We started 12 strong from our usual place opposite Yad Lebanim at 07:02 sharp (as is usual for our very prompt group).
Our group included: Adrian, Anna, Barbara, Francis, Fredrick, Gabi, John, Rafi, Steve, Ted, Udi and Yvette
Fredrick led us most of the way in his usual stoic manner.
We went north out of Ra-anana and did about 35km through all kinds of fields, and trails and back roads as we usually do.
We wish Gabi, Anna and Rafi a good trip on this their third leg of the European bike ride along the Danube. I was on the first trip there two years ago, but my daughter had the nerve to get married last year at that time and to have a baby this year at the same time as the trip.
We wish a big mazal tov to Adrian for the birth for his second grandchild and to Barbara too for the birth of her granddaughter Shira Youlevitch.
A group picture was taken of the four who came back from the Holland boat/bike trip in August: Adrian, Barbara, John and Steve. Hopefully, we will all be back their next year again.
I love these rides and the great bunch of people that comprise it.
Chag Sameach!
Seven of us pitched up for the first ride of the new year (5773). Seven is, of course, an auspicious number in Judaism - so this can only be a good sign for the coming Cyclenix year! An example close to us now is that on Sukkot we shake 7 species - 1 Lulav, 1 Etrog, 2 willows, and 3 myrtles. And Sukkot is one of the 7 Jewish holidays celebrated during the year.
We headed off on our usual route and enjoyed a ride in good weather with very little sand. Quite a few ups and downs to keep our heart rate up. For those of us ninnies (led by me) some of the stony downs were too much after our Rosh HaShanna eating and drinking, so we walked. Had our brave compatriots been there (Megan and Merrill) we would never have been allowed to walk....
Many of our regulars are gadding about the world having fun, so all I can say is that you missed a pleasant 30 km in good company and some tasty treats at our favourite gas station. Gmar Chatima Tova to all.
Well, we ended off the year with a "Home Patch" ride. Most of the paths that we traversed were well known to us, but there were one or two detours (new to us) that David took us along. We visited the familiar Western View Site in the Sharon Coastal Nature reserve where a yoga class was in progress and then made our way along a few new paths until we reached one of our favourite breakfast stops at the service station situate at Gaash. As usual the service was good and so was the food. Three of our regulars (Dina, Ted and Merrill) were absent today and believe it or not, their presence was missed. +/- 34 kilometres from the start we arrived back home after a most enjoyable ride.
Shana Tova to you and your family. I hope we see lots of you and have many enjoyable rides in 5773.
(ed note: apologies for the state of this ride report but the technology used for this site is dated and doesn't allow for the easy display of Hebrew text.)
Seventeen of us gathered at the start for what turned out to be a 32 km ride in really pleasant weather. Everything is relative, of course, so this just means it was a degree or two less that last week.... Welcome to Steve - new to the group and to Israel. Hope to see you wheeling with us again.
We followed a familiar route through Rishpon, Udim and stopping off at Ga'ash for refreshment. A boon for a summer ride: no sand! We also managed to liberate some passiflora (aka passion fruit, granadilla). So, why different names? Passion is the literal translation of the Latin genus name, Passiflora. And the one we like so much is a vine species of the Passion Flower. Not only does it taste good, but it has great nutritional value. Fresh passion fruit is high in beat carotene, potassium and dietry fibre. The juice is a good source of Vitamin C and helps high blood pressure. The granadilla (that we South Africans know) is another species of the Passion Flower - so technically, the ones we pick here are not the granadilla's we know....
We enjoyed our usual Saturday passion (riding) with good company and a sweet treat (passion fruit) - can't ask for much more than that!
14 stalwarts met at the usual meeting place on a hot, hot day and under able leadership ,we set off West along Ahuza making our way towards Herzliya Pituach, Kfar Sharyahu, the Herzliya Marina via the Sidna Ali Mosque on the Herzliya Coast. This Mosque is still in use and has a most interesting history. (Google it and read up on it!).
Just before we turned West towards the Herzliya Airport ,we saw the 531 Highway construction that has now reached the Ra'anana area and it was sad to see how many of our cycling trail are now history! (See the photos)
On reaching Herzliya Marina, we made our way along the clifftops Southwards before turning East towards the Coastal road and making our way back to Herzliya. On the way we passed a watermelon field and guess what??? Yep, we stopped and sampled the crop. (More photos!) This was somewhat of a change to tasting grenadillas (passion fruit).
Eventually we reached the Herzliya Park where David discovered and new "watering hole", Tapuz, nestling within the wooded area of the park. It was a nice change and the venue and food and drink were more than satisfactory. There is even a cycle track where one can test one's bike skills. A few of us tried out the track. Conclusion ... Full marks to the Herzliya municipality for this development.
After a hot, but refreshing and fun-filled 34 km. ride ,we were back in Ra'anana looking forward to our next outing together. For me ,personally, this was another special ride because it's what I call a "Three generation Ride".... me, Megan (Daughter) and Kim (Granddaughter) were part of the 14 participants.
The pros and cons on whether to ride in Hof Hacarmel were quickly forgotten as soon as we set off from Ein Harcarmel. Even the parking area was reserved for us. The trail conditions were fine and the breeze was more than welcomed.
We passed by the beautiful cemetery (no joke) of Neveh Yam and then another down the trail but not before passing the huge natural pumice limestone storage tanks on our left, now abandoned. We struggled thru the hot houses at Zrufah and than gazed at amazement at the graffiti lining the underpass to road 2 followed by another struggle up steep culvert sides before hitting Habonim where we missed the ancient castle ruins (sorry, I forgot to remind David).
Now heating up we finally reached Nachsholim rushing past the Rothschild Glass Museum (see photos) where bottles were manufactured for the fledgling sacramental wine industry 150 years ago located at Zichron Ya'acov. An amazing fill-your-battery stop and a dip in the beach for some at Nachsholim beach preceded a scale-the-hill by foot adventure on the path northwards to the ancient ruins at Dor (One of civilization's oldest inhabited spots) where we took in the breathtaking scenery of the rocky shoreline which is still a nature Reserve (hopefully for years to come).
Riding along the beach in parts and on the upper slopes along the seafront, we finally reached the Para training aerodrome at Habonim in time to see several paras swooping down from the heavens. Very hot by now, we made the final charge back to the cars followed by a breakfast at the mall near Zichron Junction. All 14 riders agreed it was one of the best and who am I to disagree (for once!) and guess what...on the beach and where's the sand?
The instructor at the school gym class:
Lie flat on your backs, class, and circle your feet in the air as if you were riding your bikes, said the gym teacher. "Fred! What are you doing? Move your feet, boy." "I am freewheeling, sir."
14 of us gathered and set off on a 33 km ride, despite the heat (welcome back John, from your adventures in Holland). But there was not much freewheeling. We started the ride by going up the Ra'anana rubbish dump. The path seems to be in a better condition than it was the last time I was there. The view, of course, is always worthwhile. While we made our way up and down, there was a cyclist who went up and down 5 times - obviously an enthusiast of sorts.
We headed off towards the coast and along the way Megan had a blow-out - I even heard the air escaping as I went by. While the puncture was being sorted a few of us managed to find a wonderful crop of Passiflora. A delicious respite! We followed the regular Thursday night route to the Herzelia Marina, where we didn't stop but pedaled on despite the growing heat. Merrill went off towards the Mandarin hotel (having being told we are going there). Unfortunately her efforts were in vain as the majority decided to stand on their pedals and insist that we don't make the trip so long. Poor Merrill had to double back - the rest went on and Merrill and I took a shorter route back to Ra'anana. Moral of the wasted kms in the heat: speak up when not wanting to go on and don't go on until you actually see the intrepid leader heading off....!
We enjoyed coffee and other snacks at Arcaffe - a great ride despite the growing heat and not much freewheeling....
Overshadowed by the events in Syria, the London Olympics and a cloudy overcast morning we gathered at the start point with a faint hope that the weather would be kind this morning and so it was. We nevertheless left hurriedly towards the sea and later ended up on the railway bridge on the approaches to Udim. We were all twelve of us still relatively cool and decided once we arrived at Udim to continue northwards on the bypass path that took us eventually back to the Yakum nature reserve. Fredrik by then had insisted that his front tyre was low only because he had to try out his new diminutive pump that did the job admirably. Shaul was in good form having just returned from gay Paris (not that gay) but Megan was sorely in need of a tonic (not gin) but having said all that I confess that all performed extremely well. And then there was the surprise of meeting Izik near Udim and that was not all. A little later on the singles at Yakum we ran into Amon and Jr. (Omer) and at Bueno we also met up with Clara. It was great to have a mini reunion and I for one am certain that they miss us as much as we miss them but timing and other issue preclude their regular participation. So we must do with the occasional encounters of a biking kind. We eventually reached Ga'sh our favourite watering hole from where it was hard to return to ride taking into account the company, the ambiance and the refreshing breeze. Our run home was disrupted only by Passion as some stopped to pick the dregs off the granadilla, passion fruit or Pasiflora or whatever else you care to call it, bush.
It was a routine but also a reunion ride enjoyable and sufficiently challenging for August and you may not believe it but we saw little sand. Congrats to our navigation team.
We met at the Old Rosh Ha'ayin train station in order to ride and finish before the heavy heat descended upon us. We were an even group of 4 men and 4 women. Welcome to Tova, a new rider who came with Woody and welcome back to Martin, who has not ridden with us in many moons. We rode along the fields to the Einat bridge and went right along the highway until we reached Ya'ar Nachshonim. The weather was pleasant and we made the climb to the top of the mountain at a decent pace. From there, we had the fun ride DOWN the mountain. David took us on a small detour to the "basin", which turned out to be mostly for my benefit. I enjoyed 3 adrenalin filled rides back and forth across the sloping concrete and filled my batteries for the rest of the ride.
From there, we continued on to the Coffee Shop at the gas station (petrol station for the non US dialect) and enjoyed a nice respite. Please remember - DO NOT lean your bicycles on the flower pots, as the owner said it ruins the flowers. He is getting us a bike stand! After quenching our thirst, we rode back to the cars and found that we had only traveled about 19-20km, so most of us continued onward to the Lily ponds and the Yarkon River Source to round out the ride.
It was a very pleasant ride and the heat was not unbearable. A very enjoyable route and I would be pleased to do it again.
Local Ride Sat. Jan. 19, 2019
Next ride: Home Patch
All home patch rides start at 7:30am :
Local Rides will meet at 7:30am at the usual place in the car park opposite Yad L'Banim on Ahuza Street Ra'anana.
Please note 7:30am start time.
To All Cyclenix Members Friday April 13, 2018
An Important Message:
To all Cyclenix members
Throughout the years that Cyclenix has been riding together, the group has always been organized by the same members. W...
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Over time was involved in a variety of sports :
The Cyclenix Group My Away-Away biking history:
My bikes history:
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If you have any questions or want to get in touch for any reason, feel free to get in touch with David or John:
Email: jcandy@inter.net.il
David: 054-474-1424
John: 050-942-2788
New riders always welcome to join us.
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