Day 10 Flat tire in the rain

2/8 Taipei to Home (Zhunan)

I'm coming home!

I got so worked up in the morning and kept my eyes open at 6, and forcing myself to stay in bed until 7:30, leaving at exactly 8. This had turned into a part of my daily routine throughout the ten days of adventure, and now I just couldn't be more excited about getting home.

After checking out, I loaded up my gear and set up the bike, I even hummed a tune until the sound of raindrops grew louder and more realistic.

C'mon Taipei, raining again? And like cats and dogs? I put on my raincoat reluctantly and wrapped my equipment with plastic bags. I followed the directions of Gps and set off.

I was pretty fast on the roads after warming up my body, even with the rain fogging up my glasses. I was leaving Taipei in no time and climbing up a mountain to Taoyuan.

I felt energetic, even with the long and continuous climb, I kept the paddling in a steady pace and take breath regularly, then it became odd to me that the back wheel was getting heavier and heavier.

It occurred to me that I might have gotten tangled up by some twigs or gore. So I hopped off the bike to deal with the situation and met the terrible truth: a flat tire. I was out in the middle of nowhere, in a mountain still going upward, with the rain pouring hard on my head and a flat tire.

My happy day going home was gradually cocooning into a nightmare. I calmed myself and started looking up in the Gps for the nearest GIANT bicycle center, and found one about 4 kms away. That's when I started to walk the bike, up the mountain and down the mountain, then going deeper into Taoyuan. I finally arrived at my destination about an hour later, only to find the whole place abandoned, with the sign still hanging by the side. I double-checked the place before submitting to failure.

An old man with a kind heart told me when he was passing by that there was a bike store about a few blocks away, unfortunately, it wasn't open by the time I got there.

The second GIANT was about 2 kms forward and it was nowhere to be seen, though I had arrived at the exact spot the Gps told me to go. I was so frustrated but kept moving, and found a local bike repairing shop to my amazement.

180NT to have my tire settled, I was back on the road. I past Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, where my high school was located, the wind was sometimes on my side for I began to move toward South. I hadn't eaten a ting except one  chocolate bar the whole day, but I had no intention of stopping, only the desire of getting home.

And finally I made it back to the sweet Town Zhunan. It felt so satisfying and full of pleasure. For ten whole days I rode around Taiwan on my bike, or moved on foot. For that I thank the support of relatives and friends, and of course my dearest family Mom and Dad, and my body haha.

Now that I have achieved the task of going around Taiwan on bike, I felt that I hadn't waste any of my winter vacation.