The big surprise is how comfortable I was returning to Taiwan. I don't know how long it will last before things get routine and I get itchy again about my next bold move.

The first thing I noticed after lugging my luggage up the last steps and entering my apartment was the smell of mold. Annoying. But not unexpected. Humid and cold Taiwan winters apparently make mold a natural part of winters lingering into early spring. If I'm still around for another winter, I will buy a dehumidifier.

The first thing I noticed that was out of place was a little black piece of something under my bike, but it didn't look like anything major requiring attention. A little while later, my foot found a small piece of broken cylindrical plastic but I had no idea what it was or where it came from and put it aside to figure out later.

Later, upon scrutinizing my bike, I found the front gear shifter not working. It was the same feeling as when I went to New Jersey and found the shifters on my bike there not working. Move the shifter, nothing happens. That's when I looked at the black piece of plastic and the piece under the bike and figured they were related and something had spontaneously broken in my absence.

It was a kind of a feeling that someone was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't figure out what.

After getting my bike in New Jersey fixed, I went out on a single ride and it was out of commission again. Until then, the weather had it so that I was mostly rolling on a trainer in my parents' basement, which isn't much of a workout. So the first time I felt it was good to go to hit the road, I went up 9W, figuring my fitness level could take me comfortably up to Closter Dock Road and back.


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(It's an untechnical but decent downhill)

But while racing obnoxious car traffic down the Closter Dock Road hill, I felt a sharp impact and I felt my rear tire go slack. I thought it was a blowout. I knew my brother was out taking his daughter to a "creative movement" class (she'll start ballet lessons next year or something), so even though I didn't have any money on me, and I didn't have a patch kit with me – both signs of ridiculous unpreparedness – I did have a cell phone on me, which I usually don't, and called him to pick me up.

It turned out that by the time he got me, I was in comfortable territory to have been able to jog all the way back to my parents' house with my bike; about half the distance. It would've taken some time, but I was never in a dire situation wondering what to do.

After I bought a new inner tube, I realized it wasn't just a blowout. The rim was damaged with an eye-widening dent. Upon installing the new tube, that's when I saw that the wheel was completely out of true and that there was also a gash in the tire which may have occurred in the incident.

I basically needed a new wheel built. That stopped riding in New Jersey cold. It wasn't worth having a new wheel built before I left.

That was one ride. The only ride. On a road well-ridden by cyclists and it totally disabled my Peugeot. I think I will take the Korean guy at Bike Masters' advice and get a new bike once I return to the States. I'll probably buy it from Bicycle Workshop, though, for their effort in keeping the Peugeot alive.

The damage to my bike here wasn't as dire. Aside from the mystery of something spontaneously breaking and US$20 and 15 minutes for a new front derailleur, everything's back to normal, heading back to routine.

If I continue riding this year, I am predicting I might have to replace the entire drive train by the end of the summer. At least I need to get an opinion on the chain, which I had replaced some years ago and I don't think the fuckers gave me a performance chain. I need to be more discerning about that.

Or something's telling me to stop riding. Riding is a distraction. It is a false sense of "doing something", when really I'm doing nothing. Either go back to work or stop riding, you idiot. Word.

New Jersey killed my fitness. All eating and no exercise. I've even had to work back up to the easy 20-mile sprints along the bikeways, and I'm not even thinking of hills or extended rides. I gained some 20 pounds while I was there, and I think I've lost most of that, but it sure doesn't feel good.