Touring in Israel Interest
 

Does anyone have information on touring in Israel?

Although not exactly a tour, Hazon runs a week-long "ride for peace" (or something squishy like that ;) ) in Israel every year:

http://www.hazon.org/go.php?q=/rides...NeverHave.html

Do the sea of Galilee. (Tiberas) 65 kms all around.

Also Tel Aviv beach front.

Drink lots of great Israeli Chardonnay.

Enjoy

I toured there a long time ago, and I would imagine that traffic is a lot worse now, and it was sometimes bad then. It's a small country with a lot of people and probably a lot more cars now. The biking was nice in the north, as was the ride up to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv on a minor road. I thought the drivers were generally pretty awful, and recall seeing some crazy things, such as a car with no working lights with reflective tape all around the car!

israel tour
 

Hi Oxnard;
Have you found any other info on bike rides in Israel?. I have found one tour called ALYN. It is an annual charity ride for somw 300 miles in 5 days from Jerusalem to Eilat. Sounds awesome with lots of mountains which for a Florida coast rider is too much.

Try a PM to tkatzir. He is a randonneur and lives in Israel.

What would you like to know?

Israel is a compact country, about 400 miles from end to end.
And it has (in my mind) some of the best sceneries in the world,
including unique geological phenomenon, like the Dead Sea, and the Craters.

In the north it's mountainous. Can snow in winter.
And in the south it's a desert that stretches as far as the eye can see, with some roads of miles and miles with nothing but sand around you. Temperatures well above 40 degrees in summer.

If you're looking for climbs, some of them are:

Climb to Mount Hermon: 31km, 5% grade

Climb from Sea of Galilee to Golan Heights: 5km, 8.4%

Climb to Mount Carmel (near Haifa): 8.9km 5.2%, or 6km 7.4%, or 5.1km 7.7 %

Climbs in Jerusalem area: 6.8km, 7.5%, or 5.7km 7.2%, or 8.9km 4.5%.

There are also great climbs from the Dead Sea (400 meters below sea level, lowest point on earth.)

All the above climbs offer great scenery as well!


There is a large MTB scene, and some (a few thousands hard core) road cyclists.
There's also a Brevet Series, if you want to qualify for PBP, with courses that go through very beautiful places!

As someone wrote here - Israeli drivers are some of the worse drivers in the world.
They don't care about cyclists, and road cycling on a weekday in the main roads is dangerous!


If you want any other information - Just ask. :)

Tal.