{"id":2042,"date":"2014-09-20T14:50:36","date_gmt":"2014-09-20T07:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=2042"},"modified":"2014-09-20T14:58:44","modified_gmt":"2014-09-20T07:58:44","slug":"bikes-e-bikes-and-ping-pong-915-1614","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=2042","title":{"rendered":"Bikes, E-Bikes, and Ping Pong, 9\/15-16\/14"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONDAY, 9\/15\/14<\/strong><\/p>\n

The weather today is gorgeous. It\u2019s clear, and not too hot. I stop by the wet market for some fruits and vegetables. After lunch I went over to Metro for our weekly grocery run. Later in the afternoon I decided to scout out some bike shops. I\u2019m beginning to get the urge to buy an E-bike. Several of the teachers at my school have bought them, and are enjoying them. I\u2019m trying to balance my desire to own one against the realization that it\u2019s about to turn cold and I won\u2019t have much time to use it before winter arrives here.<\/p>\n

\"th\"<\/a> \"IMG_5943\"<\/a> \"beijing-right\"<\/a> \"BL04_OP_E-BIKES_1_1319808g\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I got on my bicycle and rode around the neighborhood, checking out the different shops and pricing. There are some interesting options. On most of them, the battery can be pulled out, carried to the room, and charged. Prices vary based on the size of the battery, etc. No driver\u2019s license is required if the e-bike has pedals (just in case the battery dies). Right now I\u2019m leaning away<\/span> from making a purchase, but we\u2019ll see where I am in week.<\/p>\n

TUESDAY, 9\/16\/14<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s another beautiful day for a bike ride. I get moving around 11:00 and head over to the table tennis club. It\u2019s been a few weeks since I\u2019ve played. As usual, I\u2019m anxious about whether or not I\u2019ll find someone to play with. Many of the players come with pre-arranged partners.<\/p>\n

I walked in, found my usual hangout area, pulled out my stuff, and began to watch some of the groups playing. After 5 minutes, a lady came over, and we exchanged pleasantries, as best we could with the language issue. She asked if I wanted to play, and I pulled out my net, set it up, and we started. We played for about 20 minutes before she had to leave. I sat back down, and 10 minutes later, another lady came over to play. We volleyed for about 15 minutes, and then her husband walked over and replaced her. He was a much tougher challenge, but my game has improved. Last spring, he would have destroyed me, but I was able to hold my own today. Every player has different spins and speeds, but I\u2019m better at reading the changes, and reacting quicker.<\/p>\n

They eventually had to leave, but as they departed, a younger guy walked up. I offered to play and he accepted. This guy played at an entirely new level for me. He started slowly enough, but I caught flashes of speed and spin I had never faced before. After about 10 minutes, he started trying to coach me. He struggled with most of his explanations, but kept working at it, and I eventually began to make some adjustments. It\u2019ll take me some time before I\u2019m comfortable with the adjustments, but I\u2019m going to work on his suggestions. I ended up playing for about 3 hours.<\/p>\n

On my way home, I stopped off at the bike shop and replaced the rear inner tube. I purchased a new one 2 weeks ago, but it has been losing air. I asked about fixing it, and was told 100rmb. I asked about a new one, and the price was 30 rmb?<\/p>\n

Freshly repaired. I continued toward the apartment. I stopped at a nearby \u201cgym\u201d looking for a pool. It\u2019s a decent place, but not great. I think my best bet is the pool\/gym here in the complex. It costs 3000rmb a year. It\u2019s not as nice as the other spots, and certainly not as nice as the Marriott. \u00a0Since BISS has moved their gym contract to a different hotel, it’s much less convenient. \u00a0I can\u2019t beat the UHN location. It\u2019s less than 50 yards, door to door, from our apartment building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONDAY, 9\/15\/14 The weather today is gorgeous. It\u2019s clear, and not too hot. I stop by the wet market for some fruits and vegetables. After lunch I went over to Metro for our weekly grocery run. Later in the afternoon … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2042"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2052,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042\/revisions\/2052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}