Steffi's China - Part One - Rice and Roost
...that's what Steffi says and that's what she does. It's like yolo but better because it gives you some direction. And the direction in this case was China. So when Trek Gravity Girl, Steffi Marth of BMX, 4X and freeride fame, was given her orders to go out and find the mountain bike action among the world's largest population, she necked her coffee, packed her chop-sticks and prepared for the unexpected. We've all seen the incredible Chinese landscapes in movies like 'Where the Trail Ends', but of all the 1.35 billion inhabitants, is anyone native actually putting pedal to metal off-road? We were about to find out... or die from eating a poisoned duck's head trying.
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 | There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing...as the song goes, but mine did not arrive when I stood alone at the airport. They were still in Berlin and I was forced to continue my travels and fly on to Dalian in the North East of China without my bikes. I had never heard of this city before, but Dalian has actually over 6 million inhabitants and most importantly, hosts one of the upcoming early stage biking locations in China... the Lindao Bike Park - Steffi |
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 'Nin hao' & welcome to China's first ever bike park, recent birthplace of genuine gravity-fed mountain biking in this vast nation. There are berms, jumps, wooden features, a dual track and quite brilliantly, a chairlift. |
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| The end of the track at Lindao Bike Park... the start of an all new sport in China. Lindao has hosted several downhill races already in the last year and will be both an important training ground and competition venue in seasons to come. |
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| By winter the creaky, two-man chair services a nursery ski slope, that presumably hosts some phenomenally retro action. It's just a small mountain covered in shrubs, on the outskirts of the coastal city of Dalian, but it's reeling in an increasing number of keen new riders from across the land. |
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| At the center you have a workshop with all the right tools and a collection of locals that know where-slots-what. Steffi wrenches on here recently delivered Remedy 9.8. |
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| Lonely times on day one for Ms. Marth. To tell you some more about your China guide, the German Junior BMX champion placed 6th last month at the 4X World Champs in what would be her last race. Next year she'll be all about the DH and the kind of trips that make people only rich by bank balance, feel like throwing themselves off a bridge. |
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| After no rain for nearly 2 months, the mountain was running super fast and dusty. A real Chinese roost paradise... Rest assured Steffi didn't Trek all the way to China not to Slash a few turns. Keeping the sponsors happy is a Remedy for success every Session. |
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| There's currently 3 tracks to be found out on the hill, all including properly crafted downhill/free-ride features and there's room to develop a bunch more...really promising stuff. |
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| Meet the builder- Jian Sun. He had only a year's riding and absolutely no experience of trail construction when he began, but finding inspiration from MTB movies and through pure trial and error, he has produced something to proud of. He is absolutely as keen as they come. |
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| Germany's fastest lady & architecture graduate tests and approves the structural integrity of Jian Sun's wallride without any backhanders... |
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| The novice builders have managed to shape most of the Lindao Bike Park a good deal nicer than your average euro berm in the Alps. Although short lived for what we know in the West, you can get up to speed and keep the flow with ease. |
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| This is Wang Rongshuang, one of two owners of the park which simultaneously offers kids camps & outdoor training to a total of 600 members. Although more naturally a road biker, but on this occasion found sessioning the dual track in jeans and a jacket. |
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| It is very strange getting to somewhere you don't know anyone and 95% of the people can only speak Chinese. After a few hours it turned out that all those Chinese bike freaks are very funny and massively friendly. Especially our local guide Karen who actually organizes the Chinese Pinkbike Downhill Series... She made our trip very easy by organizing everything from food to airplane tickets during our trip. Without her I would have probably never get my Trek bikes which arrived the next day so the riding could begin. Thaaanks Karen x - Steffi |
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| This is Karen Zhang...one great girl/kitten. Karen runs the show on the race scene in China, managing the Pinkbike downhill series. When she's not in full organisation mode, busy watching Japanese cartoons, or continuously voice-mailing people (the Chinese love that app here) Karen is getting to grips with her Devinci birthday present on the mountain. Two years ago she wouldn't be able to spot a BMX from a downhill bike, but now she is fully switched on to MTB and absolutely key to the development of the sport in this country. |
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| 12 year old, Edison Zhang (no relation of Karen) was out riding the park on his brand new S-Works, only a week old. Despite all the gear, he couldn't tell us his favorite rider, only 5 minutes into the sport. He may be down on his MTB history, but his early enthusiasm suggests the world of bikes will be a big part of his future. Like a lot of Chinese riders with a downhill interest he is from Hong Kong, but Edison now lives locally in Dalian. |
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| Shi Li is one of the coolest and funniest characters at Lindao BP. Taught English by his Canadian wife, he sounds American, in fact a lot like Will Smith. Riding for only one month on a brand new Giant Glory, he is already tackling every corner with skills far ahead of his experience and is absolutely loving having discovered this sport and the lifestyle that comes with it. |
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| Steven Yong caught our eye out on the track with his more mature ride... Actually a real vintage by Chinese standards. He picked up his Yeti 8 years ago in Singapore, having been into bikes for a solid 20 years. Steven's favourite rider is Hans Rey...now that's pretty old school. |
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| It was so surreal to travel such a long way, to such an unlikely country, to find proper trails and people riding with just the same passions we have back home. It all felt so familiar right away! Steffi |
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| After a full day on the hill we were always treated to the frankly insane diversity of Chinese food that is typical of their mealtimes. The left is a big juicy clam and the right... well that's Steffi contemplating a vac-packed snack cuttlefish. |
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| Ain't nothin' like a squid hotpot for a quick refuel. |
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| Steffi, aka 'Party Marty', leading the charge into the German beer keg with the fattest glass at the park bar. Everyone here is super keen to live the rider's life of shredding and kicking back with the crew. |
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| We found out one of our new rider buddies, Li was a night club singer in the city. The kind of news that must be investigated... A Jacko-rendition master, he fared much better than we did rolling dice on our drinks with all the other riders. |
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| I am not going to lie and say that one of the first bike-parks in China can compete with any of our western ones, but the lifestyle and passion of the Chinese riders is truly impressive and absolutely lovely. They shred their few short, but super fun trails with dusty berms and mini jumps over and over again, every day, mostly on pretty high-end DH Bikes. I made some Chinese friends so easily, which was not expected, but with everybody loving mountain bikes it is so easy to find a way to communicate on the same level and have the best time together - Steffi |
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| Thanks for such a great reception Lindao Bike Park...and welcome to the downhill scene China! It's going to be interesting to see how gaining the influence of this enormous country pans out, to say the least... |
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| As the sun sets in Dalian there's still so much more to come from Steffi's great Oriental adventure. Next she swoops East, over to Xi'an to a stunning forest reserve and takes a look at a few thousand ancient stone warriors on the way... 'Huijian' (see you soon)! |
www.steffimarth.com
nathhughes.tumblr.com
www.trekbikes.com
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by driving I mean, longs drives, exploring the country,
My current employer has no issues with me driving as far as I'm aware.
Makes me question it's true purpose.
The only thing that question made was a huge flame fest against said jornalist in social media and newspapers.
Jornalism can't judge or even give a hint of right or wrong about where money is spent.
Does the fact that we recently almost defaulted on our Mega debt not mean anything to yall??
God bless and get used to it. I respect you all regardless of where your from but dont be so naive.
PS: The Three Gorges Dam is an Amazing engineering marvel that has changed the face of our planet. Congratulations to a Country of amazing people for creating what was thought to be impossible and redefining what is imaginable.
EDIT: Also, really glad to see those comments about Rachel get removed. Swing the hammer mods and admins!
Well played Sir
That's funny, yesterday, I heard a chinese student doing a critical speech about how bad have been french colonization. Seems that he forgot a part of tibet history.
Anyway, have you been in Lhassa?
What about prostitution and alcoolism that have started after colonization?
Pls, pls don't play with your ignorance any more, this is a mtb forum, not for politics.
Seems there is a big difference between corsica and tibet...
so who's the ignorant now?
anyway I don't really care about politic, i just enjoy to troll
One drop of poison infects the whole tun of wine. Your country are good at making wines, I believe you will understand this.
This is a good place to discuss and exchange international ideas on mtb. I really hope everyone can just stay on the topic. Believe me, politics are way more complicated than what you and I have known about.