this is my dream car. oh my god, its a beauty... the combination of the most beautiful car ever built, the citroen ds, and an off-road monster. the thing does it all...
anyway, i'm heading to the dead sea in order to participate in the couple's race over there, and write about it for the magazine. see you on sunday.
a 69er kind of shade.
in the past few weeks Erez and i were thinking of taking a serious commitment. somthing of the epic kind. a race with lots of miles and lots of climbing. as the 400 km came to a halt, we had to find somthing longer...
having no other choice (...) we had to sign up for the TransAlp stage race. this july wer'e heading for the ride of our lives, crossing the german, austrian and italian alps, in an 8 day blast through the mountains. yes, life is hard. 
riding 360 kilometers with my family was a true adventure that proved a few things:
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. 
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... 
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.
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... 
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.
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.
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 !!
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... 
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. 
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...
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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.
oh, the joy of the new bike day... just got my new ride- a 2009 gary fisher superfly. its sweeeet.
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. 
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.
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. 
