Went with Alan to Latrun today for a 42 mile ride. The roads were much busier with cars, and we only saw a handful of bikers. I guess Shabbat is
the day to ride. Just the same it was a great ride. Good to get in the distance and the hills. We took a side road today past Kibbutz Tzora which I had visited when I was in Israel in 1986. Road up to Mitpeh Emek and got a great view of the valley. Then back to Beit Shemesh. Once we past Beit Shemesh on route 38 South, the traffic lightened up, and it was mostly just us, the bikes and the pavement. 42 miles, probably 600 meters of elevation, and 13.6 mph average. Its not particularly fast, but Alan has a hybrid bike, not a road bike, and that slows us down a little.
Meanwhile, I've collected two pictures from the newspaper -- one a picture of the separation fence that I wrote about previously. This photo is taken from around Jersualem, but the fence near Kalkiliya is similar. And then, a picture of what is going on the other side of the fence -- the side we did not visit.
