Dalian update: First race in China

On the morning of our departure to Hangzhou for the triathlon & duathlon competition, Pei Pei and Holy Brother (a strong Chinese cyclist who runs the Dahon bikeshop and whose name I cannot seem to remember - he is riding for a semi-professional team from Beijing called ‘ Holy Brother ‘ - don’t ask me why) approached me and they started talking about me having to participate in a cycling race in Kai Fa Qu one week after Hangzhou. Kai Fa Qu is the Dalian Development Zone, some 30 to 40 kilometres north of Dalian City. So, of course, why not? I knew I wouldn’t have any training opportunity all week between the duathlon and the cycling race, as I was travelling around Hangzhou and Ningbo. What I did not know is that this was a Shimano Cup race, serious business in China, and several teams from all over Northern China, even as far away as Beijing and Harbin, would compete in this Kai Fa Qu race!

It was a very foggy and moist morning. The team hired a bus to bring us to the race venue, which turned out to be Jin Shi Tan, or Golden Pebble Beach, a popular beach resort north of Kai Fa Qu. There I immediately learnt that this was an organisation like I know it from Germany. We had to show some form of ID to get race tags and a chip for the electronic timing. Sponsors had stands along the start & finish area (Shimano, Pro, Look,...) and, different from Europe, there were even a few Shimano grid girls like in Formula 1. Perhaps an idea for Mr German Cycling Cup :-)

Finally, I also discovered what was actually on the agenda, as previously nobody was able to give me a clear description. We were in the A-race,which would be 8 laps around a circuit of just over 5 kilometres. Some 60 riders signed up for this A-race. There was also a B-race, a separate women’s race, and a race for people on MTBs. In the afternoon, there would also still be a two-hour-long team relay event.

43 kilometers is really too short for an endurance-type rider like me. However, what I liked was the short but steep climb about 1 kilometre before the finish line. That opened perspectives!

Following the Hangzhou trip, there was not enough time to replace the broken spoke on my Mavic Aksium rear wheel, so I had to use Ketill’s spare wheel, which incidently was also an Aksium. However, set up for Shimano, and I use Campagnolo systems. During the warm-up things ran smoothly, but already on the first lap of the race I had gear shifting problems. Most annoyingly, I had them every lap halfway that steep climb as my chain dropped down two or three cassette rings to 53x13. So, instead of sprinting that hill up in the spirit of Gilbert and Boonen, I was struggling up like those Spanish Euskaltel boys who come for the first time to the Tour of Flanders. Bummer!

It was a fun race, though. And I was surprised by the high-level of competition. There were non-stop breakaway attempts and we would finish with an average speed of 41 km/h, but on the last lap we were still 33 riders contesting the victory. An attack by two riders on lap 5 was dangerous, as one of the big Beijing teams was represented in that breakaway. They managed to open up a considerable gap, as in the peloton several riders were taking a breather. I still felt good and started the chase together with a strongly-built rider, who suddenly asked me where I was from. “Belgium?! Oh, I lived in Belgium for four years, in Gent!” And now we were racing together in the Dalian Development Zone.

The wind had picked-up and the backstretch, which also went slightly uphill, became rather tough. We brought the gap down, but the two of us were not going to close it. Still, the two guys ahead did no longer feel comfortable with their 10-15 second lead and decided to quit their effort and waited for the peloton. This was beginning of the final lap. To be honest, I am not sure whether we would have gotten them had they continued their breakaway, but possibly the wind and that climb had began to hurt their legs, of course. Another Beijing-rider immediately made his move. This guy was actually riding a TT-bike with full disc wheel! Don’t ask me why this guy was allowed to use that machine in a normal cycling race. He was slowly dying on the false flat against the headwind, and I decided to use him as a marker. I accelerated, trying to get an advantage before the climb (as I knew my gears would give me trouble again). I looked back and saw I had a gap, but also a rider from some black & white team in my wheel. I asked him to cooperate, but the guy smiled and just stayed glued to my rear wheel! I continued for a few hundred metres, but I was not going to do all the work for him to outsprint me in the final metres, no way. So I pulled over, told him to take the lead, but all he did was smiling. And there was the front of the peloton again as we hit the climb for the last time. I managed not to get too far behind the frontrunners with that 53x13 monstergear, and in the final sprint to the line made up a few places to conclude in 10th place, just behind my young and talented teammate Sun.

Ketill, in his first genuine cycling race, said he had a rough time trying to hang on to the front group, but he did so to finish 22nd. Peter was less fortunate and abandoned after a few laps.

It was very interesting experience, this short race, and it certainly tastes like more! The average level is high enough, and what’s more, the riders were also very well-behaved and I am not aware of any crashes. Yesterday night at the BBQ, Sun asked me to join him to two mountain races in Inner Mongolia, a few days after the Beijing triathlon & duathlon competition. The two of us would travel to Duolon by train from Beijing: could be fun! Duolon, by the way, is also known as Xanadu and was founded by the legendary Mongol warrior and emperor Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan. Unfortunately, during the first week of July there will also again be some tests at university... so I need to verify just how important these tests are (in the end what really counts for me is the exam early January).

There are plenty of pictures of the Jin Shi Tan race on my Picasa page Have a look.

Duathlon & cycling competitions

Via this link you can also watch a video of the entire event.

I was also interviewed (mainly in Chinese) for Dalian TV before the start of the race, and apparently it was also broadcast as people from the university saw and told me about it ;-)

Dalian update: late carnevale

Dalian remains a fascinatingly different place. Yesterday night after the dull game Brazil-Portugal we headed to the relatively new Soho nightclub. In no time this place has become extremely popular, especially amongst local Chinese and Koreans. There is the usual mix of house and hip hop, which tends to bore me very quickly. But yesterday the DJ had a surprise up his sleeve: all of a sudden he started playing German carnevale and schlager songs!! And all the Asians went wild! For us very few westerners in there it was one of these jawdropping moments...

Plain summer here in Dalian, fantastic cycling weather. I'm preparing myself for next week's Beijing duathlon, which promises to be a tough challenge. I convinced the people from the club that it makes sense to take the nighttrain on Thursday rather than Friday to allow for sufficient rest before race day (Sunday). It is unlikely I will sleep much on that nighttrain, hence.

Meanwhile, Joel has moved out of the appartment. His one-year-contract had ended and he has decided to stay in Dalian, but also to do some bible studies as of next semester. He required a different flat for that. So, since a few days I have the whole big appartment to myself and most likely so until some Australian ex-financial consultant arrives in the summer.

I am finally also getting my summerbreak plans on track. After some travelling in China, It looks like I will be flying to Europe on either 11 or 12 August, after a duathlon race at Huang Shan (8 August). I now also intend to ride the tour version of Liege-Bastogne-Liege upon arrival in Belgium on 14 August, taking advantage of the jetlag.

The Jin Shi Tan race report will follow tomorrow (I know some of you are waiting for more details on that one..)

Dalian update: Business is business

As I was watching the poor North Korean soccer team suffer a humiliating beating by Portugal this week (7-0), my eyes fell on the words Legea written on their shirts. This aroused my curiosity. Legea must be the producer of their sportswear, I thought, but I would have expected a no-brand name or some obscure North Korean brand to provide the team with proper clothes. Or the Chinese giant Li Ning at best. So after the match I did a bit of research and found out that Legea is a relatively young southern Italian sportswear company based in Pompei, in the province of Naples. Apart from several second - and third league club teams, Legea has other popular countries on its customer list, such as Iran, Zimbabwe and Albania. "Business is business, we do not care about politics," a Legea company chief has stated. Could the Camorra be involved in this? And if so, what other goods and services are being exchanged with the renowned dictatorial regime of Kim Jong Il?

One has to feel sorry for those North Korean players. It is said that Kim Jong Il had threatened them already before the game against Portugal with " penalties " should they not perform up to standards. 7-0, and the match was broadcast live in Pyongyang, which was a primeur - a first - for the crippled nation.... And as if things were not bad enough, their South Korean arch rivals did manage to qualify for the second round of the World Cup. Kim Jong Il must be fuming. I hope that the players are spending more time on planning their great escape than on preparing their third and meaningless final game against the Ivory Coast tomorrow.

By the way, those few supporters cheering on the grandstand are not North Korean, but Chinese paid to wave the DPRK flag...

As most of you know I am no soccer fan at all, but various factors have lead me to watching at least one game per day. First, the time difference helps: here in China the first matches of the day kicked off at 19.30 and 22.00 respectively. Only the day's third game poses a problem (kick off at 2.30 a.m.). Second, it has turned out to be rather pleasant following the World Cup in the local Chinese bars in Dalian (and Ningbo previously). Third, the famous soap series factor: once you start watching you want to know how it develops and ends. Nevertheless, this World Cup will not turn me into a soccer enthusiast. Most games are plain boring affairs and the most interesting character on the field is still Diego Maradona. Only for him I would support Argentina to win the Cup, 24 years after the flamboyant ex-cocaine addict guided his country's team to glory in Mexico 1986 - beating Belgium in the semifinals. As far as I can tell, today's Argentinean team bulks with talented players, too. In their well-paced second match against South Korea I often got excited by their technical ability to bypass the other team's defenders: precisely the sort of skill I never seem to notice with the uninspiring European teams.

A celebrated American commentator has actually written a nice column for the Global Times, an English-language daily based in Shanghai. He explains why the Americans still remain largely unimpressed by all this World Cup mania in the rest of the world, and requests FIFA to consider a few ideas to enhance the spectacle and arouse the American people's interest in soccer. Here's the link:

Global Times - Column Barry Cunningham

What's on in China these days? Probably you have already heard of the massive floods that have hit the South and South East of the country. They are the worst in 50 years and have already left 175 people dead and lead to the collapse of 144,000 houses and the evacuation of 1,7 million (!) people. Meteorologists warn that the worst of this year's storm season is yet to come... Most hit are Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangxi provinces, so if anyone was considering a trip to China this summer that includes a visit to pictoresque Guilin - doublecheck the current situation before take-off.

The weather in China this year is also said to be anything but normal. The winter took forever and the South West suffered for months from a major dry spell that deprived many communities from water.

Finally, I read an interesting article concerning the closure of the Hilton Hotel in Chongqing. A local police operation lead to the arrest of over a 100 people as the hotel management is accused of cooperating with gangsters to enable prostitution and drug activities. This is interesting because managers at a number of Holiday Inn hotels in China must now be shitting their pants. In the latter American hotel chain you can indeed hardly enjoy a drink on your own for longer than five minutes...

Travel tip: Qiandao Hu

After the triathlon event on the weekend there was also time for some sightseeing during the following days. I think it is fair to say that everybody - including the Chinese - was highly impressed with the boat tour on the Qiandao Hu or the Thousand Islands Lake. That lake, as yet not that well-known but now linked to Hangzhou via a brand new highway, is truly a must-visit when in the area. It reminded me of Ha Long Bay in Viet Nam and of Guilin in Guangxi Province, southern China. The lake is huge and has 1067 "islands" in it, some of which of course tiny but others quite large and hilly. The boat tour took us to three of these bigger islands, on which we could then hike for some time. Atop the hills the view was often stunning. Take a look at the pictures on my Picasa page.

Today the locals around Qiandao Hu are still visibly surprised to see a non-Asian face in the street. It is also a great place for a cycling training camp, with new roads, little traffic and all kinds of terrain to pick from. Lots of fish restaurants, of course, with big ugly fish from the lake. Okay, they are not all ugly but the local delicatesse is a big black monster of a fish I would never put in my mouth ;-) The crabs are very tasty on the other hand.

You reach the lake in two hours by bus from Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, which is a big city in itself only about 2-3 hours southwest of Shanghai, or four hours southeast of Nanjing. Hangzhou is a famous place in China and allegedly the number one tourist destination for Chinese people. The main reason is Xi Hu, the West Lake, around which Hangzhou has been developed. Also the legend of the White & Green Snake originates there, and you cannot escape it while visiting the various sights that make also this big lake a rewarding day trip. Hangzhou also seems to have quite a large expat community.

On a very rainy Thursday, as I was enjoying two solid cups of Segafredo coffee at a coffee place on the south side of Xi Hu, I decided to return to Dalian via Ningbo. That is another one of these new Chinese cities with two million inhabitants that nobody has ever heard of. Ningbo is located at the sea, two hours south of Shanghai, and has an important harbour apart from being the gateway to the Buddhist island of Putuoshan. I took the bus to Ningbo late in the afternoon and at night discovered a city with lots of neon that reminded me in parts of Tokyo. Perhaps it is similar to Shanghai, too, but I have not been in the latter city yet. Ningbo at night is more interesting than at daytime as the city lacks sights or historic places. What it does have is laowai tan - a district on the other side of the canal with only bars, restaurants, KTVs, massage parlours and nightclubs - a mini version of the 1912 district I got to know in Nanjing two months ago. Even in Ningbo several bars serve Stella Artois, if you fancy a Belgian beer.

Pictures from Hangzhou and Ningbo can also be seen now via this album link:

Zhejiang - Hangzhou & Ningbo

Dalian update: Duathlon success at Qiandao Hu

Two weeks ago I travelled south to Hangzhou with about 20 people belonging to the reputed Dalian triathlon club. These are the guys I met earlier in May on that bike ride I wrote about on this blog. Xiao Pei convinced me to join them for the Hangzhou trip, as there was also a duathlon, also called run-bike-run, competition on the programme. A compulsory health certificate was quickly produced and off we went. It turned out to be a great experience!

When the Chinese organise something they do it right. This was again the case for both the sports event and the trip organisation. We flew to Hangzhou via Qingdao and upon landing were waited upon by a rental bus, which would take us in two hours to Qiandao Hu ( = thousand islands lake), venue of the sports event. Our hotel, full-pension, was basic but clean and right next to the beautiful lake. I shared a triple room with Ketill an Peter, both from Iceland and working in Dalian. The three of us were the only foreigners in our team, so there was ample opportunity to speak mandarin during the five days we were all going to spend there together!

The event was part of the ITU Asian Triathlon Cup, and also featured a race for professional athletes on Saturday. I was quite surprised to see such an international starting field! I think all continents had representatives. The whole event took off with a big ceremony - as always in China - and our team also had to line up during the official presentation and opening of the event. After the speeches and the start of the professional race, I had to worry about my rear wheel. Indeed, the weekend started badly for me with a broken spoke on my Mavic Aksium. Taking a racebike on a plane remains a risky affair. A Chinese team member suffered the same fate. Luckily, Xiao Pei is well-known on the circuit after many years of wins and podium finishes, and she managed to arrange a spare wheel for me to use on the weekend. In fact, my spare wheel was better: it was a Ksyrium ;-).

My duathlon was scheduled to commence at 8.20 a.m. on Sunday. It was the sprint version: 5km run, 20km bike, 2,5km run. That means about an hour of maximum intensity. By that time the temperature had already risen to nearly 30 degrees. Some 45 athletes signed up, including a Fin working for Nokia in Hangzhou. Breakfast was not ideal, as expected. As much as I like Chinese food, it is not exactly my favourite pre-sports competition fare. And where the hell was the coffee? All that was on offer was milk and hot orange juice, yes, hot orange juice. I had to make do with a can of iced Nestle coffee, purchased the day before, and two steamed buns. I was on unfamiliar territory: I had never done a genuine duathlon competition before. Only at high school I did it twice or three times. In fact, I have hardly ever run in the past five years. Only last autumn I found my running shoes back and did a few runs, but then I suffered a major foot inflammation on Lanzarote last January, which made me limp about for several weeks. So, I was a little worried before the start two weeks ago.

As soon as the start was given, several Chinese competitors took off like bullets. It was truly quite shocking! I did not even bother trying to follow them: they were simply running way too fast. Also the Finnish guy went ahead. But after 2,5 kilometers it seemed that several had been slightly too enthusiastic. I caught them again, and when we hit the bike stand after 5 km I was lying in fourth place with the frontrunners still within sight. I lost some time during the change from running to cycling shoes, but when I got going I rather quickly took the lead on the windy course, which had to be completed three times and also had an annoying piece of false flat in it. However, I could not hold on to first place long, as suddenly this Finnish guy stormed past me lying aerodynamically on his Cervelo time trial bike! Then I experienced what a major difference such a time trial bike, with its specific handlebar, can make. Drafting was not allowed, and I had a very hard time trying to keep up with him on my standard racebike. In fact, slowly slowly I lost some terrain. I was knackered when after 20 km I arrived back at the changing zone, but found new courage when I started the final 2,5 km run at the same time as my Finnish rival. I did not waste the opportunity to deal him a mental blow and gave it all, setting a running pace he could not match. Once I had the gap it was a question of concentration, really, as I was seriously out of breath myself. But he turned out to be even more, and my margin would increase to about a minute. And so I grabbed victory in my first duathlon event ;-).

People were seemingly impressed by the foreigner, as one after the other local wanted to have a picture with me. Several people asked for my autogram, which I even put on a few T-shirts and baseball caps :-)! Winning in China is sweet!

The trophy and financial reward were also not bad: it got me out of the costs for a week.

So, now I have three more duathlons lined up for the next couple of months. First, Beijing in a fortnight. I hear that one is the toughest of the whole year. Then there will be Huang Shan early August and Wei Hai late September. All events also belong to this ITU Asian Cup organisation.

My Chinese team members also did a great job in the triathlon races (olympic and short distance). Chao even won the olympic distance and confirmed his status as China’s best amateur triathlete! Xiao Pei managed the same feat in the women’s race.

That night we had a great party at the local nightclub.

I have uploaded quite a few pictures on my Picasa page. Have a look:

Zhejiang - Qiandao Hu

Dalian update: Back in town

Just a quick sign of life following my 8-day trip to Zhejiang province, including visits to Qiandao Hu, Hangzhou and Ningbo. I returned to Dalian with delay this afternoon, and am already packed up again for a cycling event in Kaifaqu (north of Dalian) tomorrow morning, which requires a 5 a.m. wake-up call ...

My duathlon competition at Qiandao Hu was a success last weekend. For more details watch this space in the next few days ;-)