Day 4: The "Long" Day

This is from yesterday, but we didn't have internet at the kibbutz, so I'll post it as if it were yesterday. Enjoy! And pictures will be up in a couple days-

Today was day 4. After 2 days of “easier” riding, we had heard that today was finally going to hard. We started off with some easy riding along the highway and moved into some off road riding. We took a few short breaks and only about an hour for lunch- certainly the longest of any day so far. After lunch we road to Modiin where we met with congregation Yozma- one of the newest Progressive congregations in Israel. One of their board members welcomed us and the schoolchildren in the Gan gave us medals that said “kol haKavod” on them. After the presentation by the guy we had a choice to either bike to Neve Shalom, or to ride in the truck. I heard it was hills with a steep uphill at the end. Yeah…that’s right…it was the hardest thing I have ever ridden- today and ever. It was one hill after another with almost no rest between them. I rode with Oded and Rachel C., who were great supports especially after my heavy breathing and slight hysteria caught up with me. Oded said I sounded like I was giving birth. Ouch. I told him that, similarly to giving birth, I was at the end, and I wanted it to be over. That’s why I was making those noises.

Now we’re at Neve Shalom for the night, our last night before the last day-- the hardest day, the day we’ve all heard about and dreaded. The ascent back into Jerusalem. All day we had aliyah jokes-- “its not called aliyah for nothing!” and “we’ll show them what it means to make aliyah.” And on and on. I also think that something started rubbing today during the afternoon which is making it hard to sit, stand, walk etc. Not such a fun feeling. But, depite the very long day and the killer hills, I actually feel ok. I think the two days of “recovery” riding really helped prepare my body for what we did today. And what we’re going to do tomorrow. I seriously can’t believe that tomorrow is the last day of the ride…after so many months of prep…its going to be over. Everyone is already talking about next year. Next year? How about next week- or next month when I will complete my first year of Rabbinical school. Or the month after that when I go to camp. Or two months after that when I move to NY…and here I go again. Time to focus.

Tomorrow is the last day of the ride when we’ll ascend into Jerusalem via Mevaseret Tzion and will complete our ride at 13 King David Street where, hopefully, lots of my classmates and friends will be waiting for us. Then, I want to go home where I want to take a very hot shower and get an amazing night of sleep.

At one point Howie said to Josh that he couldn’t believe that he had thought about not doing ride. Translation: He was really glad that he had decided to do the ride. And I am too. I am feeling really good about my decision to come on the ride and to ride all four days so far (and I’m thinking day 5 is gonna also be a 100% riding kinda day.) Time to shower, have some dinner and get to sleep in preparation for day 5. Laila laila!