meanwhile, back home...

 summer is almost gone, and the days are getting shorter. the sunsets are redder (is there such a word?) then ever, and we are trying to make the most of whats left... so we took Ori to the beach. the little angel likes to eat sand. mmm.

 Moran and I are enjoying the time we have together, before i'm all into my next project- training for the TOUR DIVIDE. its still 9 months away, but training for a 20 day epic, 250 km per day kind of race is a little demanding, to say the least, so every moment counts.

ireland is now a distant dream, and the american rockies are on the horizon. oh, but before that- i'm going to Nice, france, in 3 weeks time, to cover the unveiling of SPECIALIZED's 29er bikes for 2012.
its a hard job, but someone has to do it... hard times, i know.

ireland- afterthoughts...

the world championship is over and gone, and it was a race to remember. after the mud was wiped, i managed to finish 6th overall, and was pleased with the result, but was left with a feeling i could do even better.

it all started with me being israeli, and not reading the time schedule of the race, missing the group warm-up, and effectively, my whole warm-up. now, i'm an older rider (...), and i need my good warm-up. being ireland, it was also about 12-14 degrees, so my body ached even before the le-mans style start. after getting into my groove, which took me the whole long first climb, i found myself in 5th, closing on on the leaders...

and then i sliiped on a long, wet wooden bridge (a beutiful one, at that), and was hurt pretty badly all along my left leg and left wrist. it took me about 2-3 minutes to start riding again, by which time i was passed by 7 riders or so. after getting back on the bike, i was on a mission to catch my spot again, and so i did by the middle of the second lap.

from there on it was smooth sailing towards the finish line, finishing 6th (but being a singlespeed race, they don't care about the finishing order...), and a happy reunion with Moran, Ori, and my parents. this was my little race sum. details and stories about the whole trip will come up soon.

oh, this is a picture from the pre-race party in Limerick, where our little israeli team tried to win the rights to host next year's worlds, but failed... the south africans beat us...

mmm. maybe 2013.