So where am I?
With 4 months to go, I have had a very strange spring.
Horrible weather and a bunch of travelling in April and May kept me off the road a lot.
A medical issue in early June set me back a bit but I got in a great ride in Israel (up Ramat Raziel and Nes Harim with Zev) in mid-June. Then, a terrible stomach bug hit; probably food poisoning on my flight back from Israel. Three full days and 7 pounds later, I weighed 115 pounds and had no energy. A complete lost week and a a very weak following week. I could barely do 30 miles on the North Shore. Finally, the Sunday before last, I was able to do 50 strong miles and on Friday morning I really pounded out a 27 mile round trip to Point Lookout; one of my fastest times.
Yesterday, I set out for the North Shore again with my sights on a 60 mile ride. My plan was to do a modified version of the Mansion Ride, adding three climbs and subtracting a bunch of flatter terrain. I was strong for 30 miles and was headed to Beacon Hill when - snap - my chain broke. Very long story short, I miraculously found someone to give me a lift back to my car (I was about as far away from where I parked as I was all day). I brought the bike in to discover that not only was my chain messed up but my cassette needed to be replaced as well.
This is frustrating since I replaced them both last year in the beginning of August; it just doesn't seem normal to go through a cassette so quickly; it's not like I rode 5,000 miles this year. And, replacing a Dura Ace cassette ain't cheap. Uggh.
So, my bike is in the repair shop for a few days. Back on the spin bike until then. And, on Sunday, 70 miles on the Gold Coast ride.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
I'm Back for More
The 12th Alyn Ride is going to be in the North this year. It was just confirmed that it will start at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, just south of Beit She'an. I'm really excited about this because during my sophomore year abroad I spent a week at Sde Eliyahu picking rimonim (pomegranites). That was, *sigh*, more than 36 years ago! I haven't been back since. I can't even imagine what the place looks like now.
What I remember about Sde Eliyahu is that we woke up around 4 am and worked till around noon. Then we had lunch and spent the rest of the day in the pool. Sde Eliyahu is in the Beit She'an valley, about 200 meters below sea level. It's pretty hot. I think the term of art is, "it's hot as hell."
I will post more about the Ride in the coming days. The one other thing I know is that the Challenge riders will be climbing Mt. Hermon, something I've never done (and chickened out of doing in 2005).
What I remember about Sde Eliyahu is that we woke up around 4 am and worked till around noon. Then we had lunch and spent the rest of the day in the pool. Sde Eliyahu is in the Beit She'an valley, about 200 meters below sea level. It's pretty hot. I think the term of art is, "it's hot as hell."
I will post more about the Ride in the coming days. The one other thing I know is that the Challenge riders will be climbing Mt. Hermon, something I've never done (and chickened out of doing in 2005).
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Epilogue
Now that I'm back, I had time to jot down a few final thoughts and memories about my recent ride for Alyn Hospital.
It's a daunting thought that I was among the more normal people on the challenge ride. But being around a bunch of "unsual" people for five days was one of its charms.
A few examples:
Two guys paid extra so that they could room alone. Reason: so that they could bring their bikes into their rooms at night.
A 65 year old rider from Finland had done 39 century rides through Europe this summer before joining us on the ride.
One rider, from Bet Shemesh, rides 3 hours or more every day, six days a week. His only day of rest, appropriately, is the Sabbath.
But the best example of lunacy happened on Tuesday's climb of Maale Akrabim. Since I am relatively slow and was not confident of my ability to actually get to the top, I purposely started last (I ended up passing quite a few riders and a number of others ditched in the middle). I had mashed my way up about 2/3 of the hill when a rider from Chicago, came bombing down. He was yelling something as he passed me but I couldn't quite make it out. When I triumphantly made it to the top I found out that he had challenged some of the other riders that he would go down and up Maale Akrabim again if they would collectively contribute an extra $1000 to Alyn. Of course they took the bait. And, of course, he made it back up (not before me; that would have been incredibly humiliating).
All in all, I was very happy with both the ride and my riding. I struggled mightily the first day (for reasons that I still don't fully understand) but I did better the rest of the way. (In contrast, a number of riders blew themselves up the first day trying to follow the pace of the alpha dogs and struggled the rest of the way). I made it up every hill without having to stop or get off my bike. There are definately a couple of things I need to work on for next year (more weight work and more intense interval training) but, all-in-all, I'm pretty happy about how I rode.
The final adjusted stats: 26 hours on the bike, 345 miles, over 18,000 feet of climbing and about 13,000 calories burned. My average heart rate was 149.
The two highlights of my ride were, first, finally climbing Maale Akrabim, the steepest, most technical and most difficult climb I've ever done. It was exhilirating to make it to the top, especially since, the night before, exhausted by our 85 mile ride, I thought I had no chance. The second highlight was riding two days with Zev. What a great experience!
But, at the end of the day, the thought that sticks with me is how blessed Sara and I have been to have raised four healthy children and now to have the opportunity to raise a fifth. Seeing the profound, almost indescribable, challenges faced by the children of Alyn really brings that home. And seeing the unbelievable dedication of the professionals and staffers of Alyn makes me proud to be associated with such an amazing place.
I would be lying to say that I ride for the kids of Alyn. That's simply not the case. I ride because I love to ride, Israel is an amazing place to ride and we've had one or more of our kids living or studying there for most of the past ten years. But knowing that, with your help, my riding has raised about $140,000 over six years, makes every pedal stroke and every groan well worth it.
It's a daunting thought that I was among the more normal people on the challenge ride. But being around a bunch of "unsual" people for five days was one of its charms.
A few examples:
Two guys paid extra so that they could room alone. Reason: so that they could bring their bikes into their rooms at night.
A 65 year old rider from Finland had done 39 century rides through Europe this summer before joining us on the ride.
One rider, from Bet Shemesh, rides 3 hours or more every day, six days a week. His only day of rest, appropriately, is the Sabbath.
But the best example of lunacy happened on Tuesday's climb of Maale Akrabim. Since I am relatively slow and was not confident of my ability to actually get to the top, I purposely started last (I ended up passing quite a few riders and a number of others ditched in the middle). I had mashed my way up about 2/3 of the hill when a rider from Chicago, came bombing down. He was yelling something as he passed me but I couldn't quite make it out. When I triumphantly made it to the top I found out that he had challenged some of the other riders that he would go down and up Maale Akrabim again if they would collectively contribute an extra $1000 to Alyn. Of course they took the bait. And, of course, he made it back up (not before me; that would have been incredibly humiliating).
All in all, I was very happy with both the ride and my riding. I struggled mightily the first day (for reasons that I still don't fully understand) but I did better the rest of the way. (In contrast, a number of riders blew themselves up the first day trying to follow the pace of the alpha dogs and struggled the rest of the way). I made it up every hill without having to stop or get off my bike. There are definately a couple of things I need to work on for next year (more weight work and more intense interval training) but, all-in-all, I'm pretty happy about how I rode.
The final adjusted stats: 26 hours on the bike, 345 miles, over 18,000 feet of climbing and about 13,000 calories burned. My average heart rate was 149.
The two highlights of my ride were, first, finally climbing Maale Akrabim, the steepest, most technical and most difficult climb I've ever done. It was exhilirating to make it to the top, especially since, the night before, exhausted by our 85 mile ride, I thought I had no chance. The second highlight was riding two days with Zev. What a great experience!
But, at the end of the day, the thought that sticks with me is how blessed Sara and I have been to have raised four healthy children and now to have the opportunity to raise a fifth. Seeing the profound, almost indescribable, challenges faced by the children of Alyn really brings that home. And seeing the unbelievable dedication of the professionals and staffers of Alyn makes me proud to be associated with such an amazing place.
I would be lying to say that I ride for the kids of Alyn. That's simply not the case. I ride because I love to ride, Israel is an amazing place to ride and we've had one or more of our kids living or studying there for most of the past ten years. But knowing that, with your help, my riding has raised about $140,000 over six years, makes every pedal stroke and every groan well worth it.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Day 5: Lemonade From Lemons
Today was one of those days where many things did not work out as planned, partly because of faulty planning, partly because of human error but mainly because the One Above had a different plan.
Nevertheless, Zev and I had another fantastic day of riding. Not only that, but our "escape" from the always chaotic scene at hospital after the ride could not have worked out better.
Let's start with the main story, the weather. It was over 98 degrees and some of the riders' computers were registering temps as high as 103! I'll get back to that later.
Second, the City of Ashkelon police. For whatever reason, after diappearing on our way in on Wednesday night, they made us regroup many times on our way out so our exit took a while.
Third, faulty planning by the "Vaad", the organization that runs the ride. In conjunction with the five day ride, they also insist on running a one day ride called "Galgalyn". (A play on words that combines the Hebrew word for "wheel" with "Alyn"). This ride is integrated with ours and, besides making the logistics much more difficult, drives the Jerusalem police crazy. (Worst of all, it raises virtually no money for Alyn. Don't ask).
Despite all that Zev and I put in 52 hard but fun miles and climbed over 3000 feet.
Here's how:
Zev and I went to bed at 9:15 last night after ditching the after-dinner party. We had experienced a brutal day of riding and were scheduled to get up at 4:30 a.m. Today. Not being party animals, we figured sleep trumped rock and roll.
We'd been told that today's ride had been abbreviated by the Jerusalem police but would still entail 60 miles and about 5000 feet of climbing. The highlight was to be the ascent of a killer 7k climb of Nes Harim, a hill only slightly less daunting than Tuesday's Maale Akrabim.
Starting from the west coast at sea level and ending in Jerusalem meant that virtually the entire ride would be uphill. The challenge riders led the way and, once out of town, set a fast but manageable pace for 24 miles until the first rest stop at Bet Guvrin, where we met up with some of the one day riders.
While the heat was already intensw during that first segment (at times I felt as though a hair blower was aimed at my face), as long as rode it was tolerable. I was drinking litres of water and pouring water over my head. (Of course the water over the head thing was not too effective since you could almost have brewed tea from the the water in our bottles). We were also religiously going through our electrolyte pills and nutrition supplements. Drinking water alone on a day like today can actually be dangerous.
After a short break it was 24 miles from Bet Guvrin to the bottom of Nes Harim. This stretch of road was almost "off road". We were riding on narrow one-lane farm roads in wine country. At one point the road narrowed and sloped downhill (a treat on a day we started at sea level and were mainly climbing). Unfortunately, that lovely 2 mile stretch turned out to be an inexcusable mistake (a sign posted by the organizers pointed left when it should have pointed right. After a long delay, we had to circle back, this time uphill (it was so hot that a couple of tire tubes popped on the asphalt during the wait).
After a few more miles we stopped at a rest stop. We had been hearing whispers that the day's ride would be terminated early because of the heat and the rumours were now confirmed. The organizers rightly decided that it was too hot to allow riders to ascend Nes Harim and decided to stop the riding after 45 miles and bus everyone to the top for lunch and then to Alyn for the final ceremony. (This was a no-brainer; I've done Nes Harim a dozen times and even the best riders would have been endangered in this heat after almost five days and over 300 gruelling miles. At mid-day there is literally no shade for at least two miles of Nes Harim and one is totally exposed to the sun (Just where the gradients exceed 12 to 15 percent)).
The group, tired and hot and disappointed, took the decision in stride. Everyone knew it was the only choice and many weren't too keen about getting back on their bikes anyway.
Here's where plan B kicked in. Although neither Zev nor I knew exactly where we were (because we were on an unmarked farm road), we sensed that we were close to Zev's house in Ramat Bet Shemesh (the Heights of the house of the Sun). We found out it was indeed only 10k away (albeit all uphill).
Our choice was either bus up to Nes Harim for a lunch in our wet and dirty kits in 100 degree weather followed by a bus trip to the hospital ceremony in our wet and dirty kits in 100 degree weather or ride 6 miles to Zev's air conditioned house, shower and change and drive to the hospital in an air conditioned car
Duh.
Zev and I loaded up with water and cranked our way home at a very strong pace given the heat and the gradient. All told, we had pounded out 52 miles and over 3000 feet for the day, most of which I spent riding with Zev.
What a great and fortuitous finish to an awesome week of riding. (While not doing Nes Harim was disappointing to many riders, we didn't care. I do it almost every time I visit Zev and Zev does it almost every week).
After hanging out at Zev's house (where my one-year old grandson Daniel was starting at me in my spandex outfit and riding sunglasses the whole time, we drove to the always inspiring ceremony at the hospital (ironically taking the road to Ramat Raziel, an even harder climb than Nes Harim), I got my bike boxed in 6 minutes and picked up my bags, said my farewells and made it to dinner with Rebecca by 6 p.m.
Nevertheless, Zev and I had another fantastic day of riding. Not only that, but our "escape" from the always chaotic scene at hospital after the ride could not have worked out better.
Let's start with the main story, the weather. It was over 98 degrees and some of the riders' computers were registering temps as high as 103! I'll get back to that later.
Second, the City of Ashkelon police. For whatever reason, after diappearing on our way in on Wednesday night, they made us regroup many times on our way out so our exit took a while.
Third, faulty planning by the "Vaad", the organization that runs the ride. In conjunction with the five day ride, they also insist on running a one day ride called "Galgalyn". (A play on words that combines the Hebrew word for "wheel" with "Alyn"). This ride is integrated with ours and, besides making the logistics much more difficult, drives the Jerusalem police crazy. (Worst of all, it raises virtually no money for Alyn. Don't ask).
Despite all that Zev and I put in 52 hard but fun miles and climbed over 3000 feet.
Here's how:
Zev and I went to bed at 9:15 last night after ditching the after-dinner party. We had experienced a brutal day of riding and were scheduled to get up at 4:30 a.m. Today. Not being party animals, we figured sleep trumped rock and roll.
We'd been told that today's ride had been abbreviated by the Jerusalem police but would still entail 60 miles and about 5000 feet of climbing. The highlight was to be the ascent of a killer 7k climb of Nes Harim, a hill only slightly less daunting than Tuesday's Maale Akrabim.
Starting from the west coast at sea level and ending in Jerusalem meant that virtually the entire ride would be uphill. The challenge riders led the way and, once out of town, set a fast but manageable pace for 24 miles until the first rest stop at Bet Guvrin, where we met up with some of the one day riders.
While the heat was already intensw during that first segment (at times I felt as though a hair blower was aimed at my face), as long as rode it was tolerable. I was drinking litres of water and pouring water over my head. (Of course the water over the head thing was not too effective since you could almost have brewed tea from the the water in our bottles). We were also religiously going through our electrolyte pills and nutrition supplements. Drinking water alone on a day like today can actually be dangerous.
After a short break it was 24 miles from Bet Guvrin to the bottom of Nes Harim. This stretch of road was almost "off road". We were riding on narrow one-lane farm roads in wine country. At one point the road narrowed and sloped downhill (a treat on a day we started at sea level and were mainly climbing). Unfortunately, that lovely 2 mile stretch turned out to be an inexcusable mistake (a sign posted by the organizers pointed left when it should have pointed right. After a long delay, we had to circle back, this time uphill (it was so hot that a couple of tire tubes popped on the asphalt during the wait).
After a few more miles we stopped at a rest stop. We had been hearing whispers that the day's ride would be terminated early because of the heat and the rumours were now confirmed. The organizers rightly decided that it was too hot to allow riders to ascend Nes Harim and decided to stop the riding after 45 miles and bus everyone to the top for lunch and then to Alyn for the final ceremony. (This was a no-brainer; I've done Nes Harim a dozen times and even the best riders would have been endangered in this heat after almost five days and over 300 gruelling miles. At mid-day there is literally no shade for at least two miles of Nes Harim and one is totally exposed to the sun (Just where the gradients exceed 12 to 15 percent)).
The group, tired and hot and disappointed, took the decision in stride. Everyone knew it was the only choice and many weren't too keen about getting back on their bikes anyway.
Here's where plan B kicked in. Although neither Zev nor I knew exactly where we were (because we were on an unmarked farm road), we sensed that we were close to Zev's house in Ramat Bet Shemesh (the Heights of the house of the Sun). We found out it was indeed only 10k away (albeit all uphill).
Our choice was either bus up to Nes Harim for a lunch in our wet and dirty kits in 100 degree weather followed by a bus trip to the hospital ceremony in our wet and dirty kits in 100 degree weather or ride 6 miles to Zev's air conditioned house, shower and change and drive to the hospital in an air conditioned car
Duh.
Zev and I loaded up with water and cranked our way home at a very strong pace given the heat and the gradient. All told, we had pounded out 52 miles and over 3000 feet for the day, most of which I spent riding with Zev.
What a great and fortuitous finish to an awesome week of riding. (While not doing Nes Harim was disappointing to many riders, we didn't care. I do it almost every time I visit Zev and Zev does it almost every week).
After hanging out at Zev's house (where my one-year old grandson Daniel was starting at me in my spandex outfit and riding sunglasses the whole time, we drove to the always inspiring ceremony at the hospital (ironically taking the road to Ramat Raziel, an even harder climb than Nes Harim), I got my bike boxed in 6 minutes and picked up my bags, said my farewells and made it to dinner with Rebecca by 6 p.m.
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