A landscape of the spirit
Huang Ting Ying, who represented Taiwan in cycling at the Rio Olympics, comes from a family of athletes. Originally a swimmer, she got into cycling while in the sixth grade, when her school disbanded its swim team and Kaohsiung Municipal Nanzih Junior High School cycling coach Yang Dongzhen, a friend of her mother’s, started bringing her along for rides with his team instead.
Huang’s talent became clear when she began competing in international competitions as a middle-school student. She started her career as a sprinter relying on speed and explosiveness, but switched to intermediate and long-distance road races in an effort to break away from the pack.
Huang has enjoyed a measure of international success. She finished second overall in the 2016 Tour of Chongming Island World Cup, winning the race’s first and third stages and earning the nickname “pink cannonball” for her explosiveness. That performance propelled her into the international professional cycling limelight, and gained her a place on Italy’s Servetto Footon women’s professional cycling team.
Huang went on to compete in the Giro d’Italia Femminile later last year, and was the first Taiwanese woman to complete the race, a grueling event whose winding roads and long climbs force many racers to give up. She plans to continue racing internationally, taking in the world’s most beautiful scenery from the saddle of her bike.
Downhill mountain biking queen Penny Chou has chosen to push her limits in cross-country mountain biking competitions. Originally a successful track athlete, Chou switched to field events at the urging of her coach, but never developed a passion for them. Unable to compete as well as she wanted, she took a teammate’s advice and gave mountain biking a try. The decision marked a turning point in her athletic career. Riding through nature, constantly pushing her limits as she cycled up and down mountain slopes, the athletic Chou found a sport that enabled her to realize her potential.
Chou qualified for last year’s Asian Mountain Bike Continental Championships, but had to withdraw after tearing a ligament in her right ankle while training. But the injury hasn’t affected her passion for cycling in the least. She jokes that she’ll keep riding until she’s physically incapable of pedaling any longer.
The upbeat Huang Ting Ying (right) is carving out the topography of her life at international cycling competitions.