Archive for März, 2009

Beijing Fixed Gear Night Ride

Dienstag, März 31st, 2009

It is great to have a steady number of riders show up every time we head out for a ride. this is getting so much fun, despite the temperature still being chilly. We first played in the usual place and then headed out to the Bird’s Nest. We had a flat tire (he skid through the outer tire) along the way. All pictures are uploaded to my webalbum. But here just some images:

Fixed Gear in Wangfujing

Fixed Gear Bikes on Beijings Streets at Night

Spinning fast on Fixed Gear Bikes

Hooded GMing on Fixed Gear

Fixies at the Olympic Watercube

2nd Day of CityWeekend Club Fair

Sonntag, März 29th, 2009

The second day of the club fair was much colder. But I still decided to set up the table outside instead of hidden indoors, so that more people pass by. It actually did snow a bit when Benno and I were practicing passing.

Beijing Jugglers and Beijing Fixed Gear Bike Group

Earth Hour Green Meeting at Obiwan

Samstag, März 28th, 2009

The green lady of Beijing and founder of „Greening the Beige“ (GtB) Carissa Welton had invited various green people of Beijing as well as green related organizations to come together for a first GtB’09 meeting as well as switching of the electricity for 1 hour for the global Earth Hour.

China Earth Hour in Beijing Club Obiwan

Beijing Fixed Gear and Beijing Jugglers at Club Fair

Samstag, März 28th, 2009

This weekend is the CityWeekend Club Fair. All different non profit groups of Beijing were participating in this event and so were we as the Beijing Jugglers Group as well as the Beijing Fixed Gear Bike Group. It was great to see so many friends from the other community clubs. It was great to have Jancy and Peter and Joe and Oli and other friends help at our club table.

Beijing Club Fair

Today was also Oli’s birthday. So we bought him a cake:

Oliver’s Birthday

I had my pink track bike and did some tricks on that fixed gear bike (thanks very much to Jancy for taking these pictures of me):

Ines Brunn Fixed Gear Tricks 1

Ines Brunn Fixed Gear Tricks 2

And then Oli performed for the crowds with his contact juggling:

Oliver Pinchbeck Contact Juggling 1

Oli Pinchbeck Contact Juggling

And also he juggled a few (up to 9) balls. All of the pictures are to be found here

Oliver Pinchbeck Juggling 9 Balls

adidas 6009 party 上海

Freitag, März 27th, 2009

My Beijing fixed gear bike friends and me are in Shanghai. We were sponsored by adidas to go to the 60 year anniversary party of the great sports brand from my hometown Herzogenaurach.

When we arrived in Shanghai we first checked into the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and then went to have some noodles for lunch.

Beijing Fixed Having Lunch

The adidas party was in a huge tent in Pudong. The continuously had graphics projected onto all sides of the tent.

adidas Celebrate Originality

The dress code was original adidas soles and stripes, so mostly everybody was wearing something from adidas. But hardly anybody was as colorful as me:

Ines at the adidas Party

At this 60 years in 2009 party they had a rap band from Beijing perform.

Beijing Rap Band

Then there was a whole lot of adidas fashion show kind of performances (very Asian style). I liked the break dance guys best, even though only 2 of them seemed really good.

adidas Fashion Show

Then the night continued with great DJs. I found the Shanghai crowd very bored of everything. They watched but did not really get into it despite all the free champagne. The whole crowd was very quiet. Except me, a few Japanese and some of the Chinese. So the DJs pulled us onto the stage to get the crowd more excited.

I uploaded more pictures to my website: adidas 6009 Party. And my Chinese friends wrote about the event on their blog.

Spinning with Latino Drummers

Mittwoch, März 25th, 2009

Today I joined a spinning class (indoor cycling with music and instructor) for the first time in my life. And not just a normal one. It was a spinning class led by my Belgium fellow cycler Patrick Dean and accompanied by a Latino drummer. The drumming really enforces the beat of the music. That was a very nice experience. And I should do this regularly to prepare for the road races of this year.

Beijing Fixed Gear Night of Tricks

Dienstag, März 24th, 2009

Some of the fixed gear riders in Beijing met up in the bike tunnel between Dongdan and Wangfujing.It is huge and bright and hardly any cyclists coming through.

James Track Stand in Beijing Bike Tunnel

We had a turnout of 8 fixed gear guys! The Beijing fixie scene is growing! I took quite some pictures and uploaded them to my website. Click here to see the webalbum.

Beijing Fixed Gear Group

We did some skidding

Liu Ren Skidding

Liang Xing Skidding

And practiced backward circles and track stands. I really like Wang Xiao Wei’s all red bike.

Wang Xiao Wei Track Standing

And we did some other tricks like jumping off the bike and running next to it. And then also swapping bikes: We did a movie of that and I would love to see it soon. And other tricks:

Ji Ming Superman

Beijing Traffic

Dienstag, März 24th, 2009

Today I did something really rare: I was in a car in Beijing. And the traffic was as expected: Totally congested.

Beijing Ring Road Congested Traffic

All I wanted to do is be on my bike instead and just fly past all the standing cars! Just ride past at high speed with a wide grin on my face. Especially as the weather was so gorgeous. We could even see the Western mountain range from the East side of the city. It is so sad that most people in Beijing are dreaming of buying a car. Why do they not admit that it sucks to waste many hours a day in traffic jams. I hope more people in Beijing get inspired to ride bikes either as a fun and environmentally friendly means of transportation, or as a sport for fitness or as a weekend leisure activity or just for the joy of having a great time. Bikes are the sustainable. Bikes are the future. I love them.

Biejing West Mountains Just Before Sunset

China Fixed Gear Forum BBS

Freitag, März 20th, 2009

Finally! We have a forum! It is called chinafixedgear.ning.com All the fixed gear and single speed riders in China can get together! The community is growing in Beijing and the weather is perfect to do rides.

Ines Pink Fixed Gear

We are still working on having our social network (BBS) more bilingual.

Cash Wanted

Donnerstag, März 5th, 2009

In China an many places cash is the best way to pay. And that is also for paying your rent or buying some expensive things like a stero system for 20000.-RMB. It would be easier if there was a note bigger than the 100.-RMB note. But there is not. I still feel strange each time going to a bank and getting a huge stack of money and stuffing it into my bag hoping nobody is watching me. You need to bring a big enouh bag with you.

Cash Cash