Biking Through Israel

Todays challenge was biking. When I hear the term 'biking' I think something less intense of what happened today. My past experiences riding bikes had always been a leisurely and well paved experience. When I was originally told that we would be riding bikes for todays challenge I was excited that I already had experience in the topic. However- many people were entirely unprepared, including myself. At first quite a few of us were really discouraged. We walked our bikes up the first few hills after not being able to make it up with falling off, and down the first few hills because it was WAY too fast and bumpy. By the time I got to the second point where the more skilled bikers had stopped to wait for us stragglers all I wanted to do was give up. We had a break for water and a pep-talk before finishing the last leg of our ride. The more experienced riders were beyond happy to help and give advice as well as some much needed moral support. One thing that is incredible about our group is how supportive, helpful, and encouraging everyone is. Despite the falling and getting scraped, cut, and/or bruised, not a single person gave up. That's really why this group is called the Israel Challenge. Not a single challenge that we've had so far has been easy by any meaning of the word. Some of them, like running around in Tel Aviv in 38C degree weather for three hours, were incredibly difficult and physically demanding but loads of fun and super rewarding. Amber