DAY ONE
March 26, 2006

Opening Ceremony in Jerusalem
It was so good to see everyone!

How am I feeling?
Nervous? Not really-mostly excited (although, see my post on the R4R blog...apparently, I gave a sense of being nervous which made everyone ask me if I was feeling alright...)

We Sat around a long time and I got bike tuned up-the brakes are a little...questionable...but with Itai on the case, I know I am fine

I had left my gloves on bag and the bag went under bus so while everyone was settling in the for the ceremony, I was frantically pulling bags off the bus trying to find mine. Since I had been a good girl and gotten there early, my bag was on the bottom...of course. But eventually, I got them. Phew! A ride for a day without gloves would have been disasterous!

We Rode all day-mostly down hill and on street
Rode through the zoo and the path we are familiar with which was comforting since we, team HUC, had done it so many times before on our way up to the Kennedy Memorial
Because I was feeling so at home, I felt like I could be a cheer leader and help and support others which was a radically different feeling from the year before where I thought I was just going to fall apart from the moment it started until the moment it ended (well, any moments in there where I was on the bike...)

We rode down the path we came up last year (which I did not know at the time) I think there might have been something poetic about that...I rode the whole way down this time...as opposed to last year where David S. and I walked up the whole way...:) but boy did we have fun

Charlie fell off his bike and needed to go get stitches right off the bat. After last year, I was so worried for him. (Last year, Charlie, age 72, had to leave the ride and be hospitalized for overhydration...yes, that actually happens!) I thought Charlie was back in an effort to prove that he could do this. When he fell, Dave the medic said he was done riding but Charlie hung in. He rode all day, stopped for stitches, came back and rode right through to the end. What a trooper and an inspiration. I think he is crazy in a way I really admire

Matt had his clipless (clipless are those things on your shoes which allow you to clip into your pedals. Why it is called clipless is beyond me. Neil swears that this is the proper terminology) fall (I had mine a few days before the ride and left a shiner on my left thigh!! Woo that was pretty!) and Dave the medic would/did not give him much medical attention-pretty much told him to rinse it off...Matt was not pleased, but was a trooper and kept on

Rode with Claire and Karen a bunch and was feeling really strong-I got to show them to ride standing up and it was fun being with the girls

Rode along the water way which was lovely. I enjoyed the ride and getting used to riding again after a one month break.

At lunch, Ross and I ran a mixer; Sock game
We all laughed and smiled a lot. I felt like everyone was learning the names quickly which meant we were doing our cruise ship directing jobs well.

It was freezing cold at lunch, however because it was 3 pm when we ate! We stopped for snack on the side of the rode at lunch time. (Did we leave late or just ride really slow?) When we were pulled over, some guy was very angry at us for blocking the road and he began shoving Boaz around

We got in to the kibbutz at 6:00 just as sun was setting and immediately did shacharit while stretching. Matt had been left behind when he pulled over to pee and was, needless to say, upset. I think it was a rough first day for him, but he took it in stride so well. It was great to see.

During Dinner, I handed out gamad anaks (giants and midgets-everyone had someone else on the ride they were responsible for and had to do nice things for like give out candy or something creative) and people started getting into it and doing cute things (like one person gave someone else a chicken drumstick in a ice cream bowl as dessert)

Dinner was, as all meals were, a little difficult for me since I cannot eat so much of the food. I started of by trying to carb load, but found that messed up my system so I went back to my usual eating style of veggies primarily and felt a whole lot better.

Ross sat with the computer and people blogged. I did not get or make an opportunity to do that which I was sad about, but I was just too tired.

There was a speaker who told some interesting stories about how the land we were in got to be settled, but his English was not so good and people were very tired so had a hard time tuning in to him. Dalya served beer and that made everyone feel very good!

In the room with Rachel-she showered while I organized for the next day which then became my routine for the week. While she talked with Doug, Ross and Dalya and I sat out in front of my room and talked and hung out. It felt good to be able to step back and analyze all that was going on. Ross had to stay up until 11 to do a phone call with riders doing a parallel ride in the USA-poor guy...in the end, I doubt it was worth it. It sounded like the US riders were preoccupied with the ride they were about to do to appreciate a phone call from Israel, let alone from a tired rider.

Rachel and I were going to bed, I put in ear plugs as she took her hearing aids out-what a strange moment.

Asleep by 10:30, up at 6:30 NICE