I had another great ride today – this time with Mark (USA), George (Germany), Mattieu (France), Ludvig (Sweden) and Peter (Ireland)… what an international team! This time riding in the south of the city, the weather was swealtering… and sadly after hours (maybe days) of climbing, pushing and hoiking we realised they had levelled a mountain and filled in a valley. Flat. Damn! Back to Yang Ming next week I think.

The death toll of parts on my bike continues. I have broken more things in three months than in years on my trusty Orange back home. The list so far stands at:

1 x suspension fork – presently back to the factory to fix the rebound damping
1 x bent seat post
1 x wheel
1 x shoe … newest to the list – I managed to pull the sole plate that mounts to the pedal through the rubber lower. Totally screwed

Still, it means I can sit and dream some more about buying components. They are pretty good value here. My new snazzyThomson seat post is about 90 quid back home and I got it for £35. I have been a bit surprised accasionally about the servicing. Back home, you can easily get new cables, patches, fork servicing… Here, getting a puncture repair is hard (just buy a new tube), bike shops have to think about if they have brake pads and, as you can see, forks get sent to the factory rather than have local servicing. All very interesting.