Brendan came back to give back the bike he was loaning from Natooke. We took a picture of him with the bike polo mallot he made yesterday.
Later Max dropped by with his new handlebar on his Flying Banana track bike.The track drop bars were too narrow so he switched to road bike drop bars.
Today there was an article in the Global Times. They had interviewed Fede and Shannon while I was in Germany. The full article is here.
The title is „Work that Pigu“. Pigu mean ass. They had different sports sections, one of them being cycling. Here an excert of the original article:
Cycling
For those who prefer to pedal, the city is always open for biking. Bicycles are available in a variety of colors, styles, and price ranges on practically every street in Beijing. Cyclists have unlimited control over pacing and routes. And bike rides are free!
Federico Moro is the director of Natooke, a bike shop that specializes in fixed gear bikes and juggling. Moro praises Beijing as a city designed for bikes: completely flat, dry, and loaded with big bike lanes. He said of course there are individual health benefits for riding a bike, but, really, „everyone benefits: more bikes means less cars, less traffic.“ And, of course, less traffic means less pollution for us all to breathe while we’re outside exercising.
Moro urges beginners to „get a bike and start to pedal. And get a helmet and a mask.“
Moro’s friend, Shannon Bufton, runs Smarter Than Car, a platform for promoting biking in the city. On the last Friday of every month, the group of about 50 riders hit the streets for a social ride set at a relaxing pace. Bufton agrees that biking is good for the environment, but also good for health. He said, simply, „It keeps you fit and keeps your weight down.“
Bikers looking for a challenge beyond the Dongzhimen interchange could head to the Laoshan Mountain Bike Course in west Beijing’s Shijingshan District. The 4.6 km Olympic course was made available to the public post-Games.
For serious mountain bikers, the thrill of riding in the paths of Olympians should outweigh the potential anxieties of getting a bike to west Beijing. And, for less serious cyclists, the trip to and from the course could be considered a full work-out in its own right.