November 12, 2004/Cheshvan 28 5765, Vol. 57, No. 11
Local doctors ride for charity
STEPHANIE N. HENSCHEL
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 Almost 250 bike riders line up at the start of "Wheels of Love," Israel's largest annual multiday charity sports event, on Oct. 24. The five-day, 245-mile ride started in the Negev and ended in Jerusalem. Proceeds from the event benefited ALYN Hospital, Israel's only rehabilitation center for infants, children and young adults. Photo by Shlomo Teitz |
If you're Gary Friedlander or Robert Block, it could mean pushing your body past its breaking point in an exhausting five-day, 245-mile bike ride through the mountainous region of the Negev in Israel.
The duo recently participated in "Wheels of Love," Israel's largest annual multiday charity sports event. The charity in question is Alyn Woldenberg Family Hospital Pediatric & Adolescent Rehabilitation Center.
As the only facility of its kind in Israel, the hospital is one of the leading specialists in the active and intensive rehabilitation of children - regardless of religion or ethnic origin - with a broad range of physical disabilities.
In 1997, Geoffrey Freeman, an Englishman and avid cyclist, approached the hospital with the idea to create the charity ride. The hospital agreed and the then-titled Norwood Ravenswood Israel Charity Bike ride was born.
But in 2000, the English contingent of the group decided to cancel the ride due to violence in the area. The 10 riders who represented the hospital decided to go anyway.
Thus the Alyn Charity Bike Ride began.
Block, a psychologist, heard about the event through his nephew who had participated in the ride before. Though not a cyclist, he decided to join up.
In his quest for financial support - each rider must raise a minimum of $2,000 - Block asked his good friend Friedlander, a podiatrist. Friedlander wanted to participate too.
Helping out a good cause was the main motivation behind their decisions.
"I have always wanted to do as much as I can for Israel," Block says. His previous work with handicapped children also made the idea appealing.
"It's the most physically challenging thing I've ever done in my adult life," Friedlander says, one of the reasons he did it - to prove he could. "But it's good because it's raising money for this hospital that does great things."
Cycling up to 60 miles a day did prove tiring.
"I'm not a bike rider," Block says, who developed tennis elbow during the ride. "The most I've ever done is two or three miles with my kids to go get a Slurpee."
The ride took almost 250 riders through the Negev to Jerusalem, traveling up to 60 miles a day. Block says they rode through the area where the Jewish nation camped with Moses.
"It's a very beautiful part of the country, it's desert-like, like Arizona," Block says.
Both participants say training was required to prepare for the event.
'It required a lot of endurance and commitment," Block says. "You just have to prepare for it."
When asked if they would do it again, both were hesitant to immediately say yes - they had just gotten home and were still recovering from the ordeal - but did say they would continue to support the cause.
Says Friedlander as he chuckled: "I don't know if I'm up to the physical abuse."
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