Rotem Ishay is from Israel, lives in Durango, and raced the European mtb championships this past weekend in Israel.

Tough to keep up with, I know, but that’s how he rolls. He checks in from the road:

mountain bike racing has never been that big in Israel.
Mountain biking is a big sport in Israel as a hobby, the cycling internet forum is probably the biggest and most active in Israel and the all mountain ~ 5 on 5 inch bikes are a huge sport community, as the trails in Israel are perfect for those extra travel bikes that can climb too. racing in Israel is usually pretty small, yet the 2010 European Championships in Israel was everything but small. the amount of spectators was unbelieveable, reminded me of world cups in belgium – cheering, roaring everywhere… and it definetly takes an extra effort from the crowd to stand long hours at 90-100 degress with 70% humidity… hell, I would rather even ride a trainer indoors instead of cheering outside…

I came prepared to Euro Champs with three words: party, compassion and fighting. Party – pretty obvious when such a big event is in your country, that’s the way to ride. Compassion – for all those stressfull euro on the start line, yet I’m gonna do it my own relaxed way. and Fighting – for keeping the speed over 2 hours of 100 degrees is my joker here.
My elite men race day was a day when expectations don’t go along hand in hand with reality. I felt pretty good right off the gun, I even had a good start – which that rarely happens to me in euro races, and I was so confident in handling skills. I was comfortable in top 20 riding with Ralph Naf until reality started punching me… I crashed and tore my fork’s lockout cable on lap one, yet I kept riding without really noticing my fork is set on lock mode, because I was still high up there in my game mode and trying to catch back up to the front. than a few really wired crashes came, while I’m still not realizing the fact my fork is totally locked… I’m losing time and skin, until I bent my hanger and broke my front brake. A stop at the tech zone cost me additional 5-6 minutes for repairing, I kept my game face on and drilled it as long as I can until I got pulled for 80% rule… you can probably imagine the feeling – European Champs in my country, in “my summer”, with my crowd, I’m feeling great, and something is “writing the reality” today so differently than my desire… I’m gonna a phrase that great athletes always say in their bad days: “that’s sport…”

hours later that evening, with alcohol replacing my lost electrolytes and sunburns from the post-race beach time, I learned that it is important for me to contain that feeling of which reality can go so differently than what we, as humans, always expect it to be. it is so important, because that way we can also experience great success that is far beyond our expectations – and that’s a possibilty that really excites me.

race day was a big K.O. for me, yet I’m ready to get up my feet (literally, with the hole in my right knee) and feed the fighter inside. I got some nationals title to bring back, some world cups and world champs all coming this summer. it’s gonna be great, becaue I believe it will be – and if not, than I’m gonna smile through it.

Rotem

Heaps of photos here http://www.facebook.com/teamjamis