Day Four of the Israel Ride

Our man in the desert—on a bike with, presumably, no name—had another epic outing today.

The Ride Report:

"As you can see, this was mostly a downhill day, with one notable exception. Right out of Mitzpe, there was a hairy and fast descent with lots of switchbacks to the floor of the machtesh. Then we rolled pretty gently back up out of the valley with one long steep climb in the middle. 

The encampment pics are at the rest stop after that climb. Notice everyone clustered in the shade. There's not much of that around here. From there, it was a few long flat stretches ending with a glorious 3.5 mile downhill, again with switchbacks that required some concentration. I think I topped out today at almost 40 mph.(WOW!)

This afternoon, we'll tour the kibbutz then get a chance to talk with the current cohort of students who are working and studying here. We are staying nearby at Kibbutz Lotan which apparently has a teahouse of some kind.

Time to sit and relax for a while."

Tomorrow is the fifth and final day of the ride. Hillel will cycle from Kibbutz Lotan to the end point in Eilat. Our man on Tatooine has raised 4Gs for the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and Hazon. All without, supposedly, leaving the planet. Nice magic, man!