back. again.

so... three crazy weeks have come upon me, and at last- they have passed. moran finished her year at university of Haifa, and moved in to our new house. wwoooohhhooooo....
so wer'e back in Sdey Hemed, surounded by horses, chickens and even some goats... oh, and there are those two roosters that kookoorikoo every two hours or so... we love it here.
tantan loves it here.

last weekend i even went to a CCC road training ride. it was a rather hard and fast one, and the weather was horrible- 34 degrees and as humid as hell. i chose my gary-fisher super fly, with the road tires, and while everyone was busy suffering up the hills, i flashed the camera with my nipple!!! take that, roadies!!!

moran's pregnancy is going great, and we actually feel our little baby kicking (or is it pedaling??) by putting our hands on moran's pregnant belly... it is so exciting.

this weekend i'm off to mizpe-ramon, for another technical course i'm teaching, and on saturday- a long long ride, but this time, with an important cause.

its an all night ride (175 km off road), to the start of the Free Gilad Shalit walk, from his house up north, to Jerusalem. its a noble cause, and the ride is our way to show that we care.

have a great weekend.

peace.

wedding season...

its summer time, and with it comes wedding season. that means that my stomach is full of meat and beer, and that my wallet is empty...

'been testing these rather beautiful merida one twenty trailbike. it feels right in the middle between a cross country rig, and a trail animal... details in the august edition of mountain bike action israel.

sorry (again) for not updating that much lately. its been a busy month, with the move and all... i promise to update a little more.

moran has been taking some pregnancy pictures of me... notice my belly getting bigger and bigger.

i've been bamboozled...

red bull after thoughts:
#1. you do not have to win every run, if the first two out of 4 go to the next round.
#2. being the fastest does not necessarily mean you're gonna win.
#3. mountain bikers rule!
#4. pressure suits make you sweat like crazy.
#5. i'm rather good at riding bikes- whatever discipline i take on...
#6. getting older does make you a wuss.
#7. do not leave your cell phone unattended. someone WILL steal it.
#8. downhill racing takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r...
#9. my bike choice was spot on.
#10.if you go too fast- people WILL conspire against you.
#11. getting to the half finals, and lose- sucks like hell.

sorry for not posting good pictures... i was busy riding and sweating. some good pics are on the way...

all over the place...

the RED BULL road rage race is a week away, and i finally managed to get the bike ready. its my superfly 29er, wearing a 32 mm wide road tires (bontrager race lite hard case). the front fox shock has been replaced with a carbon rigid bontrager raceXlite fork, and a compact road cranks by FSA.

after riding the course 7 times, i can say its a little scary and brutally fast. lots of pedalling and loads of adrenalin. the braking points are easy to find, but the turns exits are somtimes hard to spot early, 'cause the turns are so tight. hairpins, really...

thats it. we are ready for the move, and on saturday evening we will be sleeping in our new house in Sdey Chemed. i guess next pics will be from there.

moran and i went for a walk on the beach, as a farewell to the sea, which was so close to our house in the past year and a half.

this house saw us getting ingaged, marrying each other, and conceiving our yet to be born daughter. we love this house, but its tiime to move on... and so we do.

sitting on the boxes...

moran and i have almost finished packing the house, and the memories of this place are coming back... the moments we shared... from the house warming to the moment we found out moran was pregnant.

meanwhile, and through the chaos of this month, i've managed to squeeze a few rides of my own, in preparation for the RED BULL road rage down hill race, which happens next week.

tomorrow i'm heading to the race course, with the bike i barely managed to prepare. its my superfly, with 32 mm road tires and a compact road cranks...

pictures will come soon.

a busy, busy, busy week.

i've been all over the place in the past few weeks. my car has been munching diesel, as i've been driving to my parents house back and forth, working at our new house. its looking good...

i wonder how tantan will manage the move. oh, by the way, the little tiger found a snake today in our back yard!!

at last- i have a race in sight: the RED BULL ROAD RAGE downhill race. its happening on june 4th in Mevo Hama, one of the country's most famous climbs. i'm one of the few who got an invitation to this crazy race. now i have to prepare the right bike. a road, downhill race- it must be a mountainbike, then...

moving to the country...

wer'e moving. in three weeks time we will be leaving the carmel mountains in favour of my old place at my parents back yard. we've had some great times at this house, and i'll write a farewell post when the time comes.

found this good ol' TIOGA PSYCHO-K tire somewhere, and put it on my vintage 9800 as a rear tire. the last one started peeling off... no wonder, i guess, as it was about 17 years old.

the PSYCHO-K (which stands for Kevlar) was the tire of choice circa 1995, as it was a great all rounder. it is truly light weight, even in today's standards. being that i rarely ride the 9800, i think it'll last another 15 years... (fingers crossed).

redlich- the next generation...

so... i've been keeping it from you for a while, but now seems like a good time to say it : WE ARE PREGNANT !!! wwwwwwooooohhhhhhooooooo.... the last 4 months have been quite a journey, and we're proud to finally share it with you all.

Moran is feeling well, and has been feeling well from day one. we are now in our 22nd week of pregnancy, and every day that passes is one day closer to becoming a family. i'm sooooo excited.

its a girl ! our own little princess... she'll have the nicest cycling outfits. yes.

me- a dad... who would have thunk? a father in tights...

i know its going to be hard and demanding, but i truly feel up to it, but more than that, i know moran is totally ready to become a mom. mommy. mama.

ohhhhhhhh.... this is all so very exciting.

May is here!!!

i have not been updating much lately, and the only excuse i have is that i'm totally busy. working and writing and riding... but also because its not coming from within me. somtimes i just don't feel like sharing. but now i'm back.

'been testing this awesome Giant Trance X sl. a truly light and effective trail-bike. carbon bikes are spreading all over the biking world, from road to down-hill, and if you have the means, its a great way of spending your money.

it's been two weeks of riding this full-suspension bike, and i can totally understand why people are drawn to the comfort and security that this technology brings. especially when they're this light and nimble.

but you know what? i'll stick to my hard-tails.

i FEEL faster, riding them, and if not for the FEEL, what are we riding for?

random signs...

feeling a little fat lately, coming back from pizza country, gaining 5 pounds or so... i'll have to ride it off.

anyway, raced a little mini downhill race today. having no trail bikes nor down hill ones for magazine tests now, i took my good ol' gary fisher rig singlespeed 29er, and went racing. my setup was simple- 18 cog in the back, 80 mm out in front, and alot of nerve...

the course was fast, with lots of pedaling, so i was out of oomph rather fast. still, managed to squeeze myself into the top 5, finishing 4th, 4 seconds off the winner's time. next time i'll go geared. i might even win... i might be off the pace on the uphills, but at least i can still go downhill pretty fast.

it seems like its going to be a busy week. working, riding- both at the same time.

some more pics...

i did not know he was into all that facebook shit. whatever.

moran had a great time, taking some time off her studies. with all that passover holiday and the trip to italy, it's a little hard to get back to reality.

yes, somthing is definitely wrong in this picture, but its totally real. the house is really blue. and the tower is about to fall...

i was supposed to race the Dusk till Dawn race, tomorrow night, but not only am i out of shape, i'm also a little sick, so i'll have to pass this one. bummer.

its been a while...

well, back from beautiful Italy. it was so intense and romantic... the mountains were full of snow, still, and the weather was perfect. we had a great time together, driving our little car on the roads of northern italy, and even getting into switzerland... This is us in Venice...

we had some weird picnic in the middle of a snowy field. it wasn't too cold, and the scenery was amazing. i'll post some more pics soon.

we had ice creams of all kinds... this one wasn't on the ground for more than 5 seconds...

it was tasty...

honey mooning.

Moran and i are married for almost 6 months now, and its time for a little get-away together. so, we're packing our bags and heading to northern italy !!!!! wooooohooooo...

having never been there before, i can only imagine it looks a little like this- Mishmar ha'emek in the spring time. but i guess its a little more striking than this.

tuesday is our d-day, and then its 9 days around the lakes and towns of northern italy, including Venice and Milano... mmm... life is hard, i know.

the passover spirit...

spring is most definitely here, and there is no better way than passover Seder to celebrate the end of winter. you eat like there's no tomorrow, drink like crazy, and then eat (again)...
Matza with chocolate is like the food of the gods. really, it says so in the bible or somthing.

the desert weekend went great, and the weather was on our side, as just as we finished our beautiful ride, it started raining hard. in the desert. at the end of march.

it must be the passover spirit luck.

happy holy-days, and keep away from the Matzas... their full of calories.

out again.

well, i'm off for a few days, going upnorth for a kids training camp. i hope i can use these days to have a little diet going, as i need to lose a few pounds. 5 will do.

'been testing two bikes lately, for a magazine shootout- 2 different 120 mm bikes. two different approaches, two very different bikes. its a GT sensor against a Cannondale RZ one twenty.

these pictures were taken in Ma'anit forest, by the very gifted photographer Lior Dayan.

i'm off. peace.

its in our hands...

riding back to back rides in the northest part of israel and in the deep south, i can honestly say we have a beautiful country. being able to ride in the shade of old trees and lush green shrubbery, and enjoy the dramatic desert mountains in the same day, is a thing to appreciate.

the desert is all blooming these days, after the last few heavy rain showers.

and some trees upnorth are loosing their leaves, all yellow and brown...

beautiful.