Monday, October 26, 2015

Sponsors, this is your chance to shine

Dear Sponsors,

We have been sweating hard, pedaling for our shul. It has been a wonderful and exciting experience where we have learnt about limits, enthusiasm, love, community and the fact that our fort (shul) is a weak structure and it needs us to make it the beautiful, grand holy place it is.

We have had many events, talks, prayers, activities, in it. Its walls are held by our faith and our presence. Our strength is its strength. You are in turn our strength. You, our loved ones, our families far far away from sunny Jozi, our friends right here. You can make the difference that we are so eagerly pursuing.

Please donate generously. If you have come to our prayers, if you have taken part in our community, if you feel inspired by what we are as a community. You are a click away to help us keep our light on, now when the dark times are hitting our doorstep.

http://igg.me/at/befunracing/x/10012517


B.E. with us.


Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Avanti o popolo alla riscosa!

The latest adventure of the B.E. team, was a wonderful, fun, exhilarating time for us all. Most of us were enthusiastically ready at 6AM. We arrived at the meeting point and had some food for champions. We started full of energy, full of hope, with a bit of fear due to our inexperience but with the reassurance of B.E.ing a team.











Shortly after we started leaving Sandton our muscles ached, our lungs were out of air, we were performing at peak power and speed and suddenly everything was empty, no cars, no other bikes, only us and the road ahead. It was a definite moment of bliss and revelation, "just us and the road ahead".

Each of us was giving 120% on the bike, the sun was scorching and it was only 7.30 am. Round, fat drops of sweat were pouring from our pores, the heart pumping, the thoughts focused on keeping balance.

A roaring sound broke the bliss. It was a huge, grey metallic beast, and it was hungry. Our feet pushed the pedals faster, less peacefully, balance started to abandon us, all the joints decided to start hurting and the very moment of the roar:  RRRRRROAR.
Jeff made it without getting eaten by the metal box.

The broom bus had reached us and at different points through the race it ate most of us, some of us made it to the finish line unaided. Those of us who ended up there, in a Metrobus alternative, joined one voice the songs of freedom, greeting everyone on the way, changing the world, one wave at a time. One member of our team took a wrong turn and ended up riding extra Km, she literally took one for the team ;)
Avanti!

We really conquered this race.  I am humbled, proud and happy to have such winners as teammates.

We descended and re-took our bikes to finish this battle, we rode until the end, we gave what we got.

  Now it is your turn to help us. Click in the link and donate generously https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/b-e-fun-racing#/story

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

B.E. Tough

This week's post was a hard one to write, almost as hard as our riding experience.
On a lovely Sunday morning we arrived at Emmarentia Botanical Gardens to take the gardens under our bikes.

The route we chose was rather technical, with a lot of narrow paths, a couple of grueling climbs and a patch between a cliff and a wall, literally. Our young team did remarkably well dealing with the route. We could assess our real fitness status and corroborated that young age is the best thing you can have if you want to do sports.

In the adult section of our team, however, we had a bit of an encounter with the ground resulting in hurt muscles, torn skin, a couple of bruises and a lot more pain than what we would have liked our precious team members to endure.

Yet, this is all about endurance, so a few scratches will not put our energy down, we are earning our stripes, with hard work, sweat and blood. We are learning, we are getting stronger, fitter and ready for the race.

Our team did really well in this one ride as we harvested many lessons from this tough and demanding route:

1. Downhills and technical routes are better done in slow motion.
2. If you feel scared, it is perfectly ok to come down the bike and push. In fact, coming down and pushing is the sensible thing to do.
3. It feels good to be alive.
4. We definitely need more down time on those bikes, as the race gets closer we must implement the 3-1 rule: 3 Days of aerobic exercise per week and at least 1 day a week on the saddle.

B.E. Strong!



Monday, August 17, 2015

B.E. took us for a ride :-)

A bit stiff and smiling I am happy to declare our first B.E. Spin-a-Thon a success.



We are thankful to mighty HaShem for bringing us to this journey; to all the people who made it possible by voting with their feet and joined us to a full studio on a perfect Sunday morning; to our instructor Owen who made us push our limits; to Planet Fitness for the wonderful venue; to Bennetts and Mediterranean Spa for their contribution towards our goody bags and to all the people who helped us organize this to make it the lovely day it was .

Our findings from the day:

1. Spirit has a thousand times the power of muscle,
  
2. You are never too old to try something new,
3. People can be extremely generous with their time, money and energy,
4. People with (serious) babalas can survive strenuous exercise when powered by sheer passion!


This event reflected B.E. as a community: It was open, diverse, free, fun, loving, mindful and full of friends. As a team we are encouraged to continue sweating for our shul.



Friday, August 7, 2015

SPIN-A-THON



 THREE MONTHS TO THE RACE:  IT IS TIME FOR US TO WARM UP AND GET FIT!

Bring a friend, we will have a professional trainer to give us cycling advice, tips and a workout to boost our training for the race. 

To RSVP leave a response to this post or email Luz Helena: ununena@hotmail.com

The five S's of sport training are: stamina, strength, speed, skill and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit. (Ken Doherty)




Monday, June 15, 2015

The hardest step was the one that got us out of bed!

Braving the cold morning of a glorious winter Sunday, we conquered another hill in our journey.

It is our collective pleasure to announce to the world that all our B.E. LIVE  team are officially bicycle riders.

The learning from the outing (even at risk of sounding like a self help book):

- To keep balance and avoid obstacles we must look where we want to be, and not where we are.
- Balance is in the center of the head, and the ears work like a gyroscope. Ears balanced = all good.
- You can be riding perfectly on your own, and then the bug of fear bites, then you shall fall.
- Fitness starts in our mind.


Imagine with all your mind.
Fun and -almost- heart attack were mixed  in our sensory experience of seeing the world from another perspective and commanding our bodies to a new level of control. It was a session that exercised our physical and mental strength.


B.E. LIVE with all your heart


"The ecstasy exploded within us.
We wanted to laugh.
to cry,
to scream out loud
At this perfect moment
of achievement.


Achieve with all your might.
She was whole
She was alive"
(slightly modified version of a poem by - Salil Jha)