Archive for Mai, 2009

Fixed Gear Mountain Ride

Sonntag, Mai 31st, 2009

3 crazy foreigners thought it would be cool to ride up Xiang Shan on fixed gear. Xiang Shan is the Chinese for the Fragrant Hills West of Beijing.

Fixed Gear Foreigners

James, Brad and me had a delayed start but that was okay as it was anyway a very hot day. We headed West for the mountains which we could see from the city as it was a nice clear day.

Heading to Fragrant Hills on Fixies

When we reached the foot of the hill we needed to ask various wise people on the road side where to continue. We got a lot of the „can’t ride up the hill“ answers. We eventually found a nice road.

Cycling up Xiang Shan

It was not for long at all when it suddenly turned out to be too steep to ride up on the fixed gear ratio each of us had.

Pushing and carrying bikes uphill

After a long walk with our bikes, there was actually a 1km section which we were able to ride again. Reaching one of the summits we enjoyed the breathtaking view. For more pictures go to my webalbum

View from one of the summits of Fragrant Hills

Fixed Gear Bikes on top of Xiang Shan

To our surprise the road was actually too steep to ride down. And that is even for us having a front brake on our fixed gear bikes. And even more, the bikes were pulling so much down the steep hill that it was actually less tiring to just carry them down. But is was fun!

Downhill Bike Carrying

Anna’s Birthday Dinner

Samstag, Mai 30th, 2009

Our local theater director and producer as well as actress Anna had invited for her birthday to a vegetarian, or actually vegan restaurant. We had vegan fish, vegan sausages, vegan sweet and sour pork, vegan Beijing Duck amongst other dishes.

Some Dinner Guests

Pretty Samantha

If you have a gathering of actors there is always some spontaneous acting. This night is was Anna and Kris performing some funny slow motion fight scenes. This one was Anna smacking a bottle on Kris’s head. But as our experiences Becs commented: „If you ever saw or had been in a London bar fight you would know that you first need to smack the beer bottle on the table so that the glass breaks. It has much more effect smacking the broken bottle then on somebody’s head“.

Bar Fight Scene Performance

BBQ Afternoon

Samstag, Mai 30th, 2009

Friends had invited for a barbeque on there new rooftop terrace of their new apartment outside East 3rd ring road. And it was a superb day for great views due to the strong wind making the sky very clear and blue. But it was quite hard to get the fire starting with all the wind. And we did have minor sparks light up some cardboard outside the grill.

Beijing CBD District

We could see the CCTV headquarter building with the burnt down building to its right side.

CCTV Building and Guomao Tower 3

And the mountains were visible in the West and North. Here the view to the West:

West Mountains and Beijing Skyline

And to the North West we could even see the top of the Dragon Building of the Olympic Village as well as the mountains I usually cycle in.

Olympic Village Dragon Building

And this is their garden: The Chaoyang Park. And still here you see mountains in the background.

Chaoyang Park and Mountains

Many people brought nice wine as some work in the wine industry in Beijing. I was planning to go on a bike ride later so I unfortunately could hardly try any of those nice bottles. Too bad.

Hollywood Chair

hi-chic Article: Fixed Gear Bike好手 伊泉

Donnerstag, Mai 28th, 2009

I found this article on the hi-chic magazine website about my visit to Guangzhou last December. I met up with the Guangzhou fixed gear riders and we played around on our track bikes. I did some tricks on my pink fixed gear bike. Here is the article.

hi-chic > 主页 > 人物 > UnoGirl > Fixed Gear Bike好手 伊泉

Ines Brunn in Guangzhou

如果不是听到一些Fixed Gear Bike死忠玩家的介绍,例如“我从没想到在北京会遇到伊泉,我在6年前就在网上看到过他表演的视频……”或是“伊泉可是车店老板重点推荐给我的玩 家……”你可能不会想到,伊泉这位一直精神焕发的年长女性会在新兴潮流Fixed Gear界有这么大的名气。其实她真是一名德国花样单车的演员,她可以在Fixed Gear Bike上做出很多花式动作,把Fixed Gear Bike当作BMX玩,这不是任何人都能做到的,甚至是不少天才少年也要练习一段时间才可以达到的境界。

hi-chic Fixed Gear Bike好手 伊泉

但在单车之下,作为一家外企亚太区经理的伊泉似乎一直不断的在摸索着关于单车的花式技术,她总是不停的练习各种惊险动作。伊泉就生活在两个世界里,Fixed Gear Bike世界和没有Fixed Gear Bike的世界。伊泉原本是一名体操运动员,入选了德国国家队。在德国,如果体操运动员到13岁的时候没有更高的造诣,就要放弃这个项目,而就是在 13岁遇到了自行车运动,她觉得自己可以在自行车上施展体操才能,就这样,自行车表演成为了她的主业。后来她也入选了德国自行车表演队。

Ines Brunn 伊泉 - 自行车运动

07年,伊泉在纽约第一次见到了Fixed Gear Bike。第一感觉就是这辆车太酷了,造型简单却有着惊人的速度,最重要的是没有一辆车是相同的。所以伊泉第一无二的亮粉色车架,是她精心挑选的颜色喷绘到淘来的古董车架上的。其实Fixed Gear Bike是带有手工艺元素的工业产品,因此在欧洲的价格很高。作为一名自行车老玩家,伊泉深得全世界采购Fixed Gear Bike零件的心得,她会给想接触Fixed Gear Bike的朋友不少好的建议。所以Fixed Gear作为一个沟通的管道,也让她和一众年轻人结下颇为热血的友情。

即便技术已经令人称赞,伊泉还是总是要摆弄她的自行车,调试各个零件一丝不苟。伊泉说:“我还要适应并且调试这辆车,我觉得Fixed Gear Bike也有很多拓展性,我要把它挖掘出来。”

BJ Fixed Gear Night

Dienstag, Mai 26th, 2009

This is becoming a regular event: The Tuesday night „Meet in the Tunnel“ night fixed gear tricks and ride. But maybe because it is summer there are so many more cyclists on the streets of Beijing. And even late night in this bike tunnel it was very busy. Today the amount of electric bikes and motorized tricycles was unbelieveabe and some of them were riding at very high speeds. It was hard to do tricks on our bikes. And yes, one guy did hit one of our guys doing his tricks. It was Xiao Shu. But he did not get hurt, just dirty from falling onto the ground. But he got washed off by his girlfriend. I only took some pictures and uploaded them to a webalbum.

Xiao Shu Getting Washed Off

Xiao Shu’s Abd Muscles

Beijing Fixed Gear Event Schedule

Mittwoch, Mai 20th, 2009

– Fixed Gear Get Together:
Friday June 12th
Start: 8:00pm
Location: Open Space between Drum and Bell Tower
Gather for a night of bike fun on a big open space with options for
drinks around

– Fixed Gear Bike Polo Training:
Saturday June 13th
Start: 1:30pm
Location: Basketball courts near the forbidden city
Tyler Bowa from Shanghai will be the main coach for this session. All
fixed gear riders are requested to attend to improve their bike polo
skills.

– Fixed Gear Alleycat:
Saturday June 13th
Start: 5pm
Location: Near Wangfujing
Only people on fixed gear bikes can participate and need to register latest before start of event
10 checkpoints around the city: Confirmed are Confirmed are Club Obiwan, Rickshaw Bar,
MESS Shop, Natooke Shop, Blinking Shop, NLGX Shop, Kuan Dian Restaurant, and Cafe Luce
Further: Windspeed bike shop, Trek Chaoyang Park bike shop, 798 District
Register (RSVP) on http://chinafixedgear.ning.com/events/beijing-fixed-gear
Event is free
Alleycat: Originally from the bike messenger scene in the USA and Japan it is a race designed to find the best bike messengers. The race does not have a route – there are only checkpoints at various places in the city. Each cyclist can go to the checkpoints in any order, he just has to come back to the finish point with his race card showing he has been to all checkpoints, otherwise he will get penalty points. The cyclist with the best knowledge of the city knowing which streets and alleys are the most convenient to ride on and having the least traffic is more likely to win.

View BEIJING ALLEYCAT CHECKPOINTS in a larger map

– Fixed Gear BikeParty:
Saturday June 13th
Start: 10pm
Location: Cafe Luce on Jiuguloudajie
Prize ceremony for alleycat participants and DJ
Party for bike lovers

– Fixed Gear Fun Bike Competitions:
Sunday June 14th
Start: 10:30am
Location: Outdoor basketball courts of the National Olympic Sports Center (South of Bird’s Nest, near Minzuyuan Road)
Skid competition, backward circle competition, track stand competition, best trick competition and prize ceremony
Track stand competition is open to anybody on any kind of bike, other competitions are limited to riders with fixed gear bike, everybody needs to register latest before start of event
Pre-Register (RSVP) on http://chinafixedgear.ning.com/events/beijing-fixed-gear
Event is free
Many spectators welcome!

– Fixed Gear Bike Polo Match:
Sunday June 14th
Start: 2:00pm
Location: Outdoor basketball courts of the National Olympic Sports Center (South of Bird’s Nest, near Minzuyuan Road)
People with any kind of bike can participate but need to register latest before start of event
Pre-Register (RSVP) on http://chinafixedgear.ning.com/events/beijing-fixed-gear
Event is free
Many spectators welcome!
Bike Polo: Team of 3 people on their bicycles play on a basketball size court against another team of 3 cyclists, each with a mallot (raquet). Bike polo mallots available for usuage. Teams from other Chinese cities will be participating. Event ends with prize ceremony

– International Bike Movies
Sunday June 14th
Start: 7:30pm
Location: CNEX Cafe
Event is free
International Bike Movies such as:
– „The Bike Lane“ A documentary on LA bike culture 1h2min
– „Death Pedal“ First screening in Asia! Skater inspired movie of fixed gear riders around the world including the Beijing cyclist Ines Brunn
by Kareem Shehab 35min
Plus some selected mountain bike, BMX and bike short films

BEIJING FIXED GEAR Event 06/12-06/14

Donnerstag, Mai 14th, 2009

We will be organizing a China Fixed Gear event in Beijing. The event will be held Friday June 12thto Sunday June 14th. We are looking forward to especially seeing all the fixed gear riders of China come on up to the Capital. We are also welcoming any other fixed gear riders to come over.Let us have big fun together!

BEIJING FIXED GEAR REVOLUTION

The draft schedule is the following:

Friday June 12th::
– Night: Party

Saturday June 13th:
– Lunch: Get together
– Afternoon: Bike Polo training
– Late afternoon/early evening: “BEIJING ALLEYCAT // 胡同大猫”: This is Beijing’s first fixed gear alleycat 北京第一个死飞ALLEYCAT
– Late evening prize ceremony and big party for Fixed Gear friends

Sunday June 14th:
– Morning: Skid competition, backward circle competition, track stand competition, best trick competition and prize ceremony
– Afternoon: Big Bike Polo match: Teams from different cities playing for the China Bike Polo Champion and prize ceremony
– Evening: Bike movies screening

Note: I will not participate in the trick competition, I will be a judge for that one. I am looking forward to seeing some crazy tricks 😉

For details check the event site: chinafixedgear.ning.com

Ines Brunn Performance for Greener China 德国女“车神”伊泉表演

Dienstag, Mai 5th, 2009

I found a post on this forum. The person talks about the Beijing Radio and other companies events to promote a more sustainable lifestyle and cycling. It talks about an event on April 26th where I did a trick bike performance for a greener China. Here is the comment:

4月26号上午,由我台携手中国自行车协会、北京统一饮品有限公司联合发起主办的“统一绿茶梦想骑手 穿越塔克拉玛干”2009北京人民广播电台献礼国庆60周年大型自行车主题活动在德胜门箭楼广场启动。这是我台继举办07年世界无车日环城骑行、08年六 大奥运城市“奔向北京”联动骑行后连续第三年举办大型自行车主题活动,同时也为共和国六十周年华诞献上的一份厚礼。

上午10点,启动仪式在德 胜门箭楼前广场隆重举行。中国自行车协会理事长马中超、我台副总编辑亢亚志等领导出席活动。亢总编在启动仪式致辞中说:“今年是新中国成立60周年,是奥 运成功举办之后首都发展步入新阶段的第一年,是深入贯彻落实党的十七大精神、推进“十一五”环境保护和生态建设规划顺利实施的关键一年。基于此,北京电台 在中国自行车协会等多家单位的大力支持下策划了本次活动。北京电台希望发挥主流媒体的责任感和舆论导向功能,通过这样的活动,敲响土地沙漠化的警钟,在市 民中间发起动员和号召,真正地投身到绿色环保事业中,为新中国60华诞献礼!” 随后,德国女“车神”伊泉表演了精彩的自行车杂技,我台主持人周准一首雄浑大气的《超越梦想》唱出了在场所有人心中“挑战极限、超越自我”的激情。最后, 各主办方领导鸣枪发令,在昂扬的鼓乐声中,350多名热心市民骑手开始环城大骑行。

与我台前两年的自行车主题活动相比,本次“ 梦想骑手 穿越塔克拉玛干”活动将自行车车轮的足迹带的更远。今年国庆前后,我台将组织一支选拔出来的市民“梦想骑手团”奔赴新疆自治区轮台县,穿越全长522公里 的塔克拉玛干大沙漠公路,最后到达民丰县。据悉,这次行动也将成为迄今为止第一次大规模的、完全依靠人力而非机动车力量完成的塔克拉玛干穿越活动。到底是 什么样的勇士有机会奔赴新彊完成这一次世界级的壮举?他们的旅程能否顺利完成?启动仪式后,梦想骑手的报名、选拔工作全面展开,这些问题都将随着活动进程 的一步步推进而解开神秘面纱!
我国是世界上荒漠化和沙化面积大、分布广、危害重的国家之一,严重的土地荒漠化、沙化威胁着生态安全和经济社会的可持续发展,威胁中华民族的生存和发展。 其中,中国第一大沙漠——塔克拉玛干面积的扩大尤其引人注目。塔克拉玛干沙漠距北京5700余公里,位于南新疆塔里木盆地。在维吾尔语里,它是“进去出不 来的地方”的意思,当地人通常称它为“死亡之海”。它盛夏最高温度可达67.2℃,昼夜温差最大可达40℃以上,自然条件非常恶劣。在许多探险家的心目 中,塔克拉玛干沙漠是一个最神秘、最具有诱惑力的挑战胜地。近年来,随着沙漠中间植被遭到破坏,以及气候的变迁,塔克拉玛干沙漠面积有不断扩大的趋势。在 它与库木塔格沙漠边缘近2000公里的风沙线上,流动沙丘每年以5至10米的速度向前推进,受风沙危害最重的且末县和若羌县如今已是沙临城下,一部分农牧 民的生存环境受到威胁。

我台此次组织“梦想骑手 穿越塔克拉玛干”大型自行车主题活动不仅仅是一次群众性自行车志愿骑行活动,更将立意落在引导社会大众关注日益严峻的土地荒漠化问题上。穿越途中,骑手们 不但要挑战恶劣的自然环境,更要把自己亲眼见到、亲身经历的土地荒漠化情况记录下来,汇集成一部考察报告,提交给有关部门作为防沙治沙的参考。