A group of 10 US motorcyclists embarked on a week-long “dream ride” around the nation yesterday, aiming to spread the message that people are never too old to realize their dreams.
Headed by documentary filmmaker Peter Starr, the group set off on a 500km-plus ride from Taichung early yesterday morning.
“I came over here a year ago, based on seeing a video,” Starr said before the ride.
Photo: Chan Chao-yang, Taipei Times
“I was so impressed with everything that happened, not only with the riders and the ride, but the people of Taiwan generally,” he said.
Starr, who came to Taiwan and took a 1,100km ride around the nation then, said he hoped to increase the level of communication between Taiwanese and US riders.
Of the 10 US riders, five are more than 65 years old and the average age of the whole group is 72.
The eldest of the 10 US riders is Gerald Larson, 79, who said the trip would be a great way to commemorate his 80th birthday on Friday.
“The [Taiwanese] ‘grandriders’ epitomize the dreams and the energy of seniors,” Larson said. “It’s a great pleasure and honor to be with them.”
The US riders will take a shorter route, heading south to Chiayi County and Alishan, before turning east to Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) in Nantou County and then to Hualien and Yilan counties.
Their route will then wind from Yilan County back to Taipei on Monday.
Starr said the trip was organized to pay tribute to Taiwan’s “grandriders,” the group of elderly motorbike enthusiasts who inspired him and other US motorcyclists to pursue their dreams.
An editor at Motorcyclist Magazine and a producer at the Discovery Channel, Starr visited Taiwan last year to interview the Taiwanese “grandriders,” who became well known after a video of a bank commercial commemorating their trip around Taiwan was posted on YouTube.
Five years ago, the 17 men, with an average age of 81, embarked on a 1,178km journey around Taiwan by motorcycle to fulfill their dream of seeing every part of the country.
This year, their adventure was made into a 90-minute film, Go Grandriders (不老騎士), which has taken in NT$4 million (US$136,900) at the box office so far, according to the film company.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
TWO HEAVYWEIGHTS: Trump and Xi respect each other, are in a unique position to do something great, and they want to do that together, the US envoy to China said The administration of US President Donald Trump has told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “we don’t want any coercion, but we want [the Taiwan dispute] resolved peacefully,” US ambassador to China David Perdue said in a TV interview on Thursday. Trump “has said very clearly, we are not changing the ‘one China’ policy, we are going to adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act, the three communiques and the ‘six assurances’ that were done under [former US president Ronald] Reagan,” Perdue told Joe Kernen, cohost of CNBC’s Squawk Box. The act, the Three Joint Communiques and the “six assurances” are guidelines for Washington
DEEPENING TIES: The two are boosting cooperation in response to China’s coercive actions and have signed MOUs on search-and-rescue and anti-smuggling efforts Taiwan and Japan are moving to normalize joint coast guard training and considering the inclusion of other allies, the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. Both nations’ coast guards in June sent vessels to the seas south of the Sakishima Islands to conduct joint training, the report said, adding that it was the second joint maritime training exercise since the nations severed formal diplomatic ties in September 1972. Japan dispatched the Nagoya Coast Guard’s Mizuho, a 134m, 6,000-tonne patrol vessel which can carry a helicopter, while the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent the 126m, 4,000-tonne Yunlin, one of its largest vessels, the report
RSS