Quatre Peaks
This is what someone on my team with a sense of humor calls the route we did today. I just call it hard.
The four "peaks" are four of the bigger hills in this area (and we've been blessed with some tough ones, though none are as tough as the one I didn't manage to get up in Eilat). The first hill is called Goral Road. It starts about 10 km into the ride and it's the easiest of the three. I've done it lots of times before (including twice round trip last week). No big deal.
Second hill: Sansana. This was the first time I'd done this one. It doesn't look too bad, but boy can you feel it. And it goes on forever. The road starts just past the road block that takes you across the "Green Line". I believe that it's actually on "our" side and that the road block is placed within "Israel proper", but we still had to go through it. Apparently, cyclists don't get checked ;-)
By the end of Sansana, my legs were aching and I didn't really want to do hill number 3, Eshkolot. I hate this one. It's the one I did three times in a row a couple of weeks ago. It's also the only one of the four hills that doesn't actually take you anywhere (well, it takes you to the town of Eshkolot, also over the Green Line, by the way, but you have to turn around and go back down the hill to leave). I thought about waiting at the bottom, but my coach was right in front of me and he didn't even hesitate before heading up, so I went up, too. In the middle of the first section, I had to stop to give one of my young teammates and inner tube. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back on the bike heading uphill. Unfortunately (or so I was thinking at the time), I was able to get back on without a problem. I cursed the whole way up the hill. I thought about getting off my bike. I didn't. I made it to the top, turned around and headed back down.
Just one to go. But first, we took a little "excursion". Since the excursion wasn't actually on the training plan for the day, I didn't go quite to the end. I waited until I saw my teammates coming the other way and I turned around. Off to the fourth hill, the road to the Joe Alon center for Bedouin studies, up into the Lahav Forest.
We stopped before this one. Some of the kids started complaining that they were too tired and they couldn't do it. I stood there quietly, hoping that the coach would give in to the pressure. He didn't and off we went. I rode up right behind my coach. It hurt. I was tired. I kept thinking about those kids who had complained how tired they were and who were still going. I kept thinking about how it was hurting them as much as it was hurting me. And I thought about how many times I'd gone to the top of this hill through the forest trails on my mountain bike (that thought wasn't all that comforting -- it's easier when you have a triple!). Finally, we reached the top. So I thought. Someone decided that instead of turning left towards home, we had to first reach the very top of the hill, another few hundred meters. I'd gotten this far, so what the hell -- up I went.
We stopped and rested at the top for a minute or two. All I could think about was the fact that I'd done Quatre Peaks and lived through it and that I hadn't even complained once (well, not out loud, anyway!). And I'd even managed to keep up with the team. I was last for most of the ride (after one of my teammates skippped the second hill, met us at the third hill and then skipped the fourth hill), but no one had to actually wait for me. For almost the entire time, apart from when I had to stop to give someone an inner tube, I was right on someone else's tail, or pretty close. There wasn't a single point in the ride that I can remember when I couldn't see the person in front of me. That's a new experience for me. Usually I'm stuck way in the back with the slow people. I was the only slow person on the ride today and even the people who are normally not too far ahead weren't there. I had to keep up with the "big boys" and I did -- for 70 km!
Speaking of which, we had a test (bike) on Wednesday. I took another 29 seconds off my time, finishing in 45:20. I'm so excited about my progress on the bike!
The four "peaks" are four of the bigger hills in this area (and we've been blessed with some tough ones, though none are as tough as the one I didn't manage to get up in Eilat). The first hill is called Goral Road. It starts about 10 km into the ride and it's the easiest of the three. I've done it lots of times before (including twice round trip last week). No big deal.
Second hill: Sansana. This was the first time I'd done this one. It doesn't look too bad, but boy can you feel it. And it goes on forever. The road starts just past the road block that takes you across the "Green Line". I believe that it's actually on "our" side and that the road block is placed within "Israel proper", but we still had to go through it. Apparently, cyclists don't get checked ;-)
By the end of Sansana, my legs were aching and I didn't really want to do hill number 3, Eshkolot. I hate this one. It's the one I did three times in a row a couple of weeks ago. It's also the only one of the four hills that doesn't actually take you anywhere (well, it takes you to the town of Eshkolot, also over the Green Line, by the way, but you have to turn around and go back down the hill to leave). I thought about waiting at the bottom, but my coach was right in front of me and he didn't even hesitate before heading up, so I went up, too. In the middle of the first section, I had to stop to give one of my young teammates and inner tube. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back on the bike heading uphill. Unfortunately (or so I was thinking at the time), I was able to get back on without a problem. I cursed the whole way up the hill. I thought about getting off my bike. I didn't. I made it to the top, turned around and headed back down.
Just one to go. But first, we took a little "excursion". Since the excursion wasn't actually on the training plan for the day, I didn't go quite to the end. I waited until I saw my teammates coming the other way and I turned around. Off to the fourth hill, the road to the Joe Alon center for Bedouin studies, up into the Lahav Forest.
We stopped before this one. Some of the kids started complaining that they were too tired and they couldn't do it. I stood there quietly, hoping that the coach would give in to the pressure. He didn't and off we went. I rode up right behind my coach. It hurt. I was tired. I kept thinking about those kids who had complained how tired they were and who were still going. I kept thinking about how it was hurting them as much as it was hurting me. And I thought about how many times I'd gone to the top of this hill through the forest trails on my mountain bike (that thought wasn't all that comforting -- it's easier when you have a triple!). Finally, we reached the top. So I thought. Someone decided that instead of turning left towards home, we had to first reach the very top of the hill, another few hundred meters. I'd gotten this far, so what the hell -- up I went.
We stopped and rested at the top for a minute or two. All I could think about was the fact that I'd done Quatre Peaks and lived through it and that I hadn't even complained once (well, not out loud, anyway!). And I'd even managed to keep up with the team. I was last for most of the ride (after one of my teammates skippped the second hill, met us at the third hill and then skipped the fourth hill), but no one had to actually wait for me. For almost the entire time, apart from when I had to stop to give someone an inner tube, I was right on someone else's tail, or pretty close. There wasn't a single point in the ride that I can remember when I couldn't see the person in front of me. That's a new experience for me. Usually I'm stuck way in the back with the slow people. I was the only slow person on the ride today and even the people who are normally not too far ahead weren't there. I had to keep up with the "big boys" and I did -- for 70 km!
Speaking of which, we had a test (bike) on Wednesday. I took another 29 seconds off my time, finishing in 45:20. I'm so excited about my progress on the bike!
posted by bari | 18:15
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