saw the MRT Muzha line on it's elevated track which I followed southeastward until it vanished in a tunnel through a hill. I turned right and rode southwestward towards Xindian river. I accidentally crossed the river on a highway bridge. Fortunately there was a track for Scooters which I could use. The same bridge did not have a track for scooters in the other way, so I had to use the next bridge upstream. Back on the Taipei side, there was a ramp for bikes leading from the bridge down to the riverside path which I wanted to take in the first place. I followed the riverside path downstream (Google Maps got this wrong, they don't know about the ramp for bicycles). I went farther then I thought. When I went back north to Heping Road, I hadn't realised that I was already west of Roosevelt, so I first went westward, then realised my error and went back east on Heping to Roosevelt, where my new bicycle inauguration tour ended. Google Maps shows the distance as about 18 km. The riverside trail was really nice (just as riverside trails in big cities are!) and bikes can go really fast there, when no intersection stops them.
This is life as I love it!
I had brought my tools with me and did some post-buy tunings along the way. Some more tuning yet to be done. For a report about the bike itself, see my other blog.
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congrats on managing to successfully buy a bike while speaking chinese!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jocelyn! Although it was really not much more than "I want this" (pointing at bike) "with this" (pointing at fenders) "with this" (pointing at rack).
ReplyDeleteAnd the shop had only smaller fender than I wanted which I didn't realise until they were already mounted, because I was so busy speaking my slow, wrong Chinese.
The real fun will be today when I have to go back to ask for adjustments to be made and find out if the gear ratio can be changed. 8-S
Of course, I researched options on the internet (all night long), but the question is whether I can convince the dealer to do what I want. After all, I have already paid and he insists on his fifty years (无十年) of experience as a bike dealer. Got to get my courage together.