Training Day

Wait, we have a few days off?

Yes!

For Chanukah HUC gave us a four-day-weekend! That means I actually had a lot of free time and a Sunday like I was used to.

So instead of sitting around all day on Saturday doing homework, I joined a a few of the other riders for Ride4Reform this year on a training ride. Dan took us on a short route towards Yad Vashem. But instead of going to the museum, we took a left down a sweet hill into Ya'ar Yerushalayim (the Jerusalem Forrest). It was a nice ride complete with some hills both up and down. I hadn't been out on a bike for a few weeks so it felt great getting out there on the road and feeling the pavement pass beneath me.

The is something rewarding about climbing a hill for five minutes. Winded and fighting for breath climbing over the crest and seeing a steep decline. Whipping down it as wind rushes past your face to the point that you can no longer hear the traffic. There is nothing better for a Shabbat afternoon.

Why on Shabbat? Because most of the city of Jerusalem doesn't drive on that day. Fewer cars means that we all feel much safer.

It's also great going in a group. For me, I do like sitting on a bike at the Yimkah (spelled in English YMCA), and listening to music to keep my legs churning as hard as I can. But it's so much better to go out with a group of friends. Today there were only five of us, which is a good start to the group we have riding in March. I missed a few of the earlier rides, so I am a bit behind.

On the bad news side of things, my brakes were squeaking. Every time I squeezed it, a high pitched whine came from the front wheel. Then, as we were riding, I could hear the brakes rubbing while we were out. That means tomorrow, when I still don't have school, I'm going to head down to the bike shop and see if they can fix that. I would take care of it myself, but there are two issues.
1) I don't own the right tools here.
2) I've never had disc-brakes on a bike and I'd rather not break them.

Back to the homework,
Happy Hanukah