2005, July 31st Giant Cup-Road Race and Hill Climb

After leaving at an early hour of the morning on the second day the riders arrived in plenty of time to have a good look at the course. It was quite flat but they only blocked off one lane of traffic so it was a little narrow. They didn't bother to tow the cars from the side of the course which made the finish especially dangerous. More on that later.

Chris, Tyler and Fraser all started at the same time in this 44 km. race. For the first bit people were quite nervous and there were a few crashes. There was even one crash in the middle of a straight road, about 3 minutes after the start. It was an omen of things to come.

Pic. 1 Chris warming up on busted up rollers.

Eventually the race picked up some speed and Tyler tried to make a move with about 2.5 km to go. He got sucked back so we all waited for the bunch sprint. Unfortunately a rider unclipped and ping-ponged across the road a few times. Tyler managed to avoid this but Chris and Fraser were a little less lucky. Chris made it around by riding into traffic but this cost him a couple of seconds and probably first place. The rider managed to run into Fraser several times and knocked him out of contention. That, as they say, is racing.



Tyler finished on top of the podium for the second time of the day with a win in the 2.5 km hill climb. Fraser threatend to kick Chris off the team if he was beaten by the riders with triple rings and mountain bikes. Apparently the threat worked and he finished a surprising seventh. Had he not been struck with mechanical difficulties he would likely have podiumed. Fraser avenged his loss in the morning's road race by winning his category.


Pic. 2: Fraser and Chris after a successful hill climb. Note that Chris' lime green helmet matches his bike. What a fashion disaster.

















Pic. 3: Tyler on top of the podium.















Pic. 4: Fraser in the middle. Apparently he is too tired to actually raise his hand in victory.















Pic. 5: Chris is second in his first race in Taiwan. He is even lazier than Fraser. He only raised one hand.

2005, July 30th Giant Cup-XC Race

This is the 3rd race in the Giant Series. Strangely, this one wasn't held at the same location as last year. All riders prerode the course once before the race. There were a bit disppointed because it wasn't very challenging. Perhaps the organizer had a telepathic connection with the riders becuase he decided to change the XC course a day before the race. He put in a 1K hill climb on road. The riders were hoping for some more technical parts in the course. The riders were pleased that they removed most of the trash from the trail before the race.


Pic 1: Beefcake coming up!

Timothy is newly arrived American who did quite well in his first race in Taiwan. He pulled out a second place in his category. Fraser broke his chain while in the lead and DNF'd.


Beefcake finished down a little in the ranking from his previous race. He had numerous crashes (into other riders). Perhaps his name should be changed to something that involves an allusion to hockey players. Feel free to suggest another nickname.

This was Stephen "Ricecake" 's first race in Taiwan. He finished 5th in his category, which is still considered a podium finish. If the race had been longer he surely would have done better.



Pic 2: M25 catergory-Timothy Fry 2nd place.

As well as the cheque that Beefcake got for his 3th place finish he also got a very cool, pink, headband.

















Pic 3: M30 catergory-Beefcake 3rd place/Ricecake 5th place.

Pic 4: Nice headband, beefcake.

2005,June 16th MTB Race LingYang

This was the first race for the Taiwan Bianchi RM cycling team. It took us a while to get down to Kaohsiung from Taichung. Yes, indeed, the driver got LOST! However, we finally made it after driving around lost for about half an hour.

We got up pretty early the next morning to check out the course. The riders got a chance to preride the course. One third of the course was paved and the rest was off-road. It was quite hot and the apparently they farmed mosquitoes beside the race course.

The course was perfect for Eric "Beefcake" becuase it had two steep climbs and was very technical. This explains why he won his first mountain bike race in Taiwan. His win surprized everyone at the race.

Pic 1:Beefcake after the race, just before he puked. Note the guy peeing in the background.













Pic 2: Fraser riding up on the paved section.

Pic 3: Beefcake wins and Fraser finishes second!