The woods near our house is still cold and snowy, but on the bushes, close to the ground hiding the nature kiosk and we are waiting for its blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, currants and cranberries.

In every bike ride, it is a must to stop to taste these wonderful fruits, and if we go for a walk, we take a basket to collect the berries.

The wild Strawberry is one of the best fruits. It is much smaller than the well known Strawberry, but it is much sweeter.

You are more than welcome to our house at La fouly, we will provide you with the basket, you will pick up and enjoy the berries

Do you know this wonderful creature name St. Bernard?

The one you just cannot stop petting?

The one you want to snuggle with?

This huge dog considered to have great rescue skills, Was named after a Swiss monk, that built a shelter for travelers who crossed the Swiss Alps.

The most famous St. Bernard dog (other than the one played in Beethoven film) is Barry.

Barry, according to foreign publications, rescued about 40 people and is considered a national hero is Switzerland.

But,  St. Bernard is not only a dog (actually the dog arrived much later to the Swiss Alps), St. Bernard is the most ancient pass in the Swiss Alps. Its altitude is 2469 Meters and it connects the 2 of the highest Alps summits, The Mont Blanc and the Monte Rosa, and as you guessed, it connects Switzerland and Italy

So after this long introduction…

When you’ll sign up to our riding vacation, you will meet, face to face, with this magnificent dog, that is lying near the pass and is just waiting for your love and affection.

And to challenge you, that day you will climb 650 meters and  drop of 900 meters in routs that combine singles , AM and technical rids while viewing  the Swiss and the Italian Alps.

Actually – everything you look for in a riding and cycling  vacation.

Do you want to meet the dog …

I’d been planning the single-track ride for two days already including a single, imaginary tour of all the planned single-tracks to create one long, faultless continuation of non-stop, fun filled riding. The perfect balance of up and down, so that the climbing goes by fast and going down seems to go on forever. In short a dream.

I could already feel the cold morning air freezing my windpipes and penetrating my lungs; the dew dops resting on the fresh greenery on the roadside getting my calves wet.

I could see with my own eyes the shape of the boulders as I speed towards them, swallowed whole by my bike wheels. I could make out the sharp twists and turns in the path challenging the grip of my rubber tires to their limits.

I could even hear the suspension system absorbing the sharp shocks of the road with a sort of “vvvvvvsssssssstttt” beat, the sound of the chain going through the gears and that of the bike tires rolling along the well-worn earth.

For a short moment I could even smell my sweat-reeking-bike-helmet, and the unusual smell of the hundreds, or thousands of Cyclamen poking from between the forest boulders.

I’d already picked out the perfect bike for the event (single-speed, what else?), pumped my tires full of air and double-checked my shock absorbers. My bike pack was filled with water, tubes and air pump, bike cleats and helmet were already waiting in the car.

Back to reality…

I swallow down a quick, nutritious breakfast and am on my way.

Get to the parking lot, unload my bike, lock on my riding-cleats, put on the (reeking) helmet, strap on my goggles, set the cleats on the pedals and ride off towards the first single.

The earth looks darker than usual. Mmmmm…. very interesting. The tires aren’t making that beautiful sound I’d fantasized about in my dream. And suddenly the areas between the rubber squares on my tires are filling with this repulsive, moist stuff. The riding is getting slow and clumsy. 40 meters into the single – and I’m standing still, stuck and I feel like crying.

A broken dream – also known as mud. Man oh man.

Val Ferret is a magical valley populated by a number of small hamlets. The populace is mostly farmers who raise, amongst other things, cattle.

Cattle raising is considered a serious business in the valley, where centuries-old traditions carefully guide the production of their first-rate milk and excellent Swiss cheeses.

Traditionally the cattle raised in the valley are from a specific species of an Alpine climbing black cow known to reach altitudes of 2,300 meters to find fresh pasture. It is a highly-intelligent, nimble, resilient species and yet it is also hip to the latest trends in Trychel (Swiss cow bells) runway fashion.

However the last few years the valley has seen the introduction of numerous white cows – Blondes. This particular species is originally from the German-speaking northern regions of Switzerland. If you’ll recall, our valley is part of a canton where French is spoken, a language that the Blacks have been speaking well for many generations.

According to the local farmers, the whites are fat and lazy – they don’t speak French, don’t climb the mountains very well and aren’t very smart. Except that to the farmers’ dismay, while the Blondes certainly are stupid they put out more milk.

So that’s how we find that even in our magical valley the eternal argument pitting stupid Blondes who put out a lot against sporty and nimble, hard-to get Blacks rages on.

The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author.

Sometimes you feel like a real pro when you’re out there fighting – alone against the rain and the mud as if someone’s paying you to do it. But most of the times you just feel like a dirty idiot. A lonely, dirty idiot.

It’s a whole other story when you’re riding with friends. First of all, you’ve got someone to talk with and share the experiences. And just as important is that you’re not the only dirty idiot.

And that’s quite a comfort.

Every rider knows the feeling. Saturday morning and it’s time to pack the bike on the car. Coffee in one hand – helmet, gloves, goggles, and riding shoes in the other. Most of the attention is focused on not spilling the coffee. Reach the main road and start driving. While it might be disgustingly early for you, for the dozens and even hundreds of road bikers it’s the middle of the day.
You’ve got to understand, bicycling on roads in Israel is no picnic. Not one of the road bikers gets up in the morning (be it Saturday morning or Tuesday morning) and says to himself: “Today I feel like a leisurely ride on my road bike”. Each road bike trip is carefully rationed down to the hour, and is planned exclusively in special areas with restricted-access roads and side roads. Early Saturday mornings are a tiny island of sanity and tranquility for the courageous race the calls itself the “Israeli Road Bicyclists”.

Any attempt at road biking in the middle of the week is a calculated risk with little chance of survival. Excuse me for my shallow populism, but what we’re discussing here is tantamount to a suicide mission. 

Israel is well-known as a country with a high ratio of cars to roads. Add to that the heat, the Israeli temperment, a horrid driving culture and impatience and what you get is a country that has very few road bikers that take out their road bikes for “leisurely rides”.

The ones that you do see on Saturday morning are using every moment that the roads are empty to try and squeeze in an extra hour of painfully satisfying road bike training sessions.

You might not believe me but this experience is not the same the world over. There are some places where the “road bikers” are normal people, who simply want to see the countryside from their bikes. These are places where people can simply take a day off of work, get on their bike seats and travel to the neighboring town. By bicycle! On roads!! In the middle of the week!!!

There are places where it is possible to ride the roads, and the other people using the road will actually recognize your existence. They even slow down when approaching from the rear, and don’t honk their horns from a kilometer away to make sure that you get off of “their” roads.

There are even places where there are asphalt paths which are separated from the main road and which connect neighboring villages and towns to each other. These paths were built for bicyclists and for road bicyclists in particular.

Places where you can ride twisty roads which climb up the mountains without fearing that some angry driver will come along and push you out of the lane. Places where road bikers are appreciated.

I know that Israeli awareness for bikers and road biking is slowly increasing. I also understand that one day it will be possible for “leisurely travel” by road bike.

However until that day comes each time I ride on roads it will be a “training session” and will take place at unconventional hours in places which I’d rather not mention.

When I want some “leisurely travel” on my road bike I’ll got to Switzerland. Or Italy. Or France. Or Spain.

I need a vacation!

I’ve gradually begun noticing the trend… I never ride the same bike two days straight. No, it’s not because I have lots of test bikes on loan from the store (mostly never more than three bikes at the same time), but rather because I simply own lots of bicycles. Oh, it’s also because I have the tendency to find interesting new ways to take apart and reattach pedals from bicycles. That’s just the way it is when you have just three different bike pedals and ten bicycles in your storage shed at any given time.

Okay, nix the road bikes and it’s just eight bikes.

Over the years I’ve perfected the art of dismantling bike pedals. It’s all about which tools you have and the type of pedals you’re dismantling.

Assuming that you are “serious” about bicycling, it’s safe to surmise that you already know that there is one type of pedal with reverse threading.

It’s also safe to assume that, like me, you learned about this pedal in the worst possible way – you ruined your left crank arm. You are not alone…

If you have a pedal that can be dismantled and installed with a 15-wrench – then more power to you. In most cases, 15-wrenches are long enough to use as “leverage” for easing open a strongly bolted pedal. If your pedal requires an 8 mm Allen wrench – you’re still in a relatively good situation, even though you have to loosen the pedal from its inner side, we’re still talking about a big wrench. Big and long enough to act as “leverage” to open difficult pedals.

The problems start when you have a pedal that can only be opened with a 6 mm Allen wrench. If you are among those riders with the dangerous affliction of 6 mm pedals, your life has been condemned to a perpetual hell of two day pedal disassembling ceremonies. These ceremonies are known for their bitter tears, cold sweats and the use of 80’s style MacGyver tactics.

The problems grow in direct relation to the size of the Allen wrench, the difficult access to the hellish pedals, and because of the impulse to try and take them apart with an incompatible Allen set.

Leverage? None. Decent access? Not a chance. Bleeding gashes on your right arm from the inevitable rendezvous with oily, painfully sharp spokes while trying to take apart the right pedal? Check. Double-check. Triple-check.

Welcome to the shadiest club in the bicycle industry – the international club for scars from removing pedals. 

I’ve been waiting for you.

While everyone else is busy planning their next vacation in frozen Europe, I’ve already got my sights set on the summer.

In the past whenever I craved a bit of peace and quiet (or least as much peace and quiet possible with 3 little munchkins running between your legs), I would pack my family off to the nearest CLUB for a vacation full of well-deserved relaxation and great food.
The saints among us plan activity-packed vacations full of attractions and afterwards need another two-week vacation (this time sans children) to recuperate.

Over the last few years my increasing interest in health, quality of life, mountain biking and jogging have all brought me to mountain biking vacations in Switzerland.

Biking vacations are different from most other types of vacations in that there is no R&R nor any poolside/seaside frolicking. Instead, the vacation offers large doses of Alpine peaks, clean air, turquoise lakes and bike paths.

Last year I went on a biking vacation in Switzerland and stayed with Sivan and Amitai at the village of La Fouly.

The biking vacation was suitable for hard-core riders and families (although I hid that last part of the sentence from my wife) and started at the Bike Hotel with MTBSuisse’s unique and warm hospitality. Well thought-out and extremely pampering, MTBSuisse took care of everything (imagine a feast fit for a bicyclist waiting at the end of a long, hard ride) and ensured that even the smallest of details was elegantly handled.

This year my wife decided to come along (with the  kids…), and as luck would have it MTBSuisse also organizes amazing vacations for the entire family. They’ll enjoy the local attractions while I ride my heart out!