....Till I Reach the Higher Ground

I just received an email from Alyn Hospital with some details about next year's Wheels of Love Bike Tour.

The tour will begin on November 6th in the Golan Heights (assuming Sharon doesn't give them away between now and then) and end up in Jerusalem (assuming Sharon doesn't give it away between now and then). Registration starts on April 3rd. The routes have been established (although not yet published on line). This is how they describe it (emphasis added).

The terrain will be a bit easier than last year, BUT—and this is a big BUT—this year’s ride will include a number of VERY serious climbs. If you haven’t started training, now’s the time. Aim for the hills, and if you live in the flatlands, work on interval training. Spinning classes are another way to build up your strength and endurance.

The ride is seven months away but I am already totally psyched. As far as I'm concerned there can't be enough hills so the prospect of a bunch of nasty climbs is awesome.

(There will also be a parallel off-road ride which is amazing fun, but not for me (you can switch off on different days). And, this year, there is an on-road sissy-tour for those who don't want to do the nasty hills.)

In light of the nature of the 2005 tour, I am ditching my plans to do a bunch of biathlons and will stick to riding hilly centuries and spinning.

I am trying to persuade my brother to join me on this year's ride. That would be very cool (although I told him that when I'm riding, I have no mercy for anyone, including my good ol' brother. If he can't keep up with me, I drop him him like a hot potato.)

The best way to describe this bike tour is that it is a "once-in-a-lifetime-experience" that you can experience every year. You need to be in very good shape and train hard but it is really a spectacular week (and you raise money for a good cause at the same time).

Like last year, I will continue to post about the ride at my old Riding With MoC blog.