China, Asia, Climbing and Fixed Gear Bikes

Is there any other way to spend a rainy Sunday than to meet your friends for a Game-A-Holics Gathering? We came a bit late but still had many hours to play Shirades. And the wine did help to improve our body language for all the funny acting.

Chris – master of „yang rou chuanr“ (羊肉串) and organizer of yesterday’s „3rd Ring Road Yang Rou Chuanr Challenge“ – tonight still wanted to eat again yang rou chuanr (lamb skewers). His comment was „The beer in this ‚hole in the wall‘ restaurant is colder than yesterdays‘ number 4 restaurant“. And the prices were reasonable despite the small chuanr size (and also small lamb balls) and the difficulty getting the vegetable dish we ordered cooked in the way we ordered it. Unfortunately these kind of restaurants are getting harder to find in Beijing as more and more are torn down due to the upcoming Olympics.

Sarah got married! What a great wedding party! I rode my pink bike to get there. So I had to wear a black & pink Qipao to go with my bike. I like this picture despite the fact that we were late and it was not so easy to take it riding my fixed gear with no brakes wearing the Qipao.

The ceremony was very nice. They are a great couple. Sarah looked beautiful in her dress and with that sexy tan from climbing in Krabi (Thailand). A brides‘ best lady fainted and two of the grooms‘ best men were wearing white shoes. But they all looked really cool.

The friends were a colorful bunch. After the dinner Sarah and ZY had to go from table to table and drink with all their guests. ZY looked drunk when he arrived at our table but danced like crazy during the party. More pictures are here.

On the topic of the GREEN event organized by Beijing Radio: I did not know what the next step after the Games would be. But already on Tuesday April 29th late afternoon I was informed that I have to come to some kind of bike race on May 1st. That was almost 2 days in advance. And it was not so easy to find out what kind of race it would be or how many races or what we would be doing starting at 7:30am. I was told to meet at the Velodrome stadium so I asked if we were going to cycle in the Velodrome on the track and the answer was yes. As I was not really convinced that the answer was correct I sent an email to an English speaking person got some answers to my questions:

Can you please send me a schedule of what is planned on May 1st?
A:just like physical ability test,rides the line in the specialized cycle track.There should be have mountain road and ordinary racecourse.The test from exactly 7:30am in the morning and until around 11am.
How many competitions will there be?
only one.:)
How long will the race that you mentioned be? How many meters/kilometers?
How is it determined who wins this competition?
These two questions I can answer together.we have specialized trainer to make decision. may be he/she think your power and skill enough to join trip he/she will stop the competition.
What will we do at 7:30 am?
Starting competition.Observes the time arrangement also is to decision that you win or not.
What time will the whole event be finished?
28 of May

The race turned out to be on a street with a minor and a major uphill section, 5km each lap and we had to race 6 laps. So a 30km street race. I had asked them to give me a bike (as I was not clear what kind of race it would be and I only brought my commuter track bike as a backup). They gave me and about 8 others heavy mountain bikes. I was happy to find some road race bicyclists that I could pursue and that could help me fight against the slight wind on the long straights. It was exhausting but fun – here are some pictures. I came in as one of the first (maybe third) but that was not the goal. The goal was to be selected to ride from one of the Olympic cities to Beijing. And I was selected.

Actually I had already planned to go camping and climbing with friends over this May 1st public holiday. So I had to change that and arrange that we join the others later today.