12.1.2010 von Ines.

The track cycling world cup competition will be held in Beijing in 10 days. I will be going to the events on all 3 days - Friday January 22nd and Saturday 23rd evening as well as Sunday 24th afternoon. I saw the 2008 Olympic games track cycling events and it was a really great atmosphere in the velodrome. I think this will be similar. I am really looking forward to this. Quite some people from the Beijing Fixed Gear Group will be going there together.

The event is co-presented by the General Administration of Sport of China, Chinese Cycling Association, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports, Government of the Shijingshan District of Beijing. Athletes from over 50 countries and regions will take participate in the game.

Beijing 2009-2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Schedule:

Friday January 22nd 2010 (18:20-21:40)
10min Women’s Sprint 1/2 final Round1
15min Women’s Individual Pursuit 3rd-4th place final
10min Women’s Sprint 1/2 final Round2
45min Men’s Points Race 30km Final
5min Women’s Sprint 1/2 final Round3
5min Women’s Individual Pursuit Medal Ceremony
20min Women’s Scratch 10km Final
10min Women’s Sprint
5min Men’s Points Race 30km Medal Ceremony
10min Men’s Team Sprint Quarter final
5min Women’s Scratch 10km Medal Ceremony
10min Women’s Sprint Quarter final Round2
15min Men’s Individual Pursuit
10min Men’s Team Sprint Medal Ceremony
5min Women’s Sprint
5min Men’s Individual Pursuit Medal Ceremony
5min Women’s Sprint Medal Ceremony

Saturday January 23rd 2010 (17:20-20:25)
15min Women’s 500m t.t. Final
10min Men’s Team Pursuit
5min Women’s 500m t.t. Medal Ceremony
10min Men’s Keirin Round2
10min Men’s Team Pursuit Medal Ceremony
30min Women’s Points Race 20km Final
5min Men’s Keirin 7th-12th place final
5min Men’s Keirin 1st-6th place final
5min Women’s Points Race 20km Medal Ceremony
25min Men’s Kilometre t.t. Final
5min Men’s Keirin Medal Ceremony
10min Women’s Team Sprint
5min Men’s Kilometre t.t. Medal Ceremony
25min Men’s Scratch 15km Final
5min Women’s Team Sprint Medal Ceremony
5min Men’s Scratch 15km Medal Ceremony

Sunday January 24th 2010 (15:50-18:50)
10min Men’s Sprint 1/2 final Round1
50min Men’s Madison 40km Final
10min Men’s Sprint 1/2 Round1
15min Women’s Team Pursuit
5min Men’s Sprint 1/2 Round2
10min Women’s Keirin Round2
5min Men’s Madison 40km Medal Ceremony
10min Men’s Sprint 3rd-4th place; 1st-2nd place Round1
10min Women’s Team Pursuit Medal Ceremony
10min Men’s Sprint 3rd-4th place; 1st-2nd place Round2
5min Women’s Keirin 7-12 place
5min Women’s Keirin 1st-6th place
5min Men’s Sprint 3rd-4th place; 1st-2nd place Round3
5min Women’s Keirin Medal Ceremony
5min Men’s Sprint Medal Ceremony
10min Winning Nation Medal Ceremony

Geschrieben in Cycling, Fixed Gear | 1 Kommentar »

9.1.2010 von Ines.

Today was Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) talk series “China Story 6” that they invited my do on “Unstoppable: Fixed Gear Bike Culture in Beijing”.

Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) is a non profit, comprehensive art center founded in Beijing by collectors Guy and Myriam Ullens in November 2007. UCCA presents exhibitions of established and emerging artists and develops a trusted platform to share knowledge through education and research. The core of UCCA programs includes conferences, lectures, special events, artistic performances, and films. UCCA activities are a magnet for many kinds of audiences, from art fans and specialists to families and children.

We had arranged with the UCCA management that we could bring some of the fixed gear bikes inside and display them during my talk and performance.

It was nice to see that many people came out to the contemporary art district despite the cold weather, snow on the roads and traffic jams. Even though some came a little bit late. This picture shows part of the audience before I started my talk.

And it was very nice to see some of my friends come, even from as far as Germany.

My talk started with a brief bicycle history explaining that the first bicycles were fixed gear. Then showing the bicycle messenger scene around the world and how that created a sub-culture with many people doing urban cycling and wearing messenger bags. Then I showed how the first people started riding fixed gear in China and how big the Beijing fixed gear group now is with over 80 cyclists.

I then also asked some people of our Beijing Fixed Gear Group to come on up and explain why they ride fixed gear bicycles. The first one was my friend GMing.

And then I took off my clothes and did a trick bike performance. Well of course not all clothes. My bicycle show was very well received and I had many people come up to me afterwards.

In the question and answer session one Chinese person made a nice comment saying that he hopes that I can inspire people to follow me and ride bicycles like Forrest Gump in the movie when he started running across the USA and then had many people follow him. All in all it was a very nice event.

Afterwards I went with my friends to eat some cheese fondue. Julien found a nice way to explain to geeks what fixed gear bikes are. They are like Linux: Most people do not understands why people use it but the people using it have huge fun. And there are more and more people using it. And actually I am a linux user too.

Just recently I uploaded my talk I had given last November at the Beijing TED event up to slideshare. You can click here and have a look at that presentation. The topic I had chosen for that event was “Changes of Perception - Bicycle Culture in China”. At that TEDxBeijing conference I wanted to inspire people to ride bicycles and change their perception of bikes being something for poor people.

Geschrieben in Performers, Cycling, Fixed Gear, Beijing | Keine Kommentare »

1.1.2010 von Ines.

What could be a better way to start the New Year than joining a bike ride? I think there is nothing better But it seems some people did not agree on this sunny and not too cold day. It seems most people decided to drive their cars on this public holiday in China and sit in traffic jams. There was so much congestion as there were no driving restrictions today - that means cars with any license plate were allowed to drive. But at least in some areas in Beijing there is a fence between the car lane and the bicycle lane so that no car can just use the cycling lane.

We were just a small group of 6 cyclists ranging from hard core triathletes, fixed gear cyclists to leisurely riders. We headed out for the peloton Wenyu river loop. We went along the Beijing canals. As the temperature was just around zero the canals were not frozen. Some of the bridges are actually very nice.

We did a short break to look for some not too dirty plastic bag to cover the feet inside the shoes so that they do not freeze so much. It is a very easy and effective solution that I still have not tried. Next time when it is colder I will try that before I leave the house.

We continued along the Wenyu river towards the South.

We found a not so well maintained golf course a long the way. We fixed gear riders decided to check if it is nice to skid on the green. And it is! You should try it. Just go to your nearest golf course. The grass on the green is really smooth and enhancing the ability to skid.

Then we rode in the winter sun along the canal back to the city center. It was so nice and peaceful.

In the city we went to the Jamaica Blue peloton cafe South of the Chaoyang Park to meet up with other cyclists, have lunch and defrost our fingers and toes. It is great to see that at least some of the cyclists do not care about it being winter in Beijing and still coming out on bike rides like some of the fixed gear riders.

Geschrieben in Cycling, Fixed Gear | Keine Kommentare »

23.12.2009 von Ines.

Nico had been waiting for this Chinese chromoly track frame for many months. Finally it arrived. So he came to my shop to put the bike together with the parts he had chosen from my Natooke bike shop. Here it is:

It has golden Luma headset matching to the golden Formula Luma track flip flop hub, Lasco track cranks and chainring matching the front silver hub and white rim, Brooks B17 special saddle, white Oury MTB grips and a yellow PYC chain.

And here is the happy new member of our Beijing fixed gear group with his bike.

When we finally finished at 11pm I was slightly late for the party that had started at 8pm. And unfortunately there was no more food so I had to eat on the way as I was starving as hell. But the small Christmas party was still going on when I arrived.

Geschrieben in Natooke, Fixed Gear | 1 Kommentar »

21.12.2009 von Ines.

On January 9th 2010 the UCCA Lecture Series “China Story” 6 will be: Unstoppable: The Birth of Fixed Gear Culture in Beijing

Ines Brunn (German fixed gear champion and artistic cycling champion) has launched the first fixed gear bike races, performances and store for fixed gear bicycles in Beijing. Recently she has been featured in TED conferences in Beijing.

Track bikes are single speed bikes without the ability to coast. Therefore they are called fixed-gear bikes. This type of bike is quite unusual: You can ride it backwards, it often has no brakes and the simplicity makes it attractive. Fixed-gear zealots are a growing presence on the streets of Beijing and are defining a new urban lifestyle trend to the city. World famous fixed gear bike rider, Ines Brunn will lead you into the fixed-gear bike culture.

Geschrieben in Fixed Gear, China | 1 Kommentar »

20.12.2009 von Ines.

Today not many people showed up for the fixed gear ride. That was probably due to the temperature. But at least the sun was shining and the sky was blue.

We had people on different kinds of bikes and from different countries like China, Hong Kong, Korea, England, Germany and the USA.

The great thing about cold temperatures is that there are hardly any people on the streets or in the bike lanes. We had the wide bicycle paths all for ourselves most of the ride.

We cycled to Beijing’s 798 contemporary art district in old bauhaus brick factory buildings. The whole area is now developed with art galleries everywhere and commercialized with products for sale and restaurants, cafes and bars.

We first met other Beijing fixed gear cyclists (like from Singapore) that rode there themselves and had lunch all together. All my pictures of this ride are in a webalbum.

Then we went to the UCCA for a talk in the education series “Breaking News” called “Beijing a world creative city : How foreign artists come to Beijing to create”. Guest speakers were Dan Levin (Freelance reporter for New York Times) and Niko&Katiushka (Artists). On top of being the benchmark of Chinese contemporary creativity, Beijing has also become a place of creation for artists all around the world. This talk showed concrete examples about how foreign artists find inspiration in Beijing and how they can pursue a worldwide career from China. Niko&Katiushka gave us some introduction to their works. It was all translated into Chinese, at least the translator tried to.

The discussion at the end of the talk was quite interesting. The most unrelated question was from a Chinese asking why not all the old hutong is torn down as those old buildings are standing on valuable ground which could be used for malls.

I had to ride back to Beijing city quickly as I had the year end dinner with cycling friends at a great Beijing Roast Duck restaurant. The food and the warmth were good after an afternoon out. And for sure it was fun to chat about bikes and cycling.

Geschrieben in Fixed Gear, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

18.12.2009 von Ines.

My fixed gear bike friend and photographer Nie Zheng had the opening of a photography exhibition today.

The exhibition was organized by Source. Nie Zheng had taken pictures over a period of 40 days of people in Beijing under the theme “Life is Tough”. Like a Chinese lady working very hard in a magazine as an editor for over 7 years, a Japanese guy opening an Italian restaurant, Taiwanese opening a Taiwanese snack bar in Beijing, old Chiense people doing the early morning exercise in the Temple of Heaven, a stray cat, a Japanese guy that has a barber shop in Beijing and has been cutting hair for over 11 years every day for 12 hours, Chinese street construction workers.

I am a foreigner in Beijing who was a competitive athlete for 20 years and opened a bicycle shop in the traditional heart of the capital of the Bicycle Kingdom. So he had also taken a a picture of me riding my huge 36 inch unicycle the day we had put together the tall bike. That picture is on the bottom left side of this picture and he had given me a print that I will hang in my bike shop.

He invited me to come over before this exhibition opening when the media and press were there for a short interview.

Nie Zheng was then requested to sign the huge wall.

We then went for a huge and delicious dinner and came back to Source just for the official opening of the exhibition to the public.

Then there was some introduction and question to the photographers before the short movie about their work was presented to the public. You can see Nie Zheng riding around Beijing on his fixed gear bicycle and also my bike and juggling shop in that movie

Geschrieben in Fixed Gear, Beijing | Keine Kommentare »

18.12.2009 von Ines.

My photographer friend Simon Lim came to my Natooke shop to take pictures of my bicycle parts. We started with the Taiwanese luma rear flip-flop track hubs produced by Formula for fixed gear and single speed bikes.

Then we did the matching Taiwanese luma front track hubs produced by Formula for fixed gear and single speed bikes.

We also took pictures of the various Taiwanese Lasco fixed gear and single speed cranks and chainrings.

Then he took pictures of the sturdy Taiwanese full CNC luma fixed gear cogs in sizes 13 teeth to 22 teeth.

And also the Japanese Shimano Dura-Ace cogs with NJS stamp.

All the pictures turned out great! It is so good to have a professional do them. Simon also has a blog about his adventures.

Geschrieben in Natooke, Fixed Gear | Keine Kommentare »

16.12.2009 von Ines.

The Chinese luxury goods magazine iLook sent Ethan to come and interview me regarding fixed gear bicycle culture in China. It turns out that he started the fixed gear group and blog “Ocean Factory” in Dalian, a Northern Chinese coastal city. Unfortunately there are currently still only 3 fixed gear riders in Dalian so far as the city is quite hilly. The photographer of iLook took a picture of Ethan and me in front of my bicycle shop.

Geschrieben in Fixed Gear, China | 1 Kommentar »

16.12.2009 von Ines.

My friend from New Zealand sent me a picture of his new fixed gear built up that I find really nice. And he is going to do more.

Geschrieben in Fixed Gear, Asia | Keine Kommentare »