Samarathon 2018 - Winter #epicshit in the Israeli Desert. Part II
“And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” (Genesis 1:5). Yes, I’m being a little biblical here, not only because the race setting warrants that. But also because there was almost no day II, and imagine what the world would look like without day two?
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| Timna Park (Gali - thanks for the photo) |
As it turned out, the blood donation that I left to the desert on Stage I (if you missed that post - here is the link Samarathon Part I) was a little more serious than it looked like at first. By late afternoon, I could barely stand on my leg or bend my knee, which by then was nicely swollen. I was questioning being able to ride in Stage II. Thanks to the help of a few new friends (special thanks to Moran, Rami and Nimi), I was lucky enough to have woken up in less pain, so despite a rainy night and a very early wake up, I decided to give it a try. Although, I must admit that the thought of crawling back to bed did cross my mind.
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| Good morning race village. The 3rd stage had a big family happening as well |
At 6:05 am we got on the buses taking us to the start location. The weather forecast for the day showed a chance of floods going through sections of the course. If you are not familiar, rain in the desert often means flooding, that moves very fast and can be very dangerous. It was decided to delay the start by 1 hour to see if there was any change in the forecast. To make the wait not as bad and more chill but not chilly - coffee and tea stations were opened. Kudos to the race organizer on the quick reaction and action.
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| Photo credit: Itamar Grinberg |
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| The sun came out, sort of. The view at the top |
The Second Date - Stage II
The dry data
76 km (48 miles) point to point with 1,230 meters (3,914 feet) of climbing and 30% singletrack.
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| Stage II Profile - up up up and down |
The ride
The queen's stage is called that for a reason. Do not be fooled by the distance, we had to earn our dinners and live concert that night. This stage was a good reminder of what desert riding is all about, with the mix of hike-a-bike, miles and miles of what I call the “battle of attrition” followed by the reward of sweet singletrack. Main highlights being:
(i) revisiting a dear old friend, well not so old, we met him the day before: Ma’ale Shaharut but this time we climb. To make it more interesting, the top section of this climb was announced as the KOM/QOM of the day, this gave a big advantage to the strong climbers and fast hikers. Thanks to the cloud coverage, the light wind and the rain that fell overnight, the ground was tighter than usual and allowed for a better ride to hike ratio resulting in a better than my expected time.
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| Ma’ale Shaharut |
(ii) A single in the middle of nowhere is the next main highlight. Who thought of building a beautiful single track in the middle of nowhere, I kept thinking to myself as I was riding in what is called Zugan creek single. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I even forgot to stop and take pictures. On second thought, who cares who thought about this brilliant idea, as long as we got to enjoy this vision.
(iii) like in every self respecting MTB marathon, there are no free lunches. We had fun in Zugan, we then had to pay. In a 7 mile section of washboards into some dry streams that are notoriously know to be blessed with very loose gravel and sand, and to top it all off it was in a very false flat way. A total battle of attrition. My eyes kept staring at my Garmin - asking in anticipation “are we there yet?”. It almost broke me, for sure exhausted me, but I survived to ride another single (which came shortly thereafter).
The stage ended at the riders village. The race announcer cheering us in. A cold recovery drink provided by a volunteer that was quickly consumed. I put my bike to the side for a quick post race meal and beer. The knee held up as did the weather - we got to have our second date after all.
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| Why Couples? Photo credit Itamar Grinberg |
Couples Races - Why?
After 2 successful dates, I must digress to my next realization/thought about this race. As I wrote in Part I, couples races are not my cup of tea. I was questioning this model and had to ask the race organizers why? The explanation I was given was a safety one. Long sections of the course go through areas with limited to no cell service. Riding with a partner guarantees that at a minimum in case of an emergency there is one an additional rider that can get help. The other reason, goes to the vibe of the event - to make it more fun, an experience that you get to share completely with another person. Now that I have 2 dates under my belt, I can see the point, and maybe like in real life, it is all about finding your match. I am still not a 100% convinced but at least now can see the advantages - especially when I am the one that gets to hold on to my partner’s jersey pocket.
The Grand Finale - Stage III
The dry data
53 km (33.5 miles per my Garmin) loop with 860 meters (2,710 feet) of climbing and 25% singletrack.
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| Stage III profile |
After yet another rainy and stormy night we woke up to a sunny day. The start time was postponed by an hour and a half due to the floods that washed parts of the planned course. The race team needed some extra time to make changes to the planned course and to remark the course. Memorable moments of the day:
(i) After a long wait we finally started the stage with a painful warm-up to the first “highlight” of the day, the day’s KOM/QOM segment. This climb has an official name, Mt. Hakhlil, but I prefer to call it “stupid steep and painful”, slightly less than 1 mile of hike-a-bike. Certainly not how I like to start a stage. So, this section made my list but probably as a lowlight.
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| Stupid steep and painful KOM section |
(ii) After that section, we got to experience some flow in the desert, of both the trail and water. The latter is not so common. So definitely a highlight.
(iii) 21 km (13.1 miles) of 4x4 gravel that seemed like we were just riding them to get some more miles in. I am not sure if this was part of the original course or the result of the changes that were made, but in any event sections like these are not my favorite. But when things get dark, I always try to look on the bright side - so at least there was no strong headwinds and thanks to my partner knowing the course we got to make a very short detour and see the “Hidden Lake”.
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| Took a detour to the Hidden Lake |
(iv) They saved the best for last. We ended with what I consider the best single tracks of the race in Timna Park. 14 km (8.7 miles) of sweet trail in an area that is called the “Israeli Moab” and now I know why. That was the perfect ending to a great 3 days bike vacation (oh yeah and a race).
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| Israeli Moab? what do you say? |
The Samarathon Experience
Like in every race there are likes and dislikes. This one had a long list of likes.
Junk miles in a race suck, especially if they are boring and into a headwind, so my first like goes to the smart decision to start the 1st and 2nd stage not at the race village, cutting about 20 miles of junk. Of course, it involved some logistics like securing the bikes overnight and busing us to the start of the 2nd day, but to me it was worth it.
Bike wash stations get my second like. They were equipped with brushes, different cleaning detergents and lubes. Yes, there was no valet to wash your bike like in BC Bike Race, but I was lucky enough to have my own, yes you guessed right - the Knight.
The aid stations get 2 thumbs up as well. First, they were perfectly located distance wise for those who like to carry 2 bottles. Second and most importantly the volunteers. I didn’t even have to get to a complete stop and someone was there to help and see what I needed. And if you wanted and knew who to talk to - you could even score a shot of Tequila or a cold beer. It’s all about the race atmosphere after all.
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| If you know who to talk to, you can even get a cold beer |
On the points for improvement on my list is the post stage food. Yes we got a recovery drinks (that I would have liked to be very cold, but hey I’m being really spoiled here), cold beer and then a small plate of pasta or soup (with unlimited refills, at least until they ran out). It wasn’t enough to hold us until dinner time. Of course we had the option to buy some food at the restaurant near the race village. It would have been fun to maybe have some food trucks. Breakfast and dinner were great in my opinion.
How does the Samarathon compare to other races?
It’s small. This year only 240 couples signed up, including 4 women couples and 12 mixed couples. But it has one of the best atmosphere and race vibes that I have experienced. I would love to see this race grow with more participants, especially from overseas. It’s a great opportunity for some mid winter solid miles, desert views and amazing Israeli hospitality. I will come back again. 2 Thumbs up (or Chapeau as they say in French).
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| Finish line smiles |
Interested in signing up - here are a few tips
Admin: The one thing about doing races overseas is that there are additional requirements that sometimes don’t really make sense to us foreigners and can be a pain. This race was one of those. I have done races where I needed to get a race license of whatever the local federation is (e.g., IM Mont Tremblant), that I needed to bring a Dr letter that I can participate in the race (e.g., Paris marathon). Yes, those required some extra work but not much stress, effort or additional cost. Races in Israel have 2 strange requirements that added some extra stress and potentially extra (very extra) cost. It all ended well, so let me save you some of this stress. The Samarathon website mentioned that an ergometric test (which means Cardiac stress test - usually done on a treadmill) is required as well as personal accident insurance that covers MTB races (means medical insurance). In the U.S., when there is no real medical justification for a cardiac stress test, it is not covered by insurance and the cost that I was quoted was close to $900. About as much as I paid for my flight. After a few texts, emails and conversations with the race organizers, we finally settled on a medical certificate by my Dr similar to the one I provided for the Paris marathon and in fact Epic Israel. The cost of that was just my copay. So don’t stress, just ask about this option. For personal accident insurance, US medical insurance covers overseas races but getting Blue Cross Blue Shield to issue such a letter ended up to be a pain. Since I would not travel overseas for a race or any active vacation without travel insurance I did the same here. It required some searching for the right policy that does not exclude mountain biking (!!!). So be warned if you are traveling and planning on mountain biking (as opposed to road biking) you need to read the disclaimers carefully. I did manage to find one company that was actually very well priced that covered MTB races/activity, as long as you are not a pro (which clearly I am not) and even was happy to confirm that in an email, so check out WorldNomads. I chose the Explorer Plan. Don’t forget to check the fine print as insurance terms changes according to your state of residence.
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| Race swag - clay hand made medal and a flask :-) |
How to get there? Race venue is in the south of Israel, about 30 km from Eilat. Closest airport is Ovda Airport, which is 35 minutes drive from Timna Park, which is very small, however some airlines like RyanAir and Wizzair fly directly from major European airports. From there you can take a shuttles (with eilatshuttle.com). The other option is to fly to the main airport in Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion Tel Aviv airport, which is 3.5 hours drive from Timna Park. Best to rent a car in that case and enjoy the changing scenery on the drive down south.
If you have any more questions please reach out, I may be game for a 2019 adventure.
Thanks for reading and keep scoring for some more pix.
PS: Uri and I still have not met face to face, but we still follow each other on social media. We still hope that maybe sometime in the future will get a chance for a not-so blind date.
PS 2: I got to have a BC Bike race reunion with 2 of the other 3 Israelis that I met there.
PS 3: and got to meet another World Bicycle Relief supporter
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