Biking has been a theme of at least a few posts. Lately I've been doing a lot of biking. As my friend Alan would say, "You've got to get you A-- in shape." I said, "don't you mean my legs?" "No, Jason, you're going to be riding for many hours -- you need to get your A-- in shape". Maybe he means I should buy a new bike seat.Here's the deal. In less than two weeks I am biking 300+ miles to help raise money for the Arava Institute. (Click here to donate). The ride is from Jerusalem to Eilat, and is spread out over 5 days of biking, and one day of rest -- Shabbat. Most days are just 60 miles, but they've included one killer day of 90 miles. (It's rumored to be the hilly day too.) Truth is there are two routes -- the Tsofim (scouts) and the Halutzim (Pioneers). The Tsofim get to do just 60 miles each day -- but I want to do the more challenging route. How could I not.
So I've been training a lot recently. The roads around Israel and not all that great, but I've finally found some pretty decent routes with out too many cars, and since I'm working from home, I can bike between 11:00 and 2:00, when things are somewhat more quiet than at rush hour in the morning or evening. My favorite route is about 12 miles through Ra'anana, Hod Hasharon and Kfar Saba. I've now done that ride many a time, but it isn't quite challenging enough as I try to build up for the Arava ride. It is also very flat. So I've lengthened the route by continuing north to Kochav Yair. It turns out to be a very quiet road with a wide (but dirty shoulder), and Kochav Yair is a climb of about 100m. Not too much, but the best I can find around here. The road takes me within about 1 mile (maybe less) of Kalkiliya. Now, I wouldn't want to ride through Kalkiliya, but not to worry -- the recent Israeli governments have been building a wall. Whatever your politics, I can say that I feel somewhat safer knowing that there is a wall between me, my bike, and the West Bank. It is slightly ironic, because the Arava Institute (the cause for which I'm riding) is devoted to education both Israelis and Arabs -- and building bridges (figuratively), not walls. And yet here I am training for the ride and quite honestly feeling glad that there is a wall.
The other day I rode with Alan. He's a curious type, but also somewhat cautious. He is even less willing than I am to ride on busy roads. Once when we were riding we passed two dogs (large dogs) who ran after us barking like crazy. I'll admit we were both pretty scared. We rode *very* fast. Now, Alan pretty much refuses to go past that house again, whereas I'm not so concerned.
Anyway, I decided to show Alan my route to Kochav Yair. God only knows why, but after we crossed route 6, Alan wanted to turn right towards Kalkiliya instead of left to Kochav Yair. So much for being more cautious. "Don't worry Jason, there's a fence." Yeah. Sure. Well, I follow, and we are on a pretty deserted road that basically traces a path along the back side of Kochav Yair and along the fence. The riding is good because the road is empty, clean, and uphill. After a couple miles, Alan is quite a bit ahead of me. Up ahead I see the road fork, and some guy crossing the road. My instinct? Lets get out of here. I don't like this. So boy was I relieved when Alan turned around and came speeding down the hill. I wasted no time in doing the same. Just a little adventure. Once again, I felt the irony of biking for an organization promoting peace, and yet in practice being scared of strangers.
The other day, I went to pick up Miriam from Gymnastics and I ran into David Schwartz who is also biking for the Arava Institute. We chatted a little bit about the ride. I mentioned the lack of hills, and he told me he just goes to the club, turns the exercise bike to 18 and bikes for 45 minutes. Yow! That sounds hard. I'm feeling like I'll never be able to keep up. He told me the best place to bike hills is outside Jerusalem. Yesterday he called and invited me to join him and a few friends for a ride. The only catch was that they were leaving Shabbat morning at 5:30AM. How could I say no? I couldn't. I didn't sleep a wink because I was nervous I would oversleep. Up at 5. It was still dark. Grabbed an apple, a lachmania (roll) and some cheese, and biked over to David's house. 45 minute drive to Tsomet Nachshon (near Latrun). We found the last two parking spots at the gas station. Clearly there were a few bikers. We set off. David had been sick the day before and so he was a little slow. His friends though... Well it was tough for them to keep with us. You see, one of them is a personal trainer. You might say he is in good shape. He had to go to the top of the hills, then bike back down to the bottom and come back up again with us. It must be tough to be in such good shape. We biked 25 miles including about 400m of ascent (two different 200m) hills. I did just fine, so I think that means I'll be in good enough shape for the ride.
When I bought my (used) bike (16 speed), I had the shop switch out the rear cassette (gears) to make it easier -- more of a touring bike than a racing bike. This was clearly a good choice. I was wondering if I was going to also need to change my front chain links (gears) -- maybe make the small one smaller, or even add a creeper gear. After today's ride, I'm thinking I will do okay as is. As long as I can manage about 7mph up hill the gears easiest gear is fine. In the hardest gear, I can go about 36mph -- which is plenty fast. My nifty little spedometer says I hit 42 on one of the down hills. They were steep hills. (My friend Paul says that if you go as fast as your age, it was a good ride. It was.).After our 25 miles we returned to the cars to find that not only was the gas station parking lot full, but the fields surrounding it were full. Hundreds of cars. Literally. Latrun must be the biking capital of Israel. While on the ride resting I watched a pack of 50+ riders pass by. And that was not the only pack of bikers I saw. It was just incredible the number of bikers out on the roads.
Back home by 10:30 in time to get lunch warmed up for Anna, Akiv and family while Dena and the kids attend shul.
