Bombs for Breakfast, Bikes for Lunch

This was my view this afternoon at the top of one of the climbs. From here you can see two routes going up the separate hills. The one on the left I do interval training on. Its a short gradual climb that makes for effort climbing. The monster on the right is a completely different story. I have not climbed it in a while but come mid summer the loss gravel makes this a killer of a climb. the gradient has something to do about it but the technical bits always seem to see me putting a foot down.

Going back to this morning however made riding in the afternoon rather surreal. As I was leaving the house I received a call from Mirit, four rockets had landed in the area. One very close to where she was driving on the way to work. Needless to say she was a bit hysterical and telling me not to leave the house, me not knowing better told her to relax and that I was going to work. Plans changed after I verified that it was indeed rockets and that one had fallen near my office I was headed to. So no work today as everybody was not going to risk it. The rest of the day was luckily quite with a false alarm mid day.

So by afternoon I was getting cabin fever and decided to head out for a ride. I started with the iPod playing but then realised that it probably would be a better idea to hear what was going on in the area, just in case. The sun was peaking out and it made for warmer conditions and baked my well covered butt. There had been some rain but I was only effected on one piece which was great.

The soil around our area is like clay. Once it sticks there's no getting it off and my bike still has the remains of my ride on it. I will put a bit of oil in the needed places and then after tomorrow's ride give her a good wash.

Passed quite a few historical places along the way. I normally see these on my rides but now with camera in hand I get to catch my breath and take some snap's of these ancient landmarks. The above is an old mosque. Probably was a church before being converted. I really should try to get some more information on some of these places. The thing is they are pretty much littered everywhere and so far only a few places actually have signboards with names.

Here we have an old olive press. It is situated over an old stream and because of the winter only rainfall it was perfect for the olive harvest. Once the first rains fall the harvest normally begins. With the water flowing the press uses the natural enrgy to press the olives to release the oil.

This is the start of the old aquaduct that runs all the way to Acco(Acre). I normally head over there for some humus which is served freshly made with lovely warm pita bread. You can see that the season is lush with the flowers brightening up the normal brown landscape. I had a great ride and glad I got out. Actually was only planning a short ride to stretch the legs but ended up being out riding for two hours. I was ravished by the time I got home becasue I didn't take anything to top the tank up with other than water.