Skill Building and Gearing

The more comfortable you are with your bike, the easier your training and, ultimately, your Israel Ride will be. Riders have often commented that after the Israel Ride they have felt “one with the bike” by which they mean they have figured out how to handle the bike to its best ability. Ideally, you should get as much of that handling down before the Ride. This can involve a few things:

• Gearing: This is the hardest to master, but is one of the most useful tools to learn. On terrain that has rolling hills, knowing when to shift your gears up or down can be key to maintaining your momentum. If you do not change your gears frequently this can take time getting used to, but it will save you a lot of energy on longer, hillier rides.
• Handling: While the whole ride is on-road, there are still obstacles to avoid, such as glass, sewer grates, and other debris on the road. Knowing how to comfortably handle your bike to maneuver around such road hazards will increase your safety and the safety of riders around you.
• Braking: Whether it is on long descents, going around turns, or stopping at red lights, being confident in your ability to maintain control of your bike is key. Only time in the saddle can help you improve your confidence in these areas.

If you are new to riding, consider finding a skills building class at a bike shop or cycling group near you.

Stamina and Endurance

The Israel Ride may be the longest ride you have ever trained for. Even if you have ridden longer distances in the past, cycling distances for 5 days in a week is a tough challenge. While you should focus your training on skills, speed, and hill climbing and descending, proper endurance training will help you enjoy all five days of the Israel Ride.

The most important part of building stamina is to increase your time in the saddle. This doesn’t mean that you need to go on multiple long rides each week. Rather, you should try to get out on your bike multiple times a week, even if just for a half-hour for a short ride. This will train your body to be ready for the multiple days of cycling on the Israel Ride.

In addition, you should try to do one longer ride per week, two hours of more, which you should increase in length and difficulty as the ride nears. If you are just starting to train, you do not need to be setting speed records or conquering hills on these rides, but should focus on building stamina by riding steadily for long periods of time.

Some riders find it beneficial to track their cycling to see improvement over time. Getting a cycling computer, or speedometer, for the bike can help your training as you track your mileage and speed. A computer with a cadence, or pedal speed meter, can help you keep a consistent tempo in your pedaling, which in turn leads to a smoother ride for your knees and body as a whole.

Hills

The Israel Ride covers a wide variety of terrain, including many challenging hills. Most of the days are rolling hills – but sometimes there is more up than down. While the longer Chalutzim routes contain the hardest hills, each route has some tough climbs. On the first day we descend from the Jerusalem hills to the coast, but over the following two days climb into the desert to nearly the same elevation as Jerusalem. Cutting through the desert means descending into many wadis (dry seasonal river beds) and climbing back out. On our final day, we approach Eilat from the towering mountains boarding Egypt, which are climbed by everyone except the Shomrim touring group.

It is important to train for these hills, both in terms of endurance and cycling technique. For rolling hills, the key is to attack the hill. Most climbs are preceded by a descent, however short. You should use the descent to gain speed and use that momentum to carry you up as much of the hill as possible. The key to this is to pedal fast down the hill, and then to shift your gears as you transition to the climb so you keep up the fast pedal speed as you ascend. You will find that hills are much more manageable if your momentum has carried you up a portion of the climb.

For longer climbs, remember that you can always stop to take a rest – especially if it is hot out and your heart rate is high. On the challenging climbs, we often have crew cheering at the top or along the climb with water.

Descents

Along with the climbs, there are many long descents on the Israel Ride. For the more technical roads, including those with switchbacks, we often stop the group at the top and our staff will send riders down the climb one at a time to ensure everyone’s safety. These include the descent into Makhtesh Ramon Sunday morning, the descent into Kibbutz Ketura Sunday afternoon, and the final descent into Eilat.

If you are unsure of your ability to control your bike on these descents, we ask that you be one of the final people to go down. Or, you can always ask the staff to skip the descent and take a ride down in a crew car, where you can resume biking.

Remember that you do not need to set any speed records while going downhill – the most important thing is to remain in control at all times.

1. Brake early. Don’t wait until you are on the brink of going to fast, but control your speed the whole way down.
2. Use both brakes, feathering them as needed. Holding down on your brakes for extended periods of time wears out your brake and does not give you the control you need. Rather, pump your brakes as needed, given them time to rest so they do not overheat. You want to use mostly your rear brake, but pump the front as well for more control. Do not just use your front brake – that can make you stop short and fall.
3. Shift your body weight further back on the saddle. If you move your hips back in your seat, your center of gravity changes, and you can control your bike better at the faster speeds.
4. Remember to remain calm – relax and take a deep breath while descending. If you feel that you are going to fast, try to slow down, and pull over if needed.

Coming Soon

Cycling long distances requires your body to be properly fueled before, during, and after riding. Proper nutrition can be the difference between an enjoyable ride and a tough day. The key is to experiment during your training to see what works for you.

Before you ride
Eating a good breakfast before cycling is key. You need to store energy for your body to use while cycling. A light high-carb meal is best – toast with peanut butter, bananas and pancakes, etc.

During the ride
In general, your body stores enough sugars for about an hour of hard cycling. If you do not eat while cycling, you will start to feel the energy drain, and eventually “hit the wall” or “bonk” when you suddenly run out of fuel. You should eat a small snack every 45 minutes to an hour – even if it is just a few bites of an energy bar, bananas, or sports gels. While riding you want to eat food that is simple to digest so you can continue cycling. You should also be drinking consistantly.

After the ride
Your body still needs fuel once you stop cycling. Post-ride food should contain a good mix of protein and carbs. If it is a hot day, you should also continue to drink once you stop cycling to prevent dehydration.

On the Israel Ride
We have rest stops about every 15 miles, where we provide various snacks and water. Traditional American energy bars are hard to come by in Israel, but we have granola bars, dried fruit, and other energy foods. We also provide energy drink mix. If you have a particular brand of snack food or energy drink powder that works for you, we encourage you to bring some to the ride and carry some snacks with you on your bike. We also have a lunch stop each day where we provide a hearty meal.

Coming Soon