Day Three
I skipped shacharit and had a long breakfast with Jean. We enjoyed some Rachael oatmeal together. Rachael oatmeal would be my own, homemade, high fiber, oatmeal goodness which I love.

We biked out of the city to this beautiful path along the water which reminded me of Cambridge. There were even people rowing crew. We stopped by a zoo and Guy took my picture with an emu or a gnu or some other oddly spelled, exotic animal. This part is not like Cambridge as exotic animals with any spelling cannot live in Boston.

I found out that Michael Snyder had a love for the movie "Animal House" and he began giving out Delta Tau Kai names which was so funny

Karen and I had another pee break with Orly while we waited and waited for 4 year in Israel students from the Carmel program and from Tel Aviv University to join us for the day. I think it was cool that they came along, but it was a little bit frustrating because they did not seem to be entirely prepared. For example, I do not think they had water or snacks. And they seemed to be dressed in clothes for a 20 minute ride and not a day-long work out.

We rode onto this off-road space which was extraordinarily fun for me. I really LOVED it

I fell off my bike when some of the new kids stopped on the hill in front of us and did not step out of the way-they did not know the trail etiquette. I was still clipped in so I fell over.

When I fell, I just laid still for a while so as not to do anything unexpected and move into someone else’s way. Dave came up-he was worried about why I was lying in the trail. But I was fine. It was a nice little breather.

I then rode all the way from the back to the front. They could not go fast enough for me and it was quite a feeling of accomplishment to feel adept in that space

But I wore myself out though.

We sadly came to the end of the off road-ing fun
We were lost a lot and had to turn around and wait often

Ross got a flat tire which meant more waiting. But while we waited, Yotam showed us these flowers we could eat which tasted like sourpatch kids. I still like sour patch kids better, but it was fun having the little treat in the middle of nowhere

Neil and I rode together a great deal and I really enjoyed getting to talk with him and be with him while riding. I think the world of him as a rider and spending time with him as another rider was a treat.

We had to bike through some water and I almost made it across with Karen, but then I hit a rock (see the video). On the video, you can hear Karen asking me if I want to go back and try it again with her and I say NO!
I was too wet

We had al ha eish BBQ with Eyal which was lovely. It was so nice to see him and the food was tasty!!!!!

On the way there, Jen, one of the guest bikers, bonked (had an energy shortage)

At lunch, I went with Karen, Dalya's assistant, not the rider, to get snacks from the car so that everyone could have for the afternoon. I was worrying that people were not carrying enough snacks. I had given all of mine away to people who were without.

We rode on the street after lunch and I put myself up at the front with the pace car which tired me out more. I was trying to drag off the car but our driver was not driving smoothly enough at our slow speed for me to do so without thinking I was going to bonk into the car so I hung back a bit and rode as close as I could with Yonotan.

We stopped at the end of the road section and got scratched by the prickers when going to pee

My knee was really hurting and I was just wiped out

Mickey and I rode together a long time and I do not think I would have gotten through to the end of the day without out him
We talked about Judaism and Reform v. Conservative
Towards the end of the day coming into Netanya, I was really hurting to be done
Between my knee and riding so hard all afternoon, I was pooped!

We finally made it to our kibbutz (YAY! I was so happy!)

We all showered and changed and I prepared for the next day
I ran into Jonathan Shapiro in the hotel lobby…that was random-and really nice to see him. He was there doing staff training for the camp he is now the director of.

We went to dinner and I was not doing so hot
My knee hurt and I was hungry and I felt all out of it and loopy
For dinner, I had fish-Musht-so it was all in one piece with the head still on-Now, I am not against deboning a fish so I can eat it myself-but I was SOO hungry-having to take the time to debone whe all I wanted to do was get some calroies in my body was painful!!

After dinner (which I did not eat until 8:30 at which point I was about ready to pass out) I went straight to sleep after I massaged my leg a bit with Michael Snyder’s golf ball (very clever to bring that along! It worked great…)
I was happy to go to sleep

It was also election night and most people were gathering in the lobby to watch the results but I was too beaten up by the day

Hey, it happens. The morning had been so wonderful, I did not mind being so tired by the end of the day. I knew I would wake up refreshed and ready for the next morning. (Well, at least, I HOPED I would!)