# Israel Roll Call



## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

Riders in Israeli check in here. I ride a Rocky Mountain and cycle mostly in the Ben Shemen, Jerusalem, Park Canada areas.

Mike


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## Asherlc (May 10, 2009)

I'm not there yet, but I'm going to be living in the TLV area starting in March. Would love to meet up and hit the trails with anyone out there.


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## heavyweight87 (Oct 27, 2013)

Asherlc said:


> I'm not there yet, but I'm going to be living in the TLV area starting in March. Would love to meet up and hit the trails with anyone out there.


I've not been here that long myself. Only got my first mountain bike a few weeks ago, maybe by march I won't be such a noob


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

Gents, 

I ride mainly trails/XC (and sometimes all mountain) around Ben Shemen. Be'eri is a must do ride. There are many more.

hw8, where do you ride; what sort of riding?

Asheric, there's a trail to/from Tel Aviv all the way to/from Jerusalem. Even sections of that are cool.

Let's try get a mtbr Israel ride underway!

m


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## Asherlc (May 10, 2009)

Nice! Do you know if the busses are open to people tossing bikes underneath? I'm going to be without a car at first, but I'm assuming that the good stuff is a drive away from any city.


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

Asherlc said:


> Nice! Do you know if the busses are open to people tossing bikes underneath? I'm going to be without a car at first, but I'm assuming that the good stuff is a drive away from any city.


You have Park Hayarkon and the TA Promenade, but any real riding you need to get out of the city. Your best bet would be to take a train; between 09:00 and 15:00 you can take a bike on it. You can also join a bike club, someone will gladly give you a ride. Get here first, then the details will work themselves out .

I recommend you bring a bike with you, hellishly expensive to buy here.

H


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## Asherlc (May 10, 2009)

Awesome. Looking forward to it!


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## heavyweight87 (Oct 27, 2013)

Mike123456 said:


> Gents,
> 
> I ride mainly trails/XC (and sometimes all mountain) around Ben Shemen. Be'eri is a must do ride. There are many more.
> 
> ...


I live in emek hefer (near netanya). There is a trail from my village along the alexander river to the sea that I haven't had a chance to check out yet. But would definitely wanna get more into it.


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

heavyweight87 said:


> I live in emek hefer (near netanya). There is a trail from my village along the alexander river to the sea that I haven't had a chance to check out yet. But would definitely wanna get more into it.


Nice!

Some pics of this past weekend in Ben Shemen area (landed up being a 43km ride along Single Anava and surrounding area). The picture with my bike leaning - it's leaning against an ancient wall of a fort overlooking the region.


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## heavyweight87 (Oct 27, 2013)

Mike123456 said:


> Nice!
> 
> Some pics of this past weekend in Ben Shemen area (landed up being a 43km ride along Single Anava and surrounding area). The picture with my bike leaning - it's leaning against an ancient wall of a fort overlooking the region.


Wow nice. This country has some really diverse terrain. Was riding near Hod Hasharon this weekend, its really good to be able to ride in the winter.

Nice bike too - which one?


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

heavyweight87 said:


> Wow nice. This country has some really diverse terrain. Was riding near Hod Hasharon this weekend, its really good to be able to ride in the winter.
> 
> Nice bike too - which one?


Yea, funny winter here!

Thanks, it's a 2013 Rocky Mountain element 950 Special Edition (Shimano and Fox everything).


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## omertllf (Jan 3, 2013)

Hi there,

We (some friends and myself) usually riding in Ben-Shemen, Canada park, Horashim. when it's raining, we go to the desert.
We ride AM style.
If u want to join, u can contact me: [email protected]


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

omertllf said:


> Hi there,
> 
> We (some friends and myself) usually riding in Ben-Shemen, Canada park, Horashim. when it's raining, we go to the desert.
> We ride AM style.
> If u want to join, u can contact me: [email protected]


Thanks for the invite Omer, for the most part, me and my bike are built more for XC/trail and i am thus cutting down on AM singles for now.

Have a good week ahead!

Mike


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## amirwhite (May 9, 2011)

There is some really awesome riding in the Beit Shemesh area (Adulam, Zacharia, Agur, Charuvit...the list goes on).

Anyone ever out in the area and wanna ride some great XC/AM singles let me know!


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

amirwhite said:


> There is some really awesome riding in the Beit Shemesh area (Adulam, Zacharia, Agur, Charuvit...the list goes on).
> 
> Anyone ever out in the area and wanna ride some great XC/AM singles let me know!


I was out at Adulam last weekend; one of the prettiest rides i've ever done!


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## amirwhite (May 9, 2011)

Mike123456 said:


> I was out at Adulam last weekend; one of the prettiest rides i've ever done!


That it certainly is.

Anyone here ever ride the Sugar trail?


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

amirwhite said:


> That it certainly is.
> 
> Anyone here ever ride the Sugar trail?


Not yet, have you?


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## omertllf (Jan 3, 2013)

amirwhite said:


> That it certainly is.
> 
> Anyone here ever ride the Sugar trail?


Sure, dozens of times, day and night.
From my point of view, it is overrated. The overall driving to and back home + moving cars to the end-point consumes alot of time.


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

omertllf said:


> The overall driving to and back home + moving cars to the end-point consumes alot of time.


That's exactly why i haven't done it yet. Logistics. I like the Modiin area, close to home and awesome trails..

Do you ever ride on the Neviot/Schvoong ride of the month?


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## omertllf (Jan 3, 2013)

Mike123456 said:


> That's exactly why i haven't done it yet. Logistics. I like the Modiin area, close to home and awesome trails..
> 
> Do you ever ride on the Neviot/Schvoong ride of the month?


Well, no.
I don't usually ride in an organized frame. I ride with friends or alone.
BUT, there is an AM contest on March 1, saturday, which I'm participating.
Come and participate / just enjoy the event:
https://www.facebook.com/amleague


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

omertllf said:


> Well, no.
> I don't usually ride in an organized frame. I ride with friends or alone.
> BUT, there is an AM contest on March 1, saturday, which I'm participating.
> Come and participate / just enjoy the event:
> https://www.facebook.com/amleague


Good luck on the race! Actually looks interesting, i'll either spectate or a slim chance i'll participate. BTW, i can only see details for the AM/Sprint and not for the 30km Enduro...do you have a link to the Enduro details?

I usually ride alone and on the odd occasion with a small group. I went on a Neviot ride and found it excellent to learn a new trail to later do on my own (or with my small posse).


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## omertllf (Jan 3, 2013)

It should be on the same link.


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

How was the race? Post some pictures...


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## omertllf (Jan 3, 2013)

Mike123456 said:


> How was the race? Post some pictures...


It was great and anazing experience (1st time for me).
19th place in my category (30-40) and 45 overall (out of more thatn 170 participants).


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

omertllf said:


> It was great and anazing experience (1st time for me).
> 19th place in my category (30-40) and 45 overall (out of more thatn 170 participants).


Well done!!! What do you ride, looks nice!
This is where i was instead.


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## omertllf (Jan 3, 2013)

Where is that. I like it when it's all gree. Unfortunately - not for long...

I'm riding a Commencal Meta AM2


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

omertllf said:


> Where is that. I like it when it's all gree. Unfortunately - not for long...
> 
> I'm riding a Commencal Meta AM2


VERY nice bike; very versatile. I ride a Rocky Mountain Element 950.

This was between Modiin and Ben Shemen; I often head out from Modiin along the Anava stream and then jump onto the Anava Single for a short while - not the whole route. The whole area is beautiful, really green and lush. The pics in the "forest" (first and last pics) are from the Anava Single; the others closer to Modiin.


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## omertllf (Jan 3, 2013)

Well I know Modiin pretty well since I live there and BS is my home "forest" 
BUT I never took the Anava (Anabe' ?) route.


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

omertllf said:


> Well I know Modiin pretty well since I live there and BS is my home "forest"
> BUT I never took the Anava (Anabe' ?) route.


The Anava stream (dry) is the white 4x4 that goes out from Anava Park which i take to get to and from the fun areas. I usually break off that route to smaller tracks on the left and right - hardly used by bikes so quiet, fun and green. Some of them very fast.

The Anava Route however is the route that starts at Ben Shemen on Blue (Herzl) and then breaks off Herzl and is longer and tougher than Herzl. I usually head out from Anava park, split off for some fun (as in the pics) and then only jump on the red route for a short patch and then break off near the new road/bridge on the white 4x4 trail that heads back to Anava. I usually do around 25km's. You can see here. From 9 - 15KM's in a small bit of Single Anava (Red route), 17-21 KM a nice gradual climb and very fast return (some nice rocks and small jumps) and the rest is just the standard 4x4 from/to the park.

I have 120mm travel and according to the rubber band, use it to the max. My average speed on this day was 12.12KmH with a top speed of 39kmh.
It's fun and if not too vanilla for you, you're welcome to join me on every other Fri/Sat.

Mike


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## omertllf (Jan 3, 2013)

Thanks for the invite. If I decide to go riding the Anava route, I will contact you


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## memi (Nov 14, 2011)

Do you guys ride in the summer? I live now in USA, but born in Tel Aviv. Is there any MTB rental?


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## amirwhite (May 9, 2011)

Summer riding is great, as long as you go out early or late...otherwise it just gets soooooooooooooooo hot.

I personally don't know any high end rental places, but you can definitely rent on lower end.


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## lkfoster (Apr 2, 2004)

I'm in Ashkelon so usually ride Gvar'am and Be'eri.

You can rent bikes at Be'eri at LaMedavesh La Medavesh. They're not top spec, nor in top shape, but the trails are reasonable tame. There's a new trail there too, across road 232 from the kibbutz.

There's a shop down in Sde Boker that rents bikes also Geofun, the center for desert biking, Sde Boker, Israel, but it's usually way too hot down that far south and they're closed for shabbat, which LaMedavesh isn't.


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

Sabababike also rents out decent bikes.


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## derailljammedinspokes (Nov 21, 2009)

Hey all! Am in tel aviv for saturday, looking to do some real singletrack and climbing, need advise, map, bike or bike rental shop or someone who wants to take a skilled fit American out on the trails for a few hours! Have transpo, dont mind driving an hour or two for a great ride! Thanks in advance! Any advise or help that will get me riding saturday would be much appreciated!


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

derailljammedinspokes said:


> Hey all! Am in tel aviv for saturday, looking to do some real singletrack and climbing, need advise, map, bike or bike rental shop or someone who wants to take a skilled fit American out on the trails for a few hours! Have transpo, dont mind driving an hour or two for a great ride! Thanks in advance! Any advise or help that will get me riding saturday would be much appreciated!


Check out the suggestions above and enjoy!


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## derailljammedinspokes (Nov 21, 2009)

Wonderful day at LaMedavesh, thanks. Great trails, nice bike park! 4 hoursbof singletrack bliss!


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## Havinfun (Mar 18, 2015)

Wow, I lived in Isreal in 1984, and it is cool to hear about MTBing there. What bikes are popular there?


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## lkfoster (Apr 2, 2004)

There are MTB trails all over the place, most all well marked. I think KKL made a lot of them.

There's way range of bikes here. Terrain favors XC in my opinion but I see more All Mountain long travel bikes. More body armor too, for reasons I can't reconcile with the nature of the trails and I'm an old weenie when it comes to technical.

Bikes are expensive here, as is just about everything else, so you don't see a lot of the latest flash bikes. I notice Santa Cruz and Giant, but I'm partial to them.


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

derailljammedinspokes said:


> Wonderful day at LaMedavesh, thanks. Great trails, nice bike park! 4 hoursbof singletrack bliss!


That's a very unique trail. I love it there.


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

lkfoster said:


> There are MTB trails all over the place, most all well marked. I think KKL made a lot of them.
> 
> There's way range of bikes here. Terrain favors XC in my opinion but I see more All Mountain long travel bikes. More body armor too, for reasons I can't reconcile with the nature of the trails and I'm an old weenie when it comes to technical.
> 
> Bikes are expensive here, as is just about everything else, so you don't see a lot of the latest flash bikes. I notice Santa Cruz and Giant, but I'm partial to them.


What's your favorite trail?


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## lkfoster (Apr 2, 2004)

Good question. Gvar'am for tame mod-week rides after work. Ben Semen when riding with the TA crowd. Just found the trail south of kibbutz Dorot near Ruhama which is fast with nothing technical. Also like the trail along the river from Re'im just south of Be'eri on highway 232.


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## Mike123456 (May 14, 2013)

If anyone want's mid week rides, i'm game!


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