Get on yer bike – and feed the ducks! Who knew?

Screen Shot 2015-01-18 at 16.33.34The UAE is not a place you’d associate with cycle paths and Boris Bikes. After all, it’s scary enough on the roads in a great big car, let alone on a bicycle (other than the odd suicidal cyclist, you don’t see people biking to work).

But there’s a cycling community here in Dubai that’s alive and … pedaling furiously, their muscly legs pumping, saddles fitted to their bums, backs arched like a bridge and pointy heads thrust forward as they sail along the emirate’s fantastic car-free cycle tracks (Click here for locations).

Last weekend the Circles family joined them – and when I say join them, we had the boys in tow, so our ride was more about taking in the scenery on a gorgeous Friday afternoon, rather than eating up the miles at speed like the finely-honed biking aficionados do.

(Counting one or two of these fitness fanatics among my friends, I can tell you that they go out at 6 in the morning during the hotter months, when apparently there’s a breeze that makes cycling in summer possible.)

Cycle Safe organises rides on Friday mornings for beginners and advanced cyclists. There's also the popular Bab Al Shams coffee run on Saturday mornings

Cycle Safe organises rides on Friday mornings for beginners and advanced cyclists. There’s also the popular Bab Al Shams coffee run on Saturday mornings

The backstory behind the Al Qudra cycle path is that the Sheikh one day drove past a pack of cycling enthusiasts making their way up Al Qudra road – riding in a peloton to slipstream each other and, I should imagine, keep safe from the crazy motorists. Within a few weeks, work had started on two purpose-built, cycle paths.

Entered under a huge bicycle-themed circular structure, the first track stretches 18km, and the second is a loop of about 50km, passing through sand dunes and by the Bab Al Shams Hotel, where you can always stop for a coffee. If you’re lucky you’ll spot the Arabian Oryx now brave enough to get close to the track.

I’d been wanting to go for a ride for ages, but kept falling at the first hurdle: getting the kids’ bikes in the car. Then, with DH home last weekend, I tentatively suggested he do all the heavy lifting, and off we went, hiring bikes for ourselves at the Trek store, about 20 minutes beyond Arabian Ranches (calling to book is advised).

As I said, we weren’t in it for the long-distance training, so we just pootled along happily. Well, mostly. There was whining (what would a cycle ride with the kids be without it?); and Son1 grumpily announced ‘mission quit’ on the way back, preferring to walk. But it’s really enjoyable out there – the track is smooth, the shifting dunes are beautiful, and, above all, the expansive desert is incredibly tranquil.

Just beware if you take children along. You could almost liken the track to the cycling world’s version of Germany’s autobahn: a cleverly engineered surface; highly efficient, streamlined carbon-light bikes; and no speed limit. I must have yelled myself hoarse telling my zig-zagging youngest to keep to the right.

Near the bike store, you’ll also find this … a duck pond! Filled with all kinds of bird life, from mallards to black swans. Perhaps the UAE desert’s best-kept and most surprising secret. Rumour has it that it’s the start of a safari park.

How, or why, I have no idea, but I love this spot!

How, or why, I have no idea, but I love this spot!

Dubai Tour cycle race – meh

So apparently there’s some kind of bike ride around Dubai that’s lasting four days, taking in all the major sights and busiest districts of the city.

I’m sure it’ll be a great race for all those long-legged, pointy-headed, professional cyclists who’ve gathered in the UAE to take part in the Dubai Tour. And for those who spectate, the experience of seeing the world’s top riders flash by at 55-60kph – even if it’s all over in a few seconds – will be memorable.

Not to mention the photos that are bound to circulate of the peloton streaking past the Burj, making its way up the Palm and heading out beyond the sand dunes towards the Haja Mountains (beat that, Tour de France!). I’m craning my neck out the bedroom window to try to get a glimpse, as I write.

Inspired to get on your bike? Try this wonderful cycle track located on the Al Qudra Road (Past Arabian Ranches).

Inspired to get on your bike? Try this cycle track located on the Al Qudra Road (past Arabian Ranches).

Residents are being urged to bear with the inconveniences posed by this inaugural race – and by inconveniences, I don’t just mean the wide-scale rolling road closures; I mean the 35+, last-minute school shutdowns announced yesterday.

A shutdown too many for most mums, who’ve already endured cancelled school days due to rain and the Expo win. (What next? A truck carrying bananas and choc chips will collide with a truck carrying ice cream, and schools will be closed because it’s Sundae, predicts my friend K).

Some schools have remained open, including ours, but that doesn’t mean you can actually get there to pick up your child – so plenty of kids have been kept home to avoid a potential New Year’s Eve Palmageddon scenario.

My DH, who happily is on school-run duty today, just set out, two hours early to get 10 minutes down the road. He then has an elaborate plan to feed the kids cheeseburgers to kill time, before hopefully making it back up here when the roads re-open at 3.30pm (that’s if the race is on time).

“Will you be ok?” I asked, feeling horribly guilty about the three-and-a-half-hour school run he had ahead of him. “I think there’s an escape route over the desert, via that bumpy road – then if you just go 20km in the wrong direction, make a U-turn, you might get there.”

“Well, I’ve made it through the Suez Canal. I’ve flown over the Himalayas, crossed the Pacific. I think I’ll be ok,” he replied with an unphased smile, safe in the knowledge it’s probably all going to be a sandstorm in a teacup.

I do hope the race is a success, I really do – but next year, could it possibly not be sponsored by Dubai’s parents?

Pic via Dubai Insider

Water packed (check), snacks (check), entertainment (check), travel potty (check). Pic via Dubai Insider