by David Reid
五月微笑單車上路25日星期天在台大校門口集合,澳洲人Mike和Victor初次參與這個活動;他們最近創辦"Cycle Taiwan"網站-台灣英語族群單車客總部。
The May edition of Bike Smiling was held on Sunday 25 May. The meeting point was the main gate of NTU. This time Mike and Victor of the recently established website Cycle Taiwan joined the ride.
大夥兒出發後即以高速騎乘,或許因為本次參與者個個是騎車老鳥,或是對驟雨的擔憂(飆車能避免下雨嗎?)。一路上,夥伴們驚艷於Mike騎登山車的精彩特技-即使我們都騎在馬路上,Mike卻不時從馬路跳上人行道,還常常表演「翹孤輪」-也許下次可以為他安排個「微笑單車上"off-road"」。
We set off at a very fast pace. Maybe this was because everyone was an experienced rider or we were worried it would rain. (Does riding fast help you avoid the rain?). Everyone was very impressed by Mike's mountain biking skills. Even though we were riding on the road, he was jumping from the road to the foot path and often riding on one wheel. Maybe next time we can have an off-road Bike Smiling just for him.
我們到西門町後,騎上中興橋往三重,在那兒看了去年十月份關於單車通勤的一些紀錄影像,以及自該月之後直到現在的微笑單車上路活動照片。
We rode to Ximending and then across the Zhongxing Bridge to Sanchong. In Sanchong we watched a documentary about cycling from October last year. And we also looked at some Bike Smiling photos from last October up to now.
Barking背包上的標語很有趣。台灣人都能看得懂『免呷油』三個字,但是我向中文看攏無的人解釋一下:中文的意思是「甭加油」,台語的意思是「不吃油!」。
The sign on Barking's backpack is a very funny play on words. Pronounced in Mandarin it means, "don't fill up with oil". Pronounced in Hoklo Taiwanese it means, "don't eat oil!"
從三重再上中興橋回台北市,我們很幸運,那天都沒有淋到雨。最後我們到生態綠附近吃晚餐,餐廳電視上東森電視台正播放關於自行車的新聞,大家都說『自行車現在很熱門』,飯後又回生態綠討論未來的活動。
From Sanchong we rode back across the bridge to Taipei City. We had been very lucky to avoid the rain. Finally we arrived at Okogreen and went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. When we entered the restaurant ETTV was broadcasting a news program about bicycles. Everyone said, "Cycling is such a hot topic now." After we ate dinner we spent some time at Okogreen planning future activities.