Bicycle Rescue in Cingpu

I had no plans this Saturday so I thought it was a good day to go back to Cingpu, Taoyuan county to get my bike from the old house and bring it up to Taipei so that I can use it.

I hopped on the MRT around 4:30pm to go up to Taipei Main Station to catch the bullet train down to Taoyuan.  I just missed the train by a minute so I had to wait 30 minutes for the next one.  I wandered around the station for 20 minutes or so.  The station is huge and although I've wandered there many times before, I'm still seeing new things.  I was outside briefly and saw the large VieShow theater signage (large movie theater like Famous Players).  I'd have to check that out next time I'm in the area because I didn't know there was a theater at Main station.

Around 5 minutes before my train was scheduled to leave, I headed for the pay gates.  I flashed my multi-ride pass which should have had 1 more pass left on it, but I got denied!  Apparently credits expire and I didn't know that. FRICK!  I had to rush back into the lineup to buy tickets only to rush up to the train platform to see my train leaving the station. uuuuuunng.  Okay time to wander again for another half hour.

At least now I had time to check out the VieShow (really cool looking theatre).  FYI, movie tickets are about $11/pp here for adults.  Maybe I'll check out the Avengers another time...

...okay skip forward an hour or so and I picked up my bike from the house and rode it back to the station.  I knew that taking the bike on the HSR was going to be a pain and before they let me through the pay gates, I had to dismantle the bike.  The staff made a huge deal about it because apparently I was the first person ever to try to take a bike onto the HSR (bullcrap! there's no way that's true).  Thankfully as I started taking the bike apart, my old Taoyuan neighbour Jeff and his girlfriend showed up randomly.  It was great to see them and they helped me take the bike apart and translate with the staff.

For some reason I had to take off both wheels and bag them.  And also had to put a bag over the front of the bike frame (I don't know why), and I also had to have this cardboard box taped around the back of the bike frame.  After a good 40 minutes of talking and dismantling I was able to catch the 7:40pm train back to Taipei.

Once back in Taipei I put the bike back together on the platform.  I didn't want to take all the separate pieces back down into the MRT system because it was too much for me to carrier as 1 person.

I've never assembled a bike by myself to this extent but it seemed to go pretty well.  I've never looked closely at how the chain system works at the back.  I regretted the lack of knowledge but figured it out eventually.  Once I had the bike assembled 20 minutes later, a staff member came by and started giving me crap about going on the train.  I like it because as soon as I start speaking English, a lot of the time the person talking to me will stop talking and they have to leave to get someone else who can speak English.  Apparently he thought I was going back onto the train with the fully assembled bike, but I said I just wanted to go outside so it was all good.

Back up outside I tested out the bike.  My back brake didn't work, the kickstand was sideways, and my back wheel was crooked and rubbing against the bike frame.  I spent another 15 minutes trying to fix things and the kickstand was the only thing I fixed.  I didn't have the proper tools (only had pliers).

I commenced to bike home.  It's about a 10km ride from Taipei Main Station to Qizhang and it took me about an hour.  The tyre rubbing on the frame was a big drag and I ended up fixing that halfway home.

I walked in the door at 10:30pm.  Long day to get a bike!  I was thinking of going back to the house to get Johans bike for Eliza, but after that huge hassle I think we'll just buy her a new bike up here.  My bike was only $70 anyways.