Former French athlete promotes BMX in SW China’s Guizhou

Photo shows Frederic Moal riding a BMX bike. (Chinanews.com/Zhou Yanling)

Frederic Moal, a former BMX athlete from France who is now based in southwest China's Guizhou Province, has devoted himself to developing the sport there.

Moal made his first trip to China to attend a BMX competition, which is short for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, in 2008. Impressed by the country’s development, he came up with the idea of starting a business in China.

Six years later, Moal came to China again to promote his program Xcity, which included offering services and professional coaching related to extreme sports, building venues for BMX, and providing relevant tourism services.

Photo shows Frederic Moal instructing his son on how to workout at home. (Chinanews.com/Zhou Yanling)

Moal believes that BMX is not as dangerous as it often seems. With professional training and instruction, people can enjoy this challenging yet fashionable sport. “I have fallen from the bike many times, but hardly did I get injured, which is also the case for many other riders,” he introduced.

He later settled in Guizhou after he got married to a local woman. He found the surrounding areas suitable for developing outdoor sports, as Guizhou boasts fresh air, a mountainous landscape, rivers, dense forests and karst caves.

He organized an international mountain cycling competition and a cycling show in Pu’an county in 2016, which attracted athletes from 22 countries. After being aired in France, the competition was able to garner significant public attention.

To encourage more people to participate in the sport, he started to build related facilities. “I want to build some sport parks and lanes here in Guizhou for more children and adults, which will also cater to the needs of professional athletes,” he said.

He spent nine months building a 26-km running trail that connects seven villages inhabited by the Miao ethnic group, and which travels through brooks, fields and forests in Taijiang county. Moal, whose dream is to make Guizhou a well-known destination for sports tourism in China, hopes to integrate the rich cultures of local ethnic groups and outdoor sports, in this way making outdoor sports more popular in China.

When his tourism program came to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic, he began to cooperate with Guizhou Normal University, believing that BMX and skateboarding could help students to improve their physical fitness, boost their confidence and cultivate a sense of adventure. 

Photo shows Frederic Moal’s son riding a BMX bike. (Chinanews.com/Zhou Yanling)

Photo shows Frederic Moal and his family strolling through a vegetable market. (Chinanews.com/Zhou Yanling)