Club,Sweat and Gears.docVIP

Club,Sweat and Gears 　　HAYDEN Opie, Sam Callaghanand Tom Lanhove are amateurs-amateur sportsmenthat is, who are the kingpinsin three clubs helping to make afterhours life in China fun and healthy. Dugin Beijing, they have re-created for themselves, and everyone else who sharestheir interests, a little bit of home,whether that’s Belgium, South Africa orNew Zealand. Sport takes the edge off thestresses of expatriate life. Never mind thefitness and the toning, it also providesthe conditions in which love blooms andfi’iendships are forged. Hayden the hiker,Tom the biker and Sam the rugby playerall strive to make their clubs’ obsessionspopular with the Chinese too. Academicand business success are the real badgesof honor in today’s China; sports-apartfroln Olympic competitions-not somuch, laments Lanhove, but if these enthusiasts have their way, this will change. 　　China may be known as the kingdomof bicycles but cycling clubs are anothermatter. Tom Lanhove spoke to me on behalf of the Peloton (a French term referring to the main body of a cycling group)-the largest expat road bike cyclinggroup in Beijing. For their purposes,it’s a club that gets cyclists out for grouprides and explorations of the countryside around Beijing. The membership islargely people from Western countriesworking for embassies or companieshere, plus a contingent of Mongolian,Singaporean, Japanese and Chinese enthusiasts. Almost all are adults, and mostare foreigners. The parent in a one-childsociety is understandably reluctant abouttheir child taking up such a sport. A ridenecessarily interferes with regular traffic, and because cycling clubs use publicroads and go at fair speeds, it can be dangerous. It is dicey for expats to organizeriding clubs for Chinese children becauseof the risks involved. 　　For these reasons, Lanhove stresses,Civic and official players are needed tomake cycling leagues happen, and thattakes willpower. In Europe or NorthAmerica, your 13-year-old kid can alwaysjoin a