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Tianjin to Beijing

Montag, August 3rd, 2009

Today I had friends from Tianjin show up at the shop. And you know what? They cycled here. That is a 130km distance. They posted some pictures that Xu took on their way on a Chinese website. I took those photos for this blog entry.

Mike and Baihua seemed to have been very energetic at the beginning of the ride.

Tianjin to Beijing Bike Ride

My friend Baihua was on the Radio Beijing and Mengniu Green Cycling event last year together with me. It was nice to see him again after such a long time. He was cycling on an old nice road bike frame with single speed.

Baihua on the Way from Tianjin to Beijing

Mike and Xu were riding their fixed gear bikes with no brakes: The white one and the nice orange & blue one.

Fixed Gear Bikes in Beijing

Mike was quite exhausted when he arrived at my shop. This was his longest ride. He later packed his bike into his travel bag and took the super fast train back that only takes 30 minutes. But Baihua and Xu cycled back to Tianjin and arrived after midnight.

Mike after the Long Ride

That evening Fede took care of the wooden floor that had moved and made big waves already some weeks ago. The water we had inside did not make the floor better. It is amazing that a company that sells only wooden floors and comes and installs it does not leave any gap towards the walls. We sure decided not to call that company to fix it (if they cannot do it right when they do the floor the first time we had no confidence they will get it right now). So Fede started cutting the floor panels and making a lot of smoke. It was so stinky that I had to wear my anti-pollution mask to prevent me from suffocating.

Ines Wearing Anti-Pollution Mask Indoor

Posted in Beijing, Fixed Gear | Comments Closed

Tall-Bike and Climbing

Sonntag, Juli 26th, 2009

My friends Lulu and Ludwig from Germany are in town. They actually live in Shenzhen now and came to Beijing for a short sight seeing and leisure trip. We met for a late lunch and then they tried out Fede’s tall-bike. Ludwig had some issues getting up onto it but he did manage to smile once he was on it.

Ludwig Mounting the Tall-Bike

Riding the Tall-Bike

Lulu also took her try on the tall-bike after seeing another girl almost crash while trying to ride it. Lulu even was able to do a U-turn in the narrow hutong.

Lulu Riding the Tall-Bike

But Ludwig did seem more happy on a lower bike so him and Lulu took regular bikes to tour around the hutong alleys.

Ludwig on a Regular Bike

In the evening I went to the Ritan park for some rock climbing. It was quite crowded in the beginning and some people taking ages to get up a climbing route. I do not like the new look of the wall with all the advertisements and grey color. But it is still great for climbing.

Ritan Park Climbing Wall

Posted in Climbing, Fixed Gear | 1 Comment »

Scitech Outlet Mall Grand Opening Event

Samstag, Juli 25th, 2009

Outside Beijing in Shunyi area between the never ending construction sites of new multi villa compounds a mall complex for brands had their grand opening. Fede and me were booked as performing artists to entertain the visitors with juggling tricks, slapstick, unicycling and bike tricks.

Fede and his Ball

Jess and some other musicians were booked to play jazz music for the VIP guests. Jess received professional make-up and hair-do by the stylists of the models.

Jess Getting Styled

The Chinese fashion world seems strange to me. The models must be considered beautiful and handsome by somebody, or? I still wonder who likes their „fashion“ clothes like for example the horrible cream colored skirt with black dots of the model on the left side of the picture. Or their ugly shoes that they have problems walking in. I might just not understand Chinese fashion.

Chinese Models

The place was quite crowded and it was fun to do some bike tricks there.

Outlet Mall Opening

Escalator to VIP Section

Jess looked amazing in that silk cocktail dress and with a real flower in her hair.

Jess Meider and Band

Jess Meider Jazz Band

Afterwards back in the city I met visiting friends in an outdoor „beer garden“ style venue. It was the first time I got some mosquitoe bites this summer. But as always they were gone right away.

Posted in Fixed Gear, Juggling, Media, Natooke, Performers | 1 Comment »

Chinese Medicine

Sonntag, Juli 19th, 2009

As I am having some diarrhea I decided to go to my Chinese doctor (and blind massage place). When I entered he asked „what is wrong?“ across the whole room with all the patients waiting while continuing to treat another patient. I said I have diarrhea. He said „Great!“. I said „No, it is not great. It started Friday night and I have to go to the toilet a lot“. He asked „How many times did you go to the toilet today?“. I answered „Already 5 times, I feel dehydrated“. He said „Very good! All that stuff has to come out. You have been traveling too fast to too many places. It will soon be over and you will be fine“.

That was a slightly different kind of response than I expected. They then placed a needle on my shin and an infrared lamp on my stomach, then later gave me a stomach massage.

In the evening I did feel better and went on our Sunday fixed gear bike ride. We met and rode along the second ring road to the South Railway Station and back. I told my Chinese friends that I was not feeloing all so well yet. They all said diarrhea is good because I was traveling too much – I will soon have fully arrived in Beijing and feel better. Let us hope so.

Posted in China, Fixed Gear | Comments Closed

EJC 2009 Gran Gala Event

Freitag, Juli 10th, 2009

So this is why I am here in Spain: The main Gala Show of the European Juggling Convention 2009. Today I first had my own private rehearsal time on stage, then we had the complete run through the show and after that 2 shows with full halls. It was a very long and intense day.

In Vitoria there is a special festival at which they have a puppet go from one tower in the city via a wire to the next tower. As we are at a juggling and unicycling convention they had that puppet made out of balloons and made him riding a unicycling and juggling balls.

Vitoria Unicycling Puppet for EJC 2009

Also the tower was made out of balloons. At the beginning of each show they had this puppet fly over the audience from the city tower to the stage.

Vitoria Gasteiz Gala Show EJC 2009

For both shows the huge Mendizorrotza hall was full

Vitoria Mendizorrotza SJC 2009 Gran Gala

The European Juggling Convention 2009 Gran Gala Show consisted of the following performing artists:

Jens Sigsgaard and his modern body beat and contact juggling

Jens Sigsgaard

Florent Lestage and his modern double devil stick performance

Florent Lestage Devil Stick

Jeanine Ebnoether and her modern beautiful body rolling contact juggling choreography. It was nice to have another woman perform in the show. And she did it so elegantly and smooth it was a pleasure to watch.

Jeanine Ebnoether Body Rolling

Kagu is a child juggling balls

Ball Juggler Kagu

Matias did a modern dance with a single wheel similar to the German wheel (Rhoenrad)

Matias Wheel Performance

Mikel did contact juggling with clubs

Mikel Club Contact

Duo DeFracto did a great modern, minimalistic and funny ball choreography. It was so well timed and performed.

Duo DeFracto Show

Sergey Junior (looking now much older than the pictures on his website) is a 4th generation circus artist juggling rings and flying objects

Sergey Junior Juggling

Grisha Lovygin had a well choreographed ball juggling show but unfortunately I do not have a picture of him

And yes, I was part of the program with my trick bike show. It was nice to perform on such a huge stage with so many famous performers in front of a very knowledgeable audience that appreciated my skills, went mad and then into standing ovations. It was an extraordinary feeling! Here is a picture of my performance at EJC 2009 Gala Show taken from the photos.albapasser.de website (thank you for the picture):

Ines Trick Bike Show at EJC 2009

I am waiting to see a video of the show. I hope the organization team will put one together. And our MC for the show was Loco Brusca

Loco Brusca

And this was the artists green room where we had baguette and cheese. Everybody was exhausted but satisfied after the show.

Performing Artists Green Room

Chairs

Posted in Fixed Gear, Juggling, Performers | 1 Comment »

Fixed Gear Maniacs Interview

Freitag, Juni 5th, 2009

I had been interviewed by the fixed gear maniac. And he posted the interview on his site. Check it out here. Also he has a great online book about fixed gear. The link is on teh right column of his we

Friday, June 5, 2009
Interview with Ines Brunn
Well I thought I‘ try something different. How about an Interview with the Queen of Fixed Gear Ines Brunn. I’m sure you all have seen her in action! Shes the one who did all those incredible tricks on You Tube while the rest of us were trying to figure out track stands!

1)First Ines where were you born and raised? Is that where you got your bicycle training?
I was born in Germany, moved to the US (New Jersey) at the age of 3. I started gymnastics at the age of 6. We moved back to Germany when I was 9 years old and I continued competitive gymnastics till the age of 13. At that point I by chance found the sport called artistic cycling which is gymnastics on a bike and started it right away. My gymnastics background helped me a lot for the balance, the flexibility as well as the strength.

2) I see you speak English fluently how many other languages do you speak fluently?
Hard to say. Definitely one other language fluently: German. My Chinese is pretty good and my French used to be very good (but seems to be hidden behind all the Chinese words right now)

3) Most everyone’s seen your videos on trick riding, where did you learn to ride like that? you obviously were professionally trained?
I started at the age of 13. The coach in the local club could not show me anything new after a few months. But I got accepted to the regional team right away and after 3 years I was on the German National team. There we had professional training.

4) Where have you worked as a performer?
I have performed in many different countries such as: South Africa, Russia, Sri Lanka, USA, China, Malaysia, Hong kong, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria…
Some places I did 62 performances in 31 days. I perform for company events, corporate anniversaries, evening galas, TV shows, bike competitions, cycling events, parties, festivals…

5) How long have you been riding?
20 years (oh know, now you know my age)

6) Have you raced or been involved in any other type of riding?
I did the artistic cycling competitively for 16 years until I moved to China. I have competed in the Cyclo Cross races last winter and really enjoyed that. Just 2 weeks ago I did my first road race. That was interesting too. There is another race next week.

7) Now I see your in China, what are you doing over there?
I came to China for an American company in the telecommunication industry. Now I am planning on opening a fixed gear bike shop.

8)What type of gearing set up and bike do you use for your trick bike?
I have my original trick bike with a 1 to 1 gear ratio. It is easy to do tricks on that but you cannot rode it around town. I have a small track bike that I use for riding and tricks. I have a 45 tooth chain ring and a 18 tooth cog. I put a smaller front wheel so that I can bar spin.

9) With the type of riding your doing I’m sure you’ve had some crashes, anything serious?
Yes, sure I had a quite a few. The worst is falling into the bike. You should always make sure to fall off (and best roll off) away from the bike. I had some head first crashes into the bike while practicing the handstand. It even happened during the German Championship. The worst
fall off my bike while not doing any tricks was a few weeks ago. I was ghost riding my trick bike and it suddenly started jumping and got tangled with my fixed gear bike to I did a face first dive over the handlebars. My wrists are still in pain so I have not done any tricks lately.

10) Do you have a favorite bike and what is it?
I like different bikes for different purposes. For example for riding longer distances or to work I love my blue Corima fixed gear bike with front brake. For playing around I love my small pink Cinelli fixed gear bike but when it rains or I just go to a nearby restaurant or bar I love
my 1970s old Flying Pigeon converted to fixed gear.

11) Is there anything you’d like to say to all the fixed gear riders out there?
For all cyclists: Get on your bikes and enjoy life!
For all fixed gear riders doing tricks: Keep being innovative and playing around! Your children and grandchildren will be proud of you being the pioneers in fixed gear trick riding
For all fixed gear riders: Mash those urban streets!

Posted in China, Fixed Gear, Media, USA | 1 Comment »

Road Bike to Fixed Gear Conversion Finished

Dienstag, Juni 2nd, 2009

Late but better than never we finished Ian’s conversion. He used an old steel 10 speed 700c road bike frame, grinded down all the paint, grinded off the cable holders, spray painted the frame with a transparent finish, decided on his color combination and then bought the heaviest seat post I have ever seen. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the bike before – Especially as it had been locked to my other bike and I could not find the key so we started taking the bike apart while it was still locked to that second bike… Christ (professional Beijing BMX flatland rider and fixie rider) helped most on this long and tiring project. Big thanks to him! This is the beautiful result:

Fixed Gear Conversion

The rim in the back is a reflective Deep-V from Velocity. I took a picture using the flash – Look at the amazing result:

Fixed Gear Conversion Reflective Deep-Vs

Posted in Fixed Gear, Natooke | 2 Comments »

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

Posted in Cycling, Fixed Gear | 1 Comment »

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。”

Posted in China, Cycling, Fixed Gear, Media | 1 Comment »

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

Posted in Beijing, Fixed Gear | 1 Comment »

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