Low-riding bike race

December 24, 2008 - 11:55 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, Sports, Travel 

Tour de Dead SeaAwareness over the plight of the rapidly receding Dead Sea has thankfully been growing, and Israeli culture’s dedication towards cycling has too. Put the two trends together, and the time is ripe for the Tour de Dead Sea, a day-long bike event taking place this Saturday at the lowest pace on earth. The many versions of the race on offer through the event include road trails of 55 and 124 kilometers in length and off-road trails of 5, 16 and 42 kilometers in length.

Thanks to the event’s association with the International Cycling Union’s Golden Bike organization (which, among other roles, points the word’s most hardcore cyclists towards what they call the “best races in the world”), the Tour de Dead Sea is expected to attract over 1000 participants from many nations, including Jordan – Israel’s neighbor with which she shares the Dead Sea’s shores. Proceeds will go to efforts to save the Dead Sea.

Mid-winter is a slightly odd time to have chosen for such an event, but not just from a comfort perspective. When the winter rains come to Israel, much of the water that falls in the center of the country rolls downhill through a system of wadis (rivers that are dry for most of the year) towards the Dead Sea, making for flash floods and road closures. Tour de Dead Sea planners have, however, kept these conditions in mind, stating that even though it’s a rain-or-shine event, if the forecast calls for danger, they’ll postpone.

While ecologists will certainly be rooting for precipitation, the event’s participants and their loved ones may not, what with the array of activities on offer all day long. These include seminars on saving nature, musical instrument invention workshops, a bazaar selling fashion and cycling accessories, concerts, a group mud smear, back and muscle pain treatments (sponsored by organizations like No Pain and Way of the Back), and camping out on Kalia Beach – all free to participating cyclists and their families.

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The tourist cycles

November 3, 2008 - 4:46 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Environment, General, Sports, Travel 

Cycling and IsraelThe Israeli government’s recent aggressive courting of various niche tourist markets has targeted the Chinese and the gay, and now officials seem bent on attracting the cycling crowd.

Members of a subculture that espouses environmentalist as well as fitness values, bicyclists have been gaining momentum in Israel as of late, through expanded local and national cycle-friendly development endeavors as well as cycling community activities. There was even a highly publicized event that combined the ever-growing wine tourism niche with the cycling niche – and a Jewish holiday (not sure how that one turned out).

Back in the heady days of August, local environmentalism blog Green Prophet quoted Tourism Minister Ruhama Avraham-Balili on Israel’s bicycle tourism development plans:

“The Tourism Ministry leads the development of the cycling tourism industry as part of its policy to position Israel as a unique and quality tourist destination at an international level. This is in light of the worldwide trend in the tourism industry that places cycling tourism as a significant and developing market segment. Developing the industry will improve Israel’s image around the world and increase tourist traffic, while preserving the environment.”

Last week, the blog followed up with the latest details on the budget and where it’s going. Some NIS 20 million in “short-term” (through 2013) spending is said to cover the planning and creation of cycling paths all over the country, including a north-to-south Israel-spanning cycling route and regional loop trails that circle the perimeters of population clusters and bodies of water.

Image courtesy TLVshac from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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