family guy, the desert ride edition.

riding 360 kilometers with my family was a true adventure that proved a few things:
1. my family rocks.
2. riding a bike for such a long distance is a true mind test, and has less to do with your actual phisical ability.
3. the hardest thing about riding a bike, especially for new riders, is sitting on their butts on the thinly padded seat.
4. biking runs deep in our family's blood line.

Dor, my 11.5 year old nephew rode the whole thing...! 360 km of riding, 4 days straight. the guy kicks ass !!!

and this is the place to thank all the participants in this family adventure: Amiri, Hana, Avraham (daddy), Hen, Keren, Dor (king of the mountains...), Raz, Tamar, Tzachi,Shaked, Shahaf and last but not least, my love- Moran.

it was a truely epic ride, which got all our family closer, in a way that only bike riding can...

here's for the next trips.

out of reach...

sorry for not updating, its just that my internet is down.
back from the family road ride to eilat, and it was epic. pictures will come tomorrow...

and now, for somthing completely different...

Erez was kind enough to loan me his singlespeed 69er, with the prospect of me buying it. two rides were enough to understand that this is the snappiest, most unpredictable bike i have ever ridden. i want it.

its like trying to tame a wild horse... you move too fast, and it jumps to the side. its as stiff as hell, its raw. you move your weight to the back, and the front lifts off the ground. you turn and lean on the front, and the rear end slides...

its a new feeling, that i've never in my life felt on a bike. oh, and it is soooooo sooooo cool.

its exactly like Travis Brown described it: its the reverse mullet, a party at the front, all business in the back. perfect.

and she's free.... free falling.

jumping out of an aeroplane seems like an un-natural thing to do- being a human, having no wings and all... so sitting on the ledge of an aircraft, looking down at 4 km of air between you and the solid hard ground, is a strange experience. i mean, do you really have to jump?

and then you do it, and you're hanging in mid-air, falling like a brick at 200 km an hour, screaming your head off- and loving every minute of it. jumping out of an aeroplane is awesome... who would have thunk?

on wednesday wer'e starting our ride from tel aviv to eilat. its a family adventure. the weather does not seem to mind our plans, and it'll be windy and wet. now we'll see just how strong minded my family is. i think i'll be pleased.

out and about...

the weather is awesome these days, with sunny skies and semi-cold air. the late morning is the best time to ride, and so i do. my new superfly is a hoot, changing direction without the usual hesitation one might relate to a 29 inch bike. its also mighty rigid, and super light. 10 kg light...

tomorrow moran and i are going sky diving !!! we've never done this before, and are very excited. actually, my only concern is the shity aeroplane in which we are taken up up up, all the way to 12,000 feet. it has propellers, for crying out loud.

and next week most of my family and i are riding our bikes from Tel aviv to Eilat, on the road. its a 4 day adventure for all of us, following the tire marks left by my uncle Chanoch, who rode the same roads as we're about to ride- 51 years ago. Chanoch did it single speed...

i wonder where he got that idea from...

back to the real world...

the days after the non-400 km race felt empty. it was a real anti-climax. so getting back on track seems like the best thing to do. hence- i went riding...

the last rains did good for the shrubbery, that seems like it had been waiting for ages for the water to pour down on it. its beautiful.

the shap likes it green. yes, he likes it really green.

it's so sad, that it's funny...

without getting into details... we were fast, felt great, and were stopped after 150 km because it is not allowed to ride in those areas at night.
i'll say it once, i'll say it loud: FUCK.
sorry for the bad language...

choose your weapon.

so... 2 days to D-day, and i'm feeling it. the tension is in the air, no doubt, but i know that once i embark on the 400 km journey, it will all fade away. it will only be the desert, the bike, my body.

it will be the place i love the most, the machine on which i spend my days, and the machine that i am. actually, its rather simple, isn't it?

Erez is most definitely ready. lets hit the road !!

i can see clearly now...

the rain has gone. it was one hell of a rain period. but, being israel- its already hot these days. moran and i are heading for the Kineret (the sea of galilee) for the annual "ride around the Kineret" event. its a 65 km ride, with thousends of participants.

a re-production...

today is exactly one year since i first met moran. i knew right away she would be my wife. here's for the years to come. love you babe.

anyway, this is the last week before the 400 km race- the biggest and most grueling bike event (or endurance event, for that matter) to have ever been done in israel.

and- i actually have a racing partner. its the man and the legend- Erez Haiun, my old 100 mile race partner. he's fit, he's hungry, he's fast. my 24 hours estimated riding time seems a little conservative right about now... how about 20 hours? hmmm.

its raining, man!!

the rain does not seem to stop. the 100 km race was cancelled due to the weather, but i managed to find a 5 hour gap to squeeze a 5 hour ride through... i'm not in the shape i really wanted to be before the 400 km race, but that's life, isn't it?

today i went on an easy ride with my singlespeed. the bike was a mud fest, but it got as clean as a whistle when the hard rain started to pour from the sky. my god, its like buckets of water thrown right at my face...

i want some sun. that's it.