I like the randomness of people entering my bike shop. It is very interesting. Like a Chinese mother with her maybe 20 year old daughter sitting on our sofa for 2 hours asking for advice on what her daughter could do for a living. Or a couple saying they want to buy some fixed gear parts for a friend in Hongkong and then buying 2 front hubs instead of a front and a rear hub because the front hubs are cheaper. They also insisted that they only need the right crank arm with teh chainring and also only need 1 pedal (no matter if left or right). I told them that their friend definitely will need both pedals and also a left crank arm. Or Chinese men sitting down on our sofa and drinking their tea, smoking cigarettes and asking about my life. Well today a friend came in to have his mountain bike brakes and his gear shifter adjusted – not really what I usually do in a single speed (these bikes just have 1 gear) bike shop. And then I was challenged to a handstand standing contest. He actually defeated me. Now I got to practice for our next meet up.
Handstand Contest
Februar 20th, 2010TEDtoChina featuring Ines Brunn Video
Februar 7th, 2010The TEDtoChina website is now featuring the video of my speech at the TEDxBeijing event in November. Click here to see my video. I would be so honored if it would appear on the TED site. I am crossing my fingers…
German Newspaper Article about Ines Brunn and her Natooke Bike Shop
Februar 4th, 2010Today there was an article in the German Newspaper about my life and how I am following my passion. How I decided to quit my corporate job and become an entrepreneur. It tells the story that even though I am doing something as crazy as a German person opening a bicycle shop in China I am succeeding. That definitely has to do with me being a famous trick cyclist. So not only do I run this fixed gear bike and juggling shop in Beijing but I also still perform around the world with my stunt bicycle shows.
The original article of the Erlanger Nachrichten can be found online. But I also copied the article here so you can directly read it (well, that is if you understand German…).
Von «Wetten, dass . . ?» zum Rad-Laden in China
Die Erlanger Kunstradfahrerin Ines Brunn hat ihr Hobby zum Beruf gemacht – «Inesgrätsche» weltweit bekannt
Einen Fahrradladen in Peking auf zu machen, ist wohl so ähnlich wie Eulen nach Athen zu tragen. Zumal dann, wenn das Vorhaben von einer Deutschen angegangen wird. Die erfolgreiche Erlanger Kunstradfahrerin Ines Brunn hat es trotzdem gewagt – und wieder einmal gewonnen.
ERLANGEN – Von 1989 bis 1995 hat Ines Brunn ihre Kunststücke für die Soli Herzogenaurach auf dem Kunstrad gezeigt und seit 1996 ist sie Mitglied bei der Soli Erlangen. Wie viele sportliche Erfolge sie in ihrer aktiven Laufbahn errungen hat, weiß sie gar nicht mehr. «Alle meine Ergebnisse sind in Ordnern auf dem Dachboden meiner Eltern», sagt sie. Kunstrad-Bezirksmeisterin war sie aber mehrmals, bayerische Meisterin auch, und etliche mal war sie Zweite und Dritte. Auch beim Bundespokal hat sie Platz zwei belegt, und bei den Deutschen Meisterschaften und German Masters war sie stets unter den besten zehn. Das hat zu Weltranglistenplatz 19 geführt. Ines hat auch die nach ihr benannte «Inesgrätsche» erfunden, die erste Figur, die im internationalen Kunstradreglement nach einer Person benannt ist. Dadurch ist die Ex-Turnerin weltweit bei Kunstradfahrern bekannt geworden. Zudem ist Ines die erste Frau der Welt, die den Schweizerlenkerhandstand beherrscht.
Pfannkuchen gebacken
Aber «richtig» bekannt ist Ines Brunn erst geworden, als sie im Februar 1992 mit einer spektakulären Kunstrad-Show bei der Fernsehsendung «Wetten, dass . . ?» aufgetreten ist. «Wetten, dass es Ines Brunn aus Erlangen gelingt, auf dem Lenker ihres Fahrrades stehend, innerhalb von dreieinhalb Minuten einen Pfannkuchen zu backen?» hieß die Wette. Jürgen von der Lippe tippte damals mit «Ja» – und Ines schaffte es unter dem Jubel der Zuschauer im Studio und an den Fernsehern. Ihren letzten Wettkampf hat Ines 2005 absolviert, obwohl sie offiziell nicht aufgehört hat mit dem Kunstradfahren. Deshalb war sie 2006 auch noch im Sonder-Bundeskader. «Wenn ich wieder nach Deutschland gehen würde, würde ich schon noch an Wettkämpfen teilnehmen wollen», sagt sie, fügt aber sogleich an: «Doch ich plane nicht in nächster Zeit nach Deutschland zu ziehen».
Denn Ines lebt seit einigen Jahren in Peking, und dort fühlt sie sich pudelwohl. 2001 wurde sie nach ihrem Physikstudium «Regional Market Manager Asia-Pacific» bei einer deutschen Firma. Das hat ihr so gefallen, dass sie in Asien leben wollte. Sie ließ sich nach Peking versetzen, und hat nach weiteren zwei Jahren einen lokalen Vertrag unterschrieben.
Das Hobby siegte
Mitte 2009 dann hat sie sich selbstständig gemacht, aber nicht etwa um ihrem studierten Beruf nachzugehen, sondern um ihrem Hobby zu frönen: Ines hat einen Fahrradladen eröffnet. Das war nicht einfach, aber nach einem langen bürokratischen Hindernislauf hat es schließlich geklappt. Bahnrennräder, schöne Eingang-, Ein- und Kunsträder verkauft sie nun. Anti-Pollution Atemmasken, Fahrradkurier-Taschen, Jongliersachen, Urban Cycling Klamotten und ähnliches führt sie auch in ihrem Laden in einem alten, aber frisch renovierten Beijing Hutonggebäude.
«Trick bike» heißt die Firma [Kommentar: Mein Laden heisst „NATOOKE„], und Ines verspricht neben all den Utensilien, die sie verkauft, auch Shows mit einer einmaligen choreografischen Vermischung von Kunstradfahren und turnerischen Elementen. Engagements hatte sie schon in Südafrika, USA, Sri Lanka, Russland, Belgien, Schweiz und Holland. Und wenn sie ihre Heimat besucht, dann geht sie natürlich zur Soli Erlangen in die Halle, um ein wenig mit dem Nachwuchs zu trainieren. Denn die Verbindung zu ihrem Heimatverein, wo man mächtig stolz auf die erfolgreiche Sportlerin ist, ist nach wie vor eng.
KLAUS-DIETER SCHREITER
4.2.2010
Articles on Boosting Cycling in Beijing
Januar 25th, 2010There are recently some news on how Beijing will boost cycling as a measure to reduce the carbon emissions of the city and fight the increasing traffic congestions jamming the Chinese capitol.
One of the articles was on the scotcman news and had the title: „Beijing to make new bike drive“
Another one was yesterday on the Guardian called „Campaign to boost cycling in Beijing“.
Tianjin Fixie
Januar 21st, 2010My friend Mike from Tianjin that rides fixed gear had a day off and came to Beijing by train to ride around the city. He just recently had an article about him riding a fixed gear bicycle in the Tianjin Plus Magazine in their January edition. Unfortunately I was too busy to go on a ride with him around Beijing.
The new blue Luma headset he bought matches his bike perfectly. The Chinese Beijing fixed gear riders were having a small dinner at a restaurant (Kuan Dian) of one of our riders.
The most unusual dish was the frozen green mango. It tasted like artificial fruit in bright green color.
Jiming and 3 guys are soon going to head out to Japan to ride fixed gear bikes there. They want to film it. I am looking forward to see how that goes.
NyK Art Exhibition at Lan Club
Januar 20th, 2010
Today we went to the opening reception of the art exhibition of my Chilenean cycling friends nicoykatiushka (NyK) called „Pause“. It was at the Lan Club (LAN 蘭, designed by Philippe Starck) in Beijing and their artwork will stay displayed until February 28th 2010.
NyK’s creative work is based on a collaborative method which they have been developing since their wedding day, on June 20th, 2003. For the past 6 years, nicoykatiushka have developed a system of art and life incorporating factors that are determinant throughout their process based methodology. Influenced by daily life as well as their nomadic lifestyle which fluxes between Beijing, New York and Santiago (Chile), NyK conduce a fresh and active dialog that allow stimulation from outside their close knit nucleus.
NyK explore notions of relationship and experimentation with installations that combine aspects of performance, video and photography. Within the mixing of mediums one will often be confronted with the image of NyK as the protagonist of these experiments. Pause presents a temporary stop, a moment to look into past and recent works created in and out of China. Recent works exhibited will include Eye Shift (revisiting Steve Reich), Whisper and Fuck Beijing.
NyK’s work has been shown extensively, showing in galleries and museums such as Exit Art (NYC), The Artist Space (NYC), Kuandu Fine Arts Museum (Taiwan), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chile), Aratoi Museum (New Zealand) and Ex-Teresa Arte Actual (Mexico).
In 2006 NyK formed NYKFFA (nicoykatiushka Foundation for the Arts), a mobile platform for collaborative artistic projects, supporting the idea of artist communities and networks by hosting video festivals and exhibitions run by artists. NyK recently created Antenna, a non for profit organization whose main role is not only to create a framework and a stage but also to bring together different cultural experiments and to collaborate with artists and curators to produce one moment of potentiality.
I like their work. I personally liked „Eyeshift“which is the visual version of what the composer Steve Reich was doing to music in „Music for 18 Musicians“. We used to listen to that piece in school in music class while we were all lying on the ground. I loved those music classes.
Green Commuting
Januar 19th, 2010For 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.
Flying Banana Frames
Januar 18th, 2010It has been so cold the past weeks in Beijing. Our Natooke shop is in a traditional hutong building and we do not have any proper heating. We did buy some electric heaters and that gives us some warmth near the heater, for example in our office. But the rest of the shop is around 3 degrees Celcius. But today I finally started taking some pictures of some bike parts. I started with the beautiful chromoly Flying Banana frames. I did not take many pictures because my fingers got really cold.
Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour
Januar 17th, 2010As I love outdoor sports like rock climbing, skiing, mountaineering I was looking forward to the Banff Mountain Film Festival coming to Beijing. A friend rock climber and mountaineer has opened a bar and cafe down the Wudaoying hutong where my bike shop is. It is called the „Together Cafe“. Inside there are many outdoor magazines and pictures from his expeditions to Tibet. The film festival started yesterday and I actually wanted to go but never checked the schedule. When I finally looked yesterday afternoon I was shocked to see that the first movie screening session was already over as it had started at 9am and the second one was already on going. So we could only go today and went for the early starting screening. There were quite some people even though I think there were only 3 foreigners.
We saw a movie called „Cliff Note“ (悬崖笔记) about cliff diving in a canyon. Amazing was a movie about free solo rock climbing and then base jumping from the top. Or just base jumping when you fall during the free solo climbing. Also doing slack line balancing between peaks or cliffs without being secured and also just using the base jumping parachute in case you fall.
I enjoyed the movie called „Searching for the coast Wolves“ (寻狼记). It was the very touching story of the former cross country running champion and biologist Gudrun Pflueger from Austria about her research about the coast wolves in Western Canada. She actually had an encounter with the coast wolves that seem not to have any bad experience with human beings in the past centuries and therefore did not see any threat in Gudrun and just played around her.
The Chinese movie maker Ricard was asked to come up and to talk about his outdoor movies. One is called „Dragon Breath“. On the back of the DVD is reads (including the typos) the following: „During the Spring Fesitaval, four Chinese top climbers came to Shuangqiao Gully, located in Mt Siguniang in Sichuan, to challenge the Dragon Breath, the hardest route in the vally. This documentary record their climbing and life in the vally.“ They only screened trailers of 4 of his movies and of course we recognized some of our Chinese outdoor and climbing friends in these movies.
After that we met our friend Nicolas Favard who is a French jewelry maker. He does very beautiful jewelry and each piece is unique. He designs pieces of art for his customers. If you are in Beijing I recommend you drop by his boutique in Sanlitun in the Nali Patio on the 3rd floor.
Riding in the Circle
Januar 16th, 2010Last year a Japanese film crew came to Beijing to film me cycling. They have put together a short movie called „Riding in the Circle“ about my passion for cycling and my life in Beijing. They put the movie trailer on their website – you can go there and watch it.
They have submitted this movie to the Bicycle Film Festival 2010 as well as other movie festivals and I hope it gets selected.
In November when I was in Tokyo and met with the film crew again they had given me contact sheets with some of the pictures they had taken during the making of the film February 2009 in Beijing.
It was great to see all these pictures that brought back the memory of a really intense but fun time in 2009. That last dinner we had had some Erguotou (very strong Chinese rice alcohol) to celebrate the end of the filming.
The result was me hugging the bicycle that was painted on the bike lane in front of the restaurant. I have not drunk any Erguotou since then and would like to avoid it also in future.
