Views from the handlebar #7

I’ll be leaving on my Israel Ride in 10 days. With your support we raised $4K for the Arava Institute and made a small dent in their ability to work towards the environment and peace in the Middle East.

Although the ride will start on May 1st and end on May 9th, the journey began 3 years ago when I first saw a small advertisement for the ride and realized all the ingredients were there: biking, distance, deserts, home and peace. If not me then who?

I immediately started to raise money and awareness for my ride. It wasn’t easy as most people are more comfortable supporting well publicized causes, but I was relentless as most of us are when we’re convinced we’re on the right track.

I combined a personal letter writing campaign with a commitment to training 3 times a week for 7 months. It became a practice. Each time I wrote a letter or got on my bike, I was on the road and getting closer to driving my bike down the Arava road and towards the Red Sea.

And now 3 years later, I realize that it’s not at all about the ride. It’s about the work of aligning our collective intentions to make this world a better place. That is the ultimate practice and where my training has taken me. That said… it is time to ride!

Thank you for your support!

Peace!

Views from the handlebar #6

It’s the end of another calendar year and I’m rolling along. My fundraising for the Israel trip is nearly done and I’ve been riding thru the winter at a steady clip. Yesterday I finished a 40 mile ride without much sweat. With 4 months to go – I’m in good shape.

Now that the Israel Ride is all but completed in my mind, I’ve started to create the next possibility: making the 2008 Israel Ride part of Lior’s Bat Mitzvah journey AND documenting it on film.

Here are the visuals:

• Riding with Lior on a tandem from Jerusalem to Eilat.
• Handing Lior her Talit on top of Masada at sunrise.
• Documenting the year leading up to this moment on film.
• Presenting “Bat Mitzvah on Wheels” at temples and PBS stations.

I took the first step and introduced the idea to Lior. On a purely gut level she’s on board, but time will tell if she’s truly committed as this must be her journey not mine. The second step is to learn something about film making and practice making a short movie for the 2007 trip. To that end I’ve contacted Peter Scheer, of Pilotlight Films, who will be coaching me.

To make this a reality, Lior would need to really commit. Her journey will begin with studying for her Bat Mitzvah, fund raising for the ride, training on a tandem starting this fall and missing school for almost two weeks. It’s a tall order, but one that could take our entire family on a journey with un reasonable results.

Views from the handlebar #5

It is time to setup a will. Aside, from the usual stuff like who gets what, the lawyer asked that I write instructions for my funeral. I found the idea kind of demented, but once I got started, I found it to be powerful therapy. Here’s what it looks like:

Cremate my body and divide the ashes in to three parts. Each part to be taken and spread in the following places across the world by one or all of my children:

• Across the winds at the Thorung La pass on the Annapurna Circuit Trek, Nepal.
• Over the water of the Colorado river at bottom of the Grand Canyon, Arizona.
• Underwater at Ras Mohamed at the Tip of the Sinai Desert, Egypt.

I leave it up to my children to organize the expeditions necessary to reach these remote and beautiful places. Extra points if they go together. The more the merrier. This is to be carried out at the most convenient time for all.

I found the idea of planning one last trip for my kids thrilling and the fact that I had traveled to each of these destinations made me feel complete. And if my kids ever take on this challenge – I’d rest for eternity knowing that I moved them in some meaningful way. Of course, wouldn’t it be amazing to share it all with them while I was still kicking.

Views from the handlebar #4

The Hebrew term Kavanah means to place a straight line or to direct. From this it came to direct the mind, to pay attention, to do a thing with an intention. Kavanah, then includes intention, namely the direction of the mind toward the accomplishment of a particular act, the state of being aware of our doings, of the task we are engaged in.
Because if we do a thing without Kavanah, we would not have moved the thing.

I’m honing down my kavanah for this Middle East Peace ride, otherwise it’s just transportation and not a journey. I want to move my bike and the people who support me.

Views from the handlebar #3

Back on the bike on a fall day screaming down a hill and getting squared away on a causeway towards Lloyd Neck. Water on both sides, sunset on the left and a tailwind egging me to shift upwards and commit to the gear. For about 5 minutes I’m harnessing gravity, wind, gears and flying like a bat out of hell. Feeling my powerful legs comeback to what they used to do – just briefly, before my lungs remind me that I have miles to go.

Views from the handlebar #2

Every rider needs to raise $3,600 to qualify and initially I was thinking of just dipping into my savings, writing a check and being done with the fundraising part, until I realized that raising awareness of organizations that are working to solve regional environmental issues which can’t be solved with a gun, is what this ride is all about.

It struck me that peace in the middle east is a long way away, but if I can spread the word each day to one person I am going to shift some cosmic energy over there and make some difference.

So I could write one check, but I’d miss inspiring lots of people and harnessing their energy towards this goal. I’d rather have 3,600 supporters each donate a dollar each than one fat cat dropping $3,600. But having both wouldn’t hurt either. ;-)

I'll be riding at least one hour today and getting closer!

Views from the handlebar #1

You can travel quite a distance on a stationary bike. In a darkened gym I attempt to align my aspirations with the cadence of the music and the peddles. That's when I take off into my private daytrip.

It was somewhere during a Bonnie Raitt and Ray Charles blues number that I smoked the flywheel of the stationary bike. I started down the slope from Jerusalem heading down to the lowest place on earth.

The winding desert road took me to the back of my Dad's Jeep. I had first traveled this Arava road when I was eight when we moved to Eilat. I loved that open road flanked by red mountains, the harsh clean light and the newness of it all.

Well it's 40 years later and I’ll be traveling the same road to Eilat, but this time on my bike. The same one I took across North America . This morning the music is taking me beyond what’s reasonable, my brother is alongside me chewing up the miles on that Arava road once again. The last time we were all in Eilat my father was still alive.

This time around my brother and a couple of close friends will be riding with me. They all have hurdels to cross to make the journey, but this is my private daytrip and I can make anything happen.

The cadence, music and my energy meld into a mirage down the Arava road; a perfect blend of physical power, churning gears and the celebration of the environoment. This trip has just started in a dark gym 7 months before the starting line.

Find out more about the ride and how you participate!

Have you heard of Granny D?

She's ninety seven. And she made it across America on foot! She marched across the country in 1998, ten miles a day for 14 months for campaign finance reform. On the last leg of the journey, to Capital Hill, she was accompanied by over two thousand folks.

As I was sitting on the grass absorbing her story, Pete Seeger (American's legend, singer, songwriter, folklorist, labor activist, environmentalist, and peace advocate) came by and quietly sat next to me.

We sat there in silence listening to Granny D, now at the ripe age of 97, tell her fans with full vigor to switch off the TV and get out there and do something.

I couldn't help but find the moment absurdly profound: listening to this incredible women from my left ear and Pete Seeger commenting on her life from my right ear. My brain was filling quickly.

I started asking "Pete" about Granny D and he spoke to me for the next half hour telling me all the details of her journey. All sort of Pete-fans came by for pictures and autographs, but he just set next to me on the grass and kept telling me her story ignoring the commotion. I knew it was one of those moments that I'd never forget.

Why did he happen to sit next to me in the middle of his festival and take the time to tell me her story? I have no idea. He urged me to read her book:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0375505393/102-7192134-9817713

Yesterday, at the closing ceremony, Pete was up there on the banks of the river with his fans all around him. Big red sun setting down on the Hudson and the Clearwater Sloop sailing under full sail just behind him. Music and symbolism mixing perfectly to underscore the man's vision.

It struck me that most of us spend our lives moving the ball forward a bit each day in our quest toward the security & happiness of our families. It's a big enough task and surely can consume a lifetime.

Swaying to the clapping, I felt like I've done that relatively well so far, but not much more than that. I hope in the near future I can be open enough to align myself with some cause greater than just me.

Ronen, reporting from the Hudson River.