More than 90 youths completed their 12-day, round-the-nation cycle tour yesterday, concluding the government’s annual “three-stage bicycle rite of passage” initiative, in which youths “cycle into adulthood.”
The initiative was spearheaded by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) last year in the hope of promoting the nation’s world-renown bicycle manufacturers and to encourage regular exercise.
The program encourages youngsters to ride 100km in a day when they are 16 years old, 500km in five days when they turn 18 and 1,000km in 12 days when they reach 20.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
More than 5,300 people have participated in the 100km, 500km and 1,000km rides. Ma, who presented certificates to the 92 youths completing the 1,000km rides at the square in front of the Presidential Office yesterday morning, said he would like to see more people take part in the initiative.
Chen Liang-wei (陳良瑋) was one of the 1,000km tour team captains. The deeply tanned 20-year-old said he could deal with the scorching sun, but he found riding uphill was the most challenging part of the ride.
Chung Yi-chun (鍾宜均), 20, said although she exercised regularly, she found the heat, head wind and hills the most unbearable.
Chu Han-wei’s (朱涵葳) family went to yesterday’s event to offer their congratulations. Her mother, Yu Chun-mei (游春美), said it had been her daughter’s dream to cycle around the nation.
During the 12-day ride, Yu said she sent a text message to her daughter every day to offer encouragement. Yu said her daughter told her that the first two days were the most difficult. She said she believed that her daughter had become more understanding, tolerant and worldly-wise after completing the ride.
Ma told the crowd that it was his dream to cycle around Taiwan when he was 16 years old and during one winter vacation, Ma said he and some of his friends made their first attempt to cycle to the north coast. It was an exhausting ride, he said, because his bicycle did not have any gears and the road conditions were bad. It took him 12 hours to ride 100km, he said.
Ma said he attempted a round-the-nation cycle tour when he was a freshman at National Taiwan University, but gave up halfway through and took a train back home to Jhongli City (中壢), Taoyuan County.
In 2003, Ma said he rode to the north coast again and completed the ride, thanks to the improved condition of the roads and a better equipped cycle.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS