Riding With MoC

The fourth day of the ride was the most difficult by far (but would be surpassed in difficulty by the last day). It was made all the more difficult by a very bad decision made by the organizers to postpone the start of that day's ride.

For reasons that are not completely clear, the off-road portion of Wednesday's ride was cancelled. The organizers said it was because the IDF pulled its permission to ride through a restricted area. I think the real reason is because the off-road portion was exceedingly difficult and the organizers were afraid that riders would get hurt (they had already been warning all casual off-road riders not to do the Wednesday ride). Whatever.

The upshot, however, is that the organizers concluded that they could start the ride later in the day because they felt that the on-road ride was fairly easy (with the exception of the optional climb to Mitzukei Dragot). So, instead of getting up at 5:30 a.m., and leaving by 7 or 7:30, we were told to get up at 7 and be ready to leave at 9. This made most people very happy since most of us were dead tired and we were staying in an exteremly nice place. I, on the other hand, was very concerened. I had been planning to ride up Mitzukei Dragot, an unbelieveably nasty 3.6 mile climb of almost 1100 feet. With the delay, it meant that the climb would begin at noon rather than at 10 a.m. That meant the temparature would probably be just around 100 degrees during the climb.

I had long conversations with myself as to whether to go forward. I had been looking forward to this climb ever since I saw the maps and elevations of the ride. On the other hand, I was trying to be a grownup and assess the risks of dehydration and boinking. The alternative was to ride 30K to Ein Gedi and take a one-hour tiyul through the nature reserve before riding on to lunch at Mineral Beach.

(Making matters worse, I had ruined my heart rate monitor the night before. I inadvertently went into the shower with the watch portion of the monitor. Upon realizing this, I took off the watch, opened the shower door and gently tossed my watch onto the bathroom counter. Unfortunately, the watch landed directly in the sink which was full of my jersey, bib shorts and a lot of water. Even though I retreived the watch in a matter of seconds, it was fafallen.)

As it happened, the overwhelming majority of riders (even the testosterone teens and many of the elite riders) chose the Ein Gedi option. I decided to decide at the last minute. When we got to Ein Gedi I was feeling strong and decided to try the climb. Since I had been to Ein Gedi numerous times in the past taking a tiyul did not appeal to me.

Afte a 15 minute break, about 40 lunatics (out of 235 riders) started out for Mitzukei Dragot. We rode along the Dead Sea, past Mineral Beach until we hit the turnoff for Mitzukei Dragot. It did not take long to see what we were in for. Immediately upon turning off the main road the grade went from 0 to about 10 or 11%. It was by far the steepest hill I had ever climbed. I went into my granny gear immediately and started cranking one pedal stroke after another at a very slow and consistent pace. I started sweating profusely to such an extent that, despite wearing a bandana under my helmet, sweat was getting in my eyes, burning them and making it difficult to see. On that kind of grade, it was hard to let go of the handlebars even for a second so I was unable to wipe my brow.

After what seemed an eternity, the rode suddenly flattened and I had a couple of minutes to recover. Ad Kan Hakafa Alef.

After an all-too-short interval, the climb continued. This portion was just a repeat of the first and all I did was crank my pedals, one after the other. Again, finally, there was a brief respite where the road flattened out. Ad Kan Hakafa Beis.

The second flat portion was even shorter than the first so before long I was back into the third (and, I would discover, last) portion of the climb. I kept looking up to try to get a sense of how much further we had but could not accurately gage it. Finally, I went around a curve and saw the top. Wu Wu!!

At the top, the organizers greeted us not only with the normal water, figs, tangerines and cookies that we were used to getting at rest stops but with cherry ices. Never had ices tasted as good.

After relaxing for about forty minutes, I made my way back down the hill. The descent was awesome because unlike previous steep descents, the switchbacks on Mitzukei Dragot were not tight so I was able to let loose.

When I got to the bottom, I had to ride back a few miles (into a brutal headwind) to Mineral Beach for lunch. By the time I arrived there was almost nothing left to eat and people were already leaving for the next leg of the ride. I scarfed down some warm soup and bread and was back on my bike within 30 minutes. I was one of the last riders to leave Mineral Beach.

For some strange reason, I had an enormous amount of energy in reserve. The road was flat and I now had a tailwind behind me. I started cranking in a high gear and started passing people every few seconds. I must have passed at least 100 riders.

At one point we came to an IDF checkpoint. Just beyond the checkpoint was our next rest stop. However, right at the checkpoint was a kiosk. I suddenly got a craving for an ice cold Coke. I guess I couldn't bear the thought of another warm water refill. I stopped at the kiosk plunked down my 5 shek and bought a can of Coke.

I put the Coke in my left hand and started drinking and riding. What a gevalt.
I quickly finished the Coke, crushed the can and put it in one of the back pockets of my jersey.

I then resumed the chase. After another few miles I reached the entrance to the Kalya guesthouse, where we would be staying that night. Par for the course, the entrance to the guesthouse was entirely uphill and went on for about two miles. After a couple of hundred feet I saw my two roommates struggling to get up the hill. One of them was had almost nothing left. Sensing an opportunity, I got out of my seat, dropped the hammer and passed them as if they were standing still. Once again, I got to the room first, about ten minutes before my roommates.

This time, I had rachmanus. I took the cot and allowed them to have the beds. Really.

After showering and washing our stuff, we were bussed to the Almog guest house where the overwhelming majority of the riders were staying that night and where dinner was being served. I ate a huge amount that night, got back on the bus to Kalya and went to sleep.

I was extremely giddy about my climb of Mitzukei Dragot. It was perhaps the hardest athletic thing I had ever done. After looking forward to it for months, I was happy that I decided to go for it and very grateful that I was able to do it without incident.

There was now only one more hurdle. Thursday's 18 mile, 3600 foot, climb to Jerusalem. I was psyched.