I was told by Joshua Hon, the main man behind Tern Bicycles that during the ride that some cyclists complained about last year's social ride being too short in terms of distance.
Well, this one's really interesting and despite a soaked butt, the cold, it was not tiring at all...
While waiting for the ride to beging, I met Terry Chen, Brand Manager (Marketing) for Tern Bicycles.
She was setting up her Verge X10 which was fitted with a Bilogic Joule 3 Dynamo kit with a Valo 2 light.
Pretty neat rig and we talked a lot about touring and how I ended up riding a folding bike.
I recalled the Dahons that got me started and eventually ending up with a Tern Eclipse X20, the very first in Malaysia..
Then came Josh Hon and his neatly folded Eclipse X20.
He had the bike tricked out with dynamos to generate clean power and the Eclipse is his favourite bike.
There was another X20 at the scene and at least three Eclipse S18is on the ride.
Last year's turnout was more than 100 people and due to the rain, the 2nd Tern Social Ride had just a quarter of the crowd. Nevertheless, the ride was on!
"Some people are "allergic" to rain, they keep indoors and cease all activities," Josh joked.
Taiwan's cycling paths are very well planned and its a real nice place to move about if you have a folding bike.
We reached the end-destination after covering a distance of 15km from Nangang.
The bikes were collected and placed on a truck to be sent back to Tern's office and we were ushered to our tables at a tavern at the floral expo site.
Beers were on the house and I had a bowl of Beef stew to line my stomach.
I was on a table with Tern's international customers and friends and we talked a bit about traveling in Thailand.
One of the guys from Peru was headed to Bangkok on a holiday.
The rest of the time, my mind was numb as it was cold.
An outdoor heater was the source of our warmth as we gathered around it..
After the meals and beers, it was time to head back.
Eric Mah led the gang to the MRT station where I got off at the Taipei Central Station.
There, I was Uwe Weissflog who is in charge of marketing Tern Bicycles for the European Market. We chat a bit and parted ways at the Ximen station.
For me, my day ended with total satisfaction. Having met the Tern crew as well as cycle a short distance for some beers and food! That was awesome.
I look forward to the third edition of the Tern Social Ride if time permits..