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Ultimate Israel
Bike the desert by day, and at night bed down at a one-thousand-star hotel.
Get on your bike and bail on the current economic woes. Israel mtb is launching the country’s first ever mountain bike tour, March 1, 2009. Priced normally at $1,500, the inaugural seven-day odyssey is on offer for $100, and is limited to 100 riders (at press time, 68 participants had signed up). The experience includes around 25 miles of riding per day, most meals and all lodgings, including one night in “a thousand-star hotel.” Or, as Nir Bejamini, the owner of Club Giraffe (Israel mtb’s parent company), explains, “outdoors under the desert sky.”
Blessed with access to four seas — the Med, the Red, the Dead and Galilee — Israel has long been hailed as a hot spot for aquatic adventures. More recently thrill-seekers have discovered the country’s myriad terrain to be ideal for hiking, climbing and skydiving. Yet, it is biking that seems poised to become Israel’s signature adventure activity. Haifa, the Mediterranean seaport, was just chosen to host the 2010 European Mountain-Biking Championships, while Israeli mountain-biking poster boy, Rotem Ishai, made headlines this summer placing 15th at the world championships. (The highest-ranking American, incidentally, finished in 41st place.)
Though Israel MTB has seriously slashed its rates, the tour doesn’t skimp on the masochistic fun. The 100 riders — who are required to have at least a year’s worth of dirt road and/or single track experience — will be divided into ten groups according to skill, and accompanied by 20 staff members. The itinerary promises the Judean desert’s arid set of moguls, Eilat’s red hills and an overnight stay along the rim of the Ramon Crater, the world’s largest. For hardcore gear-crunching action there are vertiginous descents into expansive river beds followed by Israel’s steepest climb, The Roman Scorpion Ascent. For your pains, you can plunge into a desert pool filled with clear, deep water.
Oh, and one last caveat. When we say “get on your bike,” we mean it: Israel MTB specifies a bring-your-own-bike policy (national carrier El Al facilitates this free of charge) as there won’t be an opportunity to rent a bike once there.
read more: 09. Active | cycling
