WEEK 39 (Wednesday, September 28, 2005)

EXCITING DAYS IN CHINA
[Translation: Crispen T.P. de Lange]

Our week in China and Beijing has been action-packed, extremely enjoyable, and very educational. We got to experience the enthusiasm of Chinese cyclists through the Great Wall Bicycle Festival, arranged by Nordic Ways; we got to know our Merida family in China; we got a taste of cultural history dating back to the old kingdom of the Chinese Czar; and we got to taste the utterly fantastic Asian cuisine.

Wednesday, October 21

After a substantial plane trip from Stavanger to Beijing, we arrived in the metropolis of Beijing in the afternoon, local time. We were met by representatives from the Norwegian-Swedish organisation Nordic Ways, and were driven to our hotel. Nordic Ways has its offices in the centre of Beijing, where 3 Norwegian and 17 Chinese employees work full-time, organizing and arranging huge sports venues within e.g. cycling, orienteering and cross country skiing.

We were invited to China by Nordic Ways to take part in the bike festival, Great Wall Bicycle Festival, which was arranged for the first time last year. The whole arrangement takes two days, and on Saturday there’s road racing, while mountain biking takes place on the second day. A good 1300 Chinese took part, three times the number of last year.

This year Merida China was the main sponsor for the day of mountain biking, and this gave us a great opportunity to meet our Merida friends in China too. Merida will be putting a lot of focus on cycling in large areas of Asia in the years leading up to the Olympics in Beijing. In other words, we will probably be travelling to this part of the world again in the years to come.

We checked into a nice hotel about 5-6 kilometres from the centre of Beijing, and had a short hour of physical activity to get our circulation going again. This evening we’ve got for a walk in the surrounding area and eaten a quick supper. We’re feeling somewhat comatose after a long day of travelling and entering a new time-zone. Our first impression of the area is that there’s a lot of dust in the air, very many people everywhere, many cyclists and pedestrians, and lots of noise. We’re looking very much forward to tomorrow.

Thursday, October 22

Today we were fetched by the General Manager of Merida China, Simon Hsu, plus some of his colleagues. We were driven to the arena for the biking arrangement for the weekend, where the Chinese cycling organization also has its offices. The plan is for the Olympic race course to be in this park too, where we cycled, but it’s not 100 percent sure yet. In my point of view, this is rather too small an area for a proper mountain bike race. What we saw and tested today was lacked both demanding climbs, technical sections and variation.

This afternoon we’ve had a press conference with a number of television channels and newspapers from Beijing. Afterwards we were driven to a television studio where we did a program. This program was then shown on TV late this evening, on a show that will normally have several million viewers. We’ve eaten a tasty dinner together with people from the organization this evening. It’s been a wonderful and interesting day, and we’ve both enjoyed ourselves. We had a late night tonight, but that’ll probably be the case for the rest of the week too!

Friday, October 23

Today started with one hour of running on a treadmill at an exercise studio just next to the hotel. We were then driven to “The Forbidden City” in the centre of Beijing, and it made a powerful impression on us. We’ve only seen this place on TV and read about it in books, but today we were actually able to see and touch these mighty buildings. I could have wandered around in this village for many days in order to catch all the historical details and all the things to touch and see.

This afternoon we visited a Merida bike shop in the centre of Beijing, and it turned out to be an experience to remember. I wasn’t aware that I actually more or less have my very own Gunn-Rita / Merida shop right in the centre of Beijing! I was greeted and welcomed like a queen by enthusiastic cycle-fans from the whole region. I was given flowers and presents, and lots of pictures were taken and big posters signed.

This evening we’ve been to a sponsor’s dinner together with other cyclists and people from the organization. The restaurant was very special, in the old style, hidden in narrow back-streets in the city. One doesn’t have to move all that far from the very centre of town before one is in quite different surroundings. Here people live in small creep-ins which remind one more of sheds. The streets are very narrow and almost impossible to drive a car down, and vendors stand along the streets selling fruit and foods. They even have portable bike-repair shops along the roads down here, and I’ve never seen that before. Here they’ll patch your inner-tubes and fix your chain for a small sum if you’re unlucky as you cycle to work.

Saturday, October 24

Today we were able to sleep in a little bit, and it did us good. We took a taxi in to an area with large shopping arcades, and were especially interested in visiting the so-called “Silk market.” Here they haggle for low prices from morning to night, and it’s just teeming with people in here, including many visitors and foreigners. I don’t think this was our best day, though, because after a while we had had more than enough of people shouting and jostling us, vendors grabbing our sleeves and dragging us over to buy their merchandise, and so on. We would have liked to buy a couple of nice bags, some belts and maybe a couple of silk scarves, but we’ll just have to do that on our next trip to Beijing.

This evening Merida was responsible for the dinner, and as usual, there was no skimping. They had chosen a restaurant called “Slow Food” with an interesting interior, subdivided into sections and small compartments as one typically finds in China. Each room has a large round table with space for 5 to 20 people, depending on how large the party is.

One can order the menu beforehand, or one person chooses various vegetable dishes, a range of seafood, and meat dishes. The lighter dishes are served first and are placed on the large round glass disc which can be rotated. Thus one can help oneself to a little of each dish, and thereby get a taste of everything. It’s a very enjoyable way to eat together, and it’s very social. Eating with chop-sticks doesn’t take long to get used to.

Sunday, October 25

We had an early start to the day today, and were woken up at 6:30. We left for the park where we were going to take part in the mountain bike race today, and be part of the festival’s second day. I held a short speech at the opening ceremony at 9:00, then followed an hour of signing autographs before Kenneth and I both lined up on the starting line with the elite class for men at 12:00. It was a short and fast track, and we were to do four rounds. We got a small lead after the first round which gradually increased through the next rounds. As always: very much fun for me to leave male cyclists behind!

The women’s elite group started at 14:30, and I didn’t exactly have too much power in my legs by then, but after a few minutes of warming up and getting my system going again, I was ready for another trip into the woods. I managed to get a few hundred metres into the race before puncturing and having to change the tube on the front wheel. I reckon I must have had a slow-flat, and I felt that the bike wasn’t working as it should from the start. I guess something had stuck into the tyre from the previous race. Changing an inner-tube easily takes some minutes. In such a short race (25 minutes), there’s no chance of catching up with the leading group again, so I ended on third place today.

I then had a new séance of autographs after the women’s race, and then a final ceremony for the trophies before leaving for the hotel again. A quick shower and some nice clothes on, and we were all set for the banquet together with sponsors, the organization and many cyclists. It ended up being a very enjoyable evening with deliciously tasty Thai food and friendly people. We even had time for a quick visit to a “disco” before leaving for home, and my “dancing legs” worked surprisingly well after a particularly long break from dancing!

Monday, October 26

Today we’ve spent most of the day on the Great Wall of China. It was an amazing experience! We didn’t get to walk all that far on the wall, since I had been a photo-model both with and without my bike already today. I had many new dresses along with me from Gunn’s Stil which were photographed and admired there on the historical wall. Gunn is travelling to China in November to sell her first clothes collection, and this could turn out to be an exciting collaboration for the little company at Bryne in Norway! There was both a stylist and a good photographer for the photo shoot on the Wall, and the resulting photos were very interesting.

This evening we’ve had a Norwegian-Swedish evening together with people from the organization, and we had very spicy Chinese food on the menu – wonderfully tasty food and an exciting culinary experience for everybody who was there. I’m going to really miss the food and the chopsticks when I leave for home tomorrow, not to mention all the very friendly and nice people we’ve gotten to know during our stay.

Wednesday, October 28

The flight back home went as planned, and was dreadfully long as expected. We were at home again in our own sitting room before 23:00 last night, and as usual it felt very weird to be back again after a period away from everything we’re used to. We unpacked most of our stuff before going to bed last night. I slept somewhat fitfully, since my body doesn’t know what’s actually night and day now, but I hope it doesn’t take too many days before we’re back to the normal sleeping routine again.

We can summarize by saying that our visit to China has been an unforgettable experience, providing us with experiences that we will take with us along life’s exciting way. Now action-packed days at home await us, and naturally a fair deal of exercise. You’ll all hear from me again within a good week, at which point there won’t be many days left at all before the wedding bells chime for Kenneth and me. We always associate the autumn with long hikes in the mountains, so we’ll probably have our first trip to the mountains this coming weekend. Maybe that could be an exciting activity for you too, this weekend?

Cyclist’s greetings from Gunn-Rita