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.
Archive for the ‘Beijing’ Category
Spinning with Latino Drummers
Mittwoch, März 25th, 2009Beijing Fixed Gear Night of Tricks
Dienstag, März 24th, 2009Some 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.
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.
We did some skidding
And practiced backward circles and track stands. I really like Wang Xiao Wei’s all red bike.
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:
Beijing Traffic
Dienstag, März 24th, 2009Today I did something really rare: I was in a car in Beijing. And the traffic was as expected: Totally congested.
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.
Cash Wanted
Donnerstag, März 5th, 2009In 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.
Fixed Gear Flying Pigeon
Donnerstag, März 5th, 2009I have done this conversion a while ago but I never posted any pictures. So here is my traditional Flying Pigeon bike converted into a cool fixed gear bike:
I literally took each any every screw of this bike apart, then cleaned everything and screwed it back together. Then I put red hubs and red rims (front is spoked radially) a saddle and new basket, bell and a honky horn. I just cannot fit the road style pedals with cages…
Hutong Buildings under Renovation
Mittwoch, März 4th, 2009Even after the Olympics there is quite some construction going on. In some areas they are not tearing down the old traditional Hutong buildings but rather renovating them. I really like that. I hope Beijing will keep all of the current Hutong districts. I think this is the true Beijing. Not all the glass and metal high rises. These traditional houses are more beautiful.
Dirty Dancing Rehearsal
Dienstag, Februar 3rd, 2009Anna Grace Carter and Kris Chung are putting on another show gathering the International performing arts community of Beijing. This interactive theater event is based on the 1987 movie „Dirty Dancing“ and has other performers integrated in the show. In the auditions in December I got chosen to play the role of the dance instructor Penny. So the past 10 days I have been rehearing the dancing parts with Johnny and Baby almost every day. Today was the first rehearsal of the whole cast together.
Here is a picture of the rehearsal of the fight scene between the dance instructor Johnny and the resort manager Martin.
Ritan Park Rock Climbing
Sonntag, Februar 1st, 2009The sky was not as clear today, so the sun did not come through as much so it was slightly cooler. But I still met Lao Hu for some climbing in Ritan Park. Actually it is still warmer than it has been in some of the past years when we came here for rock climbing during Chinese New Year. We used wear down jackets and huge warm gloves in between the climbs. I remember having frozen fingers and toes.
I was taking some pictures of my apartment today. The saddest thing is that the balcony on the back of the kitchen is too small for my bikes. So they are jammed in like chicken in a chicken farm. Or like „Ölsardinen in der Dose“.
Peloton Bike Ride and Birthday
Samstag, Januar 31st, 2009Today was the regular winter road cycling ride to the East of Beijing. We had beautiful weather with blue sky and sunshine, but still quite cold. The loop is about 60km on smoothly paved extremely flat roads. This picture is courtesy of Tom showing me and our Mongolian friend Naran in the front.
In the evening we met Federico for dinner.We went to one of the small places where you chose vegetables and other things on sticks and then cook it in water. It was the first time for me to be in this kind of restaurant and it was delicious. But I have not yet figured out what is the best choice to not spend too much money but at least kill the hunger. Maybe all teh bike riding made me especially hungry.
Then we tried to find a bar close by as it was really freezing cold and we all were riding bikes. Unfortunately that area is not known for having any bars. We asked a few people and they all pointed us in one direction. It turned out to be a fancy hotel that has a bar. We decided not to go there and found a small bar below ground nearby that said it has live music. The music stopped shortly after we arrived and we were not too unhappy about that. We started playing games like making unbelievable towers out of the building blocks.
We also made a domino snake like around the candles that actually with 2 adjustments fell down as expected.
With all these games we did manage to stay long enough till it turned midnight despite the really expensive beer and the horrible tasting tiny 50.-RMB hot chocolate. It was Federico’s 30th birthday and he thought we did not know. But we did 🙂
Dinner on 5th Day of the New Year
Freitag, Januar 30th, 2009In the Chinese New Year the first few days are counted and have special meanings. The fifth day of the New Year is called „Chu 5“ or in full Chinese „Chu Wu“ (as wu means 5). This day you should spend it with your family and eat jiaozi, the dumplings boiled in water. If you do not have jiaozi you will have bad luck, or something like that. We spent this night with Chinese friends who cooked a great dinner including the jiaozi. And then we had to fire some fire crackers as this fifth day needs to be celebrated with a lot of noise. So instead of going down we just lit the fire crackers from the window of the apartment.
I almost had forgotten the nice sentence: „Xiao jie, yi wan shui jiao duo shao qian“. If you pronounce it one way it means: „Waitress, how much for a bowl of jiaozi?“ Another way to pronounce it means „Lady, how much for a night?“. It is a funny sentence you can teach a foreigner learning Chinese and let him ask the waitress in a restaurant and the probability is high that he anyway will accidentally pronounce the second way which is funny for all capable of Chinese, especially the Chinese themselves.
Echo had accidentally cut her finger cap on New Years Eve while helping her mother prepare the big dinner. Now she currently cannot climb. I hope it heals fast.
As it is the Year of the Ox everybody likes playing around with bullhorns or anything that looks like it.
Well it did get a bit silly. Here is the link to the webalbum with all the pictures of the night.
The two foreigners started playing a game of Chinese Chess as we were nibbling sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
When we were leaving I was shocked to see my bike standing in a huge sea of fire cracker waste. They must have been placing the fire crackers just everywhere around my bike. My bike must have been so scared with all the noise and not able to run away…
