7.5.2010 von Ines.

We usually have a bike ride on the last Friday of the month. But because last week was not possible. Shannon and I organized the monthly STC ride on this Friday night. It is called Friday Light Ride because it A, is an easy ride for any person on whatever kind of bike and B, we encourage people to use lights which makes the group stand out from any other cyclist or electric bike person.

The weather tonight was perfect for an evening bicycle ride through the city. We met up at the drum and bell tower with the other cyclists.

Then we rode towards the West and along the shore of the West lake and then towards the South to the Financial district.

Most people said they did not know about the Financial street called Jinrong Jie. It has extended in the past years with more and more glass/metal high rises. It is a nice place to ride along during the evening. Then we headed down the Chang’an Jie. And took some pictures.

We had quite a big group and except for one flat tire we all had a great ride.We organize these Friday Light Rides to show people how easy it is to get around town even at the 7pm rush hour time. We hope that more people chose the bike rather than taking a car or taxi.

We then went to a small courtyard restaurant called Hao Di in Huangchenggenbei hutong having barbecued things like lamb skewers, chicken wings, mushrooms, seafood and others. It was great fun for those cyclists who came to have dinner with us.

After the dinner a smaller group went to have ice cream, mainly the foreigners. The Chinese find it funny that foreigners like to have something sweet after dinner. And then I went to meet some friends in Nanluoguxiang hutong in the Salud bar where we got discounted drinks. What a perfect day (it had started with the 5:30 am 130 km bike ride).

Geschrieben in Green, Cycling, China, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

5.5.2010 von Ines.

Wang Ying from Beijing TV came to my shop to interview me because she is the host for a show on environment and green topics. Of course in front of the rolling camera she said that she does not bike and would never want to cycle herself. The cameraman then stopped the camera and said she cannot say that so we re-did that part of the interview. Even though her job is to host this show on green topics but she was really offended when the cameraman proposed to buy her re-usable chopsticks because she said she is not such an environmental person. She does not care about green. But she is doing that program. She should change her job. I love TV.

Geschrieben in Media, Green, Cycling, China, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

29.4.2010 von Ines.

I am having the impression that there are less walk in visitors at this year’s China Cycle exhibition. But it is still fun to perform on the open area and watch how my bicycle stunts draw a crowd. Here are some pictures of me (Ines Brunn)  doing bike tricks on a bamboo bike made by Stalk.

There are new buildings around the exhibition center that have not been there last year. Like this one that looks like it has caves for rock climbing. It really looks inviting. I wonder if anybody will try to climb it when it is finished.

Geschrieben in Green, Performers, Cycling, Fixed Gear, China | 1 Kommentar »

28.4.2010 von Ines.

In the innovation center of the China Cycle exhibition in Shanghai they had some interesting bicycle designs. My favorite was this really nicely done wooden bike in the form of a 60 for the 60th year anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

There was a conference on “Low Carbon Emission” so Shannon and I (who co-founded STC) went to listen to their ideas.

It was actually about a bike ride from Beijing to Shenzhen called “China Tour” to promote cycling as “Low Carbon Life”.

It is organized by the China Bicycle Association (CBA) together with the company Xidesheng (XDS). The launching event on May 16th in Beijing Chaoyang Park will be organized by a PR company.

Then a few young cyclists did a circle in the venue with the China Tour outfit.

The 12 cyclists that will ride from Beijing through China down to Shenzhen have already been selected. But Shannon and I are looking for a way to participate with STC.

I did tricks on the real bamboo trick bike today again here at the Shanghai exhibition. I uploaded a video of it that you can watch here. It was a video taken between the halls. The bamboo bike is really stable

There was bicycle art by Fang Zu Han. He does nice pencil drawings. I prefer this one.

And this is him with the head of the CBA

Geschrieben in Green, Performers, Cycling, China | 1 Kommentar »

27.4.2010 von Ines.

First day of the 2010 China Cycle Exhibition. I was astonished to see so many exhibitors getting in early in the morning. We actually had to wait a while in the crowd until we finally got in.

Our booth sidewalls had moved over night so we bought more tape to stick them back up. And here are many pictures of our first own Natooke shop booth with the booth chics and booth man:

Our booth was different than most booths. We wanted the people to interact with us. So we had the walls covered with some of the many newspaper and magazine articles about my Natooke store, the Respro anti-pollution masks and hump backpack covers, the Beijing fixed gear bicycle group, the STC cycling initiative and my trick bike performances.

We would have liked to display more bikes but it would have been hard to transport them to Shanghai by train. So we decided only to take the bamboo bike made by my friend Zack Jiang. Bamboo is a green alternative to metal. This bamboo bike is made in the same geometry as my trick bike. Zack made it to prove that his bamboo bikes are really stable and do not brake even if I do my extreme bicycle tricks on this bamboo bike. The bike got quite some attention at the booth.

Of course I also met friends like Zhou Chang Chun who does some Chinese style bike tricks.

As well as a cyclist friend from Tianjin called Baihua working in a newly started outer tire company that tries to look like CST brand.

I performed bicycle tricks 2 times today on the bamboo bike. I made a webalbum with more pictures. But here are just a few.

It was nice how easy it was to draw a crowd. And also people video taping that all said they have never seen anything like this.

Right after each show I got swamped with people. It was really fun. A lot were not believing that it was a real bamboo bike.

I met some great people that know me through the bicycle film festival, like Karta Healy.

Also of course some Beijing friends like Master Yang had also travelled to Shanghai for this exhibition which is the biggest cycling show in China.

Geschrieben in Green, Natooke, Performers, Cycling, China, Fixed Gear, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

3.4.2010 von Ines.

The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu organization and the China Charity Challenge co-hosted a charity bike event at their Roadhouse near the Great Wall North of Beijing. The event was called “Bohai or Bust“. All of the 100.-RMB registration fee is going to charity to provide a dinner, program and gift packages for the community’s elderly residents of the villages around Bohai and Mutianyu.

Almost 200 hundred people signed up and over half of them came to the meeting point at the TREK shop near Chaoyang Park. The bikes were loaded into 3 trucks and there were 2 huge buses. Unfortunately we encountered some holiday traffic as most companies in China have the coming Monday off.

In the name of STC Shannon and I had prepared the JisuPK. JisuPK is very fun bicycle event where 2 competitors on bikes attached to stationary rollers race each other in front of a cheering crowd. Typically a race lasts only 30 seconds and the winner is the rider that covers the set distance the quickest. The progress of the race is projected onto a screen so the crowd can get behind their favorite rider. Participants can challenge a friend to a race, race a colleague, race someone from another country, even race their Mum!

But first everybody set out for their bike rides. There were 4 different proposed routes: 10km, 26km, 60km or for the A riders about 100km. We set out a bit late and as there was a tight schedule the A riders could only do about 85km. But it was still a nice ride. I did not have too much time to take pictures therefore just 2 snapshots from the A ride:

This picture I took at the top of Sihai mountain. That is a very great mountain to ride a road bike up.

Samantha Song came out with us. She did not ride bike but stayed at our Natooke shop booth, even though there were not many people until 1pm.

When I arrived back there was a dance exhibition put on by a local troupe of villagers. There was a barbeque going on.

Then we started the JisuPK. It seems the bike riding in the fresh air and beautiful mountains plus the food made most people very lazy. But we did get some guys to race.

Before the JisuPK semi finals for the mens:

My friend Anthony is planning a bike ride through South China. He has a website called ride2freedom.org and did a post about this event today.

The buses and trucks actually left for Beijing on time at 4:30. And the traffic back into the city was less bad as expected.

Geschrieben in Natooke, Green, Cycling, China, Beijing | 2 Kommentare »

28.3.2010 von Ines.

The motto of this “Smarter Than Car” (STC) bike ride today was: We are taking the audacious step of announcing that spring is here! Despite the sandstorms and late snow the temperature is rising quickly and the weekend is forecast to hit 18 degrees. About time! So dust off your bike and get ready for a leisurely Sunday morning ride through the city. We will meet between the drum and bell tower at 11am and ride a scenic 1 hour route through the city and arrive at Chaoyang Park for a picnic lunch. Please bring your own blanket, food and drinks.

春天骑行: 我们斗胆宣布一下春天到了. 抛开沙尘暴和春雪不说, 气温正快速回升,预计周末能达到18度. 好不容易熬出来了. 所以把你的自行车擦干净, 准备好周日下午的快乐骑行吧. 我们上午11点在鼓楼和钟楼中间的空地集合, 然后骑1个小时, 享受城中美景, 最后到达朝阳公园野餐. 请带上毯子,吃的喝的.

It was nice to see my fixed gear bike friends come meet us at the Beijing drum and bell tower. That was particularly good as we had a woman and a camera man from Beijing TV station come to take footage of the event. I thought they would film this spring bike ride which has the idea to encourage people to ride their bikes in Beijing as a low carbon emission and fun transportation method. But no, Beijing TV was more interested in me doing a trick bike performance. I had come to this ride with my cyclo cross bike and outdoor shoes as after the ride I was heading to the TREK cyclo cross race. As I did not bring any one of my fixed gear bikes I said that they should film someone else of the Beijing fixed gear group. So we first asked Liang Xing aka Ryo to do some skidding on his fixie.

That was okay until he skid into a barrier. But he bent it back and it actually still worked afterwards so the guards were not too upset. Well then I grabbed a 56cm Natooke fixed gear bike (which was way too tall for me) off one of the guys and did some tricks for Beijing TV. And after some more photos for Global Times we could finally set out for our STC spring bike ride.

In the beginning of the ride there were a lot of people on the streets in this beautiful weather. As we cycles along the side of one of Beijing’s canals we came past a group of people watching 3 people pulling a guy that probably could not swim out of the canal. I have no idea how he could have fallen in the canal, maybe he was already drunk. But it was good to see that he was still alive.

I love this route along the canal, you have almost the whole road for cyclists. Once in a while there is a car but it is amazing how empty it is despite in being in the center of the city.

More of my pictures are in this webalbum of our Smarter Than Car ride. The group arrived at the Chaoyang Park. But as we could not bring our bicycles inside (only kids are allowed to do that and we were considered too old) the majority of thd fixed gear guys headed off. I unfortunately had to go to board the bus to head out for the cyclo cross race. And the others locked their bikes and went inside the park for a spring picnic. Shannon Bufton and I are looking forward to more people joining us for the next STC bike rides.

Geschrieben in Green, Cycling, Fixed Gear, China, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

8.3.2010 von Ines.

Today there were more articles about our Natooke opening party yesterday. The one in the Global Times was written very nice. Here is the link to the original version.

No gears, but a business license
Source: Global Times [23:35 March 08 2010]

The opening party of Natooke last weekend. Photo: Matthew Jukes

By Matthew Jukes

An impromptu street party broke out in Wudaoying Hutong over the weekend to mark the official opening party of Natooke.

The shop has been in place for a while, as a hub for the fixed gear bike and juggling groups that it caters to, but on Sunday the owners decided to celebrate the arrival of their business license in style.

“We thought we’d have the party in spring because it would be warm. It’s going to snow tonight!” said CEO Ines Brunn. “We hope that there will be more people that get on their bikes in the city and come ride with us. Oh and that more people start juggling!” she added, before disappearing into the throng.

By early afternoon a juggling workshop was well under way, thanks to the shop’s director, and Beijing juggler Federico Moro, surrounded by a ring of eager learners of all ages.

“It has been great, everyone is really happy. We’re setting up as a good business in this neighborhood, no one else is doing something like this on this street,” said Moro, after his workshop. According to the juggler, this shop is the first of its kind to sell juggling equipment to the individual practitioner, a concept that hasn’t taken off in China yet. “Juggling is spreading all over the world. In China I want to be here for that and help it to develop,” he added.

As the learners made their way into the shop to get out of the cold with a few balloon animals, cheers rose up from the crowd as another pair of participants got on to the Goldsprint machine (a kind of bike simulator) to test their biking potential from the comfort of the shop.

As always with an outdoorsy crowd, there was a bit of a green message. The shop was passing out reusable plastic bottles for the crowd and a slogan on a red banner urged everyone to respect the environment.

Vance Wagner, a green conscious friend of Natooke, had popped down to celebrate. “I think this means that the culture of bicycling is becoming cool again,” he said. “This is another place that provides an alternative mode of transport to cars.”

As the day progressed, the shows grew steadily more and more spectacular, impressing the crowd with a trick bike display and street performance routine. Passersby and friends of the shop alike were also equally happy to take part in toasting to congratulate the shop as champagne was passed round and party poppers were let off.

Judging by the remaining crowd at the end of the day, the little alternative hub in Wudaoying looks set for success for the coming times.

There are also some more articles written in Chinese on various websites across China.

• Article on bj616.com 老外胡同耍车倡导低碳
• Article on bjdch.gov.cn
• Article on hbhbzx.com
• Article on jshj.org
• Article on bjee.org.cn
• Article on bjdclib.com

只能通过一辆小轿车的五道营胡同，几十名“老外”耍起车技，昨天（7日）下午，来自美国、德国、英国、法国等十六个国家的五十余名外国朋友用自行车表演，与“胡同邻居”共同倡导“绿色出行、低碳生活”主题。

带着“小老外”一起体验“杂耍”乐趣、每人手中一个环保水瓶、可重复使用的便携筷子、还有脚蹬一辆或前卫或复古的自行车，昨天的低碳“爬梯”吸引了几十名外国朋友一起参与。在打扮得红彤彤的胡同里掀起“绿色浪潮”，胡同里的“中国邻居”走出家门一起参与，不少街坊说起自行车技毫不服软，也要“一试高下”。

“骑自行车既方便，又环保，我们都很喜欢。”来自德国的伊泉是自行车达人，还在五道营里开了自行车商店，专卖形形色色的“组装车”，昨天下午她带着自己的车友一起在胡同里“秀”车技，“静止”、“穿梭”，赢得阵阵叫好声。伊泉告诉记者，为了倡导低碳健康生活，以后每周五下午都将在胡同中上演“车技秀 ”，“希望越来越多的北京人也加入到我们的活动中，倡导绿色出行。”

Geschrieben in Green, Natooke, Media, Performers, Cycling, China, Fixed Gear, Juggling, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

7.3.2010 von Ines.

Regarding our 耍 － NATOOKE － 商店: Shop Opening Party today there were already quite some articles online on various sites also with pictures of our event.

A very nice article was on the news.xinmin.cn:
自行车引领低碳生活 五道营召开国际交流会(图)
2010-03-07 20:54 来源：千龙网 作者：黎江 共 0 条评论 关键字：五道营胡同,低碳,碳排放

今天下午，东城区五道营胡同举行了一场别开生面的“低碳生活国际交流会”，来自美国、德国、英国、法国、加拿大、意大利、澳大利亚等16个国家的50多位外国朋友，通过杂耍、车技展示等新鲜有趣的方式，与胡同居民和孩子们倾情交流，宣传“低碳出行”概念，倡导骑行自行车、减少碳排放。“绿色北京、低碳出行 ”的理念，也在这次交流活动中更加深入五道营居民心中。

Fede Moro at Natooke Opening Party 暖场的杂耍表演吸引了不少小朋友

千龙网北京3月7日讯（记者黎江 通讯员周义峰）今天下午，东城区五道营胡同举行了一场别开生面的“低碳生活国际交流会”，来自美国、德国、英国、法国、加拿大、意大利、澳大利亚等16个 国家的50多位外国朋友，通过杂耍、车技展示等新鲜有趣的方式，与胡同居民和孩子们倾情交流，宣传“低碳出行”概念，倡导骑行自行车、减少碳排放。

自行车爱好者们在胡同内交流 at Natooke Opening Party

隶属于安定门街道的五道营胡同位于雍和宫西侧，近年来发展起旅游休闲业，不长的胡同内西餐厅、休闲俱乐部等密布，是一处十分吸引在京“老外”的特色街。今天的交流会由五道营商业联合会和伊飞泉（北京）自行车有限公司联合主办，国际知名的“死飞自行车俱乐部”的外籍成员们展示了令人咂舌的自行车技艺，吸引了众多胡同居民和游客的注意。“绿色北京、低碳出行”的理念，也在这次交流活动中更加深入五道营居民心中。

Another article was on Xinhua news website.
“低碳生活国际交流会”儿童用表演诠释低碳出行
2010年03月07日 18:26:26 　来源：新华博客

I like this picture of our track standing competition during our bike and juggling shop opening party.

3月7日下午，北京东城区安定门五道营胡同装扮的红红火火，中国元素的大红灯笼、中国结挂满整个胡同，与这里具有异国情调的西餐厅、休闲俱乐部和其他创意产业自然交融一起。14时30分，由东城区五道营联合会与伊飞泉（北京）自行车有限公司联合举办的“低碳生活国际交流会”拉开帷幕。

活动现场悬挂着“国际化的五道营创意无限”、“低碳出行，低碳生活”说明了这个活动的主题。这个活动既有少年儿童的游戏表演，又有国际著名的Fixed Gear 自行车俱乐部会员的车技表演，中西方文化在这里同台献技，旨在宣传绿色北京、低碳北京，从我做起、从现在做起。

在这次活动中，还有美国、德国、英国、法国、加拿大、意大利、澳大利亚等十六个国家的50多名外国朋友参加了宣传活动。

记者采访居民张大妈时，张大妈深有感触地说：“去年我就听说过低碳这个词，今天才知道低碳就在我们身边。”

东城区五道营商业联合会会长刘源泉在接受记者采访时说：“此次活动是绿色奥运、绿色北京的延续，低碳就要从身边做起，各国友人的参与给活动增色不少，我们会长期做下去。” （摄影/高群）

There were also some other articles:

• One on 中国节能环保网ceee.com.cn讯. “低碳生活国际交流会”在五道营拉开帷幕 Full article here. Written by 投稿：kaner2008@sina.com
• Another one on 文化中国culcn.cn讯. It is the “Wenhua Zhongguo” China Culture site. “低碳生活国际交流会”在五道营拉开帷幕Full article here. Written by 投稿邮箱：haonews8@163.com
• Another one on sohu.com “低碳生活国际交流会”儿童用表演诠释低碳出行(组图)Full article here.

Geschrieben in Green, Natooke, Media, Cycling, Juggling, China, Fixed Gear, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »

19.1.2010 von Ines.

For those of you that know how it is in Beijing you will understand how happy I am. There are over 4 million cars registered in Beijing, there are traffic jams almost all day long on the main roads, cars use the bicycle lanes to cut through traffic jams, the bicycle lanes are used as parking lots and some bike lanes have been converted into car lanes or parking lots. What used to be the bicycle capitol of the world has recently become bike hostile. Also cars and buses cut cyclists off, never giving them the right of way.

According to the China Daily news article in an effort to get people back in the saddle again, the local government has now begun an ambitious plan to return byways to eco-friendly cycle routes. The plan was outlined in a directive on Jan 1 from the municipal reform and development commission, which supervises the city’s industries.

The plan calls for better law enforcement to make sure designated bike lanes are only used by cyclists. Bike rental facilities will also be resurrected, with at least 500 stations set to be run by a private enterprise by next year, according to the directive. The authorities will also abandon outdated traffic regulations that marginalize cyclists and make it easier for cyclists to use public transit in populated areas, including the CBD, Zhongguancun and southern Beijing - all to be completed by 2012. The government made the move in the face of rising traffic volume and slower commutes.

This plan, named “Green Commuting”, will also help the city lower emissions, experts said.

“In fact, authorities have been forced to come up with new solutions to solve the city’s traffic deadlock,” said Ou Guoli, a traffic management professor at Beijing Jiaotong University. “Experience from super-sized cities overseas has inspired Beijing to rediscover the lost art of cycling.” Ou said cycling may well take off again, but not before the authorities clear the way by rewriting traffic rules, issuing favorable policies for bike rentals and tightening measures to prevent bike thefts.

This is such great news! I am so happy that the government has come up with this “Green Commuting” plan. This plan will encourage the use of bicycle in the city. And it will make cycling in Beijing safer again. What a bright future! Maybe there will also be some regulations on having less cars in the traditional Beijing hutongs, or even turning them into pedestrian and cycling zones.

Geschrieben in Green, Cycling, China, Beijing | 1 Kommentar »