Hello, Readers, and welcome to the 2016 Israel Ride Blog: Pedaling Together.  Over the next week, 179 cyclists will pedal a collective 30,646 miles together from Jerusalem to Eilat. I’ll be writing each day to take you along for the ride – posting photos, sharing stories, and featuring blogs from some of the riders themselves – with as many bike puns as I can squeeze in. Feel free to think of me as your virtual link to our riders – write comments, questions, and messages of support below (the latter of which I will do my best to pass along).

Now, before I begin, I want to genuinely thank each and every one of you that have donated to this year’s riders. With your support, two organizations can continue to do incredible work and we all become one step closer to riding as one. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to sponsor a 2016 rider and would like to, click here. We are accepting donations through December 31^st.

Today was Orientation. As the pre-ride jitters set in, over 60 staff and crew gathered at the Ramat Rachel Hotel in Jerusalem to welcome participants. This morning, riders put together, tweaked, test-rode, and re-tweaked their bikes to make sure they were ready for the journey ahead. The afternoon included our increasingly popular and entertaining women’s orientation. We then packed an entire auditorium for workshops on safety, life on the road, and the two beneficiary organizations: the Arava Institute and Hazon. I think it’s safe to say everyone is as prepared as they can be for the big first day tomorrow. The only thing left to do is (attempt to) relax and (attempt to) get a good night sleep.

Signing off until tomorrow…

Yours truly,

Khylie Gardner & Carlee Rosenthal

Communications & Program Coordinators – Hazon