Track and Field Blogs - Mark From Flotrack

The driving in Beijing is pretty crazy. The horn is more of a tool you must use to survive and not seen as rude but more as a, "Heads up, just letting you know I'm behind you and I'm gonna pass so don't merge left." . China is a county of 1.3 billion people and almost every driver on the road is a basically a new driver bc the cars were never the norm until China's recent economic explosion. Bike is still a huge part of most Chinese people's lives and they are just as much part of the street traffic life as the cars and when my brother and I had the oppurtunity to ride around the city with 3 locals we jumped at the chance.

We met Vin Xu, Cia and their friend at noon on sat and we rented bikes to tour the town. For some reason the moment i start to pedal I became fearless on the roads and started to morph into the Beijing traffic like i have been doning it for years. Our biker gang of 5 was weaving in and out of cars, slicing through traffic jams going left and going right. The local Cia took us to his favorite resturant and surprised us with the dishes. Our tour guides were not the richest people in Beijing by any means and yet they would not let us pay for any of the meals bc we were proud to have is as their guests.

We hit up all the little allyways and shops. When we finally got to the birds nest my brother bought a big American flag and I bought a Chinese headband and we instanly became celebrities. The Chinese could not believe that a tall American would wear the Chinese colors on his head and be standing with another American that wore the American flag like a cape. When I say we were celebrities I mean celebrities. People were handing us their kids to hold and the a TV station tried to interview us with their broken English. We could not get away from the crowd and after 15 mins of pictures we had to hightail it out of there like U2 leaving a concert in Dublin.

After my brother bought the US flag, Vin Xu bought a Chinese one and now the biker 5 had added another flag cap. Now we were really a sight to be seen as my brother and his cape, Vin Xu and his cape and me with a Chinese headband were flying through the streets of Beijing. We hit up the Olympic park, Tian'anmen Square, little allyways, small shops and the Chinese white house (that's what Cia called it) and at every corner people were taking out their cameras and getting a photo to prove the story they would tell latter in the day at dinner. If you think about it it really is kind of amazing that two Americans and three Chinese are riding bikes joking around in the capitol of communist china and riding through Tian'anmen Square no less! That would have been unfathombanle 15 years ago.

I have some good footage, that I will make s video with, and I hope you like the pics. Tomorrow I will start to get some interviews as track is getting ready to start. I also wanted to say thanks to our three new Chinese friends. Thanks so much and if you come to the US I will take you around.

Later,

Mark

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