Chickleta - My SBRing and other Adventures

From my past blog posts you probably already realized that I have a loose screw when it comes to epic cycling event. I'm on some kind of a “suicide mission” to find the craziest and most challenging rides with as much elevation gain as possible. Sometimes I think to myself: when did it start? How did I catch this bug? Because let's face it, we are not talking about a super climber like Contador or Quintana. We're not even talking about a gifted racer, not even at the local racing level. To be honest, we are talking more about a less that average rider. Colorado Trail - July Mini Training Camp The Breaking Point – Where it All Started When I think to myself “Where did it all start?” The moment that I keep going back to is to my first mountain biking trip when I still lived in Israel to Lago di Garda. To that miserable rainy and cold day that started in an endless climb on the road and then trail. Somewhere in the middle, or probably closer to the start, I found my...

I love bikes and I love riding them. Cycling completely changed my life and made it much more interesting. Cycling gives me the freedom to embark on new adventures, discovering new places and conquering new challenges. So, when this year I decided to go back to where it all started for me, mountain biking, and tackle one of the toughest one day mountain biking races in the world, Leadville 100, I couldn't possibly think of a better way to do it and a better team to do it with.   I am supporting World Bicycle Relief, an organization providing access to independence and livelihood through The Power of Bicycles, with a personal fundraiser ( Team World Bicycle Relief - Sharon Shachar ). The money raised through my fundraiser helps to provide specially designed, locally assembled bicycles to students, healthcare workers and entrepreneurs in rural Africa; connecting them with education, healthcare and economic opportunities. While for me cycling is about li...

I have been fortunate this year to have some exciting travel opportunities for work. As I wrote in my past post ( here ) such travel can be disruptive to my training (oh yeah, of course to family life as well, but this blog is all about my adventures so I'm leaving that aside, at least for now).  On my  morning run - Jal Mahal, Jaipur, India  My goal has been and still is to not let my travel schedule interrupt with my training. In fact, I feel that I need to run, bike and yes probably even swim to be able to stay focused and in good mood especially while traveling. Those of you who do a lot of work travel know that when traveling we tend to spend long hours in meetings or other work commitments and usually don't really get the opportunity to actually see more than just the meeting room. This is exactly the reason why I view my workouts when traveling for work as an opportunity to explore and discover new places. It's a little brake in the long days of meetings an...

I wrote the article below on "How to survive a winter in the Midwest (and northern US in general)" for BikePanel , which was published today ( here ) . Below is the English version of it with some changes and add-ons. I could not wipe the smile off my face While in some countries with warmer climates the fall marks the beginning of the cycling season and the season reaches its peak in the winter. In the  Northern  states of the U.S. most riders start to enter into winter hibernation. In Israel, where I grew up, this season marked the beginning of desert riding, the Gran Fondo events season, everything is green and blooming and other than a day of two of rain the weather is just perfect for riding. This is not the case in the  Northern  states in general and in the Midwest (where I live now) in particular. At this time of year everything freezes and most riders move their training from the outside into the pain caves and start spending quality time...

The View from Top of Vail Ski Resort The last time I attempted to ride back to back centuries (meaning 2 100+ rides in 2 consecutive days) it did not end up so good for me ( see here why ). It took me a few years to dare and attempt back to back centuries. This time, however, I did it in a much bigger way. After all I do always say "go big or go home". By bigger I mean more mileage, more elevation gain and higher altitude. I wrote about this ride in BikePanel ( here is the link to the article ) and this is the English version of my article (as always with a some changes). Special thanks to the extremely talented photographer Linda Guerette that met up with us for a photo shoot on the climb to Vail Pass the day before the ride and then again on the second day of the ride. Linda, the photos you took of us are absolutely stunning.   On the climb to Vail Pass - Max elevation 10,662' (Photo by Linda Guerrette) In the spirit of my recent years' tradition of pickin...