Day 1 Blog

Day 1 - March 26, 2006

From: Rabbi Sharon L. Sobel
We began from Kehillat Mevaksei Derech in Jerusalem and rode 54.484 miles today..mostly level, downhill with beautiful vistas of the Jerusalem area hills, farmland and valleys. It’s a great group of riders some are 3-year veterans of “Riding4Reform”, some are 2-year veterans, and some are “newbies”, but everyone was in great spirits and we ended the day in high spirits. We’re looking forward to 4 more days of riding!

From Michael Loftus
Ok – everyone is gonna blog how easy it was, how scenic the path down from Jerusalem, just how lovely it all was. Horse pucks! It’s a myth that we went DOWN.. we actually went UP. And it was TOUGH. We’re talking bone chunching, sweat pouring, cursing, tough slugging. Very few thought they would survive. It was all we could do to keep going. Dalya and the others were driving by with whips, so anyone caught lagging behind would suffer their indignities. But… we did make it. Ok ok.. so it’s wasn’t that tough. But I couldn’t find any shampoo in the hotel room, so I just want to put everything into perspective.

Karen Perolman. First Year. Rabbinic- NY bound. Day 1:
Today was a really good day. That doesn’t mean it was an easy day. The downhills were hard (and bumpy), the uphills were hard—actually the entire day was challenging, but very doable. I also found out that I have to eat every 30 minutes to prevent me from feeling lightheaded and tired- Thanks to Rachael for being my food buddy! Now we’re at the kibbutz and after a hot shower and a good meal, I’m feeling sore- especially in my forearms, palms and back and sleepy- I am going to sleep well tonight! Lehit until tomorrow!

From: Guy Immerman & Yonatan Sherman - Noar Telem Representatives:
Hello world! We’re having a great time out here. We are very happy we decided to join and even happier to find out that the ride isn’t that hard (Yonatan wanted to write that, Guy doesn’t agree).
In case you don’t know us, we are Guy & Yonatan. We are active in the Reform Youth movement- “NOAR TELEM”. We are the youngest participants in the ride (17 years old). We really like the food in this Kibbutz. We also like the other riders, they are funny.. we will definitely write again. Expect us… we have candy..
PS- check out our youth movement’s website: www.noartelem.org.il – it’s fun!
Yours sincerely,
Guy & Yonatan :-)

From: Jerry Weider
What a day! It started with a car getting in my way as I made a left hand turn….. actually he did not stop and hit me! But alas, we were going quite slowly and no, I was not hurt at all. Then, as we started going on the hill, off road, I got a “puncture”! (flat tire)…… damn, I have not gotten a flat for years. So, I had to take care of that. Once the tire was fixed I joined the ride with abandon, and it was abandon as we biked down from Jerusalem…… down, down, and down (except for one hard up hill). It was an amazing ride following nachal Sorek, a stream, and the old rail road tracks…..we even saw several trains go past. We rolled into the Israel flatlands and were reminded about the agricultural base of the country, something that is so easily forgotten in the cities.
After 45 miles, we rolled into Sde Yoav kibbutz guest house.
I am really glad that I made it, after my difficult start, and I am looking forward to tomorrow.