China CX Part 4: Beijing

The Qiansen Trophy Series is China's first-ever UCI cyclocross race. Sponsored by the Qiansen Engineering Corporation all riders were provided round-trip airfare and a week's worth of transportation, food and lodging at one of Yanqing's premier spa and resort. This post is the final in a series that attempts to relay just a few of the incredible moments we, as riders, were blessed to experience.

(continuing from China CX Part 3) no, I didn't get any sleep.  I packed my bike and bags at 4am and just laid in bed wide awake.  The day before I'd ridden in the morning, raced and then stayed up all night, I should be able to get at least a few hours sleep, right?  Nope.  6:30 comes and I load my things onto the shuttle for the drive into Beijing.  

Instead of staying at the resort with the other riders we decide to spend our last day in Beijing on our own dime.  The Portland contingent shared this trip with a couple Swiss riders and the Estonian/Latvian national teams.  I had no idea what the plan was so I was hoping someone knew what they were doing.  The Estonian team manager took charge, booked hotels and laid out a rather ambitious plan for the day.  Drop bags at hotel and then see everything we can, transportation is walking and the subway.  On no sleep, this was going to be interesting.

"do not exceed weight limit" sign

After dropping our bags at the airport hotel (my room cost a whopping $11 for the night) we dropped the Swiss riders at some 5-star hotel downtown and began our journey.

First challenge of the day: figure out how to use the subway.  This is one of those things that is completely natural for anyone who's used it for years but we struggled a little at the first stop.  At one point we didn't realize we needed to insert our pass into a machine to exit the station and half of us just ended up jumping the barricade.  Oops.  We learned for the next time.

typical air quality 

Our first tourist stop was the Temple of Heaven.  There are countless stories of things we saw along the way but I won't ramble on.  Here are some pictures.

Next stop: Tiananmen Square.

Big Brother much?

While we saw a bunch of stuff, at some point it's just a little overwhelming.  After walking all day and skipping lunch, on top of 20 minutes of sleep in the last 40-ish hours I was getting a little worn out.  We were planning on climbing the hill to that building pictured in the above picture but everyone was pretty wiped out.  And we still had to get to the silk market which closes at 9pm.  To get there we had to talk two miles back to the subway, another 10 minute tube ride and then more walking.  I could suddenly relate to children who plop down on the sidewalk and refuse to move.  

The solution: a taxi.  And not one with four wheels.  Something more like this: 

not my picture but you get the idea

The only problem, we had 10 of us and we were trying to hail more than one of these one block away from one of the most popular tourist attractions in China.  Screw it, we're not taking any of this Chinese money home with us.  

Our group had 10 people.  We hailed 3 taxis.  5 people on one like pictured above, three on another and myself and another Portlander in one that looked like a metal lunch box.  Ad we're rolling.  If you've never experienced Beijing traffic (or really Chinese traffic at all) it's something to add to the bucket list.  Terrifying but oddly exhilarating.  We weave in and out of traffic, almost get run over (my American standards) by two tour buses and come within inches of crowds of pedestrians.  After about half a mile the driver of the 5-rider taxi motions something about being too heavy.  Just like that I wind up with a 180+ lbs Swiss man kind of sitting on my lap.  As mentioned previously, I'M SITTING IN THE METAL LUNCH BOX which is cozy even for two people.  Needless to say the Swiss guy was only half in the cart with his head and upper torso sticking out into traffic.  I can't make this stuff up.  I didn't manage to get any pictures because my camera and phone were being ground into my hip and thigh my some Swiss dude's pelvis.  If I manage to find a picture or video I will definitely post it later.

We eventually arrived at the Silk Market, ate and threw ourselves into the chaos.  9 floors of counterfeit goods.  You could easily spend days (and thousands of dollars) in there just looking at all the knock-off stuff.  On my list: a purse for the wife, new athletic shoes and a watch if there's one that won't fall apart in a week.

Success on all three fronts.  Got out of there for $200 with all three items and they weren't crap.  Ok, well the shoes definitely aren't great but I knew that going in.  The whole experience is a little crazy because if you ask for a specific product the employee will take you into a locked back room where the walls are covered in knock-off goods.  Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, Rolex and the list goes on and on.  In one room I saw a guy dropping over $1000 on a purse, watch and pair of shoes and he thought we was getting the deal of his life.  After he left the employee just stood there grinning.  I got out of there with better product for $200.  The bargaining over there is truly something to experience and not something I want to do again for the next 10 years.

A quick taxi ride and we're back to the hotel.  I finally crash in bed at 9pm and sleep like a rock.  Sleep.  Finally.  My Estonian roommate stumbles in past midnight and I hardly stir.  5:30am and we're on a shuttle to the airport for our 8:30am flight.  An uneventful (the best kind) 11 hour plane ride and we're back in America.  A couple hour layover in Seattle, a quick jump to Portland and we arrive 10 minutes before we left Beijing (8:20am).  Still trying to wrap my mind around how that one works.