WHEELS OF LOVE DAY 3
MAMSHIT TO MITZPEH RAMON "CRATERS AND CLIMBING"
Last night we slept in the Bedouin tents in Mamshit. If I had to rate Alyn on a scale of 1-10 on various aspects of the ride it would be as follows. Cycling=8. Mechanical support=9. Food=4.5. Accommodations=0.5. Personally, after an incredibly difficult day of cycling I can’t deal with a night in a tent with 60 other guys sleeping on a chewed up one-inch thick mattress. There is also the discrepancy between what is promised and what is delivered. We were told that accommodations would be in 3-5 star facilities. In reality we slept 3 nights in hostels and 2 nights in tents. I was emailed that the mattresses in Mamshit would be above ground on cots and that we would have plenty of room since we were a small group. In reality we slept on the ground and were crammed together in a small tent with inches between each mattress.
Needless to say it wasn’t one of my most restful nights. MoChassid was a great help in finding a prime location – on the periphery and close to the tent opening. This would minimize my chances of being trampled by a tired cyclist on a 3am bathroom run. I managed to obtain 2 more mattresses from a nearby tent and an extra sleeping bag, which I used as a pillow. Two earplugs and one sleeping pill later, I managed to pass out at 9:30pm. I awoke at 2am and remained awake until 4am. During that time I managed to hear the cacophony of snoring occasionally interrupted by the mad screaming of a guy who seemed to be having nightmares. Add to that the #@%$& who needed to speak on his cell phone at 3am and the guy with the anti snore machine which made me feel like I was sleeping next to Darth Vader. I managed to fall back asleep at 4am until the 5am wake up.
Morning was a bit chilly in the desert but I knew that it would get warmer quickly as the sun rose so I didn’t bother adding any layers. The day would be a continuation of mild climbing in the high desert as we moved south towards Eilat. We descended into the "Big Crater" – not an impact crater but a mountainous area which collapsed due to rainfall and erosion. The bizarre multicolored moonlike landscape was beautiful. The climb out of the crater was significant – 4.5 miles at 4% followed by 2.5 miles at 6.5% as we cleared the lip. The rest of the day was a long gradual climb to Mitzpeh Ramon at the rim of the huge Ramon Crater (nearly 3000 feet above sea level).
Aside from being the midpoint of the trip, day 3 marked a turning point for an issue that was smoldering since early in the ride. There was a vocal minority of powerful cyclists who wanted to ride as fast as possible with minimal stopping. The silent majority wanted a mellower ride (as if averaging 75 miles and 4000 ft of climbing per day can be considered mellow) with stops for sightseeing and picture taking. The reason why both couldn’t be accommodated was that the police couldn’t manage having our group stretched out over too long a distance due to occasional dangerous intersections and road closures. Also, it would take the support vehicles and accompanying ambulance longer to reach us in the event of problems.
The stronger riders won out, and we were warned that stragglers would be picked up and bussed back to the group. The riding turned into four major groups of pacelines, with minor groups and individual riders scattered between them. The trick was to find the right group and try to stick with it. If your ego pushed you to a group moving at a pace that you couldn’t sustain, you would eventually be dropped off the back and may be too tired to rejoin one of the slower groups. That would leave you alone fighting the wind (more on that later), using more energy and becoming more and more fatigued, eventually being picked up by the dreaded bus. (To those unfamiliar, a paceline works by riders continuously rotating positions and taking turns "pulling" at the front and shielding other riders from the slowing effects of the wind. In this way riders working as a group can ride at a faster pace using up to 30% less energy than a lone rider).
The wind really began to pick up towards afternoon, which meant that cycling in a disciplined paceline was the only way to keep up. One particularly serious rider used to bark out orders to the other riders, threatening that if they didn’t comply they wouldn’t be allowed to ride in "his" paceline. We dubbed him the "Paceline Nazi" after the "soup nazi" in a Seinfeld episode. He actually was very efficient, but the pressure to perform was somewhat disconcerting. I tended to fall into group 3 on the flats and headwinds and wound up in group 2 on the long climbs which is my strong point.
The last 30 miles were ridden on a long gradual uphill against a howling headwind. At a rest stop I hooked up with a large (over 6 foot – perfect to block the wind) rider wearing a Michigan cycling jersey. He laughed and told me that suddenly he was in high demand to draft behind but gave me priority since we were both Michigan graduates. We rode in a double paceline for several miles until there was a crash in our group and it fell apart. I didn’t see group 4 behind me but group 2 was not too far up ahead. I worked like a dog alone in the wind for about 15 minutes until I bridged the gap. Much to my dismay this was the group led by the Paceline Nazi! As tired as I was I stuck with them and made great time into Mitzpeh Ramon.
Distance: 65 miles
Ascent: 4,200 feet
Cumulative: 197 miles/11,300 feet of elevation

WHEELS OF LOVE DAY 2
MASADA TO MAMSHIT – "THE SCORPION’S ASCENT"
With the aid of earplugs and sleeping pills I managed to get about 6 hours of sleep on the first night. I have enough difficulty sleeping at home – when you add in the stress of sleeping with a large group of strangers in a different place every night combined with the excitement/apprehension of the next days ride – getting any rest without the aid of pharmaceuticals would be nearly impossible. In general we woke up at 5am, davened at 5:30, ate breakfast at 6am, and left around 7am.
The day began warm and sunny, which was a welcome relief from the freezing rain of the first day. Actually, we had sunshine or partial sunshine for the rest of the trip. The off road group split up from us and went their merry way. We had been informed that this would be the most difficult day of climbing for the challenge group, with a particularly difficult climb coming at ~ 55 miles into the ride. The start was quite mellow though, with around 22 miles of rolling hills as we proceeded south from the Dead Sea. The climbing started as we left the Dead Sea rift and proceeded westward, toward the high plain of the central Negev desert. We were starting at the lowest point on Earth, the area of the biblical town of Sodom at nearly 1,300 feet below sea level, and climbing to the Dimona area at ~ 2,000 feet above sea level. The grade wasn’t too bad, averaging less than 3%, but it was relentless – continuing for some 30 miles. All this time we were passing through a unique multicolored "lunar" landscape of a desert, beautiful in its solitude and starkness. It is one of the primary training areas for the Israeli army, so photography was prohibited. Aside from the occasional air force fighter jet screaming overhead, the only sound was the wind in your ears and the clicking of shifting gears.
At ~ 50 miles we reached a desert plateau with a slight rise where we stopped for a break. Off in the distance one could see the blimp, which hovers 24/7/365 over the Dimona area – the site of Israel’s "secret" nuclear facility and adjacent to our final destination. In front of that was a solid wall of mountains. I scanned the horizon for a break in the ridge that we could pass through. None. One of the Israelis pointed to a series of zigzags in the distance, which appeared similar to the scratches that a child would make in the sand with a stick. The only difference is that these zigzags went straight up the side of a mountain. This was the famous "Scorpion’s Ascent", mentioned in the bible and located along the ancient Nabatean spice route.
The sun was high in the sky and the heat was beginning to feel oppressive. We removed our helmets and drenched our heads and jerseys with water to combat the heat. Due to the extreme dryness of the desert climate, it only provided a few minutes of relief until evaporation. Our legs were already tired from the days climbing and we really felt it as the grade steepened. The approach to the Ascent was about 5 miles long at a grade of 5%. Then we hit the series of about a dozen serpentine switchbacks and the group totally disintegrated. The switchbacks lasted for ~ 1.5 miles with an average grade of 11%! The actual point where one changed direction was much steeper, and I had to carefully get out of the saddle and hammer in order to stay upright. Fortunately the police closed down both sides of the road to traffic while we completed the climb, allowing us very wide turns. My pulse was running around 175 bpm throughout the fifteen minutes that it took to complete the ascent. It was so hot that volunteers were pouring water on us while we were cycling up some of the steeper segments. About 2/3 of the way up I reached and dropped one of the Israeli ride leaders – an amateur racer who is wicked fast on the flats and in the sprints. Felt pretty good! I was the 13th rider to reach the top out of a group of 60 very strong cyclists. From what I was told, about a third of the riders made it to the top without stopping, a third had to stop one or more times, and a third had to walk the steeper segments. I guess all those climbs up Bear Mountain paid off!
We had a bathroom/re-hydration break at the top, and then continued on the relatively easy 15 miles of rolling hills until our destination for the night.
Distance: 73 miles
Ascent: 5,200 feet
Cumulative: 132 miles/ 7,100 ft of elevation

WHEELS OF LOVE DAY 1
JERUSALEM TO MASADA – "CHILLED TO THE BONE"
Rochel Leah (Lisa – RL) and I awoke on Sunday morning to cool temperatures (low 50’s) and partly cloudy skies. We were pleased, as the rain expected that day would hold off until after we got closer to the warmer, sunnier Dead Sea area. We added arm and knee warmers to our usual cycling outfits, tossed on a light windbreaker (all things that can be easily folded up and stuffed in a pocket as it got warmer) and proceeded down to breakfast at the hotel. Much to our dismay it became cloudier and began to drizzle while we were enjoying our meal.
The ride kicked off at the Hebrew University site on Mount Scopus in northeast Jerusalem. This was supposed to be the easy warm-up day as we dropped from an altitude of 2700 ft. in Jerusalem to 1300 ft. below sea level at the Dead Sea. By the time the cab dropped us off on Mount Scopus for the opening ceremony the drizzle had turned into a steady, windy downpour. By the time we registered, retrieved our bicycles and pumped up our tires we were completely soaked and chilled to the bone. I don’t ever remember being so cold on a bicycle (and I mountain bike when it’s 20 degrees and snowing outside). The chill turned into shivering which turned into shuddering! Finally, after a brief ceremony we were off.
There were four separate groups of riders on this trip. About 80 riding on road for one day only, ~ 150 riding off road (mountain biking), ~ 200 on road riders (RL was in this group) and ~ 60 riders doing a more challenging (longer distances and steeper climbs) road ride (I was in this group). We were destined to go our separate ways but on the first day we all descended to the Dead Sea together (the off road ride for that day was cancelled due to potential flash flooding in the narrow canyons). I was very concerned about the possibility of a critical accident occurring as we were having nearly 500 riders descending together nearly 4000 slippery ft. over less than 20 miles. In fact, one serious accident transpired as one of the challenge riders was clipped by a passing rider and crashed. He was taken for a day to the hospital for observation and later returned to join the regular on road route.
After descending from Mount Scopus we climbed briefly to Maale Adumim and then dropped steadily into the Judean Desert. After nearly 20 miles of slippery curvy descent we reached the Dead Sea and pulled off into a rest stop to get some drinks and use the bathroom facilities. It was quite a bit warmer and stopped raining, but it was still overcast so we weren’t drying off too quickly. It was there that I noticed my first flat. There was a slice in the actual tire which I patched with a tire boot and changed the inner tube.
We continued along the rolling hills on the shore of the Dead Sea for another 40 miles. Along the way we split off from the one-day and regular road riders (I wouldn’t see RL again until day 3) and arrived at Masada with the off road group. There was one significant climb along the way of about one mile at an 8% grade, which everybody seemed to be itching to go all out for. I reached the top near the front of the pack and felt pretty good about myself. My roomates at the Masada youth hostel included Yakov, the famous MoChassid, and an Israeli currently living in LA (a very nice group). After an adequate meal we retired for an early night.
Summary: Distance 59 miles
Total feet climbed 1,900