Week 5

Here are a few moments from the 287 mile bike ride I did from Jerusalem to Eilat over the course of 5 days in support of the Arava Institute, which thanks to all my sponsors, received over $3200 from my fundraising!

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Today I rode about 50 miles from Jerusalem to Ashkelon, on a rented hybrid bike.

Using my body gives my mind some time to be caressed by waves of thought - during moments when I'm not concentrating on traffic, or socializing with other people.

At one point today, I was biking alone and anxious I had lost the rest of the riders, until we regrouped at a rest stop.  As we biked in 105 degree heat and compensated in balance for extremely strong winds, one of the lead bikers said to Lev, "If you bike close behind him, he'll block the wind, and I'll bike behind you."

In a line, like a flock of geese - close to the side of one another's bikes, we took turns.  At one point, I was behind the lead rider.  He kept waving me forward, "closer"; to the right or left, "I'm going here - follow me."  I will protect you from the wind.

Not only in his invitation, but in the physical act of collaborating and communicating to make our small group's journey easier, the power of community, of togetherness, of closeness was immediate and concrete as the wind abated and I followed the ride leader's cue to come closer.

It made me think about my time in Israel: the power of knowing I am resourceful and increasingly able to manage my time and create a state of flow for myself while alone - but also the power of the insights I gain from interactions with other people.  The power of being witnessed, of languaging a shared experience with another being.  Of "alone and together", the theme of the two movement minyan sessions I led at Burning Man and the way that exploration of one's own space and complete merging into a paired or group dance became a dance in itself.  The dichotomy between "alone" and "together" beginning to dissolve as people sang, in a waterfall of tones, the Shema.

How might my sense of being "alone" and being "together" with others - in class, at parties, on dates...begin to intermingle during my time in Israel, and beyond?  Does it take place when I'm in a certain emotional, intellectual or spiritual space?  Or a particular physical place (like the beach, the street, the bike ride)?  Are there times when can rest in a sense of healthy independence while with others, or a sense of realistic "togetherness" while alone?  Ultimately, what is "interdependence" and how do I cultivate that sense?

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Today I rode 70 miles - the farthest I've ever ridden - into the Negev desert.  It's hard to believe the words as I write them.

After yesterday's entry, I've begun to think about this ride as a laboratory within my "alone and together" experiment in Israel.

As I biked uphill and with my bike unable to get to 1st gear (for uphill riding) and for the first time the "kaboose" of the Tzofim (the middle riding group, which does an average of at least 50 miles a day), I felt my bike suddenly take on a power of its own and propel itself up the hill: Gil - who had taught me "drafting" (what happens in a race when people get in line and the front person "breaks" the wind for those behind him) had given me a push, and I suddenly felt like part of the group again.

During the last stretch of the ride, as we entered deep into the chalky, untamed emptiness of desert, I rode alone - often without another rider in sight.  The power of knowing I could make it, and had my essentials (3 L of water, electrolytes, phone and camera) on me, filled me with energy.

What motivated me even more was the larger support structure that invisibly stretched all around me and held my solo trek: the 119 other riders at various points in their respective journeys (alone or in groups), the core staff who drove delicious food and water from one point to the next, the mechanics and others who appeared again and again at each turn along the route in their florescent vests, shaking a tambourine, drumming us to the top of a steep climb, or indicating a left turn with a bubble wand that left a trail of iridescent balls hovering in the air for a moment before the breeze scattered them, and we continued on our adventure.