Beijing's International Fun Week (October 20, 2013)

[ChinaV]

I went on ONE of these rides ONCE. About 3000 of us paraded through town under the watchful eye of the po po and local gvmnt. Got to the big city square around 4:00 PM for a giant group photo/circle jerk, they then surrounded the whole square with barricades and told us to get on busses where we would be taken to a big hotel for dinner and other BS. No bikes were let out of the city square until 9:00 AM the next day. Pretty smart and sneaky way to keep all those bikes off the streets for the night.

Under 35 only? WTF

Cheers!

[Lao Jia Hou]

I'd never go anyhow, because it would be a bunch of tossers on a thinly veiled 'guanxi gaining exercise' with matching hi-hiz shirts wobbling around corners and gunning it down every straight, but the list of red-tape horse-shit is beyond crap.

haha - seriously, you should participate in one of these events for the "full China experience." Some of my most memorable (entertaining) rides have been with the local HOG boys. On one seven-hour "ride", we covered about 60 kms, in total, with numerous lengthy stops for meals, coffee, pics, shopping, smoke breaks etc. Most riders were covered from head to toe in genuine HD leather, boots, chains, studs, pins, patches, necklaces, watches, etc (one pillion female even had a HD purse and a little poodle with a HD warmer) ... they definitely looked the "bad ass" part ... but the riders always also wore a Hi Viz vest while actually riding (which, frankly, I think is a good idea). The most important part of the ride was ensuring the bikes were lined up properly during each stop - it usually took us a good 20 minutes to get it right, orchestrated by the Road Captain (I think he felt that was his most important job). And then at least another 20 minutes for pics.

At the other extreme are the "rides" where mileage is the measurement of "success" - ride fast, ride far, never stop, pee in your pants.

I Pretty smart and sneaky way to keep all those bikes off the streets for the night.

I bet the city mayor drove a black Range Rover. (ok, ok ... tasteless joke, my bad)

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I may show up for this thing, as long as there isn't a road block ... if they check my DL and see that I am over 35, I might get administrative detention in a Chinese old-folks home (I have a hunch that prison might be better).

[ZMC888]

if they check my DL and see that I am over 35, I might get administrative detention in a Chinese old-folks home (I have a hunch that prison might be better).

If they pull you up for being too old ask for what reason over 35 is too old.

[JayDee]

If they pull you up for being too old ask for what reason over 35 is too old.

What kind of explanation do you expect, do you really want to know? If you look too deep in the abyss, the abyss looks back (or something like that).

Weird china event... entertaining or waste of time?

[Wittrup Sport]

I would like to see the Chinese Official definition of "fun". Something like filling out a form in carbon triplicate, before penetrating your eyeball with a dull pencil...

[Lao Jia Hou]

I would like to see the Chinese Official definition of "fun". Something like filling out a form in carbon triplicate, before penetrating your eyeball with a dull pencil...

Hahaha. I've been wondering about the "week" of fun. The only thing I can come up with is that the registration cut-off date is October 13, the training course is Oct 16 or 17, and the "big ride" is October 20. Perhaps the "fun" is the exciting anticipation, post registration approval, for an entire week?

Over on the Chinese boards, it appears that there are only a few registrations, so far.

[Lao Jia Hou]

"Week of Fun" event cancelled (well, technically postponed until next year).

The official reason is that, in the organizers' opinion, the weather will be too cold (there is a large cold front forecast to be moving into Beijing in a few days). The cold weather could result in somewhat dangerous conditions, according to the advice of a few racing-riders-associations. Further, the selected route has high mountain passes (yes, it does) that will exacerbate the "coldness."

I was a little surprised by the list of sponsors: BMW, MV Augusta, Victory, Bombardier, various large dealers (including Qili and TP China), Beijing TV, Motorcycle magazine, several other media outlets, various levels of government in both Beijing and Hebei, several motorcycle clubs, and many others. It seems this was going to be an attempt at the real deal. Good for them - it is needed.

Here is the public announcement:

http://www.weifengtang.com/bbs/forum...extra=page%3D1