home sick...*

* and that means i'm home. sick. bummer... last week i was feeling great, and managed four 150 km rides... the thing is, there's this in between phase of the seasons, when everybody seems to get sick for some reason, and being a full time job rider doesn't help my immune system... so i got to stay at home for the past 4 days.

 i'm feeling better today, and even managed to use my home time well, running around between my sponsors, collecting stuff for the tour divide. i decided to put a 3 litre hydration bag inside the frame bag, and carry a 2 litre hydration pack on my back. it had to be as minimalist as possible, and as comfortable as they come. there was no other choice than CAMELBAK, ofcourse. so i went to the guys at CAMELBAK, and they hooked me up with their Octane XCT pack, which was built with the purpose of minimalist racing in mind. it's light and very comfortable, and it can fold and get into one of my bike bags when out of use. awesome.

 we started taking our goats out of their fenced home, so that they'll eat all of of the green crap that grew in our yard during the winter... they are so cute, are'nt they?

anyway, if everything is fine, i'll be back on the bike this weekend, and go on riding long hours till april 12th or so. after that i'll take a few days off, and go do my race simulation on the 17th, starting in Eilat, and riding 800 km in 4 days, to the Hermon mountain top finish. looking forward to those looooooong hours, alone on the saddle.
it looks like its going to rain any minute now...

Easy rider...

This week was an easy one, without a lot of riding. I really took it easy, cause I know I'm facing three hard weeks, riding wise. I'm going to try and ride three consecutive days of 7 hour rides, and one rest day, and then another three 7-8 hour days, For three weeks straight... If I take care of my self during these 3 weeks, it should not be a problem. After that I'll take a week off, and then- a race simulation !! The plan is to ride from Eilat to the Hermon mountain, effectively crossing Israel south-north, in about 4 days, carrying all the gear I'm about to take to the tour divide. I think I'll ride the new bike tomorrow on the road to Haifa and back. I don't want it to get dirty...

new bike day..!

 it has been a while since i got a new bike, but this one is special... it's made of the best ingredients i could find, in a quest for the perfect bike for the tour divide. as you know, i've contemplated going for an older TREK chromoly frame, but have not found one, so i went for the aluminium option- an out of the box SuperFly frame. and you know what? it feels exactly like my two other CARBON SuperFly bikes, and thats a mighty good thing in my book.

 i went for a Bontrager RXL aerobars. i've never ever used one of those, and it's kind of scary looking on a svelte mountain bike like this fine example. still cool, though, isn't it?

as you can see, i went for nine speed XO gripshifts, which, in my experience, are the most reliable set of shifters ever produced. oh, and checkout those ERGON GP3 cork grips. they're light and comfy, and have those built in bar-ends... it's like they were made for the tour divide. thank you so much, DAA, for hooking me up with those pretty little things.

d-day minus 3 months...

 i've been riding like crazy in the past two weeks, and this weekend will be no exception. the plan is to ride 7 hours on friday morning, and then ride 8 more hours on saturday. this will make this week a 45 hour week (including the "dead" hours in the saddle, training other people). these photos are from a little shootout i did for an upcoming article in the channel 5 website. the talented photographer is Dan Levy, my sister's husbend...

anyway- i got my frame this week, and started building it. i put on some RXL aerobars, and it looks plain strange, having a roadie's parapharnelia on my mountainbike...
pictures of the bike will be up, soon.
i've been having some trouble, deciding on the proper method of making the looooooong Tour Divide Q sheets a little shorter. i don't like the way they are now, depndant on the speedometer readings, starting at the very first km of the tour route. let's say i missed a turn, and had to ride 6 more km, by mistake...
now all the readouts of the km on the Q sheets are wrong (!!)
there is a better way of writing it, but it will take forever. i need to pay someone who'll do it for me. any volunteers? thought so...

Sometimes...

I just find it so hard to put on my biking outfit and get out... Take this morning, for instance. It's a beginning of a new week, in which I am supposed to ride four 7 hour rides, and I just find myself dragging my feet, staying at home and writing in my blog. It's cold and wet outside, and I'm bored with the trails and roads on which I ride every flicking ride in my area. I want some action. Some long uphills, some wicked single tracks. Well, it's time to get into the riding suit and go swimming in the rain. Damn weather.

another day at the office...

 the days are passing by so fast, and its 3 months to my flight, which has already been booked. i'm flying to Calgary, without knowing how the hell i'm getting from the airport to Banff with my huge bike box... hitch-hiking? maybe. anyway, the weather this weekend is horrible, but during the past week i've been packing some great hours in the saddle. i did three 7 hour rides on the mountain bike, plus more than 15 hours of training other people. on friday i'll ride 4 more hours and call it a week.

 you know, spending all these long hours on the bike feel like an actual job. i go out in really early in the morning,  i answer my phone calls while riding, eat my lunch on the fly, and get home just in time to take Ori out of the kindergarden. so, i get to see these wonderful sights while i'm working... what a life.

 the lousy weather makes me feel like a pro even more, in that regardless of the conditions, i put on my spendex, base layer, long sleeve shirt, warm shirt, wind coat and rain coat, and go out swimming, sorry, riding in the biblical rain storms. what keeps me motivated is telling myself that the Tour Divide will be much much harder. what ever gets me out of the comfort of the couch and hot tea, right?
it is amazing to see how the body reacts to the endurance bombardment i throw at it, and how i feel better and better coming back home after 140 km ride, like it was a walk in the park.

i went out to FUNKIER clothing company, and picked out my outfit and clothing for the Tour. i took home their whole shop: jerseys, bibs, long sleeve, vest, you name it- i took it!
the guys at FUNKIER have been sooooo nice, printing all of my sponsors logos on the jerseys, and hooking me up with their top of the line products.
next week- 4 seven hour rides, plus 2 three hour rides, not counting my 18 hours of training other people.
let the games begin.