Ride Report - 26th July 2008 - Ra'anana Home Patch Ride - By Ted
Dear Diary,
I don't remember much about this morning's ride other then the route which in parts was in reverse which is why I found myself going down the nature park mini-hill at Yakum in contrast to most other rides.
I think we got there by doing the Rishpon route in reverse and visiting the sea overlook at the other nature reserve before we rode along the golf course at Shfayim. And yes, I recall the weather was mild, that David at some point mentioned that we had 23-24 riders. And now I do recall that Gabi our guest from Kriyat Ono (long way to drive to ride with a bunch of oldies some of whom have a touch of senility, present writer included) had a puncture and that the only other time we rode together he also had one. Wow, my memory is not bad after all. What I do know is that we hit the Bike-bar at Bnei Zion mid-ten-eleven which is quite early and now I realize that my memory is tainted probably because this is the first morning at 06.30 start.
There was a point I think where some boys were riding up and down a dirty ditch showing off like a bunch of oldies... eemmmm! I hope Joe's and David's fotos help me to remember more. Gee, my hands were oily at some point and Dina insists that I had a puncture which is something I would want to forget anyway. Maybe my hands are oily from fixing Ya'acov's chain except that he never oils it so Dina must be right.
Oh well dairy, I now have to get my write up for the Cyclenix site for today's ride. How will I ever remember what happened? What is a ride anyway? What is a report? What is? What? Must ask Dina for more beetroot in my diet to improve my memor...how is that word spent? I hope no one will ever see this diary entry cos' they will think I have gone even funnier.
Ride Report - 23rd July 2008 - Ra'anana Twilight Ride - By David
Special Event: The new Herzliya Park which opened a week or so ago was the catalyst for an "inaugural" local night ride in place of our usual Ramat Gan-Tel Aviv route.
Participants: A record turnout (for a night ride) of 14 including newcomer John – welcome and we hope you will join us again soon.
Route: Under Martin's leadership we rode via some picturesque Ra'anana suburbia to Herzliya enjoying particularly on the way the kilometre plus of newly paved cycle track between Menahem Begin and Hanadiv, then around the Park, down to the station, over the cycle/foot bridge and on to the marina where at Dina's suggestion we continued along the seaward breakwater "tayelet". From there it was back to Ra'anana via the Herzliya beach promenade and Kfar Shmaryahu. Café Neto in Ra'anana was our refreshment destination – 31 kilometres total.
Bottom Line: A most enjoyable and relaxing ride with appox. 90% (my rough estimate) on pathways. Without a doubt the first of many such night rides in the future.
Ride Report - 19th July 2008 - Nahal Kaneh, Yarkon, Shvil Yisrael etc... - By Max
What a turnout. Its great to see so many happy bikers out there and so many of the female type!!.
Our ride today took us along what is turning into a second "Home" patch area, at least for some of us. We rode along the Kaneh (empty ??) then the Yarkon in all its glory, through the myriad passages of "Suf" which have been cut down in most places to enable us to get through and on to the source of the Yarkon.
By the way did you see the new Stumpy ?? It just rides by itself. Its soooo cooool, and the rider on it... well it just all fits. Mazal Tov Dina... Enjoy.
Many thanks to Mekorot for building our own swimming pool. Fresh clean refreshing water for those who opted to go get their feet (and other extremities) wet. I took my hat off to Barbara who kept hers on !!!! while we dipped our hot bodies in the water.
Then having quickly dried off we carried on past Park Afek and South down to Yaar Nachshonim. This was a new route for most of us and took us up a nice climb over a rocky path and then down a smooth freewheeling slope to the Quarries. From then on it was plain sailing ?? down to Einat and a welcome break.
It was great to see Tzilla back in the saddle riding so well and we look forward to seeing her back !! many more times. To all the newcomers, welcome, get fit and join us for more Summer rides.
The fact that some got lost, that some did extra km's etc only added to the morning out. Next time we will try better not to loose anyone. Anyway 45 km's later we all managed to get back, mechanically sound and ready to start the new week.
Ride Report - 5th July 2008 - Har Horshan - By Abraham
Today I am not writing a report.
I am rather going to tell our friend, Hilton, (for those who didn't travel in a convoy, Hilton had a bad flat tire on his car a few kilometers north of Raanana and had to quit the ride before it began) why he didn't miss too much.
The most exciting thing of our ride today was the sweet, cool, juicy water melon, provided by Max and Nurit at the end of the hot, tiring and full-of-steep-climbs ride.
You can easily get such a water melon at any supermarket.
Max, the leader, and Nurit, his advisor, navigator and lecturer, took us thru the beautiful, green forests of the southern Carmel, with nice cool breezes from the sea and with picturesque landscapes to view from the 186 meters high Tatzpit.
You can easily experience the same feeling of joy and excitement, by joining Ariel on his next trip to Slovakia. He and his other two companions didn’t stop telling us about it.
We were a crowd of 16 riders, including a nice new couple, Dov and Diti (or DiTi, or perhaps D.T.). You can easily mix into such a crowd in Tel Aviv or Raanana. And as for Dov and Diti, you will meet them at one of our future rides (so they promissed).
We rode along an old Roman road along the Dalia river valley, unmaintained for many hundreds of years. You can easily do that on the Via Appia in Rome, on your next trip there.
Don't worry about the singles planned, we didn't do them. So you still have the chance to ride them, provided your car is fixed by then.
Summing up, we covered about 26-28 kilometers, starting with a nice glide down along the Dalia River, climbing the Tazpit hill and the Horshan mountain. That was the cool part, ambivalently. From then on was the boiling-hot part with the sun pouring down from above, where even the slightest slope seemed impassable (I exaggerate a bit).
So the leader cut a few kilometers, put us on the paved road and we joined our cars in no time. All in all, a nice ride, nothing we can not repeat for you, Hilton.
And thanks to Nurit and Max.
Ride Report - 5th July 2008 - Local Ride - By John
Another sunny, hot humid day, even at 7am when eight of us met at our usual spot for our weekly pilgrimage to the cycling paths crisscrossing the Sharon area. One of the eight was Shane (whom we haven't seen for some time), sporting his new MARIN mountain bike. Welcome back. Hope to see you and your bike more often in the future. By the way the smaller that usual number of riders does not reflect a decline in our numbers. There was also an Away Ride today and I am certain that the write up and photos of this ride will be on our website for you all to enjoy.
We went North again through the industrial area of Raanana and then through Bazra towards Bnei Tzion. Before we hit the lengthy climb to the swimming pool at Bne Tzion we made a right turn at the beginning of the climb making our way to the small airfield that caters for those brave people who take to the air in their ultra light flying machines. On we went towards Yakum, but making our way to the Kibbutz via Udim. This time we tried a new route through the Moshav. It was really a nice change... it's always nice to see new places. We crossed the bridge that traverses the Coastal Road and then made our way back South to Wingate where we again crossed over the Coastal Road (using the bridge at Wingate), rode through the nature reserve and even found an new (for us anyway) short length of downhill, rocky single track! We made our way to Cafe Buono, and guess what?... We crossed the Coastal road for the third time. I think this is a record! From then on it was "Gofferman's here we come". That's where we stopped for our morning "breakfast". The food and the service was, as usual, good. Their prices have risen a little (but where haven't prices risen!) All of us a a very pleasant and refreshing stop before hitting the home trial... another 31+ kilometres of good riding and great company was behind us and we're looking forward to repeating the experience in a week's time.
Check out these sites 
Israel Police cyclist rules of the road:
http://www.police.gov.il/english/Traffic/Road_Safety/04_en_tr_bicycle.asp
Beginner's Mountain Bike Info Guide:
http://www.romp.org/rides/beginnerguide.html
Bicycle Unit of the Civil Guard (Mishmar Ezrahi),
The Department of Community Affairs and the Civil Guard of the
Israeli Police Force in conjunction with the Israel Cyclists' Association call
on you to join the Cycling Unit of the Civil Guard.
Volunteer Now .
Follow the link for more details .
THE BOTTOM LINE ! :
ALL RIDERS PARTICIPATING IN THE CLUB'S ACTIVITIES MUST ACCEPT THAT THE CLUB
CONSISTS OF A GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS, FOND OF RIDING IN EACH OTHERS COMPANY, ON
THE BASIS OF UNDERSTANDING THAT NO ONE TAKES OR BEARS ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR
OTHERS AND EACH IS FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS OWN LIFE, HEALTH AND BELONGINGS.
©
