Running Or Biking The Burma Road

Last night I went to a birthday party that was hosted at Al Derech Burma. Part of the schedule of the party included a bike ride along the Burma Road, the famous and historic trail beside which Al Derech Burma sits.

First, some history (from Wikipedia):

During the early phase of the Israeli war of independence (from November 29, 1947 to May 15, 1948), local Arab forces took control of the hills overlooking the road to Jerusalem (today Highway 1), between Sha'ar HaGai (Bab el-Wad) and Al Qastal. Vehicles attempting to use the road, Jerusalem's only link to the coast, took heavy fire, in effect besieging the city's Jewish population. Convoys carrying food, weapons, and medical supplies sent by the Yishuv sustained heavy losses, and often didn't get through to the city.
On May 15, 1948, British forces withdrew from the Latrun monastery and police fort that dominated the road and prevented supplies from reaching Jerusalem. Latrun was immediately occupied by the Palmach's Harel Brigade. However, on the night of May 18, British officered Arab Legion forces from Transjordan seized Latrun, and subsequent Jewish attempts to gain a foothold in the region failed.
The growing need for supplies amongst Jerusalem's Jewish population weakened the Jewish foothold within the city considerably. A small amount of supplies, mostly munitions, were ferried by air, but the shortage of food, water, fuel and medicines was acute. The Jewish leadership, under David Ben Gurion feared that the city would surrender to the Arab Legion, and a search for a way to bypass the Arab blockade commenced.
The road ran from just east of Dayr Muhaysin (today Moshav Beko'a), by way of Bayt Jiz and Bayt Susin (near kibbutz Harel), and then crossed the road that is now known as Highway 38. From there is ascended to Bayt Mahsir (Beit Meir), Saris (Shoresh and Sho'eva), and then connected with the old Jerusalem road.
Several Israeli attempts to take the Transjordanian Legion's positions in Latrun failed, but surrounding parts of the road were cleared of snipers by the end of May. Passage of 150 troops on foot from Hulda to Harel Brigade headquarters near Abu Ghosh suggested that it would be possible to modify the "gazelle path" so that it would be hidden from the firing range of the British 25 pound cannon in Latrun and would accommodate vehicular traffic. On the night of May 30 to 31, an attempt failed when the lead jeep overturned. The road was improved slightly. A second attempt on the following night succeeded. On the night of June 1 to 2 the vehicles returned, and with them were three jeeps from Jerusalem, that went on to Tel Aviv to organize a supply convoy for Jerusalem, which returned that night. However, the road was still really impassable. Vehicles had to be pushed by hand through large sections. Porters and donkeys were used to bring supplies to Jerusalem while bulldozers and road workers moved critical parts of the road out of the line of sight of Jordanian artillery and widened it. The Legion spotted the activity and Jordanian artillery shelled the road ineffectively, since it could not be seen. Arab sharpshooters killed several road workers, and an attack on June 9 left 8 Israeli dead.
The road allowed passage of a convoy without leaving the vehicles on June 10, in time for the UN imposed cease fire, but it required repair as vehicular passage opened new pot holes. The road was finally completed on June 14, and water and fuel pipes were laid alongside it. Amos Horev, later President of Technion, was an Operations Officer, and was instrumental in creating the road.

As an aside, Chaim, the proprietor of Al Derech Burma and the head of our bike trip last night, told us that Mickey Marcus, the general who founded the Burma Road, was killed there by friendly fire. he did not speak Hebrew and went off to relieve himself. When a soldier asked him who he is, he didn't know what he was being asked, and ended up being shot. Wikipedia just says he died of friendly fire, so I dont know if that story is true or not.

Anyway, so the schedule called for a bike ride along the historic Burma Road. Not only was it the night of Rosh Chodesh, meaning no moon, but also the skies were cloudy and overcast with dark rain clouds, so we had no light from stars or anything.

So we all get geared up with bikes and helmets, "all" being the 12 of us who went out for the ride while most people (.i.e. the sane ones) stayed behind and ate the cakes, and headed out for the ride. The trail was quickly pitch black and bumpy. Over the past couple of years I have become a runner (yes, it is a stretch to call me a "runner" considering the way i run, but for lack of a better word I choose to use that right now). I have not biked in about 12 years, and have never gone mountain biking. So this was a completely new experience for me.

I have run the Burma Road trail, during the day. Riding a bike on it, and at night, is a completely different experience. I can write how crazy and sick anyone who does this must be, or I can write about the thrill and exhilaration of living on the edge, knowing that at any moment you can hit a rock or a ditch and flip over smashing your head into a rock or breaking your arm. Or you can blow a tire out there, or crash into someone, or get lost in the various turns and detours and get stuck out in the pitch black night. Or you can get eaten by a coyote or a Grizzly Bear (we don't really have those in Israel, so no worries!).

So biking it is a whole different experience than running it. So we are going along the trail, up the hills hopefully switching gears properly, down the hills hopefully not hitting any large rocks or ditches while flying down the hill. Somebody blew out a tire, and someone else blew out a chain.

My ride was pretty smooth, with the excitement of the nighttime thrill/fear and darkness. I dont even really  know how far we rode. It was something like 7 or 8 kilometers all together, and took about an hour and a half because we had to wait for some of the riders who were having trouble or struggling more on the hills and in the dark.

We had a good time jawing it up while on the ride, and I am not a converted biker and probably will not be doing this again, but it was definitely a thrilling experience. I compare it to bungee jumping, which by the way I do not do, as at any moment any of us could have experienced a fatal accident out there, and that is the thrill of bungee jumping as well.I do sense what is so addictive about it, as you get this tremendous high that you are living on the edge.