Biking for Beginners 8 tips from a former NOOB

Just a little over a year ago, I had just visited the hospital (for reasons we shall not discuss here). Long story short, the doctor told me I “needed more exercise.” I needed to do something, but the big question was: what?
One of my friends in Xi’an suggested biking, so I started riding in February of 2021. Just over a year later, I have lost more than 10kg, have completed dozens of 100km+ rides, and have conquered steep climbs around Xi’an. Just this past April, I rode my 7,000th kilometer and 45,000th meter of elevation (that’s more than 5 Mount Everests!). So how did this happen?

A Bike Ride for Beginners Qinzhen Mipi

The weather is getting warmer, the trees are starting to turn the city green again, and the cherry blossoms will be blooming soon. After a long lockdown, there is no better time to get out of the city and smell the flowers. Or, better yet, eat some fresh noodles!.
But if you are like me and became “well-rounded” during lockdown (and I’m not talking about upskilling), ingesting a carb bomb might not be your first choice. However, physical activity will cancel out any carbs. As such, I recommend an easy beginner-level bike ride for those looking for something different.
Qinzhen offers the perfect escape from the city: about 25-30km (depending on your route) of flat, paved roads from the city center and mostly with bike lanes. At your destination awaits rice noodles. But don’t let this humble dish fool you – this is no ordinary fare even by Xi’an standards – these rice noodles have a history as long as the city of Xi’an itself!

Warm Winter Escapes

It’s a fact that some people just aren’t cold weather people. Whether you find the bitter winds a little too overbearing or you just don’t like having to layer up only to have your nose and ears still freezing off, winter weather is just not for everyone. With the extended amount of time off that the winter season brings, what with the Christmas and Spring Festival holidays, people often look at this time as an opportunity to travel to new places. Even though the coronavirus continues to restrict our movements abroad, there are still plenty of interesting places within China to explore that will allow you to step out of the cold zone and embrace a sunny day or two while getting to experience more of what China has to offer.

Snowscape Escapes – Cold Winter Travel Destinations

As the end of the year arrives, ice and snow begin appearing on the weather reports and the time for travel rapidly approaches as the largest block of time most have off comes in the form of Spring Festival. But with current restrictions in place, it is difficult to travel outside of the country, at least until things settle down a bit further. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to stop traveling all together, as there are still plenty of place for you to explore within China. If you’re a fan of Winter wonderland escapes, then China has a plethora of destinations that are perfect to get that holiday vibe.

The Great Wall Ride

As many ultra-endurance races got postponed this year and travelling is still very complicated, expensive, and includes many risks, me and some friends decided to set up our own challenge here in China. We came up with the idea to cycle along the Great Wall from west to east and called it Great Wall Ride (GWR).

I took the train with my bike and met my friends from Beijing in Jiuquan, who flew there. Whenever possible I prefer to take the train over a flight, because I rather carry/handle my bike myself rather than trusting airlines with it. Once we had met up, we were ready to begin the trip.

Guilin and my busy mind – a wholesome awesome experience

Lots of people feel the need to leave the city, their homes, once in a while. Routine can be quite suffocating, boring, even disorienting. Living in Xi’an also brings some other variables, such as pollution and the inevitable distance from the ocean…So what if we gave different meaning to our holidays other than ‘doing nothing’ ?What if we thought about them as a whole experience? A transportation to a different environment that can – in many ways – help us with some struggle? I know the ‘sunny beach with an umbrella cocktail’ is a very attractive option but let me tell you about my experience.

IT’S ELECTRIC! Owning an Electric Vehicle in Xi’an

It’s no secret that pollution has been a major issue in the past, and has become one of the top priorities that the government has decided to tackle. One of the major contributors to urban air pollution is car exhaust, and in an effort to combat this, several preferential policies have been released favoring electric vehicles, such as the BMW iX3. To find out more, we sat down with Yevhen and Yuliana Balatsanov to talk about their experience driving an electric vehicle in Xi’an.