Almost There

I arrived in Jerusalem yesterday morning after a pleasant flight on which I (i) ate, (ii) slept, and (iii) met a few fellow Alyn Riders. In truth, it was the first time I was able to relax in a few days because of the insanity going on at work.

Of course, I got home at 4:30 and only got to the airport at 5:15 for a 7 p.m. flight because I was involved in a fire drill at work (that, sadly, will last all through the ride).

I always look forward to registration at Alyn. I get to see the volunteers again and often run into veterans riders whom I haven't seen in a year. This year was no exception. Even better, I ran into Erez, the Israeli leader of the challenge ride who is not only an incredibly strong rider but one of the nicest guys in the world. It isn't easy managing a group of 55 maniacs but Erez does a very skillful job.

This year, the mechanics put my bike together in 12 minutes. Pretty impressive.

I checked out some of the other Challenge Riders' bikes. Some serious equipment (not that my six year old Lightspeed Ti is so bad). And, as Lance says, It's not about the bike! The problem is, that means it's about the rider. Am I supposed to feel good about that?

The rest of my day was spent on a series of calls for work and writing and responding to scores of emails. The best part of the day was a wonderful dinner with my daughter Rebecca at one of my favorite restaurants (enhanced by the fact that we ate outdoors on a glorious evening).

On Saturday night we head out for Mitzpe Ramon and we start on Sunday, a short, but deceptively difficult 51 mile ride with a lot of climbing. In the meantime, I get to spend a lovely Shabbat with with my daughter, son and son in law and three grandchildren, whom I hadn't seen since August.

Boxing The Bike

My training for the Alyn Bike Ride is over. I did my last outdoor ride, a short 30 miler, early this morning, concentrating on hills. I then brought my bike over to Brands in Wantaugh and had them box it in my travel case.

It's pretty pathetic that I don't box it myself (it really isn't that difficult) but the following story illustrates why I spend a few bucks and have someone else do it.

When I arrived at the Alyn Hospital staging ground for my last ride, in 2008, there was another American rider trying to assemble two bikes, his and his wife's. Since there were 5 Israeli mechanics whose sole job it was that day to assemble bikes, I thought that was quite strange. Keep in mind that these guys all served in the Israeli army and chances are they were tank mechanics who learned to fix on the fly the most sophisticated tanks in the world. Who would I rather have assemble my bike? Them or me, a little guy from New York with a law school degree who is proud of that fact that he can actually change a flat tire? Exactly.

In any event, this guy was shvitzing for a half hour and wasn't close to finishing even one of the bikes while the mechanic assembled mine in less than ten minutes.

So, I leave on Wednesday night comfortable that my bike was dis-assembled by someone, while not an Israeli tank mechanic, is far less likely to mess up than I.

Because of how busy I've been at work I have barely been able to think about the ride. Boxing the bike brings home that I am leaving in 3 days.

10-10-10

A cool fact:

Our daughter Meira was born on 05-05-05. Yesterday, she was 5 years, 5 months and 5 days old.

I clearly have too much time on my hands.

Hot and Cold

I started my ride yesterday at 8 am. It was cold. I put on my Gore Tex jacket, leggings and full-finger gloves. My first descent, coming five minutes after I started, was 1 mile long, completely in the shade. My face almost froze.

By 9, however, it was getting warm. And I was doing a lot of climbing. By ten, I looked dopey because almost everyone else on the road was in a normal kit.

Not much you can do about that.

It was a relatively short ride, a bit more than 30 miles, but i did a lot of climbing, including short hills with gradients of 18 and 14 percent. In all, about 2600 feet and 1800 calories.

I have one or two more outside rides before the Alyn ride and I will be focusing almost exclusively on nasty climbing.

At this point, you are either ready or you're not.

Two Weeks To Go

I will be flying out to Israel in two weeks from tonight.

I have been fighting a cold for over a week and have hardly been on my bike in the past two.

Nevertheless, I've been doing some spinning and I'm still in decent shape. I'm pretty excited, to tell the truth.

I continue to be hopeful about my ability to stick with the back of the pack but very apprehensive about climbing Maale Akrabim (the Scorpion's Ascent).

The great news is that my son Zev will be joining me for the last two days of the ride. I use the term "joining me" loosely since the only part of him I am likely to see on the road is his back. He is a monster and will be riding with some of the more serious riders. But it will still be a lot of fun having him there.

With work as busy as it is, I'm sure these two weeks will fly by.