Day Four - Jay Has a Crack Habit?

Insane day. First, the stats:

Check out the calories. Yeah. 

We started the morning with a series of nice singles between agricultural areas and forests... Including one with a bee hive that someone must have kicked because half a dozen people got stung. 

Then we had a climb that, alone, would have been enough to 'earn' us the day. A crazy-steep dirt path and then a road piece. Lots of people walked... I made it up riding, but just barely. 

And then a crazy thing. 

You will remember that yesterday morning I had discovered a crack in my bike frame and got a loaner from the mechanics. So today as we pulled into the pit stop, something about my loaner bike felt weird. The back tire was rubbing against the bracket above it when I climbed. I got off and found this:

... The frame right at the back axel was simply broken. Now you have to understand, I'm not overweight and I wasn't writing aggressively at all. There is no logical explanation for me to have actually broken a second bike. Just really, really crappy luck. Anyway,  I found the mechanics again and said "Um, remember how you said you only had one spare bike? Any chance that has changed over the last 24 hours?" At this point I was really sure that the ride was over or I would have to ask Dena to somehow rent or borrow a bike and bring it to our hotel just outside Jerusalem so that I could ride up to the hospital tomorrow on the final day. Anyway, I had some good luck -- somehow have one available for me. 

It's a "hardtail", which means it has no central shock absorber, which you really feel on long rides. The upside is that on singles, some people prefer it because there's less bouncing and you 'feel' the trail. Which was good, because...

The next phase was a split between regular off-road and Enduro - both had a long, painful onroad climb up a mountain to the buses, but Enduro riders first had a massive single, about an hour zooming around forest trails that never seemed to end. There were plenty of ups and down,  but most of it was was smooth paths, relatively flat and curvy. Very, very fast zigzagging for what felt like forever.  Pure adrenaline for an hour. Looked like this:

And then was The Mountain. Probably the longest climb I've ever done - over an hour of steep nonstop climbing up the access road to the top of this:

It was pure willpower to just keep pushing without stopping to rest. Some of the guys I had watched all week moving past me were chugging up painfully. Every time we came around a curve, there was another steep piece to tackle. It was the definition of Sisyphusian   

I made it, somehow, and enjoyed a fabulous beer that felt well earned :-). We are now on the bus on the way to Jerusalem for the Gala dinner tonight and then the final day! We have managed to outrun the rain for three days, but tomorrow may be a problem. Storm in the forecast. We will ride either way...

Going to sleep well tonight :-)