Dedicated to fallen soldier, Wheels of Love charity bike ride crosses finish line again
24th Annual benefit event for ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem, canceled last year in wake of October 7, held in honor of Sgt. First Class Yakir Hexter, a devoted volunteer
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
On a crisp and sunny November afternoon in Jerusalem, hundreds of bicycle riders wearing blue and white jerseys rolled through the finish line into the grounds of ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem as a crowd of friends, relatives, hospital staff and patients cheered their arrival.
The Thursday event marked a triumphant return of the “Wheels of Love” charity bike ride, an annual multi-day event that benefits ALYN Hospital, the venerable pediatric rehabilitation center. The ride was abruptly canceled last year due to the sudden outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
The bicycle ride was “very challenging, very emotional” and it was “a big relief to finish,” Ezra Hexter, 20, said, speaking to The Times of Israel immediately after the ride’s conclusion.
It was his first time participating in the annual event, and he did so with a sense of purpose: This year’s ride was dedicated to the memory of his older brother, the late Sgt. First Class Yakir Hexter, a long-time member of the ALYN community who was killed in January while serving in the IDF reserves in Gaza.
His older brother’s name was printed on the official jerseys worn by the hundreds of riders, which “was very hard to look at, it was like a punch in the stomach,” Hexter said. But he noted that at the same time, “this gave me lots of strength to continue to ride.” His father, Josh Hexter, also participated in the event.
The riders, some of whom had ridden over a hundred kilometers (62 miles) over the course of four days, parked their bikes and milled about the outdoor reception area, socializing, laughing and making a beeline for the tables set up with light refreshments. A clown on stilts wandered about with a megaphone, giving the event a carnivalesque air, as a DJ played popular tunes in the background.
According to the organizers, some 330 riders participated this year, a significant number of whom came from abroad, raising in total some $3 million for the hospital.
The ride began last Sunday with a solidarity event at Kibbutz Be’eri, near Gaza. The participants were then able to choose from several routes with different degrees of difficulty that began at the Dead Sea and finished in Jerusalem. Many participated for the full four days, but riders could also choose to join for shorter legs.
Each day was meticulously scheduled with early morning wake-up calls, prayer times for the observant, meals and up to eight hours of riding. The riders regrouped in hotels along the way for an evening meal, social time, a briefing on the next day’s path and sleep. A group of police and security personnel, on motorcycles or in police vehicles, accompanied the riders at all times. For some of these officers, securing the ride has been an annual duty for years.
A return to form
“It’s been a wonderful, amazing week,” said Naomi Liberman, executive director of the Friends of ALYN Hospital and one of the main organizers of the ride.
Everyone had been preparing and training for the ride last year, which usually takes place in November, when the October 7 Hamas massacre happened, she noted. With Israel at war, the event was canceled, although “a few solidarity rides were still held” in the US and Europe.
On October 7, 2023, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists streamed out of the Gaza Strip in a surprise assault, ultimately killing some 1,200 people, in many cases horrifically, and kidnapping 251 to Gaza. Israel declared war against Hamas, a conflict that continues and has escalated to include both Hezbollah and Iran.
The charity event’s successful return this year, the 24th annual Wheels of Love ride, amid war and the uncertainty of international travel, is “pure joy,” Liberman said.
“It’s the only charity ride [in Israel] that wasn’t canceled because of the war,” she noted.
“There are a lot of new people… it’s a real community event,” Liberman said. Many of the participants are “high-end professionals who take a week off” for the ride, in addition to the time necessary for training and raising funds, and have for many years made a point of participating, she noted.
The community aspect was immediately apparent at the closing event. Many of the riders had their families present, with whom they reunited joyfully after the several-day absence. The riders themselves displayed the easy familiarity of long association, joking and reminiscing about their experiences. Many were English speakers and the event was conducted in both English and Hebrew.
‘The Swift and The Bold’
ALYN is a noted pediatric rehabilitation center for children and young adults from all walks of life; Liberman called the hospital “a place of peace and hope.” Some ALYN patients are recovering from serious injuries, but many are dealing with chronic impairments and disabilities of various kinds.
A group of child patients, some with very serious conditions, and their families, were on hand to greet the riders and later, to present them with medallions for completing the ride, for which the riders lined up.
Some ALYN patients traditionally participate in the ride as well, comprising a group dubbed “The Swift and The Bold.” This year 16 patients aged 10-21, each accompanied by an adult, completed various stages of the ride after training for up to a year.
For some, the training was even longer. Mati Weiss, 17, who has participated in the Wheels of Love ride since the age of eight, had been training last year to complete the four-day ride for the first time, only to have the event canceled.
Weiss, who was paralyzed as an infant from the waist down due to a tumor in her spine, uses a custom handbike to ride. This year, she was able to ride for all four days, finishing at the head of the group with a wide smile on her face.
“When I was a little kid, I needed to be at ALYN as a patient. It was hard,” Weiss said. “Now, I am at ALYN as an athlete, raising funds for other kids who need rehabilitation… I hope the kids today can join us one day, biking for ALYN.”
The ALYN children who participated in this year’s ride “have been practicing for two years,” in some cases taking time off school to prepare, said Hadas Hendler, a sports therapist who organized the “Swift and the Bold” and participated in the ride herself.
For the child patients, joining the ride is “a continuation of their rehabilitation” and “gives them a feeling they can succeed,” she said. The specialized training necessary takes a lot of effort, and was aided by Etgarim, an organization focusing on sports programs for disabled children and adults, she noted.
“To see the look on the children’s faces when they finish the ride, it’s worth everything,” Hendler said.
ALYN Hospital overlooks the picturesque Ein Kerem neighborhood in Jerusalem, which served as a sunset-lit backdrop as the event concluded with a short closing ceremony, conducted largely in English.
Beginning with a rousing vocal performance by some of the riders, and after several speeches, the ceremony took on a somber turn as an Israeli flag was raised decorated with the names of soldiers who had been killed in the same Khan Younis battle as Yakir Hexter, to whom the ride was dedicated.
Two friends of Hexter’s from his unit, Daniel and Elyasaf, had gotten time off from their IDF reserve duty to participate in the last day of the ride, ascending from Moshav Bar Giora, in the Judean foothills, up to ALYN Hospital.
Unlike many of the riders, they were not expert cyclists, and the ascent was “incredibly hard,” they said, adding: “It was worth it, to do this, for the memory of our friend.”
