Bike Racin' in Bailizhou!

About two months ago, I was walking along Yanjiang Dadao ("Riverside Avenue") with my friend Ayan and we passed  by a Trek bike shop. Now this bike shop I happen to pass quite often and each time I gaze longingly into the shop windows, daydreaming of my rides on the Washington Palouse and spending long hours in the saddle of my own Trek bike back at home (I miss my baby!!). I never let myself go inside because I knew I would find some ridiculous way to convince myself to spend 4 months worth of my salary on a bike I'd only be using for a year before I'm stuck having to either sell it or pay out the yin yang to get it back to the States.

The rolling hills of the Palouse near Spokane, WA

 But this time, having just finished a leisurely ride with Ayan and a couple of my Chinese friends I was in that biking state of mind and nothing could stop me. I hopped up the steps into the store and started examining their bikes, scanning for the model I have back at home. It turns out they didn't have any women's road bikes, which was probably for the best given my current state of weakness. As I looked around, I was pleasantly surprised when the shop owner came up to me and started speaking to me in near-perfect English (a rarity in lil ol' Yichang). He introduced himself as Once Lee and asked me about my biking experience. I told him I do some long-distance road biking in the States and that I was sad to learn that road biking isn't very popular in Yichang. His response was something along the lines of  "Hold up little lady, now that right there just ain't true!" .. okay maybe he didn't say it like that but its my story and I'll tell it how I want to, hehe. Anyway, he told me that he owns the shop and that there is a Trek bike team that likes to do weekly rides and sometimes they take people to do races around the area. So.. that's awesome I guess. Actually, I kind of freaked when I heard this. Like almost cried from happiness. 8 months was just too long to go without biking. On top of that, he took me to the back of the shop and showed me some of his personal bikes and said I was welcome to use them any time I like and that he'd let me know when the next group ride was. 

pre-race selfies with Alice :D

Since that day, I've been going on rides a few times a week with him and Zhang Li Si (English name 'Alice') who works at his shop. They've introduced me to a lot of other bikers in Yichang and through those people I've met even more. The bike culture does exist here after all! They all come out at night and do rides along the Yangtze river. When I go we usually start around 7:30 and go for about two hours, doing sprints along Yanjiang Dadao or crossing the bridges and cruising along the dimly-lit countryside roads on the other side of the river.  

Biking hasn't been the only benefit of being friends with this wonderful new group of people. I've also been introduced to a lot of delicious local restaurants here in Yichang.. after almost every ride we go out for some late-night nommage. I've supped on savory mutton soup, cracked my way through 小龙虾 ("xiǎo lóngxiā" which literally means 'little lobster,' but I'm pretty sure it was crayfish), munched on 花椒 ("huājiāo" or Sichuan pepper)-covered snake beans, and indulged in red bean sago soup. 

And I've also been happy to discover that it is in fact an international norm that biking should always be paired with beer. So of course our post-ride dinners always include plenty of Tsingtao, Chero or Snow, Yichang's bottom-shelf suds of choice.

So I guess I'll get to the bit about the race now! My friend Once who owns the Trek shop told me about the race about a week and a half before, and asked it I wanted to do it. If there is one lesson I've learned in China it is that I regret saying no to things much more often than I do saying yes. Have I ever raced before? No. Have I been training long enough to do a race? No. Do I even know how to do a race? Uhh.. just go fast right? So with that, I responded with a hearty "hell yeah!" 

Because I'm in China.. so why not?

Alice on the night ferry over to Bailizhou,
which is a peninsula that sticks out into the Yangtze

We headed out  for Bailizhou late in the afternoon before race day, and experienced a 2-hour delay due to a flat tire. Once Lee sped to the rescue, riding up on his valiant steed / ballin' Trek mobile (pictured below) and we all piled in for what would be an incredibly uncomfortable 2-hour ride out to the race site. 

Night Before the Race

After the strangest pre-race dinner I may ever consume (we ate at a Sichuanese restaurant and Once Lee's girlfriend ordered her favorites: cow liver and pig intestines. Let's just say I went the carbo-loading route and stuck with the rice and some veggies..)  we continued on to the hotel, a modest countryside abode with three twin beds to a room. We arrived really late due to the flat tire incident and I was feeling pretty tired. I was about to remove my contacts to get ready for bed when I heard a lot of talking outside the room, quickly followed by a sharp knock on the door. Alice answers the door and Once Lee is there with a group of people including the hotel owners and two policemen. I had to give the policemen  my passport number and answer various questions about myself and what I was doing in China. After living as an expat in China for 9 months you get used to this sort of thing.. they certainly like to keep tabs on you in this country! 

After that first check-in I continued with my bedtime routine and washed my face, removed makeup, changed into jammies .. until, wait.. yes, I am hearing correctly-- another knock on the door. Once Lee is there again, telling me it is time to go meet the mayor of Bailizhou. Erm, okay, sure why not. So we tromp down to the lobby and drive to the other end of the village to meet this guy. Again, it was mainly me just answering questions about what I'm doing in China, along with some other biking-related background info. He welcomed me to the village, saying I am the first foreigner they've had there and they wanted to do a small friendship ceremony at the post-race awards show. After this little exchange I finally got back to the hotel around 11:30 pm. Once Lee brought my race numbers to the room and helped me attach them to my jersey. While he was doing this he gave me a lot of advice regarding racing strategy.. pacing, etiquette, group communication, etc. I definitely needed to hear all of this with it being my first race, but its primary effect was giving me a ridiculous case of the butterflies. After making a few phone calls and doing some calming meditation exercises I was finally able to chill the eff out enough to get some shut eye. 

Morning of the Race

Rise and shine means waking up to news from Once Lee that my tires popped in the middle of the night from over-inflation. Sooo, I'd have to pass on the warm-up ride while he changed them out. 

at the staging area

Everything leading up to the moment when the flag went down was a bit of a blur. I remember getting to the starting line area, looking around and thinking 'dang these people are fit.' Around me were very professional-looking athletes decked out in the latest and most high-tech biking gear, tall and lean, that typical pro-biker build. Aiyahhh..what have I gotten myself into? With butterflies in my stomach once again, Alice helped me push through the crowds of onlookers and news reporters to get all set at the starting line with the 34 other women. About 4 minutes before starting time, Once Lee came up to me to give me some last minute advice, feed me a cliff power gel, and point out the women I had to keep an eye on. "Follow the girls with the clip-on shoes. Those are the pros."  He also introduced me to the person who got first in the race last year, a tall woman from Shanghai whose strong build and fierce look reminded me of a puma. She was really nice, but I would lie if I said I wasn't intimidated.

the men's group at the start line

There were a lot more people in the men's group than the women's. 

Some announcements from the megaphone lady and Once Lee tells me "It's time. Stay safe!" gives me a pat on the back, and disappears into the crowd. Oh shit. Alright, I got this. I look to my right and left and I feel like I'm in a line of bulls, steam blowing out the nostrils, red eyes pointed forward, ready to charge. I gotta focus. I give myself a little pep-talk, similar to the ones I would give myself before stepping into class when I first started teaching. There's no turning back now, you got this girl.. jiā yóu!! The flag goes down and we're off. I had some trouble at the beginning because I couldn't get my clip-in shoe to lock on. Gah! I knew that I needed some more time with this borrowed equipment before the race. After the 100-meter sprint at the beginning and to my enormous relief I finally was able to lock in and I found myself miraculously near the front of the pack. Wait, what? This couldn't be right. I looked behind me and sure enough there were already some stragglers. Cool. This isn't so bad.

For the first 8km or so, I hung out with the pack that broke ahead during the first rush. There were about 12 of us, and they were all the clipped-in pros that Once told me about. I was feeling pretty good! Took a few selfies, sang some songs. I thought of the song "Synchronicity" by the Police as we moved along the road in formation, weaving in and out taking turns pulling and drafting off each other. We rode in a diagonal line to account for the cross winds coming from the river. It was fun. I was feeling confident.



And then it happened.  The girl who had been pulling the peloton for about a mile now decided to make a run for it. Out of nowhere she sprinted ahead. I thought, okay I better try to stay with her, right? So I stood up on my pedals and pushed forward to catch her. Once I finally did, my muscles were temporarily fatigued and I was huffing for air. The rest of the group took advantage of this lapse in our energy and pushed past us. Before I knew it they were about 50 meters ahead of us and disappearing around the corner.  Yup.. this was my punishment and my first lesson of bike racing. Always watch the whole group, not just the person in front of you.

Now I had no choice but to face the consequences of my noobly mistake. For about half a mile, I pushed and pushed, trying to catch up with them, the girl who had made the initial push was drafting behind me and after awhile she went in front of me to give me a rest. But she wasn't going fast enough--we were losing them.
I pulled up next to her and between pants I gave her a pep talk in the best Chinese I could muster. "Wǒmen kěyǐ, zǒu zǒu zǒu!! jiā yóu!!"   (Roughly meaning, "We can do it, go go go!! Don't give up!!")

The elite 10

In response, she thrust her fist in the air and said something along the lines of "you lead, I follow!"   So, I pushed ahead, and for about a mile and a half, I pedaled and pedaled with my noobly friend in tow, making progress towards the group ahead that seemed so slow at times that I almost wanted to cry. (Competition makes me emotional, alright?) Finally after what seemed like ages we caught them. They looked around in surprise.. I heard some of them muttering something about the wàiguórén (foreigner) and I was like "YEAH. The foreigner caught up with you crazy cats. What!!"

I managed to stick with the pack for the remainder of the race, and actually got into some conversation with the girl who got first last year. Turns out she's actually really cool. Then at one point, she says, "okay, lets finish the race, we'll talk after" which I took to mean, "BTFO, 

After the race, she kept kissing my cheeks and saying
 "xièxie, xièxie !! Wŏ ài nĭ! Thank you! I love you!! "

b***, it's business time" I had no idea where the finish line was because there wasn't one of those giant red inflatable arches or flags or anything, but I took it as my que to start hauling.

This is the second moment in the race where the pros showcased their experience. Finish line in sight, they accelerated at blinding speed and before I even had a chance to respond,

we were at the line and seven of them had squeezed past me. So that was my me lesson number two: always know where the finish line is. And be stronger. Haha! Anyway, that final moment was such a rush. These women were just so incredibly badass.   Definitely inspired me to keep training and try racing again in the near future. 

this is the girl who I pulled to catch up with the first group

The woman on the left is 50 years old and speaks really decent English.. pretty rare!

It started pouring within minutes after the first wave of women finished the race.
Talk about lucky!!

After the race, we rode about 8 miles back to the staging area along some side roads
and got to enjoy some beautiful scenery during our cool down. 

Bring on the crazy

After the race, I got back to the staging area and was immediately swarmed by news reporters armed with microphones and cameras and people wanting to take selfies with me. Being the only foreigner in the race and the first foreigner to visit this town, I was getting a bit more attention than I was used to. I had sprinted the last bit for fun because the women's race is actually half of the men's race and I wanted to go fast through the actual finish line (which did have the big inflatable red arch and flags). So after the sprint I was once again red in the face and huffing and puffing. Perfect look for a news interview, haha. 

I answered questions about the race and Once Lee translated for me. For the TV reports on the race they ended up using a bit of our interview  that involved a lot of me flailing my arms around excitedly reenacting the chase to catch the first group. Way to stay cool, Kirsten. 

This is the girl who got first (again) Her name is Linying

We exchanged contact info because she lives and works in Shanghai, which is a 20-minute bullet train ride away from Suzhou, the city where I will be teaching next year. She leads a women's bike group and says there are other foreigners in it. Cool!

Selfies with Trek groupies

At the post-race check in

Team name? 美国 .. That's right. Team America. F*** Yeah 

Alice receiving the prize for our teammate who got third place in the men's division!

love this guy. so much sass!

this is my awkward "my face hurts from smiling" smile

Me, Alice and coach's gf

Men's division winners. Check out that prize money!

Love this girl <3

All in all, a fantastic experience. While it was definitely humbling and eye-opening, it also fueled in me a desire to try it again sometime (soon!). I met some amazing girls, made some good cycling connections, and had yet another experience that reaffirmed my belief in the power of saying "yes."