Vivian's dad was extremely helpful to me for the entire trip. So when he asked me if I could be in Taitung by noon, I did my best. I was expecting to make it before the sun was down, but noon would really be pushing it. I had about 90km to go. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and ate a quick breakfast ofbananas, beef jerky and oatmeal. I was on the road by 6.a.m. I rarely stopped for photos or a drink of water on the final stretch. My ass was killing me more than ever, but I just focused on keeping a steady pace. The shouts from the cars and thumbs up really helped. I was going more than 20km on the slight inclines and was going much faster on the flat roads. I passed the tropic of cancer and began to see signs for Taitung. I called Vivian's dad and he thought I had made a mistake. I was going to make it to the city by noon.
I hit a rough patch where I was out of breath and couldn't pedal more than 10km even on the decline. It remained this way for awhile until I realized I was riding on a completely popped back tire. I was only 5km from my final destination. This should have been a 15 minute ride, but I couldn't replace the intertube with the one they gave me. They had given me the wrong size.
I called the rental agency in Taitung where i would be returning the bicycle and we couldn't communicate. Thanks to Vivian's translating. The guy picked me up from the side of the road and i finished my ride in his truck in an anti-climactic fashion.
I bought some firecrackers and decided to light them off to celebrate the end of my ride. I lit the fuse with a lighter I borrowed from a guy smoking outside of the Taitung train station. It went out and the fireworks didn't explode. I tried to light the short fuse and again failed. Even my celebration ended in a dud.
I gave up and caught my train to Pingtung where I met Vivian's family.
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