Ride for Fighters

I was joined by thousands of people in an event called Ride for Fighters. The event was sponsored by the JNF and took place in the Golan. The program's purpose was to ride bicycles along the area of Israel's soldiers have fought for for so long and to ride in memory of them. Read more about it.

The first stop we made was at an old battle post. The bunkers were still intact and everything. It was a very controversial place, its too bad I can't remember the name. From there we were bussed to nature reserve/hiking area. There waiting for us was a stage and several speakers. These included: the chairman of the JNF and Gilad Schalit's father. At the end of this opening ceremony each participant released a balloon. Just about every Year Courser and Masa participant was there. It was great to see people I haven't gotten a chance to see yet. I saw my friend Sara who I met at Sde Boker in 2006.

From the opening ceremony we got on bikes and rode the designated course. It was about 5 kilometers on a rough dirt road. Not long enough at all.

At the closing ceremony there were a "carnival" of many of the different units in the IDF. It was really cool to see things close up and to see so many soldiers in one place.

The closing ceremony was great. It was very patriotic and brought everyone to their feet. This ceremony included a live demonstration of the tank unit. We are talking live ammo! It was so loud and you could feel the percussions.

The whole experience was a great insight into the IDF and showed some of the nation's pride.