i feel a bit annoyed and very concerned about the things happening there. and its only a few weeks left, that many of us have planned to go there. so here would be the right place to discuss about that. i´m not sure if i will go there if they are still fighting, although i have booked the flight already (and you know how much it cost). and for sure i will wait with booking for the championships.

its not only fear about my own health, its also about that i´m not at all agree with this kind of aggression, irrespective who is told to be the "bad". i have not any mood to train and travel to a country wich is in war.

Well,for now I think we just should follow the news. The problem is that rockets reach the teritory of Israel, some of them quite far, so it's not only the Gaza strip. Let's just hope they will write again somekind of peace agreement untill we are there. It's more than a month still. But if the conditions are as they are now, I will consider very much of going there..Another questions is, can the World championship be arranged there at all? Even if the situation in August is better, we cannot model normally for it, which is a part of championship.
New Year greetings,
Karolina

We have no need to worry as long as we are clear of Gaza.  
Hamas are fixing 3x used Pringle crisps tubes together and are firing tins of carrots over the border.  As long as there is no other countries involved, or unless you have an allergy to carrots, we will be safe.

But on a more serious note.  We will need some kind of tyre sealant to have reasonble puncture free rides.  Any ideas Noway?  I was thinking of using a 'Joey no flats' conversion kit with a normal set of tyres.

I'm not very happy about the situation in Israel either. My parents and granny think I am mad to go there anyway. Maybe Erez or Tamir can comment on if it is safe in our potential riding areas or not. Actually I would really like to go to Israel because last year's Israel trip was simply great.

About the flat tyres: Last year I bought very little tyre sealant for much money in Austria which was confiscated by the russian airport security in St. Petersburg. But no problem: In Israel bike shops are very well equipped with such stuff. You can choose between different brands and sizes of bottles. And if you dont want to mess around with the gunk you can buy tubes with tyre sealant already inside. Riding without is absoulutely not recommendable: Didi Dörfler tried it last year and returned after 5 minutes with 3 punctures.

Michi

Quote :

barryblossom wrote : But on a more serious note.  We will need some kind of tyre sealant to have reasonble puncture free rides.  Any ideas Noway?  I was thinking of using a 'Joey no flats' conversion kit with a normal set of tyres.

well, i take tubeless tyres and fill them with a lot of tyre seal... available from tufo in well assorted bike shops.....

Hamas fired long-range rockets at Gedera, Ashdod, Yavne e Beer Sheva, cities 40 km from Tel Aviv.

Actually about our February training camp I believe that Hamas has no interest to fire a rocket at the Ben Shemen forest where they should kill just bikers BUT to train in the "safe" forest means we MUST attend the airport and we MUST drive around risking to pick up a rocket on head.

Let's wait and see...

i´m not afraid about the risk to be hitten by a rocket, but what i consider as risk is terror attacks on public places, and i´m sure how they think of tourists. their would be danger of hostage taking and attacks on tourist centers, especially to hit the israelis and their economy. just remember the strike in eilat.....

normally hamas should have no interest in taking hostages or striking tourist sites, but you´ll never know how things develop and of which drastic actions hamas thinks when they continue fighting.

The Israelic MTB WOC comity has published a special bulletin regrading those security concerns
http://www.nivut.org.il/mtbo/