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.

sceptic israeli.

now, being an israeli, and knowing the israeli weather, allow me to be VERY sceptic when it comes to the weather forecast. they said it would rain. alot. which means...

... it will not rain. at all. and if it does rain, it would only get the edges of the trees, the roofs and the very top layer of the ground a little wet. and being an israeli, it also means i'm never wrong. ever.

so now our yard is a big swimming pool, mud is all over the place, and we can't get out of the house without getting soaked... good thing wer'e going down south.

thing is, i forgot that the weatherman is also an israeli guy. which means he's never, ever wrong. hmmm...

going bi-color...

it's been a while since i really "trained" on my bike, so going out and logging the hours in the saddle was hard at first. but in the last two weeks i gave it a boost, and now i actually feel rather fast. two weeks ago, just finishing a 5 hour ride was hard, and left me tired and frustrated. in the last 3 days i rode 18 hours total- and i feel great. good.

this weekend wer'e going down south for the "sde boker 100". i'll ride my 9.9 singlespeed, and i think i'll do good. i'll ride a steady pace, and try to go faster every lap.

and finally, the rain is here. its not cold, by any means, but the single tracks have been crying for some water streaming down them.

here's for some cloudy days.

mt. Hermon singlespeed climb...

friday, 6am. a silent group of mountainbikes starts the long climb up the highest mountain in israel. the bikes are silent, alright, but the riders are anything but... this group is an amazing gathering of people of all ages, and all parts of society. they are really the best of the best.

the climb itself seems easier and easier each time i do it. i'm there for the vibe. for the guys (and girl...), for the experience.

the single speed commune has become the most vibrant and lively group of riders in the israeli biking scene, and it all started with one guy- Ilan Carmel. the man celebrated his birthday on friday, by climbing up the Hermon on his SS, with the group he had gathered up. respect.

and mazal tov, Ilan.

this week will be about more riding hours, and a 100 km race on saturday, which i'll ride aboard my Singlespeed. maybe i'll wipe the dust off my 9.9 racebike.

maybe.

fall events.

the next weekends are packed full of events and rides. this weekend is the Hermon singlespeed climb, and a night with my babe on the Kineret's beach. next weekend is the Sde Boker 100- a weekend for the soul...

Moran and i will go down to sde boker, and spend the night in a tent over there. in the morning we will ride our separate ways- moran heading for a ride through the scenic roads of the area, and i will race the 100km race on my singlespeed. awesome.

and the weekend after that is the Ride Around The (what used to be) Galilee sea. ofcourse we can't miss that, right? see you down the trails, i guess.

new bike day..!

oh, the joy of the new bike day... just got my new ride- a 2009 gary fisher superfly. its sweeeet.
ofcourse i put it right away on a little diet. i switced the seatpost, handle bars, cassette, cranks, seat and tires. now it weighs a respectable- 10.17 kg. again- sweeeeeeeeeeeet.

so next week is a big one, with lots of riding. this saturday will see me riding a 7 hour pre\race\post race ride, and on tuesday- a 5 hour desert ride. on the weekend i will (maybe) climb up the Hermon mt. with the singlespeed gang, and ride back home the day after the climb. here comes the pain.

and moran and i managed to squeeze awesome trip up north on tuesday.

life is good. yeah. good.

well, back to reality...

so. here i am, a full month before the longest ride of my life, and i feel a little out of shape. the wedding preparations and all, you know...

so i built myself a little training plan. a two week ride-your-bike-as-much-as-you-can, and go to sleep early kind of plan. its working. i do go to sleep early.

and i am hungry all the time, so it must say something about my riding. it also might just say that i'm about to get fat.

here comes the bride...

okay, so that's it... wer'e married. now i can tell that we gave away 150 bike bells, so that the guests would use them as we went down the aisle... except i did not walk... i rode my trek 9800 down the aisle, to the sounds of Queen's song- bicycle race. it was awesome.

moran walked down the aisle, looking like the princess that she is. this is a picture i took, standing under the chupa, waiting to kiss my wife.

the braking of the glass symbolises that, still, not everything is perfect in the world. it also symbolises the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one.

and this is where i stand. where we stand...

welcome to the new world.

even a 1000 mile trip...

that's it. its the end of an era for me, and the beginning of a new chapter. i never thought that closing the lid on my single life would look and feel so right and easy, but it is...

next ride will be a married man's ride.

its the same ride, only different.

5 days to go...

so... its five days to D day. i'm not that excited just yet, but i know i will be. seeing moran wearing her wedding dress and all... my best friend, lior, is flying in from LA, in order to be my best man at the wedding.

yom kipur went well, and we managed to squeeze a few rides. we even rode all the way to Haifa, and moran went up to the city through the Freud climb. the girl got strong legs and will....

so, the yesterday i embarked on an epic road ride, which i had wanted to last around 8 hours. i rode up beit oren, down nesher, through tivon, ramat ishai, and through afula. i rode down to the jordan valley, and than up the gilboa mountains. came back through afula and ended up cramping like hell in yokne'am. moran had to pick me up. still, i managed around 170 km. got to buy some isotonic drinks... i was out of salt in my body. well...

random thoughts...

as this is yom kipur evening, i thought it would be best to ask for the forgiveness of every person whom might have been offended by me. sorry, it was not intentional...

Uri and Michal got married on friday, and their wedding was one of the best i've ever attended. music, friends, food... it had it all.

on saturday morning i raced a mini down-hill race in ben shemen. the course was rather tricky, with lots of technical elements in its first half, and lots of pedalling in its second... i did not have any full suspension rig on test for the mag, so i chose the superfly 29er... it proved to be pretty fast, and i finished 6th overall, 4.5 seconds off the winner's time.

i love riding bikes, and love the idea of blasting a 2 minute race, as much as i like riding 400 km
in the desert. bikes is god's gift to man-kind.

fall.

the days of scorhing heat are over. fall is here.

one can actually wake up at 9 AM and ride till noon. which exactly what i plan on doing in the next 2 months. a 400 km race means more than 20 hours of riding, and being able to sit on the thinly padded seat is a built in requirement.

i'm about to get my new bike... an 09' gary fisher superfly. i think i'm about to put it through my regular "pimp my ride" treatment, though, as i find it a little heavier than i want.

tantan is in his regular mode. sound asleep.

back to business...

coming back from vacation is proving harder than i thought, but there's no escape from the daily grind. so here i am, writing bike tests for the mag, getting ready for the afternoon ride...

and speaking of rides, i must put on some more hours. last week i rode 3 hours all in all... on the other hand, i got married, and had a wonderful vacation with my babe. you gotta live a little, don't you?

hummer sucks.

wedding bells...

that's it. wer'e married !!! ofcourse its official now, but it will be even more official after the wedding in israel, infront of all our friends and family. still, putting the ring on moran's finger was a very exciting moment.

we spent the remaining days on the island traveling around in the mountains, exploring the beaches and resting. it was an awesome vacation.

knowing that moran is my wife, and that she's the woman i'm going to spend my life with makes me the happiest man on earth. this girl makes me smile.

i mean, look at her...

the clock is ticking. . . . . . . .

moran and i are packed, and on tuesday morning wer'e off to Cyprus to get married, and have a little vacation while wer'e there. this is all so exciting. i'll be a married man in two day's time !!!

yes. next post will be a married man's post. hmmm.

woooooohooooooooooo!!!!!!

racing time...

i have not raced in a while, and as a part of preparing for the 400 km race, i want to log on some hard long hours in tha saddle. so i'm using my gary fisher rig, 29er singlespeed as the race bike for tomorrow's 60 km marathon race. i'll ride back home from the race in order to complete at least 100 km...

anyway, moran and i are getting all our errands done, so we'll have the time to really get excited before the big day, without all the running around. i think we work extremely well together. good, since wer'e about to get married, you know.i thought this was funny...

that's all folks.