重新出發

趁著新計劃的始動，我想也是差不多該重新活化這裡的時候了。

繼上次闊別後，晃一晃四年過去；我讀了一個研究所，也真正成了教練和按摩師。出過國，比過國際賽和全國錦標，帶過選手，理想和偶像實現又幻滅，機緣造化，夢想趕鴨子上架。

體育這條路，到目前為止自忖走得很幸運；雖然成就不如預期，但機會的出現也往往都不如預期。但這種兵來將擋、水來土掩、過了就丟一邊的做法絕對不可以是常態，新的計劃帶來新的責任，必須開始做好追蹤，才能夠從成功裡面也學到教訓，失敗時也才不會死得不明不白。

其實也不過就是一些我跟客戶耳提面命的道理，如此罷了！

Updates 7th Feb. 2013

Haven't done a post for a long time, and maybe, just maybe, it's time to post some follow-ups. Just in case that anybody is reading this blog.

Well when do we start... the last post "about me" was that I joined the Army and was going to to the jump school. Turned out that just attending the jump school doesn't make you a proper paratrooper, not at all in my opinion. The ROC paratroopers has long lost it's capabilities as a fierce troops. Nowadays, only some of the few who are in the airborne assault squadron (temp. trans) or have been through the scout/sniper trainings still live up to the spirits of spec warriors. The rest of us were just a bunch of dumb-ass low-life camouflage-wearing posers who's done five times of static line from the side hatch of a C-130. Kind of knew this before I went in... but actually experiencing it all is still frustrating. It was a world where image out weighs the real stuff; and frankly, it's not like the image was that good either.

I'm in Australia~~~~!!!

http://tinyurl.com/9vrrkbc

我們屹立在太平洋上 (En. translation)

A marching cadence of ROC army:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0wo5-y5TEc


我們屹立在太平洋上
We stand still on the Pacific Ocean

任世局變幻
Hoever the world becomes

驚濤駭浪，我們絕不畏懼，絕不頹喪，
Howev er the strom strikes, we never fear, we never disprit

我們在艱苦中茁長，壯大堅強，
We grow in toughness, which makes us grow strong

我們的熱血沸騰，像浩浩大海，
Our blood flows, like the sea around

我們的意志堅定，像巍巍山崗。
Our will is firm, like the mountains found

團結奮鬥，莊敬自強，執真理的大纛，
Hung together we thrive, self-respected we bear, the flag of truth we fly high

我們屹立在太平洋上，像黑夜的明燈
We stand still on the Pacific Ocean, like a lantern in the dark night

我們屹立在太平洋上。
We stand still on the Pacific Ocean.

Joined the army!

Starting last month (Aug. 17th), I was bound to be one of the ROC* troops for... exactly 11 months. And while in boot camp, I thought I'd join the paratroopers, just to get a taste of it. Otherwise, it could well be 11 months totally wasted. At least as a paratrooper, I'll get five free jumps, plus another month's training in the mountains.

During boot camp we practiced stupid stuff like bayonet fencing (?), marching, some simple PT (running & push-ups)... the lot. The coolest thing I remember was: during my 6-round, 175m shooting final exam, the handguard on my rifle (which didn't belong to and wasn't maintained by me, but rather belonged to some other company under the same regiment... this I had to clarify) went "bang" and just disintegrated! And afterwards I just collected the pieces, held them as if it was intact, and got off the rifle range. Squad leader was rather pleased by this kind of reaction.

Anyway... hope the days coming be all good.

*  Republic of China. Weird, huh? Although technically, THAT is the official name of the governing regime in Taiwan; the "free China" that'd overthrown the Ching Dynasty, and fought the WWII; as opposed to the Communist China that is today.

My bikes

The bike that I used during the 2009 nationals, a second-hand Benotto. I suspect a "Modelo 2700".

It's not hard to qualify as a representative for Taichung city... but to get anywhere near the podium is another thing. I failed the Keirin qualifying round (3rd from last) and only did 1'16 something in the kilo. (PB for kilo is 1'15"021.) Winning time is like 1'03.

Those bars were not the same I used in last year's race by the way. But all else pretty much the same, save for those training wheels.

The cranks were Sugino... not sure of the model name, but they were of 110BCD and originally came with 3/32" 44T single speed chain ring. That one in the photo was an FSA road model (50T).

New setup for my aero bars. I used a similar stem (actually sharing one same part) and a MAVIC bull horn last year. But this setup allows me to go just a little bit lower, and the base bar also provides a wider clamping section.

Originally a mountain bike riser stem... two of the similar products merged into one, actually. These new "ahead" parts allow a few degrees more rotation downwards, getting lower and more towards the rear. Stiff as hell, this chunk of metal...

And as you can see the clip-on's are naturally set wide apart due to this special stem; so wide in fact, they're at the widest the base bar can take! The elbow pads were then set rather well but that was simply an accident.

Another view. As can be seen here my base bar was nearly touching the head tube. One trouble you'll encounter when you set up a mass start bike for time trial. In my opinion.

And last... my current road bike.

Since there won't be any racing in quite a while, I've chosen a steel frame and didn't bother with integrated shifters. :)

SITREP

3rd day into the study. Yup, I'm back at it once again... but this time for different goals. Graduation from college has not been an option anymore (as I've failed completely), but after five years of hanging around, I'd be able to attend the exam for grade school using the equivalent education level acquired during this period.

But when? Two years after would be the most possible. That's including 14 months in the military, starting (hopefully) late this August or early September. In other words, the exam would take place in March-April 2012, about four to five months after I'd served my time.

Not too much time to get ready, but just about enough. Subjects: engineering math (calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, probability), mechanics(statics/dynamics), and mechanics of materials. (And maybe English.) Yup, this time I'm heading for the one direction that I should have headed five years ago: mechanical engineering!

Well it's a bit weird to say the least, but my family, esp. parents, still expect me to at least get a degree. Whether this would be of any help... I don't know. Because deep down I still want to be an athletic coach, or a masseur. And I'm pretty sure, a grade school degree in ME isn't going to be of too much help in that area. But there being nothing else to do, and since these subjects aren't as boring anyway, I'll just do it as a past time.

They say that only the experience of military service separates the men from the boys. I wonder, would I then be really able to decide things on my own, as a grown man?

Well... failed school after all.

All that effort to get in, only to get kicked out after... five years. But still in some way I am relieved. I never wanted to put my heart into the electrical engineering stuff antway... mechinaries, that was the real shit that got me interested.

Now the next step is of course military service. And after that, not clear yet. I might get back into study... I don't know. For now, I'd say I prefer the job as a masseur. We'll see. Five years is a real long period to be wasted, and, it had truely worn off any of my confidence in pursuing academic achievments.

I think getting back on my bike would help clear some thoughts?

New start

New site of choice. Previously I've had blogs from several providers, but now I think it might be a good idea to start a new one under Blogger. It would also be my first one written totally (? we'll see...) in English, as many of my foreign friends can't really read those strange rectangular characters of 中文. It'll also serve as my training log (although at present there isn't any) and thoughts about sport massage therapy, something I've learned and chose to be my future profession.

More about those later!

Why the title?

I'm a cyclist who lives in Taiwan. I was born in Taichung City. When I picked up the sport during my 3rd year in highschool, I used to ride my $120 bicycle up a hill know as the Big Belly (大肚山, Da-Du Shan) in the nearby Taichung County. That name Big Belly, in turn, came from the name of a misterious aborigionee tribe (papora). It's been said they were one of the major dominating forces of flat-land aborigonate clans in the central part of this island before we Chinese people (the Han nationality to be precise) immigrated during the 18th centry. Not much is known about them, and probably nobody nowadays knows what the word "Dwa Do" in their language really means, but the name survived.

Taiwan is a mountainous island. We don't have many flat lands to begine with. My hometown Taichung City, for example, is not really a plane but more a kind of basin, central of the western part of Taiwan. At the west of this basin lie the Da-Du Hills, although from the habit of the Mandarin language you might hear it mentioned as Da-Du "Mountains" or something like that. At the eastern part we got Da-Keng, and the south-western we got Ba-Gua "Mountains." People who cycle in central Taiwan must be familiar with these areas.

Right. What about me? Well, I first learned to climb on one of the roads in the Da-Du hills. Not that I was an excellent climber... but to get a taste of it, nothing beats a 10% gradient, 500-meter-long, unforgiving, two-lane, you-can-only-see-sky-at-the-end deserted paved road in the middle of nowhere. Between the heavy breathing and hard pedaling action you find yourself a sort of rhythm, with the burning sensations in your legs, sweat forming on your forehead, and heart rate rocketing sky hight at a rate far greater than you are physically going upwards. And of course, the satisfactions that came after conquering it.

(Below are links to three photos of this very climb:

Chung-Tai Road overview;

Mid Sections of the climb;

and School of Theology at the roadside;

courtesy of Edinman)

Funny thing is I gave a name of that small nasty road all those years back, and it was adopted by the people riding around ever since. Although they might not know the origin (and would probably never bother anyway). If you understand the Chinese language, the nickname came from the School of Theology at the roadside, third link above. 神召天梯 means a ladder towards heaven, for those who have received God's call.

Of course from a competitive cyclist point of view it's nothing to brag about, but considering that it was my very first climb, an accent which I managed to finish without stopping on only the second attempt (stopped three times the previous day), it was still quite an achievement. And the stories pretty much started from here.