It's our final day of the tour. We traveled from Keelung to Taipei. A 40km trip which winds along the north eastern coast concluding in the Taiwan Capital building in Tapei.

We all were dressed to the final finale. This ride was more ceremonial than part of the Tour. We surpassed 1,000k the previous day, so we just focused on riding and relishing in the accomplishment. Our early morning exercises were energetic and everyone was ready complete the final stage of the long tough journey.

The group size doubled in Keelung. There were lots of local cyclists and Taipei enthusiasts joining us.

We snaked through Keelung commanding respect. With a pack of nearly 100 riders, it was "Critical Mass". Still cars, scooters, bicycles and walkers weave in and out of the long string of riders making it necessary to always be alert.

We arrived at the SunYatSen memorial at mid morning continuing to pick up riders along the way. The pack confidently crossed Taipei City finishing at the ChangKaiSheh memorial. Our starting point 11 days ago, and now our final stop.

The welcome was incredible. Balloons, flowers and lots of media. We all posed to photos, congratulated each other for the great accomplishment and shared special moments with friends and family about the adventure.

A press conference at the nearby KMT headquarters followed, where we were swarmed over by more media. We were all taken back by life sized stand ups of each of use surrounding the room. It was an awesome sight. All of us suited up in our full A-Team uniform.

A press conference followed with numerous speeches and personal inspirational stories about our Tour. A multi-media slide show provided snapshots of each days journey and a chronology of the event.

We closed the meeting with a champagne celebration, and the A-Team friendship song. A fitting ending to a great event.

Lots of hugs and kisses closed the celebration. Lifelong friendships.

And so ends another chapter of the A-Team. There will be another challenge, the next one perhaps more demanding?

I will provide a summary of my overall thoughts about this event at a later time.

Over and out.

Bob Margevicius, Vice President of Specialized .
2008/5/14