ON THE ROAD WITH CHRISTIANMy Ride, My Passion
Take a journey with EAST Beijing General Manager Christian and learn how his passion for cycling was sparked… you might just want to start riding too.
ON THE ROAD WITH CHRISTIANMy Ride, My Passion
How did you start cycling?
My dad taught me how to cycle when I was a child. I remember the first time he took away the side wheels from my little bike. I was going and going and I looked back to see where my dad was. I could see him standing 50 meters behind me. This felt good and put a smile on my face. Then I turned back to the front… and crashed as I could not steer the right direction anymore ;-) Result: I was bleeding on my knee and chin and said “I hate cycling”.
Since that day I started cycling and got better. I love it as not only is cycling a lot of fun, it is also an amazing form of exercise burning over 500 calories in an hour and it helps to build strength, tone muscle, increase cardio fitness and strengthen your bones.
Being out in the fresh air, cycling with friends, exercising and feeling the sun on your skin and reaching your riding achievements are all fantastic for my mental well-being.
Gives me a great work life balance.
ON THE ROAD WITH CHRISTIANMy Ride, My Passion
What are the most challenging trails you’ve had before?
My first serious tour was challenging as my bike buddies at that time were much fitter than me and pushed very hard. I remember I was a student, and we went for 150km across two mountains in one afternoon. As I am from the south of Germany, Bavaria I actually should be used to mountains and hilly roads. But nowadays, it is already challenging just to reach the first coffee shop.
ON THE ROAD WITH CHRISTIANMy Ride, My Passion
Which trails are your favourite ones in China?
I wish to explore much more – as China has fantastic roads and great nature.
Now that I am in Beijing, I would recommend Huairou District, Jietai Temple and Tanzhe Temple which are fantastic scenic roads with great views.
There are also great loops and roads around Beijing for riders of every level of experience and fitness. If the weather and air are good, it is priceless and simply beautiful.
ON THE ROAD WITH CHRISTIANMy Ride, My Passion
Which trails do you recommend for beginners?
It’s more about getting on a bike and start to explore “your” area. Smaller circles for a start and bigger ones later. The great thing about riding a bike is the fact that it gets you out and about exploring new places be locally or further afield, many of which you may not have even known existed if you hadn’t explored them on two wheels. It’s amazing how many people say that they have found beautiful new spots really close to their homes when cycling that they never had reason to stumble across before.
ON THE ROAD WITH CHRISTIANMy Ride, My Passion
Any tips for beginners or people who want to start cycling?
If you want to start cycling, then look for like-minded people. It is always more fun to go out with others who share the same passion.
It is great to ride in a group as you can learn from others and pick up the dynamics. You would even go faster to keep up with each other, if you don’t chat too much while riding. Riding with other people helps us push ourselves beyond our physical and mental barriers; and that’s a great feeling. Many of us set challenges for our rides, be it conquering steeper and longer gradients, reaching higher speeds or cycling longer distances. As you grow in confidence and conquer your personal challenges the sense of achievement is fantastic.
If you have the “Monday blues” then just go out alone and drill it to the max… push as hard as you can. Enjoy the freedom… just you, the bike and the open road. It’s a great feeling being in charge of your own destiny for the time that you are out on a ride.
P.S. Need for speed: Some of the adrenaline junkies amongst us just love to get the adrenaline rush from speeding down a steep hill and picking up greater speed. Ok, it may not be for every rider, but feeling that adrenaline kick in can be pretty awesome!
