Riding With MoC

Everyone Knows It's Windy

2007-11-13T20:45:00.000-05:00

Today was the best, strongest day of riding I've ever had. As a result, I am almost too tired to write this.

For the third straight day, we headed south from Tiveria along the Kinneret. We were joined today by the Challenge riders who spent Monday night at the same hotel. (A few of the riders told me that the vibe on the challenge ride was much better than last year and that I would have easily been able to manage it. Nevertheless, I'm happy with my choice).

After 4 miles we turned west and started climbing. The climb was about 600 vertical feet in about 2 miles. I felt strong and managed to finish among the challenge ride hoi paloi (the elite riders probably could probably have descended and made it halfway up again in the time it takes me).

We then took a short break. The ride organizers made a significant change in policy that made a huge difference. They picked up the straglers in a SAG van (in this case a bus) at a predetermined time so that the other riders would not have to wait so long. This changed the whole complexion of the ride.

After the break we did another nasty climb, this one 1200 feet over 4.5 miles with some crazy gradients (as much as 14% in some areas). Again, I did fairly well and ended up among the lower quarter of challenge riders. (To put it in perspective, this is the hill that I descended at a high of 47 mph. If you can go that fast downhill it means it's a serious climb).

At the end of the climb there was a fantastic gradual descent for a number of miles during which I averaged about 25 mph without working. For a change the wind was at our backs.

After another break, we rode about 20 miles to lunch, 15 of them into a howling headwind. This is where riding with people who know what they are doing made all the difference.

While we were breaking, the challenge riders climbed and descended Har Tavor, a difficult six mile climb. We met back up with them after the break. I knew that the next stretch would be very windy and I was determined to stay with the big boys in order to take advantage of their pace line.

I rode more than 10 miles with lead group of about 40 to 50 riders. Most of the time we were riding double file. Finally. The lead pelaton broke up but I was able to stay with a group of about ten riders the rest of the way. I worked very closely with a rider from the challenge ride and we exchanged "pulls" whenever we were about to lose contact with the group.

Riding in a paceline, particuarly into a headwind, can be 30% more efficient than riding alone. (I felt this last year when I kept getting dropped and had to ride alone). As a result, despite working hard and riding at a fast pace, I was relatively fresh when I reached lunch.

After lunch we faced the penultimate climb of the day (how often can one use that word?). This was 4.5 miles to Meggido, an ancient Biblical city. The scenery during this painful climb, through a forest, was absolutely glorius. I managed this climb reasonably well.

The next part of the ride was another long gradual descent, most of which, unfortunately was on a major north-south highway. I rode in the front group and averaged over 20 mph without working too hard.

The evil ride organizers decided that we couldn't end the ride on a downhill. So, instead, we ended with a sick 1 mile climb up to Zichron Yaakov. My quads were screaming 'no mas' with every pedal stroke but I got to the summit among the top ten riders (the challenge riders had headed elsewhere for the night). We were done. What an awesome day! I was fried.

From the good news department: The rider who did a face plant into the side of the mountain on Sunday was back on the road today with nothing but a bad facial bruise to show for his trouble.

Tomorrow's climb to Mount Carmel was cancelled by the police. That's both good news and bad news. The bad news is that I had been looking forward to it for a while. The good news is that it makes tomorrow a relative day off with only 40 flat miles to Ranaana, a suburb of Tel Aviv. I am happy for the "active recovery" day.

The Alyn Ride, Day Two: Waiting In The Sun

2007-11-08T14:16:00.000-05:00

Waiting in the Sun

Today's ride, 67.5 miles and 2400 feet of climbing took us all the way around the Kinneret (with a climb to the Golan Heights in the middle). B'H, my day was flat free and cramp free. In fact, it was one of the strongest days of riding I've ever had.

The "only" problem was that there are some truly dreadful riders among the 200 road riders and the police wouldnt allow the ride to string out more than a certain amount. That meant waiting - lots of waiting - in the hot sun.

The ride started out the same as Sunday; heading south along the Kinneret. I went right to the front and rode right behind the lead car for 10 flat miles. It was a lot of fun and I felt like Lance Armstrong - not.

Instead of continuing south we headed east and rode another 8 miles until we reached the foot of the southern edge of the Golan Heights base. This part of the ride was particularly beautiful with the heights in front of us and the kinneret on our left.

The easy part of the ride was officially over. Next came a very intense 1500 foot, 5-mile, climb up to the top of the Golan. I had been concerned about this climb because of the possible after effects of yesterday's cramp. But I felt very strong and was in the top 15 up the hill.

Our climbing, however, had just begun. We climbed for the next 25 miles across the Golan into strong headwinds. Wind is not my strength. In fact I don't mind climbing all day but I hate riding into headwinds. Nevertheless, I did reasonably well.

We were about a mile from lunch when we were inexplicably stopped and made to wait a full half hour until everyone caught up. We baked on the road instead of pulling into the rest stop. Bizarre. We didn't get to lunch until 1:45 by which time most of us were famished. (Lunch was nasty and I ended up eating a peanut butter sandwich).

After lunch we descended back down to the Kinneret at about 30 mph. This was the most breathtaking part of the day with the lake and the mountains on the west side of the kinneret in view. (I've taken many pictures while riding the bike but even I'm not dumb enough to take pictures while going 30 mph).

The rest of the ride was relatively flat going west then south until we reached Tiveria. (Of course the police stopped us 2 miles from the hotel to wait for the slower riders. I don't get it). This, too, was a very pretty part of the ride.

After a nice hot shower and a good hot meal I'm ready for tomorrow. We finally leave Tiveria and head towards the very cool town (not weatherwise) of Zichron Yaakov.

Tomorrow's ride is about 55 miles and 2800 feet of climbing spread out among five relatively short but nasty climbs.

The Alyn Ride: Day One, The Year of the Flat

2007-11-07T17:12:00.000-05:00

After three years and over 1000 miles of Alyn Rides without a single flat, it only took six miles for me to get my first one on this ride. And then another 30 to get my second. This was apropos of the type of year I've had training. I've gotten an unusually large number of flats this spring and summer and actually changed my tires as a result. The tire that went flat twice today is only 100 miles old.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After a delightful Shabbos spent with OOS, OYS, OHDIL our two grandchildren, we bussed out to Tiveria on Motsai Shabbos arriving at our hotel around 10:30. After preparing my stuff for the next day, I turned in at midnight. For reasons I can't explain, I had a miserable night's sleep.

Davening was at 5:30 and breakfast was served at 6 and we assembled for the opening ceremony at 7. Even though this was my fourth such ceremony and they are basically the same every year, I still get a bit of a thrill.

Today's right was really like two different rides. The first 30 miles were flat and the next 18 were very hilly (3000 feet worth).

We followed the Kinneret south for about 12 miles. Then we continued south, and then west towards Afula. The truth is that, after leaving the Kinneret, the ride was not particularly beautiful. We passed a lot of farm land but not much else.

At the six mile mark I heard a noise that I recognized. Pooof. I pulled over to the side and started changing my rear tire. Owing to the fact that I've had so much practice, I've gotten pretty good at it. In any event, one of the mechanics on the ride appeared as if by magic and changed the tire in about 3 minutes flat (excuse the pun).

All was well until about a quarter mile from the lunch stop (mile 38 of 60).

After climbing hard for 8 straight miles I started cramping. Today was extremely hot and we were in an exceedingly hot area (Tiveria is 600 feet below sea level and the Beit She'an valley is even hotter). I think I fell behind in my electrolytes and once you're behind, it's very hard to catch up. I dismounted, drank a lot and stretched out my legs enough to be able to get to lunch. At lunch I ate enough to get back to normal and felt fine thereafter.

When I went to pick up my bike, lo and behold, the back tire was flat again. By the time I got the mechanics' attention, the riders had left. I was literally the last rider, by at least three minutes.

I began cranking and started picking off riders one by one. (It's kind of fun being one of the top riders on the regular road route rather than one of the worst on the challenge route). It took me a while but I finally made my way to the front (all while climbing).

At the 48 mile mark we finally began descending. A massive descent, in fact. I reached a maximum speed of 47 miles per hour. Unfortunately one rider lost control during that descent and crashed very hard. Miraculously, he was not badly hurt although he was taken to the hospital.

The rest of the ride was uneventful and we pulled into Tiveria at around 4 pm.

I ate as much as I possibly could at dinner (one of the perks of this ride), had a beer (and I don't even like beer), took a Vitamin A pill (Ambien) and caught some sleep.

Day two is even harder, with a ridiculous 6 mile, 1500 foot climb to the Golan Heights and 30 straight miles of gradual climbing after that.

Loner

2007-07-08T21:21:00.000-04:00

I did the Gold Coast ride this morning. Because of the heat, I decided to do the 55 miler rather than the 70 that I had originally planned. The ride is a good one, pretty well organized with lots of hills.

I've done this ride twice or three times before. Last year I did it with OOS. This year he bugged out because he is crazy busy at socialism, I mean social work school.

The truth is, while I always like the company, especially OOS's, I also don't mind riding alone, even for many hours. When I ride alone, I can ride at my own pace, stop at rest stops (or not) for as long or short as I like, and I get to do some serious thinking.

The downside is that it's much easier to get lost (which I did twice this morning because of some sketchy signage) and I don't get to work with anyone in terms of dealing with the wind.

Nevertheless, every once in a while, a few hours alone on the bike is refreshing.

Fried

2007-06-26T14:33:00.000-04:00

I arrived at Ben Guriun Airport at 4 a.m. Friday morning. By 7 a.m. I was on a rented road bike flying down the 3.5 mile hill from Neis Harim to Beit Shemesh at speeds easily exceeding 40 mph. The rub, of course, is that I had to climb back up that self same hill. This climb is the one we will be doing on the last day of the Alyn ride and one which I've done many times over the years. All in all, the climb went well even though I didn't have my bike shoes with cleats.

Then came Sunday. Despite the heat wave that had affected the country, I bravely (or stupidly?) decided to ride that morning again, doing the same ride. I figured, "how hot can it get at 8 a.m.?" The answer? Very, very hot.

I knew I was in trouble when I was actually hot on the way down the hill despite the extreme speed of the descent. When I got to the bottom I reloaded my water at a kiosk that sits just at the foot of the hill. That move may have saved me.

I made it about halfway up the hill when I became overwhelmed by the heat. I had been drinking constantly and even pouring water over my head from time to time. To no avail. I was cooked.

Finally, I hopped off the bike. This was the first time I've had to stop on that hill in about ten tries over the last few years.

I drank some more and then poured a quarter of one of my water bottles over my head. After about three minutes, I started to feel better and got back on the bike. I made it to the top uneventfully.

When I finished my ride I bought another bottle of water and a can of coke. I also poured another bottle full of tap water over my head. I changed out of my bike clothes. I was fried.

It took me all day to recover. I kept drinking liquids and spent much of the rest of the day in air conditioned rooms but I didn't feel ok until around 9 p.m.

Sometimes you have to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. Riding on Sunday morning was just plain dumb.

The 2007 Alyn Ride

2007-06-13T10:48:00.000-04:00

Registration just opened for the 8th annual Alyn Hospital Bike Ride. This will be my fourth.

This year's ride looks well thought out. We will be strating from Tiveria and, great news, will actually be using it as a hub for three nights. (This makes life much simpler than having to move every night.) We will also be staying in Zichron Yaakov one night and Tel Aviv another. Much more civilized than any previous ride.

I am not going to do the Challenge Ride this year because I can rarely get time to train and I stunk last year when I did train. The regular on road route is challenging enough, thank you very much.

My goal is to raise $25,000 for the hospital plus the $15,000 I usually get from my old company. That is a very high goal but I'm pretty connected at work so I should have a lot of people to call upon.

More about the ride over the next few weeks.

And So Begins The Task, IV

2007-04-22T13:54:00.000-04:00

With about six months to go before Alyn Ride VIII, I finally rode my bike today, the first time since January. I rode about 25 flat miles out to Lido beach.

I am way out of shape, relatively speaking. While I was able to knock out the 25 miles easily enough, there is no comparison to the shape I was in last year at this time. I am just crazy busy at work and have not been able to get to the gym nearly enough. Add the lousy weekend weather that we've been experiencing and you've accounted for my mediocre state of readiness.

The good news is that I have six months to go. The bad news is that I don't expect things at work to get any easier until the summer (if then). For example, in the next ten business days starting tomorrow, in addition to all my work I have one breakfast meeting and 8 business lunches. Deadly on two counts. Too much eating (despite all my self-imposed rules) and not enough gym time.

There is no chance that I will sign up for the challenge ride this year. I will be happy to be able to get in shape for the regular ride. I will have to bury my normal intensity and get used to being an over-the-hill washout.

In any event, this morning's ride was ideal. Beautiful weather, very little wind. It's mornings like this that remind me how much I love to ride my bicycle.

Designed By Sadists For Masochists

2006-05-08T09:32:00.000-04:00

The 2006 Alyn Ride Challenge on road route is sick. 385 miles in 5 days. On each of the last 4 days the cumulative climbing exceeds 4,000 feet. With an average of 77 miles a day and one day of 100 miles (all in the heat of the Negev), this is a VERY serious ride.

Time to start kicking up the training.

The First Century of 2006

2006-05-03T16:21:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday I rode in the Nassau to Suffolk Challenge on the north shore of Long Island. The ride had options of 25, 50 or 62 miles (62 miles is a metric century, 100 kilometers).

My plan was to try for the century but cut off at 50 if I was feeling tired (the cutoff wasn't until the 46 mile mark). I set out alone but soon hooked up for the first 20 miles with a young rider I know from the 'hood. (Strong rider but, at less than half my age, I would hope so).

The course was hilly but nothing too terrible. A very good start to the training year. At the 20 mile mark, I took a 'nature break' but my companion rode on. Because there were so few riders and the course was long, I ended up riding alone for the last 30 miles; not ideal when you don't know where you are going. It puts a lot of pressure on you to make sure you don't miss any of the direction signs that are painted on the street.

At the cutoff, I was still feeling strong so I decided to finish the century. For this early in the season, I am in excellent shape. I felt a little sore at the end but nothing major. All in all, very pleased.

There are 6 months left before the ride. The only question is whether I will do the 300 miler or the 400 miler. At this point, I am leaning to the harder ride. I need to decide soon; registration starts next week.

Last Year's Ride, Day IV and V

2006-04-23T09:48:00.000-04:00

The following is an account of my experiences during last year's Alyn Ride. The first part of the account is in the immediately preceding post.

The Ride, Day Four: Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv...

I was not looking forward to this day's ride. It was basically 40 flat miles, south from Zichron Yaakov to Tel Aviv on major highways. No hills, no climbs, no nice scenary, dangerous clogging (all 325 riders were going on road today) and lots of waiting again.

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be a delightful day. 75 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, the roads were bearable and there were a couple of nice surprises.

We left Zichron Yaakov at about 8:30, an hour later than the other days. I stayed near the front of the pack all day, just behind the testosterone teens. That is the safest place to ride because the slower riders tend to be more dangerous, particularly when riding bunched up. We had a nice tailwind all day so it was very easy riding at a fairly decent pace.

The first rest stop was at a gas station - mini shopping area. I was able to nail both a Magnum ice cream bar and, more importantly, my first decent cup of coffee all week, a large cappucino. Gevalt! I was also able to work on my tan (a biker's tan; very goofy. Head and neck, arms and legs from just above the knee to just above the ankle).

The closer we got to T.A. the wider the highways. By the end we were riding on the shoulders of major roads. It's not my idea of the ideal ride but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I managed to avoid getting clipped by an 18 wheeler. Thankfully, there was an area where we road on backroads through nice farm lands.

Lunch was at a very lovely park just outside downtown Tel Aviv. The mayor of Tel Aviv met us there and made a presentation. It was pretty silly but the press was there so the hospital got some good pub. Lunch lasted a good hour longer than it needed to but we were used to that by now.

Finally, we made our way into downtown T.A. This was the coolest part of the day. The police closed off all the streets so we were able to fly down Hayarkon to the hotel. Wild.

We got to the Dan Panorama early in the afternoon and were able to really relax before dinner. I hung out in the lobby, mellowed out with a couple of glasses of red wine, had a very nice dinner and went to sleep.

All in all, a surprisingly pleasant day.

Only one more day left. The climb to Yerushalayim, including the ridiculously difficult ascent of Ramat Raziel; the hardest climb yet.

The Ride, Day Five: Climbing to Jerusalem

The police where planning to close off all the roads as we left Tel Aviv. For that reason they required us to leave the hotel by 6 a.m. This meant davening at about 5 a.m. and no breakfast at the hotel. (Riders were given a choice of leaving by bus at 7:30 and meeting the group at the halfway point but very few chose that option.)

Once again, I started right up front in order to avoid the more dangerous casual riders. The traffic-free ride through T.A. early in the morning was a lot of fun. Once again, we were blessed with a magnificent day (nevertheless, because we left so early in the morning, it was very cold for the first segment of the ride. I dressed appropriately with a windbreaker). We rode for about 45 minutes when we stopped for a snack. The next segment took us the remaining 20 miles to the foot of Ramat Raziel, near the Beit Shemesh industrial area.

Although this part of the ride was largely flat with a number of rolling hills, it was into a very strong headwind so the riding was challenging. I decided to ride very comfortably until the climbing started. I knew there would be a lot of waiting anyway so I saw no point in cranking hard. I wanted to save my strength.

I had done the climb to Ramat Raziel six weeks earlier with my friend Yehuda and a couple of his neighbors. I had been in Germany on business and was able to work out a weekend in Israel. I landed at 4 a.m., rented a car and met my friend in Hashmonaim. He had rented a road bike for me and we drove to Nais Harim and did a killer 50 kilometer loop, including Ramat Raziel. So, I knew what to expect. Or so I thought.

Just before Ramat Raziel we stopped for a boxed breakfast that had been prepared by the hotel. I made sure to load up with enough energy to get me through the difficult part of the ride.

And so we began.

It's hard to describe just how difficult the first part of the climb was. The gradients were ridiculous, some reaching 17%. Since I started in the front, among some of the strongest riders, I was amazed at how many riders got off their bikes and walked. It was actually very difficult to ride because so many people were struggling and weaving. You had to be very wary of the riders in front of you not cutting you off. (If you were forced to stop, it was almost impossible to start without help on a gradient that steep).

I was surprised by how hard this climb was. I didn't remember the ride being this difficult. I think it had to do with the fact that we were riding right into a headwind and, of course, that I was doing this climb after more than 200 miles and lots of difficult climbs.

I kept focused, pedal stroke after pedal stroke. I was not about to get off my bike and walk. I did, however, have to get out of my seat much more than normal. In certain spots it was the only way I could move forward.

I finally made it to the top of Ramat Raziel but I was not done. There were a few descents and another couple of brutal climbs. During this segment I was able to look around and appreciate the magnificent views provided by riding through the Jerusalem Forest. Mah Nora Hamakom Hazeh. Finally, about 75 minutes after I started the climb, I got to the lunch stop (whose name escapes me).

As usual, lunch was extremely long, while we waited for the slower riders. This time, we waited a very long time. When everyone got to the top, we took group pictures and finally got ready to go. The only good part of the rest stop was that I was able to get one more Magnum ice cream bar (that a local dog shared with me) and a very good cup of coffee.

From lunch we descended again and then started another brutal climb to Ein Kerem. This climb was really tough, especially after all the other climbs and a long break that just worked to tighten your muscles.

From Ein Kerem we went to Har Hertzel where we waited again for the slower riders. We were only a couple of minutes from the end, a group ride into the hospital but, again, it would be a long while before we would be off.

Finally, we left.

One of the funny things that has happened both times I've done this ride is that many of the really slow riders decide that they want to be at the front of the group as we pull into the hospital for the closing ceremony. After causing the better riders to wait countless hours during the week I guess they want to show off to their relatives how great they are by getting into some pictures. I wouldn't care so much if they weren't creating a dangerous situation at the front of the pack. Whatever.

We pulled into the hospital parking lot that was full of patients, staff and friends and relatives of the riders. It's a very moving scene.

This year I blew off the closing ceremony. You've seen one you've seen them all. Instead, I just took my bike to the mechanics, found my bike travel box and grabbed a cab. I got to my sister's house and took a hot shower for about half an hour. Mechaya.

I was really exhausted from a brutal day of climbing and a very difficult but exhilarating ride. I can't wait for next year's ride.

The Ride: Postmortem

The ride from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was extraordinarily challenging; a fitting end to the five day ride. I left Alyn hospital before the closing ceremony, very tired. My left achilles tendon was extremely sore but, other than that, I was in good shape. (Ironically, I think the achilles was sore because of all the walking I did in my bike shoes at lunches and rest stops; I don't think it was riding related.)

So, what are my overall impressions?

The ride was better organized this year. The vaad hired a logistics company because it was getting to be too massive to handle on a volunteer only basis. We got out on time every morning; no small feat when you are dealing with 325 riders. The food was generally good and plentiful (with the exception of my galus on the second night).

The mechanics were great, much better than last year. A few of them rode with us so they were always around. They were helpful and cheerful (even though, l'maisa, other than them putting my bike together upon my arrival, I didn't need them at all).

For the second straight year I managed to ride injury free, crash free and even flat free. I am very grateful for that.

I met some new people, including a rider and his wife who had been avid readers of my last year's ride summary, and a wonderful group from the Heschel school in Manhattan. The truth is that I not much of a social bug and I am uncomfortable in large group settings. I tend to find a few good friends and stick with them.

Once again, the worst part of the ride was the waiting for the slower riders at lunch and rest stops. At least it wasn't 100 degrees like last year (although on the first day, we froze at the top of the Golan for more than an hour). I don't know if there is anything they can do about it but it really is a drag. I'd actuall prefer to ride longer than wait.

And, again, this year it was clear that the ride is all about climbing. You can train 150 miles a week but if you are not working on climbing you are largely wasting your time. Where I live the best way to prepare is by using a spin bike and ratcheting up the knob to simulate climbing tough hills. Even though the longest ride I did since May was only 35 miles (and my longest ride all year only 50), I was able to manage because I would get on my spin bike for 45 minutes to an hour and crank like a fiend.

I was ok this year but I feel I could be much stronger. Between the baby totally screwing up my outdoor riding plans and the fact that I did not listen to music all year because I was in avel (mourning) for my dad (so my spinning was all music-free), I did not train nearly as well as I might have. I already feel that I am stronger now, now that I am spinning to music once again.

So, I already look forward to next year's ride. In my new job I am able to influence the calendar of events so I made sure that I have clearance for when the ride is likely to take place. I will maintain a very strong base and start hitting the road in April. I'm pumped already.

If any of you is thinking of doing the ride next year, a couple of words of advice. Lose some weight. The tubbier you are the harder it is to climb. Next, get yourself a spin bike. Unless you live in a hilly area and can get outside a lot, it's the only way to train. See you on the road.

Last Year's Ride, Days I, II and III

2006-04-23T09:37:00.000-04:00

This is an account of my experiences at last year's Alyn Ride.

The Ride - Prologue

I landed at Ben Gurion Airport on Friday morning, November 4th. I collected my bike and luggage and hopped in a car (with my favorite driver, Avi Levy) and went straight to Alyn Hospital. I dropped off the bike for the mechanics to assemble and went straight to my sister's house. I did some shopping for Shabbos in Geulah and then took a nap.

In (what would have been) the middle of my nap I got a desperate call from the head of publicity for the hospital. Could I write an article for Israel21C.com about my reasons for doing the ride and what the hospital means to me. I said, "sure, when do they want it?". She said, "now". I quickly thumbed out an article on my blackberry and shot it over. They actually did publish the article last week.

On Friday night I froze while davening at the Kotel with Chaim Dovid and Shlomo Katz. I wasn't feeling well and was very concerned that I was coming down with something. Just what I needed a day before the ride.

Dinner at CD's house was delightful and a good night's sleep followed. I was too lazy and sick to return to the Kotel in the morning so I davened at the shul in Yemin Moshe. I ate 'lunch' and went back to sleep at 11:30. When I woke up three hours later I felt much better.

The bus to Ramot, our launching point for the ride, left Yerushalayim at 7:30 and arrived at 10:15. Ramot is on the eastern end of the Kinneret and has a very nice guest house. It was nice to meet my acquaintances from last year's ride again. The riders hung out in the lobby, prepared their stuff for the next day's ride and went to sleep. I slept fitfully (as did, apparently, everyone else I spoke to).
Up at 5, minyan at 5:30, breakfast at 6. Breakfast was a total balagan. The dining room was not equipped to handle 400 people (325 riders, mechanics and volunteers) at the same time. I scrambled to get enough to eat and did not really succeed. This would have very negative implications later in the day.

After breakfast we checked out our bikes and made final preparations. The big question was what to wear. It was sunny and warm but we would be climbing over 4000 feet during the course of the day. Did one put on layers or simply dress for the warm weather. This decision, too, would have major implications for many of the riders through the course of the day.

At 7:30, after a mercifully short ceremony, we were on the road again.

The Ride: Day One - Climbing the Golan

After an inadequate breakfast, I pulled out of the Ramot Guesthouse along with the other 324 riders. I usually try to start way in the front in order to reduce my chances of crashing into inexperienced riders, but I was too late in getting to the start so I waited until almost everyone else had left.

After much deliberation about weather conditions, I decided to play it safe. I wore a long sleeve base shirt under my jersey, a windbreaker and shoe covers over my bike shoes. I also stuffed polyurethane sleeves into my jersey pocket in case it got really cold.

After a few minutes of flat riding, the interminable climbing began. It was about 8 miles up to Katzrin, our first stop. Although there were never extremely steep gradients, it felt that we were consistently doing about 6%. I was shvitzing like nobody's business. The sun was shining and the temps were probably in the low 70s. I was thinking that I was really stupid for being so conservative and was looking forward to the rest stop so that I could remove some layers.

No sooner did those thoughts cross my mind than the sun ducked behind the clouds. That was to be the last we would see of the sun until the next afternoon. It immediately became much cooler, and cooler still the higher we got.

Because the police, who escort us the entire ride, they require us to bunch up from time to time. Consequently, the stronger riders were made to wait until the last riders made it up the hill from Ramot before proceeding to the next leg. I waited for well over an hour. And got cold. And colder. And colder. I can only imagine how uncomfortable it was for the many riders who dressed inappropriately for the weather.

We continued to climb and climb along a a steady gradient until we reached the Druze village of Mas'ede. By this time it was about 11:30. We were given an option of climbing half way up Mount Hermon, about an 8 mile ride (and, of course, 8 miles down). I had fully expected to do this ride and I actually pulled out with the group going to the top. Just before the climb, we were givenm the chance to back out. In a rare moment of clarity and maturity, I reluctantly decided to bug out. I was incredibly uncomfortable because of the cold, very hungry because I had a miserable breakfast and feeling very weak. I decided that 62 miles would be enough for the day and continued on to the lunch stop.

In all, we climbed for almost 40 straight miles before leveling off and riding another 22 miles into the guest house at Keshet. It was one of the most gruelling days of riding I had ever experienced. Although the guest house was very far from being the Waldorf, I don't recall enjoying a hot shower quite as much as I did that afternoon.

The next day promised to be a relatively easy day, mostly flat through the Golan, a very steep and tricky descent back to the Galil, an optional climb to Kochav Hayarden and a ride into Beit Shean. But the Aibishte works in his own mysterious way and the next day would prove to be one of the strangest days of riding I ever experienced.

The Ride: Day Two - Raining on Our Parade

Can you hear me, that when it rains and shines
(When it rains and shines)
It's just a state of mind?
(When it rains and shines)
Can you hear me, can you hear me?

After my hot shower on Sunday afternoon in the Keshet Guest House in the Golan, I washed my jersey and bib shorts and set them out to dry on a tree outside my room. After a few minutes I realized that this was not necessarily a good idea. And, indeed, it soon began to rain. And then it began to pour. All night.

The start of Monday's ride was postponed an hour based on weather reports that the rain would subside. In light of Sunday's experience no one was going to under dress today. At 8:30, in a very light mist, we all gathered on our bikes with our rain gear and layers and started to pull out.

No sooner did we get to the main road when it began to rain again. Not just rain. Torrential rain. And sleet. The kind of rain that if you're driving you turn the wipers to the highest speed and still can't see more than a few feet in front of you. The rain was bouncing off my helmet, dripping off my rain jacket and pouring onto my bib tights. My legs and feet couldn't have been more soaked.

All this time we were riding down some treacherous downhills. It was freaky but, in a strange way, exhilirating. Going through my head was the thought, "I cannot believe I'm doing this". Finally, after a full one and a half hours, the rain stopped and the sun began to peak out of the clouds.

After 26 miles we finally reached our first rest stop, in the southern part of the Golan. Because I wanted to do the optional climb to Kochav Hayarden later that day, I had no more than 10 minutes to rest before I hopped back on the bike.

The next leg was a highly technical and extremely steep segment that took you from the top of the Golan back to the Galil. The views were spectacular but you could not spend much time looking out because there were more than a score of hairpin turns to manipulate. I was happy to finally reach the bottom.

At the bottom, a strange thing happened. It began to get warm. Very warm. I stopped on the side of the road near some banana plants and removed my rain jacket and long sleeve shirt. The good news is that the weather for the remaining three and half days of the ride would be just like this.

The rest of the way until Beit Shean was fairly flat and fast except for the optional climb to Kochav Hayarden. On the way, however, I just missed an accident that was caused by two idiotic riders who were fooling around while riding. One of them got tangled up with the other and went down right in front of me. I swerved hard to the left and missed her by a few inches. Then I had to swerve again to miss the other idiot who was riding with her. He stopped abruptly, again right in front of me, and I had to swerve hard to the left again to avoid him. I literally ended up on the shoulder of the opposite side of the road.

The climb to Kochav Hayarden was about 3.5 miles straight up. The gradients reached as high as 17 percent and never went below 10%. It was a bear. Thankfully, I had had a good night's sleep and a very good breakfast and was feeling very strong. I steadily made my way up to the fortress at the top. The way down was a lot of fun and I reached some pretty high speeds. Besides feet that had never dried, I was feeling good and comfortable when I pulled into the Beit Shean Youth Hostel for what I thought would be a comfortable night.

Day Three, Part I: Climbing Gilboa

If one were a serious, if somewhat masochistic, bike rider, one could not design a more spectacular day than the one we experienced on Tuesday. But first, a report on my awful Monday night.

After riding in torrential rains all morning, navigating a difficult and steep descent from the Golan Heights, almost crashing because of some idiots and climbing Kochav Hayarden, I cruised into the Beit Shean Youth Hostel in the late afternoon. I brought my bike to the 'parking lot' and looked for my name on the list of room assignments. While not exactly Metropolis, I was still looking forward to spending the evening in Beit Shean. For one, we had been staying in Yenimsvilles for two straight nights (not that there's anything wrong with that) and I hadn't even been able to get so much as a decent cup of coffee.

So, imagine my surprise when I looked for my name on the list and don't find it. I was then told to look at a second list. The satellite list. There it was. We were told that there was not enough room for everyone in the Beit Shean hostel and that some of us were being shipped 10 minutes away.

Of course ten minutes turned out to be 30 minutes which might as well have been Afula. (But Afula was a town; we weren't sent to a town). To make matters worse, I had to sit on the bus with soaking wet feet for 45 minutes before we pulled out. And, the place we went was mamash a dump and the food borderline inedible.

To say I was less than pleased would be a slight understatement. Last year I was also dumped at the satellite in the Kayla Guest House (rather than Almog; you think they're trying to tell me something?). At least last year they warned you ahead of time.

I'm generally not a prima donna (you can't be a prima donna on this ride) but I was wondering what I did to deserve to be sent off to galus two years in a row (even though I was one of the more effective fundraisers in North America). In any event, my evening was ruined and I went to sleep as soon as I could.

Piling on, we were told that we had to leave the next morning ridiculously early in order to get to Beit Shean in time. I had about ten minutes to eat breakfast. This time I supplemented it with two peanut butter sandwiches that I made with my own and stuffed into my jersey pocket.

But we digress...

After joining back up with everyone we left Beit Shean at around 7:30 and rode flat for few miles until we reached the entrance to the Gilboa Mountain range. The climb to (almost) the peak of Har Gilboa was about 7.5 gruelling miles. Serious climbing but the weather was beautiful and I felt strong. We got to a rest stop about a mile from the actual summit where there was a magnificent view of the Beit Shean Valley. After waiting for everyone to get to the summit (there were plenty of walkers), the faster riders took off again.

Now the fun began. After climbing another mile to the top we began a very cool descent into the Gilboa reserve. The roads were steep but long and winding (I think I should write a song about that) so we could really let loose. I reached speeds as high as 35 mph.

Now the fun ended. After the descent we had to trudge back up the mountain, this time through the glorious nature reserve. The beauty of the ride was matched by its difficulty. We were rewarded with another spectacular view near the top and finally pulled into the second rest stop.

After the second rest stop came another huge descent through the steep and winding switchbacks in the Gilboa range. Here's where the worst accident of my two years on the ride happened. Shortly after we left the rest stop, one of the riders, not more than a couple of dozen riders in front of me, was zooming down the descent when he hit a pot hole and lost control. He went flying off his bike and landed, more or less, on his face. As I passed by, he was already being cared for and riders were being called to slow down. His face was all bloody. He ended up with a lot of stitches on his chin and at least one front tooth missing.

Viewing that accident certainly put a damper on the next segment of the ride. We negotiated the rest of the downhill and then had a few more serious ups and a few more downs, all through beautiful scenery. We stopped for lunch at Meggido. Now the waiting really began.

Day Three, Part II: Waiting

If my memory serves me, I reached lunch at Meggido at around 11:15 after spending a most wonderful morning climbing and descending up and down the Gilboa range. This year, the lunches were much more modest than last year; soup, some bread and peanut butter, chummus and some vegetables and on one or two days some pasta. That's a good thing because last year's lunches were huge meat affairs that were way more than we needed.

What didn't change from last year was the amount of time the stronger riders had to wait. Because the police would not permit the ride to get too strung out, the stronger riders were not permitted to leave the lunch area until the slowest riders came in and had lunch. Since climbing differentiates the riders much more than flat riding, the harder the day, the longer the wait. Indeed, on this day, we would be at Meggido for about two hours.

Any book you read on long distance riding will tell you to keep your breaks short. Otherwise your muscles tighten up and all kinds of nasty things can happen. Two hours is way off the charts, muscle-wise. And last year, on two separate days, I had to wait two hours in temperatures approaching 100 degrees. I was completely cooked and almost bonked in the afternoon of one of those days. On the first day of this ride, we waited over an hour at a rest break at Katzrin in the Golan and froze our toesies off. And, it's not like there were chez lounges to hang out on. Or, for that matter, grass.

The good news is that I was able to buy a Magnum ice cream bar at the kiosk and got to watch Bruce from Chicago change a flat in about three minutes. It was like watching Rembrant paint.

Another thing was on my mind as well. Loser that I am, I had scheduled an important teleconference for work for 5 p.m. (10 a.m. Eastern time). I figured that would give me plenty of time to get to our lodgings, park my bike, pick up my bags, get to the room, shower and review my notes. Now it was getting a little sketchy. It would continue to get sketchier the rest of the afternoon, even after lunch, as the waiting continued.

Day Three, Part III: Zichron Yaakov

Finally, at about 1:30, we left the lunch area. We rode through some very nice rolling terrain with some hard climbing for what seemed like 15 minutes (it was probably a little bit more) when, again, we were stopped by the police just before we were about to enter a major road. Again, we had to wait about half an hour for the slow riders to arrive. This was ridiculous but we were all taking it in stride. (I was, however, starting to worry about my 5 p.m. teleconference). There were only another 13 mile to go, 11 of which were flat. If they would just let me, I could make it to the hotel in less than an hour.

Finally, we were on our way again, this time on a very heavily travelled road. The organizers proved they have senses of humor by making us end a very hard day with a very nasty 1.5 mile climb up to Zichron Yaakov.

After spending the previous night in a dump, I was thrilled that tonight's accomodations were in a hotel (run down though it was). Better yet, I only had to share my room with one guy after spending the previous three with a minimum of four.

After a nice hot shower I was able to take my telephone call and then proceed to dinner. I do not recall ever eating as much as I did that night. I had soup, a full plate of the main course, three desserts and finished up with another full plate of pasta. Yum.

Later that night we took a walk into town. I had never been to Zichron Yaakov before. It is a very nice, yupified place with countless coffee and wine bars. My friend Yehudah and I stopped into one of the wine bars that was packed full of Alyn riders and were graciously asked by the Heschel School chevrah to join them. We had a delightful time and some nice red wine. I got back to the hotel and fell asleep in the blink of an eye.

Wednesday, we would be off to Tel Aviv.

Starting Over

2006-04-23T09:20:00.000-04:00

Next year's Alyn Ride will take place in November, about 6 1/2 months from now. This year's ride offers an insane 400 mile option, about 80 miles a day. I am seriously considering this option for reasons that I will expound upon in the future. In any event, the time to start training seriously is now.

While I have done a lot of spinning during the winter, I have been on my bike exactly once since the end of last year's ride. It has rained or been very cold virtually every Sunday morning since March. This morning is no different. So, I will be back on my spinner for an hour later in the morning. I am getting really frustrated.

Next week starts the 'century' season, with a metric century (100 kilometers, or 62 miles) on Long Island. I will sign up for that, although I may only ride the 50 mile option rather than the full century. My plan is to do one century (or part thereof) each month until the ride.

Last year, that was the one part of my training that really didn't work out. I missed most of the rides for various reasons and ended up only doing one long organized ride (in early June, no less) and two brutal 50k rides in Israel. While I was able to manage a very difficult tour, my tusch suffered for not being used to the hours in the seat.

In addition to the local organized rides, I am looking forward to three days of riding in Israel in June. I will be flying back from Hong Kong, landing early Friday morning in Tel Aviv. Like last year, I will rent a bike and ride Friday, Sunday and Monday mornings in the Ramat Raziel area, about 50 kilometers of extremely hilly terrain each day.

And, of course, I will continue doing a tremendous amount of simulated hill work on my spinner.

That's the plan, anyway.

(I posted a review of last year's ride on my other blog and I will link those posts in the near future).

One Week To Go

2005-10-27T22:20:00.000-04:00

Today we received the last email notification from the organizers of the ride. That really got me pumped.

With only one week to go, there is essentially nothing I can do to improve my conditioning or my strength. This has been an incredibly disappointing summer and fall for training. I missed every single long ride I had hoped to do. Family commitments and assorted other personal issues got in the way. The last organized ride I did was in June. I have not even been on my road bike since early September. (The only saving grace was my weekend in Israel).

So, I have relied exclusively on my spin bike for the past two months. I have been doing 45 minute to one hour simulated climbs two or three times a week. I hope it is enough but there no time left for me to do anything about it if it isn't.

And, surprisingly, I actually put on a few pounds over the holidays. I am up to almost 136, 4 pounds heavier than my target. I hope to drop two to three of the extra lbs this week. I assume I will burn off the rest during the ride.

In terms of the ride itself, it seems significantly harder than last year's ride. The climbs (if you do all the option climbs) are much steeper and longer than last year's. On the other hand, the temparatures will almost certainly be significantly lower than the scorching temps we had to deal with in the Negev and the Dead Sea area. On the other hand, we might freeze our buns off in the mornings. On the same hand, we might get soaked.

I am extremely concerned about slick roads. During my recent trip to Israel I rode on some very tough hills that are part of the ride that had virtually no shoulders. Going downhill was downright scary. I don't need rain. I have purchased some cold weather gear and will be bringing my rain gear. But I don't need rain. Let it rain after I'm done.

I will probably check in one more time before I leave with some final thoughts.

Dress Rehearsal

2005-09-26T12:10:00.000-04:00

With about six weeks to go, I have been doing very little actual riding, relying almost entirely on my spin bike training. Things just haven't worked out and I haven't been able to do a long, organized ride since June. So it was good fortune that I was able to hop over to Israel for the weekend and finally do some serious on-road riding.

I stopped in Jerusalem on my way home from a business trip in Europe (believe it or not, the ticket was substantially cheaper than had I gone back to New York directly. I don't understand it either).

I made arrangements with one of the riders from last year's ride to rent a road bike. I landed on Friday at 4 a.m., rented a car and drove to his house in Hashmonaim. We davened, grabbed a quick bite and drove to a place called Nais Harim, not far from Ein Kerem. We were met by a couple who are riding in this year's ride.

The ride started with a mile or so of rolling hills and then went into a very steep decent for what seemed like many miles. I was going more than 40 mph and it was scary. There was traffic and no shoulders to speak of. Really scary, to be honest.

We then went through the Beit Shemesh industrial area until we came to a climb the likes of which I don't think I've ever done. It was harder than last year's climb to Jerusalem and harder than Metzukai Dragot. In fact, my friend told me that it was the equivalent average grade of a category one climb in the Tour de France (just not nearly as long). There was one section that had a grade of 17%!

It was a struggle and I had to get out of my seat a couple of times but I made it to the top. We then went through a number of other serious climbs and some rolling hills, but nothing as tough as the first climb. Then, after 45 kilometers, we came to a very difficult 5.5 kilometer(about 3.5 miles) climb which took us to the start point. All in all, 50 kilometers of very intense riding.

I was really tired but felt good because now I know I'm ready for the ride.

On Sunday I did another 28 kilometers in the same place but avoided the most difficult climb. I had a lot to do and I didn't want to wipe myself out for the rest of the day. Still, there were some major climbs, including the 5.5 kilometer climb that ended Friday's ride.

I will use the next few weeks to work on simulated long climbs and strengthening my abs and lower back. The climbing this weekend reminded me how much pressure my lower back gets.

I am pretty satisfied with where I am holding and I'm very psyched for the ride.

Three Months To Go...

2005-08-07T16:25:00.000-04:00

..until the Alyn Ride.

This morning I went out to Central Park with my sister and older son. I had my strongest ride by far. We rode very hard for all 24 miles including all of the hills. At the quarter mark of the last (of four) lap, I was starting to get tired. Just then, a women riding the same bike as mine (a Trek 1500, albeit a newer model), zipped passed me on a straightaway. I decided to try to reel her in and did. So, my last lap ended up my strongest. Ironically, my sister, who was following closely behind me, was also getting very tired. When she saw me kick it into a higher gear, she decided that she wasn't going to let me get away so she, too, picked up her pace.

Ah. My sister. Much has happened, good and bad. She bought herself an expensive and amazing new carbon fiber bike and is now not only able to keep up with me but, if she really drops the hammer, she can drop me as well. Her riding has improved remarkably with the new bike. I think it is a combination of the merits of her new bike, her old bike having upright bars and, according to the bike shop where she bought her new bike, the old one being ill-fitting. This, of course, has led to a severe case of bike envy on my part. I will write about bike envy next time. Suffice it to say that I am struggling with my yaitzer harah.

The other thing that happened is that she decided not to do the ride in Israel. She has her reasons which are not for publication. This is very disappointing, especially because she would easily have been able to ride with me and, indeed, would have been among the top half-dozen female riders (despite being a few years older than me!). So, I am on my own.

So, with three months to go before the rise, I am in extremely good shape. I am riding strong with room for improvement, I am at a good weight, fluctuating between 129 and 131. (I expect to be at 128 for the ride). I expect to do about four serious long rides before the Israel ride and continue apace with my spinning. All I need to do is stay healthy and I think I will be fine.

Misplaced Mussar

2005-08-04T10:46:00.000-04:00

My father-in-law ("FIN"), zzg, hates the fact that I ride. The only thing he hates more is that the fact that his own son is an avid rider.

FIN grew up during the depression and his entire way of looking at life has been profoundly informed by that experience. As a consequence, stability and rationality are very important parts of life. He spends and invests his money cautiously. He always stressed to his children the importance of education and a professional career (he tried, unsuccessfully, over the years to convince MHW to enter the school system so that she could obtain a pension, something that he values greatly; MHW has always freelanced because of her desire for flexibility).

My brother in law ("BIL"), FIN's only son, is an extremely successful professional, one of the most successful practitioners of what he does in the entire country. That makes FIN very happy. However, after making aliyah two years ago (he still works in the U.S.), BIL got into off road biking and did the Alyn Bike Ride. This, of course, did not make FIL happy. FIL cannot understand how a grown man can jeopordize everything he has worked for to ride a stupid bicycle (especially off road. Come to ythink of it he has a point). What drove FIL even more nuts was that, having seen the DVD BIL did on his ride, I decided that I had to do it as well (albeit on road rather than off).

Every once in a while FIL reminds me how dumb and dangerous it is to ride and tries to get me to give it up. So, when I had my accident last week I had no intention of telling him about it. But, of course, the word got out and one of the eyewitnesses who goes to FIL's shul told him all about it. (Another reason there should be no talking in shul). I found out that FIL knew and braced myself for the coming mishabeirach.

What happened, though, is classic. BIL made the mistake of calling FIL just after he heard about my accident. FIL gave BIL the mishabeirach and, as with the accident itself, I emerged unscathed! I had an accident and my poor BIL had to endure a five minute rant! You can't make this stuff up.

Postmortem on an Almost-Mortem

2005-08-01T09:43:00.000-04:00

On Shabbos I saw a man who witnessed my accident. He was in the car directly behind the car that hit me. He said that he was astonished that I survived (no less walked away virtually without a scrath).

He said that the driver must have seen me at the last second, rammed his breaks and veered to the left. I veered slightly to the right. So, instead of the front of the car hitting me, I was hit by the side of the car, the mirror to be precise. The impact was enought to shear the mirror right off his car. The witness told me that I bounced off the car and landed upright. He said it was the darndest thing he ever saw (and that I should be very grateful to Hashem).

I have been thinking a lot about the accident since Friday morning. Two main things go through my head. First, I keep thinking about the split second before I was about to get hit and the two things that were going through my head at the same time. One, 'I can't believe how careless I just was' and two, 'brace yourself, you about to get hit hard'. I can't get that image out of my head.

The other thing that I have been thinking about is just how amazingly careless(reckless!) I was. For those of you following this diary, I hope it has been clear that I am not a reckless or even careless rider. On the contrary. Aggressive, yes. Careless, no. I am usually extremely careful. I do not go too fast downhill. I never so much as ride around the block without my helmet securely fastened. Indeed, I don't do off-road riding because I think it is too dangerous for an untrained 50-year-old.

This was uncharacteristic and could easily have cost me my life or a VERY serious injury. I can't let this happen again.

In the meantime, there is a lot of other training news. I will write about it next time.

Hit By A Car

2005-07-29T09:54:00.000-04:00

I had a very harrowing bike experience this morning and feel extremely fortunate, BH, to even be able to write this.

I went to the 'vasikin' minyan this morning and was on my bike by 6:20. Destination: Point Lookout and back, about 29 flat miles. Since last Sunday was a fast day and I couldn't ride last Friday morning, it had been almost two weeks since I had been on my bike.

I was feeling strong and was barreling down Central Avenue in Cedarhurst (ironically, to avoid the traffic on Broadway). I got to the busy intersection of Central and Rockaway Turnpike, looked both ways, and sped through a red light. Except the road wasn't clear. I don't know how I missed it but I did. At the last second, I saw it. A white car about to hit me. He slammed on his breaks, I slammed on mine and instinctivly veered to my right. In that split second I braced myself for the impact. Boom!!

His passenger-side mirror rammed into my handle bars and flew off his car. But, remarkably, I didn't even fall. I was literally upright in the position I would have been had I simply stopped for the light!

The driver pulled over and came to see if I was alright. Remarkably, it didn't look like I had so much as a scratch (it would turn out later that I had an ugly welt on my side.) I assured him that I was fine. I asked him if HE was ok and he said, yes, just very worried. I told him that it was entirely my fault and apolgized for riding carelessly. He hopped back into his car and drove off.

I then assessed the situation. My butt muscles seemed to have been strained by the impact (and the fact that my shoes are attached to the pedals with clips). My bike was a little mangled but much less than I would have thought. The only thing wrong was that the handlebars were facing left and the wheel was facing straight. I manually adjusted the handlebars so that the allignment was almost normal and, amazingly, my bike was actually usable.

What to do? I could have gone back home, called it a day and counted my blessings. Instead, because I'm a little nuts, I decided to keep riding. I figured that it would actually be better to ride and loosen my muscles rather than go home and get stiff. (That could be totally wrong medically but I'm a lawyer, what do you want?). Because of the lost time, I cut the ride short and rode to Lido Beach and back. In any event, the rest of the ride was uneventful.

I got home and showered and discovered a very nasty 4 inch welt on my side. The tip of my elbow also started to hurt. I took a couple of Advil and went to work. It is very clear by now, four hours after the accident, that I am going to be one sore puppy this weekend. I am starting to feel stiffness from the left side of my neck all the way down to my tusch.

This was by far my closest call on a bike. A few observations: 1. I need to be more carefull passing red lights. 2. Anyone who doesn't wear a WELL-FITTING helmet is a complete idiot. 3. Anyone who let's his or her kids ride a bike without a WELL-FITTING helmet is an even bigger idiot. 4. Finally, I am thankful to Hashem that I survived this morning's accident with no serious damage.

Olive Oyl Arms

2005-07-12T12:15:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that I have been working out religiously for about 20 years, I still have puny, Olive Oyl arms.

This used to bother me because no matter how many weight exercises I did, and no matter how much weight I lifted, I still had (and have) these skinny little arms. Notwithstanding the many pull ups and dips that I've done over the years, I have absolutely no definition anywhere on my arms.

Everything changed two years ago when I completely dropped running and focused instead exclusively on biking. The ideal biking body is one that is very thin (2 lbs. per inch) with skinny arms. So overnight, I went from being puny to being ideal. Just like that.

Now I don't even bother with weights, instead concentrating on isometric excercises using my own body weight. No Popeye arms for this rider. Call me Olive.

Toast at the Coast

2005-07-10T20:57:00.000-04:00

My sister and I did the 72 mile option at the Gold Coast Century ride on the North Shore of Long Island. It was much harder than I had anticipated. The hills were very steep and they just kept coming. Add to that the intense heat (around 90 degrees) and it made for a very brutal day.

The ride was 24 miles longer, and much more difficult, than any ride my sister had done previously. By the last 10 miles she was pretty cooked but she hung in and finished. I assured her that, though somewhat different in structure, today's ride was as difficult as any day on the Alyn Ride with the exception of the optional climbs and the climb to Jerusalem.

One issue that has been brewing was chrystallized today. My sister, while in amazing shape, simply cannot keep up with me. Today's ride took me at least an hour longer than it would otherwise have taken because I rode more slowly than I would have and I still waited for my sister repeatedly at major turns in the ride.

Believe me. I am no great rider. Compared, for example, to most of the riders who did either 72 or 100 miles in today's ride, I am a complete piker. However, on the Alyn Ride, I am one of the stronger riders, clearly within the top 15%. So, it remains to be seen how this will play out in Israel. I don't think my sister will do the two optional climbs but I don't know whether it will make sense for us to ride together. More about this another time.

On the losing weight front, today really brings the issue home. I probably burned 6000 calories and probably consumed 2000, maximum. It's pretty simple.

Coasting to the Gold Coast

2005-07-04T18:20:00.000-04:00

I put in almost 90 miles this extended weekend.

On Friday morning before work, I rode with my son almost thirty miles out to Point Lookout. (The vasikin minyan at the Young Israel of Woodmere has given me tremendous flexibility in my training. I could not have done this ride or many of the organozed summer rides without it). Yesterday, I rode with him 4 laps (24 miles) in Central Park. I managed not to kill any animals this time. This morning I rode by myself back to Point Lookout.

The weather all weekend has been spectacular and I was actually cold when I started riding both yesterday and today.

This coming sunday my sister and I are scheduled to do the Gold Coast ride on the North Shore of Long Island. We are going to do 70 miles, our longest ride this year. I know this will be a struggle but I think we will manage ok. It is very hilly and very challenging but I think we are ready.

Once again, like last year but more accute, my biggest training concern is my weight. Simply put, I seem to be vanishing. I am down about four pounds (to about 128) with 4 months untill the ride. I find myself struggling to ingest enough calories to maintain the strength I need for these long rides. I have an appetite and like to eat but I find myself getting full very quickly and unable to eat as much as I need. Being thin is good for long distance riding (particularly for climbing) but sometimes I feel very wiped out after a long ride. I don't really know what to do.

Road Kill

2005-06-26T18:23:00.000-04:00

One of the unpleasant realities of long-distance road cycling is the existence of road kill. The longer you ride, particularly in rural neighborhoods (but not only), the more dead animals you pass. For example, if you do a century (100 mile ride) in Westchester or Connecticut, you will almost assuredly pass at least a dozen, if not twenty, dead creatures.

Today, however, for the first time in my road cycling career, I myself killed an animal. A squirrel. At least I think I killed it. I was riding down a steep hill in Central Park, side-by-side with my older son, when a squirrel suddenly darted out of the side of the road. He was between our bikes and very confused about which direction to head. He quickly went west, then reversed and went east...right into my rear tire. I felt the the thud. Since I was going at least twenty-five miles an hour at the time, I just held my bars tightly and kept going. I couldn't look back and I couldn't stop.

I did amother couple of laps of the park but didn't see the poor road kill. He must have made it to the side of road but I can't imagine that he could have survived for long. I feel bad but not that bad. There was really nothing I could have done differntly.

On the training front, my sister and I are progressing well. We did a fifty mile ride on the North Shore two weeks ago and handled it well. Although she is psycho and works out like a fiend, she can't really keep up with me. Riding with her (and often waiting for her) during the ride cost me at least a half hour, if not more. I don't really understand it. She is strong yet thin, is in amazing shape and has an excellent bike. I don't think she has figured out the best way to manage her gears so I think she spins ger wheels too much. It just doesn't make sense.

On July 10th we are doing a very difficult 70 mile ride, again on the North Shore of Long Island, called the Gold Coast Ride. Very hilly and challenging. My goal is to do at least one organized long ride per month (although I have yet to find anything local in August).

With four months to go until the Alyn Ride we are certainly on course.

Speaking of Alyn, the detailed description of the tour has been posted. It looks more difficult than last year, especially if one does the two optional climbs that are offered. I will write about the ride next time.

Where I'm Holding

2005-05-11T21:19:00.000-04:00

My psycho sister and I went out to Central Park last Sunday morning. We did a few 'hill repeats' in the northern section of the park and then did three laps (a total of 21 miles). Again, there was a major race going on, this time a half marathon, which slowed us down somewhat. Nevertheless, because we started so early, it was manageable.

I was surprised by how strong I felt in light of the fact that I've hardly been on my bike and I've only recently begun spinning seriously after a winter of relative hibernation. I guess it helps that I am extremely light, my weight down to a high-school-level 128.

My sister was also strong but did not ride as well as I did. I think her tires were under-inflated which can have a surprisingly significant negative impact. She is also just starting out and it was the first time she did a longish ride on her new bike. There is no doubt in my mind that she will be an animal when it comes time for the Alyn ride.

I was supposed to do the Montauk Century this Sunday but I bagged it because our son is playing in an All Star hockey game. I am very grateful that he is so good because I was not looking forward to the ride. The ride itself is fine but the post-ride logistics are horrible. You have to take a train almost 100 miles from the finish back to the starting point, wait for your bike to be trucked and then drive back home.

Instead, my sister and I are going to do 45 miles in an organized ride next week in Fairfield County, Connecticut. This should be a good early season test for both of us but especially her. I am hopeful that there are some serious hills there because it's time to start doing some real hill training (the hills in Central Park are a joke compared to the hills we will face in Israel).

This morning, I davened vasikin and was on my bike at 6:10 a.m. I rode out (alone) to Lido Beach and back, a ride that took 1:22. The headwind on the way back was brutal but all in all it was a pleasant ride. Showered and off to work on my regular train!

With a little less tha six months to go before the ride I think I'm 'holding' in a good place.

Frozen Toes

2005-04-17T12:24:00.000-04:00

I rode in Central Park again this morning. The forecast for today is 70 degrees but when I rode it was about 47 degrees. I did five hill-repeats in the northern tip of the park and then a six mile loop. I had intended to do much more (another 45 minutes) but when I could no longer feel my toes or the tips of my fingers, I called it a day.

I know I wimped out but there is no sense in being miserable when I still have more than six months until the ride.

Central Park with My Loony Sister

2005-04-10T21:21:00.001-04:00

I started my outdoor training today with a couple of laps of Central Park. I davened very early and picked up my sister. Unfortunately, when I got to her house, we discovered a flat tire. Rather than take the time to fix it, I picked up my old bike for my sister to use.

There were about 1000 women running a marathon in the park and that put a damper on an otherwise spectacular morning. Because of the huge crowds, it was difficult to manuever. We decided to ditch after two laps (12 miles) rather than the intended three. My sister is going to kick butt in Israel. She is fierce. You wouldn't know she is a 55 year old grandmother.

All in all, a nice start to the season.

So Begins The Task....

2005-04-02T21:35:00.000-05:00

I will be signing up for the 2005 Alyn Hospital Wheels of Love Bike Tour when registration opens tomorrow. The tour starts in the Golan Heights on November 6th and ends in Jerusalem on November 10th. Most of the tour will be in the Golan/Galil area.

They haven't come out with the exact route or overall mileage yet but have indicated that there will be some very brutal climbs this year, even more difficult than last year. They are also planning to have an easier course, presumably for those who don't want to do the nasty climbs. As far as I'm concerned, there can't be enough nasty climbs.

The weather this winter has been miserable and it hasn't gotten better in the last few weeks. I have not been on my bike in months. I've been doing some spinning but I am in miserable shape compared to last year. Luckily, there are still seven months to go.

I signed up for the Montauk Century (100 mile) ride that takes place on May 15th. I'm concerned that I've bitten off more than I can chew so early in the season. They also have a 65 mile option and I probably should have considered that. That would have been the sane thing to do but who says I'm sane? I just hope it stops raining every weekend so that I can get some miles under my belt before the ride. (And, I just remembered, two of the Sundays before the ride fall on Pesach!).

Whatever. I will show up and do the best I can and try to have some fun. That's the whole point.

Postmortem

2004-11-18T11:59:00.000-05:00

Now that the Alyn Bike Ride is over, time to take stock.

What did I do right and what did I do wrong in training for the ride?

What were the good points of the tour and what could use improvement?

Would I do it again?

Training

My training was, for the most part, spot on, with one major exception. I would divide my training into three categories. Spinning, On-road biking and core training.

The spinning was, by far, the most effective training that I did. I spent between 45 minutes and an hour on a spin bike between 4 and 5 times a week. In the beginning I did a lot of high end interval training but the closer I got to the ride, the more I focused on simulating climbing. Many times in the last couple of months, I simulated climbs for the entire length of my session. This was very important because in Israel I had to ride uphill for as long as 1.5 hours straight on the last two days of the ride.

Had I really known how long and steep the climbs were, I would have concentrated even more on simulating climbs and I would have made them much more difficult. I would have done a bunch of 45 minute climbs with big resistance at a cadence of no more than 60 rpm. As it is, I feel that I could not have done nearly as well as I did had I not put in the hours on the spin bike.

The one area where I essentially wasted most of my time was on my road bike. All the time I spent in Central Park or riding out to Point Lookout in Long Island was a complete waste of time (in terms of training; I loved riding in Central Park). The only worthwhile rides that I did were the centuries, particularly the ones in Stamford, Connecticut and Westchester (although even the hills there were nothing compared to what we had to ride in Israel).

Knowing what I know now, I would have driven out to Bear Mountain or places like that and found the biggest hills I could. Even shorter rides on bigger hills would have been better than longer, flatter rides.

I also did not anticipate the extereme heat we faced in the Negev and the Dead Sea area. The combination of a very mild summer and very early riding times resulted in my doing virtually no serious hot weather training. Next year the ride will be in the north and will be a couple of weeks later (because of the timing of Succos) so I'm sure it will not be nearly as hot.

The other part of training that I nailed was my core training and conditioning. I did a lot of pushups and planks, shoulder rolls, squats and sit ups. This strengthened by arms, shoulders, quads and abs. Although many people don't realize it, this can be extremely helpful during an endurance ride. many people complained of sore shoulders from the descents, sore backs from bending over (especially during climbs, sore thighs from the amount of riding. Because i was so well conditioned, nothing bothered me the entire time. For next year's ride I will follow essentially the same regimen, adding a few more exercises.

The Tour

The tour rocked. It was amazingly well run. There was plenty of water, plenty of rest stops, good food, good mechanical support, nice enough accomodations (other than the Bedouin Tent), good comeraderie, and lots of fun. The routes were well planned and challenged everyone at his or her level.

I have small criticisms. The stronger riders had to wait a very long time at lunch for the slower riders to arrive before we were permitted to continue. It was crazy hot and I got cooked at every lunch break. Also, the decision to delay the start on the fourth day was a huge mistake. Finally, lunches were meat; I would have preferred dairy. As I said, these are small things. All in all the ride was amazing.

So long as the dates work out for me next year, I expect to do the tour again. Wouldn't miss it. Everyone I spoke to who did the tour feels the same way. Many people at home who didn't do it are very interested in doing it next year. It's funny but they fall into different categories. There are people who are in good shape who feel they can do it. There are people in lousy shape who see it as a challenge. I even know of two people who were severely injured in car wrecks and are in very bad shape who have set next year's tour as a goal.

The challenge for the tour organizers is to figure out logistics for 500 riders. I have no doubt that that many riders are going to want to ride next year.

If you are interested (or are interested in looking at the pictures from this year's ride), go here.

I am signing off for now. I will probably be back in the spring when I start my outdoor training for next year's ride.

The End

2004-11-17T16:29:00.000-05:00

We rode from Har Hetzl into the entrance to the hospital. (Strangely, my chain came off twice while I was leaving Har Hertzl. This hadn't happened the entire ride).

We were greeted by many of the patients and parents of Alyn Hospital as well as by the many relatives that had come to great their riders. (Although my daughter was nearby at seminary, I told her not to bother because she had a great class at the time.)

After sorting out the bicycle situation (I left my bike to be disassembled and boxed; others had rented bikes and others were riding them back to their homes and hotels), there was a short ceremony. It was pretty moving. They announced that so far almost $900,000 had been raised and that they were hoping the number would go up to $1.5 million.

I've raised just a bit less than $12,000, almost none of which came from my various blog audiences. A shout out to my man PRODLY who did come through. (Even though I have had some fun at his expense (and he at mine), and even though he does inhabit his own unique universe, the more I get to 'know' him the more I like him. Have some Tofu on me, Prodly!). If anyone would like to contribute at this late date click here and put MoChassid as the person you are sponsoring.

After the ceremony, I grabbed my stuff and caught a cab with another rider back to the place I was staying in Jerusalem. Having gone to sleep at around midnight and gotten up at 4:30 a.m. and having riden 18 of the hardest miles I've ever done (plus another 8 difficult miles) I was wiped. I took a nap for an hour and a half. Really comfortable bed and no one nearby to snore.

The hospital had scheduled a dinner for later that night but I blew it off because i was so beat. I also wanted to have dinner with my daughter. I heard that I didn't miss much although I would have liked to say a final farewell to some of the riders.

Dinner with my daughter was wonderful (I ate massive quantities) and then I had one of the soundest night's sleep that I can remember.

All in all, it was an amazing bike tour. Way beyond my expectations.

I'm already psyched for next year.

The Last Day II - Entering Jerusalem

2004-11-17T09:52:00.000-05:00

After the seven mile climb from Adumim Junction to the foot of Jerusalem I arrived at the second rest stop. I was a bit exhausted and extremely hot. I took off my helmet and bandana and poured water over my head to cool down. I grabbed some snacks (they were giving out M&Ms!) and ate about four tangerines.

Again, I was among the first 15 to 20% of the riders to make it up the hill. The organizers were not going to let anyone continue until the last rider made it up the hill. That ended up taking about an hour. I sat on a curb and rested. I was suddenly overtaken with a great sense of sadness. The ride that I had been looking forward to for months and which I had absolutely loved for the past 5 days was just about over. I wasn't ready for that.

Finally, the next stage began. We rode to and through the tunnel that goes underneath Har Hatzofim. Traffic had been stopped so it was very cool. Unfortunately, the approach to the tunnel and the tunnel itself was totally uphill at a very nasty grade. The good news is that it wasn't too long. (Nevertheless, at least a dozen riders boinked and had to be picked up by the SAG van).

After going through the tunnel and a few dangerous streets, we headed straight for Givat Hatachmoshet (Ammunition Hill) where we stopped for lunch. Bagels!! Real bagels! And soda! And ice! We all scarfed down our lunch and hung out. Hundreds of pictures were taken and a feeling of accomplishment permeated.

I found a nice patch of grass and tried to catch a nap while we waited for the next, and final stage to commence.

We finally started out at about 2 p.m. Unexpectedly, this stage would be one of the funnest parts of the ride. We took a left out of Givat Hatachmoshet and rode a couple of blocks to Ramat Eshkol. The police were blocking traffic for well over a mile. The ride was completely straight and completely downhill. I got into a tuck, put the bike in the highest gear and pedaled. I was going almost 40 miles and hour!! I started screaming, wu wu!!! (I know that's not becoming of a man who is nearing his 50th birthday but I didn't care; I guess I'm still a child at heart). All good things must come to an end and this surge ended when we got to the Begin Highway. That was back up a hill until we reached Kiryat Hayovel, up to Har Hertzl.

We all gathered there and waited for the stragglers.

It was at this point that I fell on my butt in front of about 200 people.

I went to the bathroom at Har Hertzl and washed my glasses. They had become impossibly dirty from all the sweat and grime of the day's ride. Unfortunately, there were no paper towels in the bathroom. So, I walked out, looking for something to wipe my glasses on. As I walked down the steps in my biking cleats, I slipped and landed hard on my tusch. A bunch of people came over to see if I was ok, which I was other than my pride. I couldn't help but think that I had just completed 310 miles without incident, without even a flat, and here, literally 2 minutes from the end, I almost killed myself walking down steps.

Unfortunately, my glasses were in my right hand when I fell and got crushed. Luckily they are unbreakable but they were mushed into a shape that would do me no good. I spent the next five minutes trying to rearrange the glasses into some semblance of a shape that would fit around my ears. (It wasn't until I got home that I was able to really fix them).

After a few minutes we all got back on our bikes and the 235 person Yellow Swarm rode together to Alyn Hospital for the very moving closing ceremonies.

The Last Day - Climbing to Jerusalem

2004-11-16T11:03:00.000-05:00

The climb to Jerusalem is something that I had been anticipating for months. Starting out from the Dead Sea area, we would be riding a relatively short distance. But the ride would be virtually straight up.

A small group of riders stayed at the Kalya guest house, just off the Dead Sea. The bulk of the group was in Almog, about 13 kilometers northwest. The climb to Jerusalem was scheduled to be launched from Almog so we were given the option of either riding our bikes or taking a bus.

Most of the riders chose the latter because they reasoned that the climb would be hard enough; no reason to add thirteen kilometers. I considered taking the bus but ultimately decided to ride, for three reasons. First, my quads were very tight because of the previous day's climb of Mitzukei Dragot. I thought that a nice, flat warm up ride to Almog would loosen me up. Second, riding to Almog would put me over the 300 mile (and 500 kilometer) mark for the tour (when added to the climb to J'lem). And, third, I'm certifiable.

That was my first mistake. Only about a dozen of us decided to ride. We started out at 6:10 a.m. in a paceline and everything went well for the first few kilometers. But, as soon as we turned west, the nice, flat, warm up ride to Almog turned out to be anything but. We were riding into an amazingly powerful headwind. Even though the terrain was relatively flat, I felt as though I was climbing. In fact, I kept looking down at my tires because I felt like I was riding on a flat. After what seemed like forever, I finally pulled into the gas station at Almog.

I was very tired and although my legs were now looser, my thighs still felt fatigued. I was starting to appreciate the wisdom of those riders who decided not to do Mitzukei Dragot in order to preserve energy for the Jerusalem climb.

After a short break, the 235 rider "Yellow Swarm" started out to Jerusalem. Our first stop was to be in Mitzpeh Yericho, a strategic settlement east of Jerusalem that overlooks Jericho. We were scheduled to eat breakfast there.

As had become my custom on mass starts on this ride, I went as close to the front as I could in order to reduce the chances of getting caught up in a congestion crash. The hills started almost immediately and pretty much didn't stop for five miles until we reached Mitzpeh Yericho. The heat was brutal and again I suffered from burning eyes as a result of sweat pouring down my brow.

We ate a very hearty breakfast on the terrace overlooking Jericho. For the first time on the trip....Skippy peanut butter!!! That was awesome. At teh suggestion of some of the doctors on the ride they urged us to salt our food mightily in order to make up for all the minerals we were losing because of the heat. I took a hard-boiled egg and essentially drowned it in salt and sucked it down. Yech.

After waiting about a half hour for the slower riders to arrive, we got going again.

The next leg would prove to be the most difficlut part of the ride. After a two mile modest climb we got a bot of relief. When we hit the Adummim Junction it was 7 miles, straight up without any relief whatsoever. In those seven miles we climbed 2100 feet, with grades averaging as much a 8.9%.

Getting up this hill was about one thing. Willpower. You simply couldn't stop. You had to keep pedaling, albeit in a low gear and at a slow pace. You made your way up, bit by bit. It was not advisable to look anywhere but just in front of you. Looking up any higher would be discouraging because you would see the miles of hills still to come.

Today's ride was also different because it was all about each individual. Because of the nature of the road and the hills, you had to ride in single file. There was no one to talk to, no pacelines, no help. It was all about what you had in your heart and in your head.

As I got close to the top, I felt a surge of emotion overtake me. I had trained so long and so hard for this tour (and particularly for this day) and here I was about to finish. I had done everything I had set out to do and was sad about the prospect that it was about to end.

I pulled into the rest stop and was assured that I had completed what was by far the most difficult part of the ride. The organizers assured us that there would be no more hills as long as the one we had just completed. We were almost home.

Day Four - The Climb to Metzukei Dragot

2004-11-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

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.

The Israel Ride - Day Three

2004-11-11T19:41:00.000-05:00

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 Israel Ride - The Second day

2004-11-10T14:22:00.000-05:00

Early on Monday morning we rode out of Nitzana.

We started the day with davening followed by breakfast. Even though I typically don't like to eat much before doing anything athletic, it was crucial to eat a good breakfast on the morning of a ride. My breakfast consisted of coffee, juice, a roll and some eggs. I salted the eggs a lot because all the sweating that was to follow would deplete my body of salt. (And, ironically, although drinking a lot of water might prevent dehydration, it also flushed out the electrolytes and other good stuff and could cause you to boink. The ride did not provide energy drinks or powders and that would become a problem for numerous riders).

I don't remember much about the morning other than that it was largely flat with a few moderate climbs and very boring, the most boring part of the ride. Finally, after the first rest stop, it began to get more interesting. We climbed another very nasty hill to get to a summit that would bring us down into the Machtesh Gadol (the Large Crater). The view from the summit was awesome.

The descent into the Machtesh was extremely long (at least two miles) and steep. At this point we ran into a group of riders from the UK who were also doing a bike ride in the south of Israel. Unfortunately for them, they were going up the hill that we were going down. And, suprisingly, about 75% of them were walking their bikes up the hill! Losers. (I know that sounds harsh. Indeed, when I first saw them, I thought, wow, this must really be hard if most of them can't make it up. After Wednesday when I climbed Mitzukei Dragot, and especially after Thursday, when even the lamest of us climbed to Jerusalem, I realized they were just losers).

At the bottom of the descent, we were in the crater itself. There, we finally met up with the off road riders who had been riding in the bowels of the crater for a good part of the morning. We road together, on road, for another mile or so where lunch was served.

Once again lunch was excellent. The problem, again, was that we had to wait almost two hours for the stragglers to come in before the organizers would let us move on. It was probably close to 100 degrees and the shade provided by a meakeshift tent did not offer much relief. I felt myself baking.

We finally left the lunch area and had a moderate climb to get out of the crater. The rest of the day's ride was fun and uuneventful.

Our destination for the night would be the Mamshit Bedouin Tent.

Again, the fact that I was a strong rider worked to my benefit. I was able to get a spot in the very front of the tent where I would be able to get in and out quickly (I can get very claustraphobic). I was also able to get a shower before the long lines appeared (there were about ten showers for about 300 people).

That evening there was a makeshift 'bar' provided by a few of the veteran riders. While I am normally not adverse to a pop of scotch from time to time, things were going too well with my body and I didn't want to muck anything up, so I abstained. Then we were subjected to some mumbo jumbo by the Israeli proprietor of this faux-Bedouin-tent-tourist-trap about how the Bedouins were our brothers, yada, yada, yada. (Is that why the ride mechanics literally put a chain and lock through all 235 bicycles so that our 'brothers' wouldn't steal our bikes and why we were told to keep our valuables on us at all times (including while we slept)??).

The 'authentic' (kosher) Bedouin meal that followed bordered on the inedible. Since, (a) I was really hungry after another 65 miles of riding, and (b) it was really important to have a good meal the night before a difficult ride, I was none too pleased.

In any event, it was a very magnificent, star-filled evening and I slept soundly despite the best efforts of the many snorers surrounding me.

The organizers of the ride said that sleeping in a Bedouin tent is a once in a lifetime experience. Now that I have had that experience once in my life, I hope never to experience it again.

The Israel Ride - First Day

2004-11-09T10:13:00.000-05:00

On Sunday morning, October 24th, after an unnecessarily long opening ceremony, the 235 yellow-clad riders of the Alyn Hospital Wheels of Love Bike Tour finally hit the road.

Although we started out together, about half the riders were going off road and the other half, including me, were staying on road. I was concerned about the actual start because it's easy to crash when there are so many riders leaving at once. I watched my 'mentor' from Chicago move to the front and followed him. There is a much better chance of avoiding a pileup at the front. The start turned out to be smooth and uneventful.

We all rode together for a couple of miles when we hit a junction. The roadies made a left and the off roadies went straight. We wouldn't see them again until Monday at lunch since we were staying in different places on Sunday night.

The first few miles were very flat. There was a nice tailwind so the ride was very comfortable. What a mechayah. I was riding at a leisurely pace, talking to various riders who where riding at a similar pace. I would end up spending most of the next four days riding with the same ten or fifteen riders most of the time.

Of the 235 riders, about 115 were from Israel, overwhelmingly olim from America (some from thirty years ago, others much more recent). 83 came from the US, 20 from Canada and 8 from the UK, a couple of Frogs and one from Australia. One of the fun things about the ride was finding out the backgrounds of the various riders, both during the ride and in the evenings.

The leisurely part of the ride came to an abrupt end when we climbed this nasty hill. It was much longer and steeper than anything I had done in the US and was harder than Friday's climb to Yad Kennedy. I was happy to have had the Yad Kennedy experience because I was better prepared to handle the hill. I went into my 'granny' gear and handled the hill slowly but without much difficulty. My heart rate stayed well within my aerobic zone.

After the climb the road remained flat until just before the lunch break. One had to 'earn' lunch by climbing another enormous hill, even longer than the first one. We were rewarded with a delicious lunch of pasta and hot soup (which I gobbled up even though the temperature was at least 90 degrees). We were also rewarded with a magnificent view of Kadesh Barnea, where Bnei Yisrael encamped for a very large portion of it's 40 year stay in the desert.

After lunch we had a very fun descent and then a relatively flat remainder of the day. We rode north for about 40 kilometers along a tiny road literally at the Israel - Egypt border. Not one single car passed us the entire time. The Egyptian border guards were waiving to us as we passed which was pretty cool.

Finally, we made a right turn and rode into Nitzana Village where we would be staying the first night. Since I had been riding pretty hard all day, I actually reached the village early, by 2:30 p.m. At that point I was able to assess my relative strength and I was pleased that it appeared that I was in the top 15 to 20% of the roadies.

I quickly found my room, picked the best bed (again), showered, washed my jersey and bib shorts and rested on the grass outside the room. I had gotten only 5 hours of sleep and had ridden 62 miles in pretty nasty heat. The remaining riders came in over the next two hours with a few of them having to be picked up by the sag van.

I found out later that a couple of people dehydrated on the first day and one actually had to be hospitalized overnight (and had to withdraw from the ride). Another two withdrew because they felt they hadn't prepared properly.

BH, I felt tired but great. I felt that all my preparations had paid off. I didn't feel the least bit sore and I was ready for another hard day of riding on Monday. We had gone places that I had never seen in all my many visits to israel and I was looking forward to what the next day would bring. I was sleeping by 9:30 p.m.

The Israel Ride - The First Night

2004-11-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

On Motsai Shabbos, October 23rd, the riders, both Israeli and from chutz la'Aretz (foreigners) who were leaving from Jerusalem, gathered near the King Solomon Hotel to take a bus to Mitzpeh Ramon in the Negev.

Those who brought bikes had dropped them off at the hospital by Friday at noon and they had already been trucked to Mitzpeh Ramon.

The buses were scheduled to leave at 7:30 but didn't get going until about 8:30. I forgot my extra tire and called my daughter who graciously walked over to the bus, tire in hand. (We were staying at a home nearby). The scene at the hotel was a pretty big balagan but, ultimately, we were on our way. I sat next to a very nice American ex-pat whose son and grandson were participating in the ride. He was a retired doctor from Queens and we played a nice round of Jewish georgraphy.

After a pit stop, we finally made it to Mitzpeh Ramon. We were divided between two locations that were very close. The first (where I was) was simply the Achsania, or Youth Hostel. The second was called Club Ramon but was no fancier than the youth hostel.

I was the first in the room and quickly grabbed the lower half of a bunk bed. (This was a pattern that I would follow the entire ride. Since I was a relatively strong rider, I was the first person to my room every night. Being a strong believer in meritocracy, I did not hesitate to take the best bed. I also showered and washed my jersey and bib shorts before anyone else got there).

After setting my bags on the bed, I went to the parking lot where all the bikes awaited. It was at that point that I really felt that I had made the right decision in bringing my own bike (despite the hassles). While my bike was all assembled and ready to go, those who had rented bikes first had to have them sized and checked. Many riders were not happy with the size or set up of their bikes. Although virtully all of these issues were resolved in the first couple of days, a few riders had very uncomfortable experiences in that time. My bike, on the other hand, was awesome and I felt extremely comfortable from the get go.

I got to bed after midnight but my two of my three roomates, who came later from other areas of the country, did not get to sleep until much later. While none of my roomates snored (that would be the last night I could say that), one of them did talk in his sleep. Nevertheless, i got a good night's sleep.

We woke up at 6 a.m., davened, ate breakfast, checked out the amazing natural crater at Mitzpeh Ramon, waited through some opening ceremonies, and were finally on the road.

The Israel Ride - Prologue

2004-11-04T11:29:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Israel on Monday afternoon, October 19th. It was a crazy day. I got picked up at the airport by a very sweet cab driver, Avi, who I ended up spending hours with. His English stunk, and, as a result, I was forced to speak a huge amount of Hebrew over the course of the week.

Avi took me and my bicycle directly to the Express Bike Shop in Talpiyot where we dropped it off to be assembled. We then dropped off the bike box at Alyn Hospital where the bike tour would end on October 28th and where they would dis-assemble my bike again.

From the hospital I went to surprise my daughter at her seminary. She thought I was arriving Tuesday and, indeed, that had been the plan until the previous week when I realized that I needed three days in Tel Aviv for business, rather than two. She freaked when she saw me, literally jumping up and down. It was great.

I hung around the school for a couple of hours, helping my daughter unpack the million things that I brought her. (Apparently they have no tuna, rice pilaf or hair mousse in Israel, to name just three items that I brought).

Avi picked me up and we went back to the bike shop, picked up the assembled bike and finally got to the house where I was staying.

I spent the next three days commuting back and forth to Tel Aviv and having dinner with my daughter and some friends at night.

On Thursday morning before work, I was scheduled to go for a ride with one of the veteran Alyn riders that I had gotten to know (through email and phone calls). When I checked my bike Wednesday evening, I noticed that the tube in the front tire had been changed by the bike store (an apparent flat when they assembled the bike) and, worse, a flat in my rear tire.

I fixed the tire but in doing so somehow messed up the chain. We tried to fix the chain on Thursday morning but couldn't. I ended up missing the ride and taking the bike back to Express Bike where they fixed it in 30 seconds.

Finally, on Friday morning, I went for my first ride. I went out with the veteran rider from Chicago, his sixteen-year-old son and two Israeli brothers, also veterans of the Alyn ride. The brothers were Anglo-Israelis who both seemed to be chisled out of granite. The older brother was in the Army and the younger a senior in Tichon (high school).

We went through Emek Refaim and Talpiyot until we reached the climb to Yad Kennedy. The hills to Yad Kennedy were much steeper and much longer than anything I had encountered in any of my training rides. I found myself sucking air and my heart seemed to be popping out of my chest. My heart rate was way over my aerobic threshhold.

I made it up all the way to Yad Kennedy and started to wonder what the heck I was in for. I asked the boys whether this climb was tougher than what we would see on the tour. They hemmed and hawed. I could tell that they didn't want to spook me but I could also tell that I was in for trouble. When I asked the Chicago rider the same thing he was more forthcoming. Yad Kennedy was not really any big deal.

Thankfully, the ride down from Yad Kennedy was great fun. We dropped off the bicycles at the hospital and took a cab back home.

I would only later find out that the four riders that I went out with were probably four of the top six or eight riders in the entire tour. Riding at my own pace, I would never again ride outside my comfort zone nor be overly challenged by the climbs (some of which, indeed, made Yad Kennedy look like bunny hills).

Pre-Ride Assessment

2004-10-13T10:40:00.000-04:00

I am leaving for Israel, B'ezras Hashem, on Sunday evening. I will be doing three days of business in Tel Aviv and visiting my daughter during the first week. The ride begins Sunday morning, October 24th.

My bike is already dis-assembled and packed. The mechanics in Israel will put it back together for me when I arrive. I hope to get a couple of early morning training rides in next Thursday and Friday.

I have raised almost exactly $10,000 for the hospital. That was my goal even though the hospital only asks you to guarantee $2K (and they target a $5K average for North American riders). My friends and family have been very supportive.

I've lost about 12 pounds during my training although I haven't tried to lose an ounce. I have not weighed this little since I was a freshman in college, over 30 years ago. Conventional wisdom says that the ideal weight for endurance riding is 2 lbs. per inch and I am extremely close to that level.

During my training, my anaerobic threshhold seems to have increased by about 9 bpm to approximately 165 bpm, an extremely high number for an alter kocker like me. When I started training, my resting heart beat was around 43 and I don't know whether that has gone down because I haven't tested it since.

I have improved my form considerably, most noticably in my ability to pull the pedals up, not just push them down. My speed and power have increased but I'm still no speed demon.

I really don't expect the bike tour to be particularly difficult despite the fact that we cover 300 miles in 5 days and despite a few really nasty climbs. I want to enjoy the tour as much as possible so I don't feel like being sore and I am hopeful that my (over)training has prepared me enough so I won't be. I think a lot of the riders, particularly first time riders, have no idea what they are in for. There will be a lot of ice and Advil use.

I am psyched beyond words. I am really looking forward to seeing my daughter and I am really looking forward to the ride.

If I can figure out how to post from the road, I will. Otherwise, I'll write when I get back.

I Am Officially Ready

2004-10-04T14:44:00.000-04:00

I did a brutal 50 mile ride on Sunday in Stamford, Connecticut. It was incredibally hilly; perfect preparation for my ride in Israel. It took me slightly less than 4 hours including the rest stop, not a bad pace considering the large number and steepness of the hills. I was actually as tired after this ride as I was after the two century rides.

I was lucky to have hooked up with a rider named Jeff who was also riding alone. We rode the last 35 miles together and it was very helpful. I actually helped him also because we missed the first rest stop and he ran out of water. Since I ride with a Camelback as well as a water bottle, I was able to give him half my bottle which got him to the second rest stop.

I was in my 'granny' gear much more than I have been on any previous ride. That made the climbing much more comfortable. There were some very sustained hills that lasted quite a few minutes and I don't know if I would have been able to make it with only a 'double'.

This was my last organized training ride before I leave for Israel in two weeks. The actual ride is in three weeks so I will start phasing down my training. I will stick to the spin bike during the weekdays and ride about 40 flat miles each of the next two Sundays.

After yesterday, I declare myself officially ready.

Fading Away

2004-09-29T14:36:00.000-04:00

I have lost ten pounds since I started training for the Alyn Hospital Ride. I've lost five pounds just in the last five weeks. Not that I'm trying. The pounds are just coming off.

In an average hour of training I burn about 765 calories. In a century ride, I burn about 6,000 calories. You can eat 25 four-ounce orders of french fries and still not consume 6,000 calories.

Since I'm training about 8 to 12 hours a week, I just can't eat enough to maintain my weight. In general, I'm not a huge eater and MHW is a very health conscious cook. Very low fat, very low in complex carbs.

I've started eating pancakes twice a week, and a three egg omelete one morning. I've even taken to eating a bag of potato chips after training. Doesn't help.

In endurance biking, it is very good to be very thin so that's fine as far as it goes. My concern is that I am getting too thin and will not have the energy to ride hard for five straight days.

Perhaps I will make some inroads during a three day Yom Tov.

I'm Hurting

2004-09-19T06:52:00.000-04:00

The fall that I took last Sunday during the NYC Century is turning out to be much worse than I expected.

After a full week, my left arm is still killing me. I haven't been on a bike or a spin bike since the ride (that has more to do with a business trip and Rosh Hashanah than the injury) yet the arm is no better than it was last Monday. All I've managed to do is upset my stomach with massive quantities of Advil. I stopped taking the Advil on Rosh Hashanah; my stomach is recovering but not my arm.

I will call the doctor on Monday. It's annoying that I have to go to my regular doctor in order to get a referral to an orthopedic but that's life as we know it today.

The injury will not stop me from riding (I am doing another century next Sunday) but will most certainly be a major drag. Maybe I can get a cortisone shot from the ortho.

The Second Century

2004-09-13T10:17:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I rode my second 100 + mile ride.

This one was the NYC Century. For some reason, it seems that people can't measure well because this ride, like the last one, was 110 miles, not 100 (and it turned into 115 because of an error that on of my riding mates made; more about that below). However, since the weather was ideal and I felt very strong the extra mileage was no big deal.

Unlike last time, when I rode alone, I was in a group of 8 colleagues from my firm (including my boss and our primary outside counsel). The other seven have riden together many times but this was my first time with them. I was easily able to hold my own with this testosterone laden group. This may augur well for my bonus.

For the most part, it was a fun ride. We started in the north of Central Park, went down Fifth Avenue and Broadway until we reached the Brooklyn Bridge. We rode almost 50 miles in Brooklyn (including Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope and the wonderful Prospect Park) until we reached the second rest stop. Until then, everything was flat and easy. All that changed in Queens.

But first, I took a nasty tumble on the bike path adjacent to the Belt Parkway. Part of the path was being fixed and we had to go on this tiny off road path. I fell in an area that was wet. I landed flush on my arm, just below the clavicle. I'm lucky I didn't break anything. It's still killing me (at least when the Advil wears off).

Queens was extremely hilly and challenging and we went through some lovely neighborhoods and lots of parks. One of the guys started cramping up in Flushing Park but was able to continue. We made it to the rest stop in Astoria Park, the 75 mile mark.

At that point it was either 7 miles back to Central Park or 31 through the Bronx. As my boss said, "If we weren't so macho, we would go back now". In this group, no one would dare suggest cutting short a century ride.

The ride over the Tri Boro Bridge into the Bronx was treacherous and nasty. We had to carry our bikes up and down three flights of stairs then go through an extremely narrow ramp. Brutal.

The ride in the Bronx also stunk. We had to stop for countless traffic lights and stop signs. We were weaving in and out of resdential streets. I don't understand why they needed that since we could easily have cut that stuff out and still made 100 miles.

We were only 8 miles from Central Park when one of our riders mistook an old street marker for a new one. He took us deep into Riverdale which added an extra 5 brutally hilly miles to our ride. Even though I felt strong I could have done without that.

We got back to Central Park, picked up our tee shirts and water bottles and made our way back to our cars.

I was famished and wiped. When I got home, I started eating anything that wasn't tied down. I had a huge dinner (unusual for me, especially on a Sunday evening) and went to bed at 9 p.m.

I woke up this morning with my arm killing me but otherwise fine. I have ridden over 300 miles in the past three weeks. This week will be a very soft week because of Rosh Hashanah but I have my third and final Century in Westchester on the day after Yom Kippur.

I am very ready for my ride in Israel.

NERD

2004-09-03T13:51:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday evening I rode with MHW and my two younger kids. We went for a leisurely ride in Hewlett Bay Park. I offered my younger son the use of my old Schwinn Circuit road bike. He looked at me as if I were nuts.

"Dad, if I used a road bike my friends would think I was a total nerd."

I told him the road bike would be 50% easier, and much faster, to ride than his piece of junk hybrid. It didn't matter. He hopped on the hybrid and off we went.

Youth IS wasted on the young.

Bike Ride Sefirah

2004-09-02T16:14:00.001-04:00

It occurred to me today that there are 50 days left to my bike ride in Israel.

A good time to take stock.

Sunday's century certainly gave me a good perspective on where I'm 'holding'. Although the last 18 miles were very rough, I was able to complete 110 miles in brutal weather conditions. The truth is, the first 75 miles were pretty easy and, until the 85 mile mark, I never really felt uncomfortable.

I am also encouraged by the fact that I felt fine on Monday morning. I wasn't unduly sore anywhere.

I was very mature (for me) and actually allowed myself two complete days off from biking (although I did do some core strength work on Tuesday). But, when I went out to Point Lookout on Wednesday morning I was amazingly sluggish. I was so tired this morning, I couldn't even get up early and ended up doing an hour on the spin bike instead of riding outdoors. I would worry about the sluggishness except that I don't expect weather conditions in Israel to be anywhere near as bad as Sunday's were (93 degrees and high humidity) and the daily ride is about 65 miles, not 110.

I lost a couple of pounds on Sunday and my weight is down to 138. I wouldn't mind getting it down another three pounds, to 135, before the ride.

My morning shiur starts on Tuesday so I will no longer be able to ride outside except for Sundays. That is too bad because (having built up my strength through the spin bike) I would rather ride a real bike as much as possible.

I am very happy with my bike. It did well on Sunday. The one issue I have is with my front gears. I have Shimano Integras on the back and they are smooth as silk but the gears in the front are a little sluggish.

On Sunday morning I am getting together in Central Park with a bunch of Metro area riders who will be doing the Israel Ride. I look forward to meeting many of them for the first time.

All in all, I'm feeling good about the ride. I am ridiculously excited about going back to eretz Yisrael and about seeing my older daughter who is studying in Seminary.

50 days and counting.

Giving 110%

2004-08-30T11:17:00.000-04:00

One of the dopiest and most frequently used cliches in the sports world is the phrase, "The guy gives 110%".

As the blogospher's resident mathematician, Ben could tell you, it is impossible to give more than your maximum which is, by definition, 100%.

Or so I thought until yesterday when my century bike ride turned out to be 110 miles rather than 100.

Yesterday's ride was brutal. The temperature reached 88 degrees and the humidity was oppressive. Starting at 7:30 a.m., I was able to get through the first 54 miles in 3 3/4 hours, a pretty decent pace. I stopped only once to buy some water since I had missed the first rest stop.

At that point I felt pretty strong and thought I could make it another 46 miles comfortably. Of course, perhaps I didn't consider that at 11 a.m. the temperature was climbing and the sun was in full exposure.

Still, at the 75 mile mark, I thought I could struggle on another 25 miles. When I got to the last rest stop, I had already gone 92 miles. I had very little energy left (I had not eaten enough during the ride), I was completely baked and my butt was killing me. I took comfort from the fact that there were only 8 miles left.

Then I saw the sign. It said "18 miles to the Finish". Oh boy.

I didn't know what to do. I seriously thought of dropping out and waiting for the SAG van to pick me up and take me to the finish. Instead, I spent about 10 minutes eating a banana, some watermelon and chocolate, and refilling my Camelback and water bottle and shpritzing water on my face.

Making matters worse, the final 18 miles were substantially uphill. I went out with another rider and we struggled along. I went into my second crank gear where I stayed much of the rest of the ride. There were three ridiculous climbs where I had to go into the granny gear and could barely keep going forward. On one of the climbs, I lost the chain when switching to the granny gear. I had to dismount and put the chain back on. The problem was, I was on such a steep incline, I couldn't get started again. I walked my bike up the hill a few yards till I reached a driveway. I started downhill in the driveway and got the momentum to start uphill again.

Finally, I reached the last section, a 3.7 mile rolling road. I told myself that this was less than 2/3 of a lap of Central Park and I could easily do it. With difficulty, I did. 8 hours and 18 minutes (including all the rest stops) and 110 miles altogether.

I can't describe how tired and hot I felt. I stuck my head under a sink and poured on the cold water. I ran the air conditioning in my car for ten minutes while I hooked up my bike and changed into dry clothes. I drove home hoping that my legs would not cramp up. (They didn't). I ate dinner, went to shul and went to sleep at 9:15.

Remarkably, when I woke up this morning, I felt fine. My knees are solid and nothing is sore other than my 'seat'. I will take today and perhaps tomorrow off and get back on the bike in a couple of days.

I'm very psyched because I can't imagine anything on my Israel Bike Tour being as difficult as yesterday where I gave 110%.

The First Century

2004-08-26T17:07:00.000-04:00

I am planning on doing my first 'century' on Sunday. A century, for all you silly non-riders out there, is a 100 mile ride.

It's stupid enough to do a century when you're feeling well and the weather is supposed to be good. Unfortunately, I almost blew out my left knee during Tuesday morning's ride, developed a nasty cold yesterday and the weather report for Sunday calls for isolated thunder showers (which means high humidity).

Will any of that stop me? Unlikely.

I have been taking 12 Advil a day since Tuesday so my knee is getting better. Unless I physically can't get out of bed on Sunday because of my cold, I intend to do the ride. There is always the option of bagging out after 60 miles (a metric century, for sissies) but that's not my style.

I Always Wanted To Be A Redhead

2004-08-24T13:47:00.000-04:00

I went to a very early minyan this morning and then rode out once again to Point Lookout. Excellent ride. When I got back, I went to my bathroom and got ready to shower. I looked in the mirror and saw that my entire forehead was red.

This was strange. First, I wear a helmet that has a visor and blocks the sun. Second, I rode at 6:30 a.m. How much sun could I have gotten anyway?

Then I realized that I had just taken off a sweaty new red bandana that I had worn under my helmet. Mystery solved.

I always wear a bandana under my helmet. It keeps the sweat out of my eyes. It looks cool. It also drives my older daughter crazy, especially combined with my spandex bib shorts and bright red and yellow jersey. As long as none of her friends sees me it's ok.

I have to remember to wash the new bandanas before using them for the first time.

Frozen

2004-08-23T14:51:00.000-04:00

In contrast to Friday's ride, Sunday morning's was ideal. Once again I drove to Central Park with my son. We were on the road at 6 a.m. and it was only 55 degrees. We were both wearing short sleeve jerseys and we were both frozen for the first five minutes until we got to the Great Hill in Harlem.

My son knocked out 18 miles and I did 24. I would have done 30 but I knew I had a wedding that evening and wanted to conserve some energy for the dancing.

I was very strong, especially up the hills. The truth is, I believe I am in good enough shape for the Alyn Hospital Ride now. I wish it were tomorrow.

Cooked

2004-08-23T14:38:00.000-04:00

On Friday I was able to leave very early. I decided to go for another ride to Point Lookout.

It was 87 degrees and the humidity level was 100%.

The ride itself was actually great. There was no wind to speak of (and whatever wind there was was at my back on the way home; always preferred). Interestingly, my heart rate monitor was showing a bpm in the mid 150s the entire ride even though I was working at a level that would normally have registered mid 140s. I guess the heat and humidity do that. I don't really understand the reasons for that but it is a fact both when I run or bike in high humidity.

I rode with a 70 ounce Camelback full of Powerade and I was drinking the entire ride. I purchased another 32 ounce bottle when I got to Point Lookout. All in all, I went through almost 90 ounces of Powerade in an hour and three quarters.

When I got home, I was cooked. I took a cool shower kept drinking fluids the entire afternoon. It's weird. I really enjoyed the ride but I don't really know what I was thinking going out in that weather.

A Leisurely Ride with MHW

2004-08-18T11:51:00.000-04:00

I did indeed make the 4:42 yesterday afternoon and went for a nice ride with MHW in the Hewlett Bay area. Riding with MHW is not really a workout since she rides a clunker mountain bike (and would prefer to take in the flowers and scenery rather than crank).

In any event my legs are very fatigued so it was good to just spin my wheels for an hour in the pleasant company of MHW.

Lest anyone think that I just abandoned work yesterday, keep in mind that I am surgically attached to my blackberry and cell phone. I was answering emails on the train and after my ride. It was a win-win. My clients were well taken care of and their lawyer had a refreshing ride with his HW.

Playing Hookey

2004-08-17T14:36:00.000-04:00

I am very tempted to leave work early today to...guess....ride my bike.

From the middle of August until post Labor Day is usually very slow where I work and this year is no exception. Half the firm seems to be on vacation and very few deals are getting done. I'm still busy but the phone doesn't ring and the email flow is much slower so work is very manageable.

Today is another glorius Summer day. If I take the 4:42 I can be on my bike by 6 p.m. Mincha maariv is at 7:35 so I have a solid hour and a quarter to crank.

Let's see how things go in the next hour.

Two Flats and $80 Later...

2004-08-16T16:05:00.000-04:00

....We had a nice ride.

Since Sunday morning was a rainy mess, I didn't bother getting up early. Instead, my son and I decided to ride to Point Lookout again at around 10 a.m.

Unfortunately, when I went to inflate his tires, I saw that his rear tire was flat.

So, I hooked up the bikes to the back of the car and drove to the bike shop. The rear tire on his bike (my 15-year-old Schwinn Circuit) was shot. I bought a new tire, a Botranger Kevlar tire for about $40. With the new tube, labor and tax, that came to about $65.

We rode out fast and hard to Point Lookout. There was a slight tail wind so we both pushed the biggest gear the entire ride. We turned around and started heading back. The ride, into a slight head wind now, was a bit more challenging but not really a problem. We were cranking and having fun.

Until I got a flat.

I was about to start changing my flat when a passerby pointed out that a bike store was literally one block away. Since I would rather spend a few bucks to have someone change a flat then do it myself, I walked the bike to the store. Sixteen dollars later they changed the flat and I was back on my way.

All in all, a great, if expensive ride.

Why Am I So Slow?

2004-08-08T21:42:00.000-04:00

I had a wonderful ride on a magnificent morning (the summer has been ridiculously mild). I could not have asked for better conditions.

I was on the rode in Central Park at 5:40 a.m. I started my ride with six one-mile 'repeats' of the Great Hill in Harlem. Then I did 5 six-mile loops of the perimiter road. 36 miles altogether (right Ben?)

Starting at 6, there was a bike race in the park. This is a very humbling experience because there were constantly bikers passing me (including the female variety) as if I were standing still. In fact, I am so slow, I am almost standing still. My average speed today was actually slightly below a pathetic 15 mph.

I am running out of excuses for being so slow. I think I am resolved to being slow. Steady but slow. I will make it through my tour in Israel, but very slowly.

Riding with my Son

2004-08-06T15:17:00.000-04:00

Tamara Writes:

Blessings. A case of fresh, ripe figs. Sun when they forecast rain. Washable crayons. Riding the ferris wheel with my son.

I commented, "A glorious morning, a bike ride with MY son".

I've been riding a lot with my older son. Lately, I've been picking him up on Sunday mornings on the way to Central Park. He has inherited (during my lifetime, BH) my old Schwinn Circuit (the bike that I loved for 15 years) and he does it proud.

The truth is, even though he's thin and in good shape (for a college/yungerleit) he can't ride as fast or as long as I because he's not an obsessed lunatic and because my bike new bike is so much better.

Nevertheless, I gladly sacrifice my training for the zechus of riding with him. As Tamara suggests, it is indeed a blessing.

Rough Morning

2004-08-02T09:49:00.000-04:00

I should have known it wasn't going to go smoothly when I pulled up to Dunkin Donuts at 5:10 on Sunday morning and there were five ciustomers ahead of me, one of whom was ordering 7 dozen donuts. (I have no patience and would normally have bolted for 7-11. The only reason I stayed is because my son only drinks Chalav Yisrael and DD was the only place open at that hour that serves it).

After finally getting our coffee, it was on to Central Park. I had an ambitious plan to do a couple of 6 mile laps but mainly to do hill repeats of the north hill in Harlem. Unfortunately, at the end of our first lap, we ran into an in-line skating race that had hundreds of skaters of varying abilities. It was annoying but manageable.

What wasn't manageable was the rain. During my first hill repeat it started raining hard. The Israel Ride that I am training for is guaranteed to be dry, so I have no use for rain, particularly while descending steep hills.

We left after completeing our second lap. The good news is that I was extremely strong. I have reached a higher madreiga in my biking. I flew up the hill on each of my three climbs and was much faster and stronger all around the park.

On our way home, I went to the EZ Pass lane only to discover that my account was messed up. They confistacted my EZ Pass tag and now I have the hassle of replacing it.

Long lines are a bad omen.

Dogging It?

2004-07-30T11:14:00.000-04:00

There was no morning shiur this morning so at 5:30 a.m. I rode about 25 miles to Lido Beach. I was going at a decent clip but I could have gone faster. My heart rate monitor was at a steady 145 - 148 bpm which is about 75% of my maximum heart rate. Had I really wanted to work hard, I could have gone to 153 - 155 by pedaling faster (The road was flat and I was already in a very high gear) but I wasn't in the mood for the pain or extra effort.

I have been riding a lot, both on my bike and on the spin bike and I'm hoping to get on my spin bike later this afternoon for another 45 minutes. So, I told myself to pull it back and leave something for later.

Experienced riders and trainers always tell me to listen to my body and know when to take it easy or even take a day or two off. It's against my nature to do sports in any way other than all-out so that it very difficult advice to accept. When I did the New York City Marathon 10 years ago, I had to pull back at times because my body really started to break down. Now, however, the more I ride, the stronger I feel.

So, this morning's ride was unusual in that I allowed myself to take it easy. Was I dogging it or just being smart (for a change)?

The Way Jews Spin

2004-07-29T10:21:00.000-04:00

When I was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago, Adam Davis gave me a CD, "The Way Jews Rock", from a group called "even sh'siyah". Because of the three weeks I really didn't have a chance to listen to it until yesterday. Besides being a great album, stam, it turns out that it is also a great album to listen to while doing an endurance spin bike session.

The CD is a bit over 56 minutes which is ideal for an intense endurance session. It has a number of songs with fast beats and a number of songs that are perfect for 'climbing'. Since what I mainly do is climb, it was almost perfect. The only drawback was that the third song, Yeminite Fever, should have gone first as it would have provided a perfect five minute warm up preceding the 'climbing' songs, Ana Avda and Ayleh Varechev. Somehow, I suspect they weren't thinking about my spinning when they put the CD together.

Weathermen Are Lying Liars

2004-07-26T11:16:00.000-04:00

Despite the weather prediction to the contrary, yesterday was a beautiful riding day with not a drop of rain falling from the sky. I rode about 25 miles with my older son out to Point Lookout. The headwind on the way out was pretty strong but on the way home the wind was at our backs. I stayed in my highest gear the entire way and flew. It was a lot of fun. A lot more fun than riding my spin bike.

Sunday Forecast: Rain

2004-07-23T10:31:00.000-04:00

How does the Aibishte expect me to train for my Charity Bike Ride in Israel if it rains on Sunday mornings? He surely knows how boring it is to ride 3 hours on my spin bike - especially without music!!!

No Gifts This Year

2004-07-22T16:04:00.000-04:00

After riding hard for over 200 kilometers, Lance Armstrong reeled in his last competitor at the wire to win his fourth mountain stage in a row at the Tour De France. Aske afterward about his amazing sprint finish he said:

"No gifts this year. I want to win."

This has been one of the most amazing athletic performances and certainly the greatest performance in a Tour de France of all time.

Postponed by Visiting Day

2004-07-19T10:12:00.000-04:00

My Sunday morning ride was cancelled on account of driving 9 hours back and forth to visiting day. I was far more tired at the end of the day yesterday than I am after a three hour bike ride.

It's Not the Humidity, It's the Heat

2004-07-12T10:33:00.000-04:00

I knocked off 42 miles in Central Park yesterday morning, 7 laps of the outer roadway. My average speed was 16.4 mph, almost half as fast as Lance.

One of my main concerns about my bike tour in Israel is the heat. The temperature during yesterday's ride ranged from about 74 degrees when I started to about 80 when I finished. I was fine while riding because the self generated wind kept me reasonably cool. However, when I stopped (which I did for ten minutes after completing 30 miles), I really felt overheated. I was drinking constantly (I use a Camelbak that holds 70 ounces of liquid) yet when I stopped I felt as though my body temperature had risen dramatically. This despite the fact that the ride around Central Park is almost totally in the shade.

I'm not sure what the temperatures are expected to be in late October in the Negev but I suspect that they will be pretty high. Also, I can't be expected to ride as fast (and generate wind) because we will mostly be climbing. Finally, we will be exposed to the dessert sun where there will be virtually no shade during the entire ride.

I don't do well in heat. I'm worried.

Lance Armstrong And MoC: A Comparison

2004-07-08T22:54:00.000-04:00

Lance is 33; MoC is significantly older.

Lance is tall and thin; MoC is short and thin.

Lance's average speed on a flat roadway is 33 mph (that's on his bike, not in his car!); MoC's is about 20 mph (10 years ago); Lance averages 20 mph when he climbs the steepest mountains.

Lance rides a $5,000 Trek; MoC rides a Trek.

Lance trains about 8 to 10 hours a day; MoC rides about 30 miles on Sundays and 45 minutes a day on a spin bike.

Lance wear a yellow jersey (usually); MoC will be wearing a yellow jersey for his bike tour in Israel.

Lance has won 5 Tours de France; MoC has been passed in Central Park by a chunky guy on a three speed Wizard of Oz bike.

Lance and MoC love to ride their bicycles.

No Offense...

2004-06-28T11:52:00.000-04:00

But if she passes me during the bike tour, I'm quitting.

Pass the Advil

2004-06-28T10:10:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning was spectacular. I did 31 miles in Central Park starting at 5:45 a.m. This included 4 laps around the park (6 miles each) and 7 additional 1-mile loops around the north hill (the hardest part of the park, by far).

I felt very strong throughout and barely sweated because the weather was so mild, milder, in fact than predicted. (In fact, I thought it was funny that I sweated much more dancing at a friend's wedding last night). I started to feel a little fatigue in my thighs only during the last climb at the Museum hill on the East Side, my very last mile.

I'm still much slower than I want to be (average speed, 14 mph) but, all in all, I was very pleased with the ride and where I'm 'holding' right now with a little less than four months to go.

When I train for events like this like this I tend to consume mass quantities of Advil. Not a terrible price to pay since it doesn't seem to bother my stomach.

Weather Forecast promising - Alarm Will Be Set

2004-06-25T11:58:00.000-04:00

The weather forecast for Sunday is spectacular. 80 degrees and nice. That means at 5:30 a.m., the time that I start my ride, it should be ideal.

I will double and triple check to make sure my alarm is on this week.

A serious rider of my acquaintance suggested a very cool training regiment for Central Park. Two laps of the park to warm up (12 miles altogether) then 6 laps of the north hill (each approximately a mile with a steep incline) followed by two or three more laps (depending on time), for a total of 30 to 36 miles about 10 of which will be on the steepest hills of the park. This sounds ideal because I really need to maximize my hill training for the bike tour which is going to be brutally hilly.

Profiles

2004-06-24T11:02:00.000-04:00

The list of riders already signed up for the Israel Bike Tour gets longer every day. When you sign up you are given a chance to write a brief profile and even include a picture.

It's exciting to read the profiles and also to see the many places, all over the US, Canada, UK and elsewhere, from which people are coming to ride in the tour. There are, of course, many Israelis as well, overwhelmingly Olim chadashim (new immigrants) and not so chadashim.

The age range is also very broad. There are men and women in their seventies who are doing the ride. Can you imagine getting passed by one of them?

This happened to me frequently in the New York City Marathon and was pretty embarrassing (and that was ten years ago!). One of the reasons I am training so hard is to prevent this humiliating scenario from coming to pass again.

Missed Opportunity

2004-06-21T15:37:00.001-04:00

Before going to bed on Saturday night I set my alarm for 4:30 a.m. I had filled my Camelback with Powerade, hitched up the bike rack to my car, and gotten my bib shorts, shirt and socks ready so that I wouldn't have to disturb my wife in the morning.

The plan was to be on the road by 5 a.m. at the latest and be in Central Park by 5:30. I could ride until 8:20, almost three hours (and around 45 miles), and still make it back in time to shower and get to the 9:15 minyan.

Sunday was supposed to be a magnificent day, with high temperatures in the low 70s. That meant temperatures ranging from about 55 to 65 during my ride. Ideal.

Except that I woke up at 6 a.m. My alarm didn't go off. It didn't go off because I didn't set it correctly. I did set the correct time but I didn't tutn the alarm on. What a loser.

So, instead of three hours on the rolling hills of Central Park, it was 45 minutes on the pancake-flat terrain of Hewlett Bay.

I tried to be grown up about this but that is not my nature. Sunday is the only day I can do long rides. I can ill afford to give up mornings like this if I want to be properly trained for the ride.

Old Biking Posts from MoC

2004-06-18T15:30:00.000-04:00

Here, here, here, here,

here, here, and here.

The links are in inverse order, most recent to first. Don't ask me why.

What's Up With This?

2004-06-18T15:11:00.000-04:00

So as to avoid mixing lemons and esrogim, I have decided to post my bike riding adventures at this blog. My other ridiculous thoughts will remain at MoChassid.