Day 3. There is nothing like riding in the desert.

Last night the moon was so full and bright, it nearly blocked out the stars.  Not that we stayed up so late star gazing, since morning comes early on the Ride.  And indeed it did! After wonderful kibbutz breakfast we are off.  It is sunny and a little cool.  And windy. We head off on a busy highway on our way south towards Mitzpeh Ramon.  The first 30 miles or so are on the shoulder of a 4 lane highway.  (Can you imagine that in the Sates.) Not that we would choose this kind of road..it's just that there aren't that many roads here!  And since we are riding farther to the east than usual (a result of the war in Gaza this summer) there really isn't any choice.

We finally turned west and headed down a much quieter road towards the Egyptian border. Past army bases and firing ranges (quiet today, thank you). Rest stop was across from Israel's two maximum security prisons.  One for "political" crimes, i.e. Terrorists, and the other is for regular crimes.  As we remembered this week the 19th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, we noted that the Israeli who killed him is in the prison of political crimes.

Onward towards the border, and lunch at a point about 5km from the fence.  Did I mention it was windy? Well the strong wind - mostly a cross wind, slowed us down such that there was not time to make the last leg after lunch.  Not to worry, it was a beautiful ride nonetheless.  The desert is so stark and striking (photos to follow).  Funny thing about a cross wind.  It feels like it is in your face in both directions.  This was a hard ride with many rolling hills and several steep climbs.

But finally we rolled into Miztpeh Ramon, where we will spend shabbat.  This is a lovely respite from the first three days of very hard riding. The ride people say the first two days where the hardest for the group i ride in ever.  That made the third day, which is always hard, even tougher. Did I mention that it was really windy?

Tomorrow we will spend shabbat wandering around this desert town.  Peering into the Makhtesh.  Maybe even hiking in a bit.  We will also hear from students and alumni of the Arava institute who will tell us their stories. Always an inspiring part of the ride. And we will all celebrate Havdalah (the end of Shabbat) in the overlook at the Makhtesh. But no biking!

More later.

L'hitra-ot,

Lester