Day Five - The Climb to Jerusalem

So after 3 days of shockingly stunning weather (despite the doomsday forecasts that promised to ruin the ride), today was ANOTHER glorious, sunny day... until lunchtime. We had climbed some really steep trails all morning, had a quick snack pitstop and then slogged ahead through Yaar Kedoshim, one of my favorite areas (I trained there a week ago). But it was literally uphill from 7:45 to noon, with so much mud that we all looked like Jackson Pollack paintings... splattered over our shoes, clothes, faces, bikes. Like, it was a joke to try to avoid puddles or mud patches.We just... gave in. And the non-stop up was a crazy test of endurance that even challenged some of the hotshots (they are great at sprints, on aggressive, rocky trails and sort/medium climbs, but hours of it requires a different kind of stamina). About an hour before lunch, just as I discovered I needed to stop to pump up my tire because of a tiny hole, it started to drizzle (I was pretty soaked by the time I was back riding), and over lunch it POURED. They had little disposable raincoats for us to wear during the hour we were soaked and shivering... we couldn't leave any earlier because we had to sync with the other groups.

Then they changed the route to avoid what was now a swampy set of long, steep trails, and the police closed a section of the road for us to take instead... 15 minutes of long, smooth downhill over asphalt... sort of a nice reprieve after the morning. Then we met up with the on-road groups and the one-day people, and all together the group of 500-600 people pushed through the final climb, huffing and puffing for about 30 minutes. It was really intense, but the adrenaline from knowing it was moments from the end kept us all going...  we rolled into the hospital riding high, and Dena, Keren and Gili were there to meet me...

Here is the map and stats, and then I think the pictures tell the rest of the story:

 

All in all, it was a wonderful week, with wonderful people, for a wonderful cause. There are people who have done it for 15 years, which blows my mind. And the craziest thing? The average age is probably a bit older than me (45-50?), which a LOT of people in their 60s taking on these long, intense rides, either on-road or off-road. Inspirational, and always reminds me of my VERY favorite (albeit slightly creepy) quote:

And I can't finish my blog without thanking Dena, who once again gave me non-stop support through the months of intense training, buying all kinds of equipment, and especially for holding down the fort all this week, tracking my progress, encouraging me every day with texts and calls, without being pushy about updating her at every turn... and for being, for real, a full part of this effort.