Latest News

2007-09-20 So, we are still alive, and biking, running and adventuring as usual, but unfortunately time is short and we never get round to making changes to the site. .
Please register with our Google Groups to become member, you will receive our newsletters and co and can manage your own account.

What is Cyclocross
The sport of cyclocross is nearly as old as the bicycle itself, but one that in recent years has grown in popularity around the world. Cyclocross is
part mountain biking, part road riding and part running. This cycling discipline has provided a welcome Winter break to road and mountain bike racers
and used by numerous Tour de France winners for winter conditioning. Most races take place in parks or fields, and generally include some on-road and
off-road riding and even a little running…while carrying your bike. Races are mostly timed and often last between 45 min-1 hour.

The history of Cyclocross
Turn of the century winter "dead seasons" would find the young French army private, and later secretary-general of the French Cycling Union, Daniel
Gousseau cycling through the forests along side his horse-mounted general, sharing their love of the outdoors. He enjoyed these winter outings so much
that he invited a few of his friends along and soon dozens of cyclists were rolling along the trails. Impromptu racing occurred among the sporting
cyclists and soon organized events were scheduled.

In 1902 Gousseau was given the opportunity to organize the first French championship, which was won by F. de Baeder. For years this "rough stuff" and
"mud plugging" remained mainly a French indulgence until its popularity exploded when Octave Lapize attributed his 1910 Tour de France win to the
off-season sport. The first International Criterium, which was won by the Frenchman Gaston Degy, was held in 1924 in Paris. Following Gaston to the
podium were many of cycling's greats: Charles Pelissier in 1926, 1927 and 1928, Sylvere Maes, the handlebar namesake, in 1933 and Robert Oubron who
won in 1937, 1938, 1941 and 1942!

In 1950 one of the international events became official, and in Paris the 1947 Tour winner Jean Robic was the first to pull on the rainbow jersey.
Like the International Criteriums, the World Championships saw many of cycling's brightest stars cross the finish lines. But among them, Belgium's
Eric de Vlaeminck was definitely king of the 'crossers having, at the tender age of twenty, won in 1966 and then each year from 1968 to 1973.

Although traditionally a European dominated sport, Cyclocross is actually the fastest growing cycling participation sport in the United States. Trek
is now planning to bring this sport to China.

Cyclocross race style
'Cross races are generally held on circuits one to two miles in length. The perfect course will have paved and unpaved sections, wet areas and dry,
will be about 75 percent rideable, the rest for running. It will have a variety of natural obstacles, like muddy banks, streams, and fallen trees, and
man-made obstacles, like bales of straw, wooden barriers, and even flights of stairs. Depending on your classification and age the race will last
around thirty to 75 minutes. After a season of multi-hour road and mountain bike races this may seem to be a short run, but for even the most
prepared, this is a lung-blowing, eye-crossing experience. Cyclo-cross is a very demanding, incredibly precise and a totally wonderful sport.
More like road racing than mountain, 'cross racers are allowed "pit crews" where they can do bike exchanges, replace wheels or take care of any other
mechanical problems they might have. For professionals and those more serious, it's common on muddy courses to exchange your filthy bike for a clean
one after each lap. The mechanics using buckets and brushes, high-powered hoses, and even rushing streams to clean off the bikes.
The only real way to learn the cyclo-cross ropes is to get out there and do it. To this end Trek Bicycle Corporation will host 2 Cyclocross training
and introduction sessions, followed by a training ride on September 11 and October 16. Time and place TBD – most likely somewhere north of BJ in the
afternoon of these two days.
Following these training sessions, Trek Bicycle Corporation will host a 4 race series on the weekends of Oct 29, Nov 19, Nov 26 and Dec 3. All
training sessions and races will be followed by food and drinks...weather permitting...so bring out the whole family and enjoy the fun!

What do I need?
Although using a cyclocross bike is best, any mountain bike (hardtail mountain bikes generally being the most suitable) or road bike with slightly
wider, knobby tires will work just fine as long as they are in good working order. Since you will be on and off your bike, it is best to have either
mountain bike shoes, tennis shoes or some other sort of light hiking shoe...keep in mind if it is a muddy day, it can get slippery.

Why do it?
At a time when mountain biking is so popular, the question of why to take up cyclo-cross is often heard. While there are plenty of reasons to ‘cross’,
one primary reason for taking up cyclocross is for the training benefits. Nothing can beat the incredible workout afforded by this off-season sport.
In additional to the cardiovascular workout it provides, it also builds stunning arm and upper-body strength and significantly improves your
bike-handling skills. While many people think of October as a time to hang up their bike and retreat to a gym or indoor pool for their workouts,
Cyclocross is a great way to extend your cycling season and either build or maintain your cycling fitness throughout the winter. Having said that,
the most important reason I can think of is that it is just a lot of fun. I was introduced to Cyclocross almost 20 years ago and when I finally got
round to racing ‘cross 5 years ago, I realized I had found my true passion. I hope everyone will take some time out to join us as we continue to
pioneer the sport of cycling in China.

Cross-ing it up...
Todd McKean
General Manager – China
Trek Bicycle Corporation
tel: 86-(0)10-8459-5392
fax: 86-(0)10-8459-5394
email: todd_mckean@trekbikes.com
web: www.trekbikes.com

Interesting. Everyone got lost except the first three guys and the first girl. Boris won which is vaguely logical, but Patrick 2nd?? (technically 3rd) and David O 3rd. Japanese Girl Mika trashed the opposition becoz she followed no 2 who put down signs saying where to go. Revenge for mid-October.. Very nice coffee by the way, thanks to Arabica Roasters!!

Four guys and one girl defied the trains and buses to get to Jinzhou to compete in the first 'penholder mountain island triathlon'. Olympic distance, but no picnic. The sea of Bohai is quite putrid. But the bike course and the run were fine, it did rain, causing quite a few accidents on the bike though. And of course the MOB won - well in the age groups, Siegfried 2nd 40-45, Fabian 4th and Pan Jieguang 5th in the 30-39 group!! Considering there were only five of us and hundreds of them, we did OK... Full results are here (self-extracting archive, 7MB)

On March 22 Patrik and Sieg joined a group of eight athletes from the Beijing Triathlon Union to represent China in the Mekong Duathlon & Triathlon Festival. We flew from Beijing to Bangkok and then to Nakhon Phanom, where the Mekong River (Lancang River in China) divides Thailand and Laos.

Patrik first did an adventure duathlon to warm up for the international duathlon. He finished 2nd in the open category and 6th overall, a bit less than expected - but we would blame it on the heat later on.

Siegfried did an aquathlon (750m swim and 5k run) and finished in 33'37, better than expected, but not quite in the front of the field.

On Saturday Patrik joined the international duathlon, which had professional teams from Uzbekistan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand and the Czech Republic.
Patrik did the first 10k in 33'30 (!) to start the bike in the second group. Luckily the Uzbeks, who had 5 athletes and were working as a team, were waiting for their top athlete, who was in Patrik's group; so after a few kms there was a lead group of 9 people. The Uzbeks kept on attacking, and Patrik was not able to counter all these attacks by himself. So two Uzbeks got away, and a bit later the Filipino athlete also jumped. Patrik decided to stay in the group. After another 12 attacks by the Uzbeks (who were trying to kill off Patrik), the main group started their run 4 minutes after the 2 leaders, and 3' after the Filipino. Even though he had a slow transition, Patrik immediately settled into
4th place and had the fastest run of all competitors, almost catching up with the Filipino. His 5k time was 17'23!! Amazing re!
ally, considering that we are still in base training, and do no speed training whatsoever. Needless to say Patrik finished first in the amateur category.

Siegfried's triathlon had its ups and downs; the swim was okay, and he was in the lead group of the amateurs after the first bike leg. But right at the end of that lap he had a blow-out, and Patrik had to get a spare wheel from the hotel room. Siegfried lost 6 minutes altogether, and managed a slow 48' run to finish in 2h22, which is okay for this time of the year. He finished third in his age category.

Patrik is now preparing for the duathlon world championships in Australia in September, and hopes to finish in the top three in the elite group!

Congratulations Michi on finishing the NZ Ironman, in 12h11'26'', check here for the results page. An absolutely great swim at 1:21 and a good run at 4:31 enabled Michi to handsomely beat his previous attempts. When is the next Ironman party we wonder?

Yoga for Cyclists, By Baron Baptiste and Kathleen Finn Mendola
A yoga program can build a cyclist's strength and endurance and introduce flexibility to chronically tight muscles. We know that our IT bands and hip extensors could do with some of this, check it out..

Simatai adventure quadrathlon and sewing contest 2004-09-11/12

While we had a great start and a great weekend (I hope you agree), it was the end that proved a bit difficult - Lao Zhang did not have enough buses, so the people who were in the Hongye and the Santana are now thinner and more compact... :-)

Wang Jianguo from the China Triathlon Association was there, and he took some nice pictures of the race: (opens in new window)

It seems that the race was too easy for most people, so we will make it much harder next time; I will include cooking and knitting skills ;-)

The ride is done! And what a ride it was!! Just watch out for the torrent of pix and movies from this wonderful adventure. We must extend our thanks to Kathleen and Xingou who helped so much to make it all possible and dealt with all sorts of d*mned idiots to make it all beautiful. And to Dagmar for the great hotel in Zhongdian!

With Todd (Trek Bicycles) in town things are about to become serious in the road biking world. We are thinking of getting organised into a group, with a team name and even a complete kit (helmet, clothes), just like in Guangzhou and Shanghai. We are looking for your creativity in finding a suitable name, and even to come up with a logo and a design for the cycling shirt and shorts. So please feel free to send us your ideas! Also, we have a list of 59 names in our RoadMob list. This list is at least 5 months old, so if you have not signed up specifically for this RoadMob you'd better do so now. Just reply to this email.

Yes, more and more foreign brand names are coming to Beijing. A friend of ours, Wanda, is manager of Beijing Expresst Trading Co., Ltd, which recently became the Beijing dealer of Cannondale. They have Cannondale bike and gear in their showroom. You are welcome to check it out.
Beijing Expresst Trading Co., Ltd
Room 219, Partex Building,
No.9, Xiyuan He Ping Street
Chaoyang District

I'd be grateful if you could give people a head's up that there will be another Yangshuo adventure race organized by Seyon Asia Limited on 18-19 September 2004.

Second in the series of King and Queen of the Mountain was April 17th 2004, Sizuolou. Check out our winners, congratulations to Maria (our Queen), Chad & Zhang Yushuo (our Kings) and to all the others who made this a memorable event. Here is the results table (Excel 18Kb). And check out an article in Metro Magazine about the event.

BIKE FOR SALE:
Lili Sun is selling her Rock Machine MTB. Very good non-suspended mountain bike, with good looks and components. Contact her on 13801370257 or by email

*SALES ENGINEERS WANTED
A Belgian JV company in the business of anti-corrosion protection of structural steel works is looking for two (Chinese) sales engineers. The perfect candidate should have a background in STEEL construction or anti-corrosion protection, two years of work experience, good communication skills and excellent command of the technical vocabulary in Chinese. English is not important. Job description: sales and marketing of Belgian-made ZINGA film galvanising systems. The candidate is expected to start around the middle of July. Please contact Gordon Chan for more info

* Swimming classes available for beginners of intermediate swimmers: Xu Xiaomei (Yang's wife and swimming coach) is offering swimming classes at the Chen Jing Lun Middle School (50m pool behind Landao shopping center). Duration: early March to early April, 4 weeks, 2 times/week, 1 hour/session. The classes can be arranged in the evening of weekdays or weekend days. Groups: Breast stroke & Free style (any level). Fees: RMB 70/person for 3 people --- RMB 60/person for 4 people --- RMB 50/person for 5 people or more. The price includes admission tickets & instruction. May used to be a member of the Chinese national pentathlon team, with 10 years coaching experience. Contact May at 86186051 or by email: xuxubaidu@yahoo.com

Latest MOB News