Itching to Ride

Tuesday is a tease.  Most of the riders are here.  Bikes are being assembled.  We get to take short test ride... which feels good... but a lot of waiting.  On the other hand it is good to sit with old friends from past years and new friends in the making.  Such a small world.  One guy who I know from 2014 and I are talking about our kids, and it turns out that Molly and his daughter are buddies from the November project - and she came to us last Yom Kippur (sadly for Molly she is now oin San Diego).  And then there is the food.  This is just one of the lines of options for the breakfast buffet.

Pacing is really important - in eating as in riding.... go too fast and too hard in either and your day is done.

The most common topic of conversation today though, is not about the ride, but the election at home. Our day is almost over, but the polls are just opening at home. The conversation usually starts with a dance around the topic as each tries to figure out the other's politics.  Suffice it to say that most of us are not fans of he who shall not be mentioned.  Whether or not we like Hillary, most agree that she is the only reasonable choice in this moment.  Ok, so nobody has admitted to supporting the other guy...  the worry, of course, is that there is a hidden mass of people like that who nonetheless will cast their votes.  I have no words of greater wisdom than have already been written or spoken...  i am mostly worried about what happens after the election.  Even assuming that Hillary wins there will have been 40 million people who voted for Trump - and there will likely be a hostile Congress that will making governing difficult, to say the least.  And it is surreal to be here in a Land with so much history and emotional pull at a time when, no matter what happens, the world at home will change tomorrow.

But tomorrow we do indeed ride.  I have told many of you about the three groups that ride - we have Hebrew names for them, but I describe them as the Bluebirds, the Robins and the Meshuggas.  Ok, the Hebrew names are Shomrim, or Guards, Tzofim, or Scouts and Chalutzim, Pioneers.  The Shomrim ride half days and tour half days, the Tsofim ride point to point, and the Chalutzim, well we ride extra miles just cause we can.  This is a rough idea of our route:

Tomorrow, Day 1, we ride from Jerusalem to Ashkelon in the Mediterranean Sea.  Got to go to sleep to be ready bright and early.

God bless us all on this night of uncertainty.

L'hitra-ot,

Lester