Thursday, November 11, 2004
The Israel Ride - Day Three
We couldn't have left the Mamshit Bedouin Tent early enough for my tastes. In fact, we got up at 5 a.m. because if you rode an optional 14 mile cicuit in the Arava Valley, this day would be the longest, about 80 miles. After the miserable dinner the night before, I was glad that the breakfast was much better. The rolls were fresh baked and excellent and there was a bunch of other pretty good stuff.
The elevation charts told you that Tuesday's ride was largely downhill. We were starting 1500 feet above sea level and would end up 1200 feet below, at the Dead Sea. It was surprising, then, how many difficult hills we had to climb.
We climbed a nasty hill until we came to a place called the Ascent of the Scorpions. It was a ridiculously steep downhill with 31 very narrow switchback turns. The road itself was the worst paved road we would ride all week, full of holes, sand and pebbles. I went down pretty slowly and carefully. (We had been warned the night before to be very wary of this descent. The ride organizer told us that if we weren't careful on this road, we would be involuntarily joining the off-road riders). By the time I got to the bottom, my hands were killing me from braking so hard. I was very grateful not to have crashed or gotten a flat.
At the bottom, it felt as though we had just landed on the moon. A very hot moon. We were in the Arava Valley. Luckily, the ride through this moonpatch to the Dead Sea area was slightly downhill and we had a very strong tailwind. This was one of the most fun parts of the entire week. For a half hour, I was riding at over 20 miles an hour, using a relatively low gear and barely putting in any effort. It was awesome.
We got to the lunch area very early, around 10:30, much faster than the organizers had anticipated. As a result, we did the optional 14 mile circuit of the Nachal Ha'Arava before lunch instead of after. We were back at 11:30 but lunch hadn't arrived. Unfortunately there had been a glitch and lunch would end up arriving at about 1 p.m. Luckily, lunch this time was at a gas station rest stop so I ended up buying ices, potato chips and orange drink while I waited. Nevertheless, as had happened in the two previous days, I absolutely baked in the two hours I had to wait during the lunch breaks.
We finally got going again at about 1:30. It was unbelievably hot and I had been sapped of a lot of strength by hanging in the heat for so long. We still had a very long ride north along the Dead Sea. For the first time all week I struggled. I barely made it to the next rest stop, at the Dead Sea Works. They were nice enough to provide cold bottled water (a real treat after drinking water all day that had been sitting in 100 degree temparature) and ices. There were still about 25 kilometers until our hotel and I was very concerned about boinking.
Luckily, I was saved by another rider, a long-time oleh who lives in Hashmonaim, with whom I had spent a lot of time during the past three days. We decided to work together the rest of the way. We picked up two other guys and we had a four man paceline. A paceline works by having the guy in the front "pull" for a short period and then drop back to the back of the line. Each rider gets right behind the wheel of the rider in front. The riders in the line have a much easier time because the guy 'pulling' is cutting the wind. Each of us pulled in the front for about 60 seconds and then dropped back to the back of the pack; we repeated this almost all the way home. Working in a paceline can reduce your efforts by as much as 40% so instead of boinking, we actually flew most of the way home. Most, not all.
Just before we reached the hotel we hit one of the nastiest hills of the entire ride. The paceline broke down and each of us was on his own. I was brutal but I finally did get to the top. From the top we had a nice descent down to the area where in Ein Bokek where all the hotels are situated.
We reached the hotel and dismounted. I walked into the lobby of the hotel and felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Unlike the other places we had stayed, this was a real hotel. (The hospital organizers were able to get a very cheap rate; it was virtually the same as we paid for the Beduoin tent). The air conditioning was extremely strong. There were chocolate covered graham crackers and ice cold orange drink. I had about ten cookies (I'm not exaggerating) and went up to my room. Once again because I had ridden pretty strong I was first. This was especially important because there was a comfortable looking double bed and a nasty looking cot in the room. I took the cot. NOT.
Once again, I showered, washed my stuff and was resting on my bed of choice before my roomies even got there.
A little later, my roomies and I sat down for dinner at a table for four and were joined by one of the strangest guys I have ever met. Spooky weird. The kind of guy you are sure has bodies buried beneath his basement. We learned his (weird) life story in five minutes and were weirded out the rest of dinner. Nevertheless, the food was exceptional and I ate as much as I could (it never seemed to be enough; the scale in my room had me down another 4.5 pounds since the start of the tour. My weight hadn't been this low since high school).
The hotel was chock full of Russians and there seemed to be more Russian being spoken than either English or Hebrew. I took a walk around the shopping area, got back to the hotel and fell asleep in a minute flat.
The next day would be the 3.6 mile climb up Mitzukei Dragot; by far the hardest part of the ride so far.
The elevation charts told you that Tuesday's ride was largely downhill. We were starting 1500 feet above sea level and would end up 1200 feet below, at the Dead Sea. It was surprising, then, how many difficult hills we had to climb.
We climbed a nasty hill until we came to a place called the Ascent of the Scorpions. It was a ridiculously steep downhill with 31 very narrow switchback turns. The road itself was the worst paved road we would ride all week, full of holes, sand and pebbles. I went down pretty slowly and carefully. (We had been warned the night before to be very wary of this descent. The ride organizer told us that if we weren't careful on this road, we would be involuntarily joining the off-road riders). By the time I got to the bottom, my hands were killing me from braking so hard. I was very grateful not to have crashed or gotten a flat.
At the bottom, it felt as though we had just landed on the moon. A very hot moon. We were in the Arava Valley. Luckily, the ride through this moonpatch to the Dead Sea area was slightly downhill and we had a very strong tailwind. This was one of the most fun parts of the entire week. For a half hour, I was riding at over 20 miles an hour, using a relatively low gear and barely putting in any effort. It was awesome.
We got to the lunch area very early, around 10:30, much faster than the organizers had anticipated. As a result, we did the optional 14 mile circuit of the Nachal Ha'Arava before lunch instead of after. We were back at 11:30 but lunch hadn't arrived. Unfortunately there had been a glitch and lunch would end up arriving at about 1 p.m. Luckily, lunch this time was at a gas station rest stop so I ended up buying ices, potato chips and orange drink while I waited. Nevertheless, as had happened in the two previous days, I absolutely baked in the two hours I had to wait during the lunch breaks.
We finally got going again at about 1:30. It was unbelievably hot and I had been sapped of a lot of strength by hanging in the heat for so long. We still had a very long ride north along the Dead Sea. For the first time all week I struggled. I barely made it to the next rest stop, at the Dead Sea Works. They were nice enough to provide cold bottled water (a real treat after drinking water all day that had been sitting in 100 degree temparature) and ices. There were still about 25 kilometers until our hotel and I was very concerned about boinking.
Luckily, I was saved by another rider, a long-time oleh who lives in Hashmonaim, with whom I had spent a lot of time during the past three days. We decided to work together the rest of the way. We picked up two other guys and we had a four man paceline. A paceline works by having the guy in the front "pull" for a short period and then drop back to the back of the line. Each rider gets right behind the wheel of the rider in front. The riders in the line have a much easier time because the guy 'pulling' is cutting the wind. Each of us pulled in the front for about 60 seconds and then dropped back to the back of the pack; we repeated this almost all the way home. Working in a paceline can reduce your efforts by as much as 40% so instead of boinking, we actually flew most of the way home. Most, not all.
Just before we reached the hotel we hit one of the nastiest hills of the entire ride. The paceline broke down and each of us was on his own. I was brutal but I finally did get to the top. From the top we had a nice descent down to the area where in Ein Bokek where all the hotels are situated.
We reached the hotel and dismounted. I walked into the lobby of the hotel and felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Unlike the other places we had stayed, this was a real hotel. (The hospital organizers were able to get a very cheap rate; it was virtually the same as we paid for the Beduoin tent). The air conditioning was extremely strong. There were chocolate covered graham crackers and ice cold orange drink. I had about ten cookies (I'm not exaggerating) and went up to my room. Once again because I had ridden pretty strong I was first. This was especially important because there was a comfortable looking double bed and a nasty looking cot in the room. I took the cot. NOT.
Once again, I showered, washed my stuff and was resting on my bed of choice before my roomies even got there.
A little later, my roomies and I sat down for dinner at a table for four and were joined by one of the strangest guys I have ever met. Spooky weird. The kind of guy you are sure has bodies buried beneath his basement. We learned his (weird) life story in five minutes and were weirded out the rest of dinner. Nevertheless, the food was exceptional and I ate as much as I could (it never seemed to be enough; the scale in my room had me down another 4.5 pounds since the start of the tour. My weight hadn't been this low since high school).
The hotel was chock full of Russians and there seemed to be more Russian being spoken than either English or Hebrew. I took a walk around the shopping area, got back to the hotel and fell asleep in a minute flat.
The next day would be the 3.6 mile climb up Mitzukei Dragot; by far the hardest part of the ride so far.
