heading up to the biblical looking mountains. everything about the desert is so inspiring.
the southest border of israel, coming from egipt. no, we did not cross the border. nice pic, though.
ahhh... the feast! meat, meat, meat. i can hardly remember being a vegetarian for 15 years. it was all you can eat, 9 kinds of meat, load up my huge plate kind of place.
four days in the desert sun, got me thinking... how vast the world we live in is. the desert impact was amazing, with towering mountains and roads that stretch as far as the eye can see. we put on some miles, and some crazy climbing sessions, but the highlight of the trip was on the way back north. coming from the Ramon crater, a white coat of snow covered the higher ground. it was so beautiful i had to lie on it. wwwrrrrrrr.
just got back from the desert, but the crappy weather in the north leaves me no choice, but going down south again. oh' well... i'll have to suck it up. 3 days in eilat, the southest place in israel will do the job. its always sunny in eilat... fingers crossed.
what a weekend. a training camp in the desert. lots of wind, alot of climbs, and great friends. we headed out on friday morning for a 4 hour ride, with some good stretches of workout on the flats. saturday brought some more wind and cold, and two monsterous climbs. i felt great, both on the climbs and surprise, surprise: on the windy flats. this season is a turning point in that area. now i am tired, and all i can think of is that i have another 2 hard weeks ahead... 
7 weeks to go. i have started to store some extra gear for the trip. you can never take too much stuff- that is my moto. looking at some maps brought some old memories, and the sense of new adventures. this weekend i am at a training camp in the desert with my team (ccc). i love the desert, with its clean air, but i hate the high winds. well, what can i do?
my father is an avid rider. he has been riding for years, but too much work and not enough time mean he only rides once in a while. he loves every minute of it, and does not stop smiling while riding the single tracks. riding helped him through his cancer, and riding with disabled people is his way of giving back to the community. somtimes i join him. we even have a hand bike at home, so we know how it feels to ride with your hands... its hard.
i was a chubby little boy, when i was younger. it is still there in the back of my mind, as i look in the mirror every morning. do not let them fool you: there is no such thing as good fat. eat as little fat as you can. whatever your'e eating, it is more than enough. i love peanuts and such, but the problem with those is that you never seem to be able to stop. so i just don't start.
with so many things to do before the big trip, i just don't know where to start. so i leave it all behind, and go ride. this is from yesterday's session, a triple test for three very different bikes. we covered them with tin foil, so we wouldn't recognize them. another great idea, with so so results. the picture is good though, right?
less than 8 weeks to go, and the preparation kicks into second gear. all the while the trainining is getting harder and even more time consuming. i tried to make the best of the easy trainining week, and stuff as much magazine work as i could. it included alot of translating from english, bike tests and stupid trips to stupid places. this is another cup of hot chocolate i did not have.
we were in a bit of a hurry the other day, coming back from the northest bike shop in israel. no, this is not in miles per hour... i wish. but 190 kilometers an hour is twice the speed limit in israel, and it is more than enough for me, thank you very much. speaking of speed... 'been riding my race bike in the last few days, and i feel faster than ever in the technical sections.
my coach says that there is no such thing as faith. it is all about knowing. a person who is a man of god, does not "believe" that there is a god. he knows there is one. same thing goes for racing your bike, or anything else, for that matter... you have to know you are strong. you have to know you are a winner. you have to know.
this is what i do for a living. today i drove, wearing a full on biking cloth, wearing a helmet and biking shoes, all the way to kiryat shmona, to buy a bicycle tube, and then came back. 400 kilometers round trip. it was, again, for a magazine piece we are doing for next month. we heard the tubes over there were cheaper, and we were given a car with free fuel for the day. so we drove all the way, to buy a tube, in the most northern bike shop in israel. we didn't even bring a bike. we ate in restaurants, walked around, drove back and forth wearing bike suits. it was stupid. and fun as hell.
זה הפוסט הראשון בעברית. הוא נועד למאותגרי האנגלית, לאיטיים, וכדי להחזיק את גחלת השפה העתיקה הזו בוערת. אבל לא רק. ממה שהבנתי, יש כבר די הרבה אנשים אשר קוראים את השטויות שאני כותב. וזה נחמד. אממה, אף אחד לא מגיב!! חברות וחברים, זה לא קשה להגיב... ממש בגוף ההודעה, ובכל הודעה שאני מעלה יש אפשרות להגיב. כל שצריך לעשות הוא: ללחוץ על המלה " תגובות " באנגלית, ולכתוב מה חשבתם.ניתן לענות לי בעברית, ללא כל בעיה. אז יאללה. תתחילו
well, its official: i am 27. how did i get here so fast? day by day, my friends... day by day. you know, it creeps up on you, and you do not notice it, being that your friends grow up exactly with you. it was a good year, i guess, and i feel that a better one is on the horizon... the coming trip, the new writing job, and the way i ride. i ride with love and passion, and it shows.
well, this is not a normal look for me, but then again, i don't live a normal life... another picture from wednesday's lunacy, for your viewing pleasure. the photographer went all austin powers on me, with shouts of "yeah baby, yeah..." and "give it to me, baby, your'e a tiger...". what can i say? a model's life is harder than one might think.
you know that seinfeld episode, where he met the woman of his dreams, and she was just a female version of himself? this is almost the same. the picture was taken today. the "female" model: me! the reason for this stupidity? another piece i wrote for the israeli mountain bike action magazine. it is about, how original, bikes that were made for weman...
somtimes i feel as though i have been riding around in circles. each day feels the same. no vacation, everyday is a training day. wake up, eat, rest and ride, eat again, rest... ride again. i never know if its monday, wednesday, or friday. how many times has this happened to you? through rain and sun, scorching heat and freezing cold... i am there. soaking wet, of sweat or rain, i am there... up the hills and down again, feeling pleasure, full of pain, i am there. this is what i do. who i am.
