As you can see the lack of sleep means that I use every opportunity to catch up with father time whenever I can. the wind had picked up and my eye's were itchy as hell so I decided to close them for a second on the way to Bet Keshet. This is about as close as you'll get to a organized bike park here. They have build about 20km(12m) of single track around the nature reserve of Bet Kehset.
My expectations were pretty high so I must say that this put the place at an unfair disadvantage. Its like going to a movie you've heard so much about and then when you watch it you feel a bit disappointed because it didn't live up to your built up expectations. There is nothing wrong with the trails or the place, its just that I was hoping for something a bit more technical. For those who do not like the technical stuff this is a perfect way to build up the confidence.
The connections they've made are brilliant with some great little built up patches and near the end a great flowing trail leading back down the hills. Everything is green at the moment with flowers spilling over onto the trails. With our 26 degree weather of yesterday it really feels like spring already. The wind did keep us covered up though with its icy sting in the tail coming from the eastern mountains.
We were out for about two hours and I was just going photo crazy. This is the great thing about riding with a group and just having fun. I even took a spin on a 29" Niner but it was a bit to slow from what I'm used to. Although I must add that after sitting on the Niner and then returning to my Epic it felt like I was getting onto a kids bike. The narrow handlebars I have setup probably exaggerate things even more but hey, that's the way I like it.
Erez was having none of it and tried to convince me to try a set of riser bars he has lying around at home. I may take him up on the offer because the twitchiness of the Epic is a bit silly. The Niner simply rolled over everything and on the climbs it was great but as soon as we hit a narrow technical section I was wishing for all the twitchiness I could get.
We stopped for tea and some dried dates, nothing like a bike of natural glucose to get the bones warmer up and ready for the next bit of single track. Tomorrow I'll probably head up the beach for my easy ride before next weeks onslaught.
