Richard's ride

Once again (7th time), my wife (Naomi) and I are off to Israel where we will combine a cycling "mission" in the north with my volunteering at the DVI (Dental Volunteers in Israel) clinic in Jerusalem. Preceding my working at the clinic, we are taking another cycling couple from Newmarket- John & Ann (who have never been to Israel) on a tour of the north of Israel. I have called our cycling tour "Richard's ride" and have been raising money in Toronto for the clinic. To this point, I have raised almost $3200.00.

The clinic has become very important to me: raising money from Toronto, recruiting dental volunteers, and doing dentistry for children in need at the clinic. Please check out the clinic at the web site www.dental-dvi.org.il.

The purpose of this blog is to record our experiences from start to finish.

Tuesday, Oct 13, 2009

I have packed Naomi's bike in a hard case (after removing wheels, saddle and handlebars) for safe transport on the plane and loaded the box with her helmet, bike shoes, bike tools and as much clothing as possible. Air Canada will charge us $50.00 for each bike to and from Israel. I want to minimize the amount of clothes, etc we take, but it may be difficult to get Naomi to pack all her stuff in a small suitcase. I still need to final tune the bike I will take before I disassemble it for packing.

I'm hoping that the van we are renting in Israel will accommodate the four of us, our bike boxes and luggage at least from the airport to our hotel in Tel Aviv. We will assemble the bikes and leave the bike boxes at the hotel during our stay and pick them up before our departure (we are returning to Tel Aviv for two nights after Jerusalem).

I have more or less finalized our cycling/touring itinerary, using previous ride routes and interesting sites I want to see. I am waiting to hear from a cycling tour guide from Israel for his advice on our cycling tour.