This past weekend, I got talked into participating on a three-man relay team to cycle from the Dead Sea to the Aqaba on the Red Sea. I was initially very reluctant, as I had not been on a bike other than commuting to and from work since shortly after Sam was born. But I guess what they say is true...it's just like riding a bike. You never forget.
I had to get up at 2:30 in the morning on Friday in order to make it to the start of the race past the south end of the Dead Sea by 5:00. Check-in started at 4:00 a.m. and the race started with the solo riders taking off at 6:00. The distance was 200 km-- of about 120 miles.
We ended up deciding to break it up into 10 mile legs. Since I no longer have a road bike, I had to share a bike with one of my teammates. We had two bikes between the three of us, so when we were transitioning between one bike and the other, the car would drive about four miles ahead of the rider, so the next rider had time to get the bike off the rack and could go as soon as the rider on the road pedaled up.
What I thought would be a long morning, wasn't. I couldn't believe how fast the miles went. Since we were only doing ten mile segments, I rode them hard. When I got off the bike, I crawled into the back seat of the car and spread my legs out over the center console to try and keep my hamstrings from tightening up.
After the first ten miles, my rear was already sore. I rode the second ten miles especially hard, as I tried to bridge a gap to five solo riders riding in a pace line. I was hoping to sit on their rear wheel for a few miles before my leg was up. It was a good thing I caught them, too. I ended up going a little longer than ten that leg, because the support car had to pull over for a pit stop.
The third leg was by far the hardest, due in part to my increasingly sore tooshie and the fact that I rode the second segment as hard as I did. The fourth segment was easier. As we got closer to the Red Sea and the finish, a tail wind picked up and there were more downhills.
All-in-all, we rode the 120 miles in 6 hours 20 minutes. The other car accompanying us brought beer, champagne, chips, and nuts for a tailgate which was unfortunately cut short due to a sandstorm kicked up by the stiff winds.
I had to get up at 2:30 in the morning on Friday in order to make it to the start of the race past the south end of the Dead Sea by 5:00. Check-in started at 4:00 a.m. and the race started with the solo riders taking off at 6:00. The distance was 200 km-- of about 120 miles.
We ended up deciding to break it up into 10 mile legs. Since I no longer have a road bike, I had to share a bike with one of my teammates. We had two bikes between the three of us, so when we were transitioning between one bike and the other, the car would drive about four miles ahead of the rider, so the next rider had time to get the bike off the rack and could go as soon as the rider on the road pedaled up.
What I thought would be a long morning, wasn't. I couldn't believe how fast the miles went. Since we were only doing ten mile segments, I rode them hard. When I got off the bike, I crawled into the back seat of the car and spread my legs out over the center console to try and keep my hamstrings from tightening up.
After the first ten miles, my rear was already sore. I rode the second ten miles especially hard, as I tried to bridge a gap to five solo riders riding in a pace line. I was hoping to sit on their rear wheel for a few miles before my leg was up. It was a good thing I caught them, too. I ended up going a little longer than ten that leg, because the support car had to pull over for a pit stop.
The third leg was by far the hardest, due in part to my increasingly sore tooshie and the fact that I rode the second segment as hard as I did. The fourth segment was easier. As we got closer to the Red Sea and the finish, a tail wind picked up and there were more downhills.
All-in-all, we rode the 120 miles in 6 hours 20 minutes. The other car accompanying us brought beer, champagne, chips, and nuts for a tailgate which was unfortunately cut short due to a sandstorm kicked up by the stiff winds.
A few shots from the start of the race. The sun came up quick, however. The bulk of the race was, very much, through the heart of the desert. There were signs warning of drivers of sheep crossings and camels, and it was more-than-slightly surreal to be pushing the bike down the highway, quads resisting, and seeing camels standing watching you go past.
As you can see, crowds were thin. But the few who did come out to cheer were very enthusiastic!
After spending a few minutes at the finish line, it was time to make the long drive home. It is about four hours from Aqaba to Amman. On a recommendation, I decided to take the Dead Sea highway back as opposed to the Desert Road, because the road is in better condition. It ended up being a beautiful drive that I was not expecting with the sun setting over the Dead Sea on my left, and the pink and purple-tinged cliffs on my right.
I wound through a couple of small towns. Elise would have wanted to stop and take photographs. One image that sticks out in my mind is that of a small boy and girl playing on a small farm. Their home was a traditional bedouin tent pitched on a cliff on a small plot of land. There was an old Mercedes parked outside the tent, and the boy was giving the girl a piggy-back ride.
It was Friday afternoon. "Jumea" in Arabic which also means "gathering", because Fridays are the day the family gathers after morning prayers, and families who had driven down to the Dead Sea from Amman and Madaba parked there cars in dust lots overlooking the water. They lit fires. Some cooked on small grills they brought with them. the children played in the dust around them while the parents sat on the hoods of cars or in folding lawn chairs.
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