Cyclocross is really what I miss. Maybe it was because I won two races last season, maybe it was because I had a sick bike to race, maybe because you get really muddy and cold or maybe because it's one of the most painful things I have endured. It only lasts 45-60mins, unlike Ironman, but holy sh*t it hurts. Think "pain cave" times a couple. Some may have already seen this video of me winning the Battle at Barlow Cyclocross race, in the B category. I was upgraded after winning the next race at Alpenrose Dairy. It was rainy, cold and muddy as you can see, good times. Cyclocross will be what truely makes me miss fall in PDX.
YouTube Links:
Battle at Barlow
Alpenrose - Cross Crusade #1
Hornings Hideout - Cross Crusade #2
Anyway, just a quick post to hi.
About Me
- Garren
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Expat from Portland, OR living, working and training in the UAE
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Al Ain - Oman - Fujairah Road Trip
I took a few days off and went travelling with Jen. The trip went a little something like this...
Friday morning after our group ride we packed up and drove off to Al Ain, right next to the Oman-UAE border. It's drier and hotter than the coastal Abu Dhabi. Some may remember my Jebel Hafeet post from June
when I rode the mountain. We did that again on Saturday with two new friends Jen and I have meet on the rides - Janelle and Tanya. I rode it in the same time, lower watts, lower HR, lower cadence and same kJ output. I'll be keeping track of these rides and see how I fair as I become fit again. After food and a shower we packed up, left the bikes at Kevin's house, headed to Oman, to Wadi Damm. Janelle and Tanya came with us too.
Crossing the border into Oman was less than smooth and far from fast. A good hour to get through. We showed our passports at least four times and filled out two forms, and paid money twice... I paid three times as I needed proof of car insurance covering Oman. I do, but the paperwork was at home. So I got a 5-day coverage for $20. Once through, more desert and thunderclouds started to form. Lucky us, we had a weathergirl with us. Janelle is a meteorologist at the airport. A few minor dust devils and small sand storms behind us we arrived at the wadi. This time the off-road was good, packed dirt, but was gone quickly giving way to gravel and water... reversed and parked on higher ground. The #1 warning we get from the books is to never enter a wadi if rain looks possible.
It started sprinkling large drops as we began to hike in... Never fear, we had the weather girl. We decided to check it out and see what the wadi was doing. Many locals are still driving through and walking, so we decided it was a good idea to venture on. Only once did the weathergirl think we should go back...but she was fooled from the air bubbles in the catch basin...
We had two locals kids showing us the way and bringing the rope you see in the photo Jen is using. Once to the freshwater spring, they bolted. We hung around a bit more eating and soaking our feet. This would be a much better place to swim, if the wadi wasn't full of storm run off, since as soon as the spring water hits the runoff, it's brown. There is also a moss and maidenhair rock that
drips water, clear water, or so the photo in the book says, but as you can see in my photo, not so much.
Once back to the car we headed back to Al Ain. I thought my car would never see rain, but it rained very hard for a good 15 minutes on the way home. Refreshing to see and drive through rain again. At the border checkpoint we showed our passports 4 times and Jen had to get a retnascan, which was just the local guy looking her up and down and stamping a piece of paper. Good times. Re-entry was much faster.
Sunday came and it was off to Fujairah, on the east coast of the UAE. We tried to take a really windy road through the mountains, but we didn't find it.
Besides, I didn't want to make Jen sick again as I did when I drove up Jebel Hafeet. It was a good thing that I was low on gas too, otherwise I might have needed new tyres on my car already.
We ended up on a road that wasn't labeled on the map, so it might have been it, but I don't think so. It was a good road though, fast sweeping turns and tunnels. Before entering on tunnel it said in huge letters, "Good Bye." as the tunnel then dipped down and spit you out the other side of the mountain. I think they meant to say, "Leaving Abu Dhabi Emirate, See You Again Soon." But that's not what they said, "Good Bye" is a little ominous...
Once to the coast, we see the Indian Ocean and continue to drive north along the coast to the resort we are staying at for three nights. It was a nice place, decent pool, decent food and beach access. They also have a whole host of free watersport activities you can do. All we did was the boat trip to snorkel Snoopy Island. The trip was short and we only had 30mins to snorkel before it left us. We did get to see a Picasso Triggerfish, Jen really was stoked to see it, apparently she is somewhat of a fish geek... The ocean was nice and cool compared to the Gulf, a nice relief from the heat. I did a little body surfing, nothing to write home about though. I swear there has to be surf on the Penisula, just need to find where... my surfboard might come over with me during xmas. The Stormriders' Guide: The World has a little bit on surf in Oman. I'll need to check that out. There is also surf on the north beach of the Burj Al Arab, but really packed when waves come.
After drinking and tanning ourselves silly for a few days, it was back in the car for the 300k drive home. We took a different route, north through the mountains a bit, then back along though the middle of the desert to Al Ain. We grabbed the bikes and then made it home.
Here are some more photos of the week...
Friday morning after our group ride we packed up and drove off to Al Ain, right next to the Oman-UAE border. It's drier and hotter than the coastal Abu Dhabi. Some may remember my Jebel Hafeet post from June
when I rode the mountain. We did that again on Saturday with two new friends Jen and I have meet on the rides - Janelle and Tanya. I rode it in the same time, lower watts, lower HR, lower cadence and same kJ output. I'll be keeping track of these rides and see how I fair as I become fit again. After food and a shower we packed up, left the bikes at Kevin's house, headed to Oman, to Wadi Damm. Janelle and Tanya came with us too.Crossing the border into Oman was less than smooth and far from fast. A good hour to get through. We showed our passports at least four times and filled out two forms, and paid money twice... I paid three times as I needed proof of car insurance covering Oman. I do, but the paperwork was at home. So I got a 5-day coverage for $20. Once through, more desert and thunderclouds started to form. Lucky us, we had a weathergirl with us. Janelle is a meteorologist at the airport. A few minor dust devils and small sand storms behind us we arrived at the wadi. This time the off-road was good, packed dirt, but was gone quickly giving way to gravel and water... reversed and parked on higher ground. The #1 warning we get from the books is to never enter a wadi if rain looks possible.
It started sprinkling large drops as we began to hike in... Never fear, we had the weather girl. We decided to check it out and see what the wadi was doing. Many locals are still driving through and walking, so we decided it was a good idea to venture on. Only once did the weathergirl think we should go back...but she was fooled from the air bubbles in the catch basin...We had two locals kids showing us the way and bringing the rope you see in the photo Jen is using. Once to the freshwater spring, they bolted. We hung around a bit more eating and soaking our feet. This would be a much better place to swim, if the wadi wasn't full of storm run off, since as soon as the spring water hits the runoff, it's brown. There is also a moss and maidenhair rock that
drips water, clear water, or so the photo in the book says, but as you can see in my photo, not so much.
Once back to the car we headed back to Al Ain. I thought my car would never see rain, but it rained very hard for a good 15 minutes on the way home. Refreshing to see and drive through rain again. At the border checkpoint we showed our passports 4 times and Jen had to get a retna
Sunday came and it was off to Fujairah, on the east coast of the UAE. We tried to take a really windy road through the mountains, but we didn't find it.
Besides, I didn't want to make Jen sick again as I did when I drove up Jebel Hafeet. It was a good thing that I was low on gas too, otherwise I might have needed new tyres on my car already.
We ended up on a road that wasn't labeled on the map, so it might have been it, but I don't think so. It was a good road though, fast sweeping turns and tunnels. Before entering on tunnel it said in huge letters, "Good Bye." as the tunnel then dipped down and spit you out the other side of the mountain. I think they meant to say, "Leaving Abu Dhabi Emirate, See You Again Soon." But that's not what they said, "Good Bye" is a little ominous...
Once to the coast, we see the Indian Ocean and continue to drive north along the coast to the resort we are staying at for three nights. It was a nice place, decent pool, decent food and beach access. They also have a whole host of free watersport activities you can do. All we did was the boat trip to snorkel Snoopy Island. The trip was short and we only had 30mins to snorkel before it left us. We did get to see a Picasso Triggerfish, Jen really was stoked to see it, apparently she is somewhat of a fish geek... The ocean was nice and cool compared to the Gulf, a nice relief from the heat. I did a little body surfing, nothing to write home about though. I swear there has to be surf on the Penisula, just need to find where... my surfboard might come over with me during xmas. The Stormriders' Guide: The World has a little bit on surf in Oman. I'll need to check that out. There is also surf on the north beach of the Burj Al Arab, but really packed when waves come.
After drinking and tanning ourselves silly for a few days, it was back in the car for the 300k drive home. We took a different route, north through the mountains a bit, then back along though the middle of the desert to Al Ain. We grabbed the bikes and then made it home.
Here are some more photos of the week...
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Hatta Pools
Jen has been here a week now and finally sleeping normal after adjusting to jet lag. It's good to finally have her here. This weekend we decided to venture across the Emirate of Dubai to the border of Oman and UAE and check out the Hatta Pools.
We made the 2 hour drive pretty quick, lots of giant roundabouts on the way...car handles nicely around those. Finally over the 1000k mark so I was cruising ~160kph as much as I could. Gas mileage was just under 20mpg, so not bad. We both rode in the morning before our drive so we just wanted to get there and sleep at the pool. We had nice 3 hour ride. Once there we slept at the pool for 3 hours or so. Got some sun, that I needed badly. The view from our room at the Hatta Fort Hotel.
The hotel has jogging/hiking trails and if we would have got up earlier, it wouldn't have been so warm. It's much much drier here, but still very warm. We did the 5k loop and called it a day. Next up was to drive out to the Hatta Pools.
The road is paved most of the way, however there is some graded (gravel) roads for 8k or so, then some wadi tracks. 4motion in the R is nice for the super steep sections, no slipping. The view is from the top of a super steep section heading to the pools. Hajar Mountains in the background.
Once there I attempted to keep going on the wadi track, cause it looked the same, but it became apparent real quick that I needed some clearance... so I parked. The sport suspension doesn't like going more than 20kph in gravel either.
Once parked we had to hike a little ways to the pools. We brought lunch, for us, but these guys (Oriental Hornets) thought it was theirs! I didn't get a good comparison size photo like a good CSI, so you get Wiki info instead. They were double the size of yellowjackets though.
We swam a little ways in the pool, but since there have been many reports of dangerous high levels of E Coli, we made it a short one. Plus, visitors don't like to take trash out the pack in, so that was gross too. Lots of plastic waters bottles all floating at one end of the pool. It'd be much nicer after the rainy season and when water is actually running into and out of the pool.
The hornets were getting annoying and aggressive, so we bolted to the car and started home with the plan of stopping at Big Red! We rented a 350cc quad and off we went to the top. I have never driven a quad, let alone on sand dunes, let alone in a foreign country...list goes on. It was 45 (113F) and blowing sand. It was awesome and I look forward to doing it again. Next time with something to cover my left ankle from being burnt on the engine, something over my face and ears for blowing sand and more sunscreen... Photo looking up to the top.
The photo in my title is of a camel train we came across just before the dune we rode. Over 20 camels in a train, very cool sight.
This weekend we are off to Al Ain to ride Jebel Hafeet again and then to Fujairah, another Emirate NE from here. Some snorkling and twisty mountain roads await!
We made the 2 hour drive pretty quick, lots of giant roundabouts on the way...car handles nicely around those. Finally over the 1000k mark so I was cruising ~160kph as much as I could. Gas mileage was just under 20mpg, so not bad. We both rode in the morning before our drive so we just wanted to get there and sleep at the pool. We had nice 3 hour ride. Once there we slept at the pool for 3 hours or so. Got some sun, that I needed badly. The view from our room at the Hatta Fort Hotel.
The hotel has jogging/hiking trails and if we would have got up earlier, it wouldn't have been so warm. It's much much drier here, but still very warm. We did the 5k loop and called it a day. Next up was to drive out to the Hatta Pools.
The road is paved most of the way, however there is some graded (gravel) roads for 8k or so, then some wadi tracks. 4motion in the R is nice for the super steep sections, no slipping. The view is from the top of a super steep section heading to the pools. Hajar Mountains in the background.
Once there I attempted to keep going on the wadi track, cause it looked the same, but it became apparent real quick that I needed some clearance... so I parked. The sport suspension doesn't like going more than 20kph in gravel either.
Once parked we had to hike a little ways to the pools. We brought lunch, for us, but these guys (Oriental Hornets) thought it was theirs! I didn't get a good comparison size photo like a good CSI, so you get Wiki info instead. They were double the size of yellowjackets though.
We swam a little ways in the pool, but since there have been many reports of dangerous high levels of E Coli, we made it a short one. Plus, visitors don't like to take trash out the pack in, so that was gross too. Lots of plastic waters bottles all floating at one end of the pool. It'd be much nicer after the rainy season and when water is actually running into and out of the pool.
The hornets were getting annoying and aggressive, so we bolted to the car and started home with the plan of stopping at Big Red! We rented a 350cc quad and off we went to the top. I have never driven a quad, let alone on sand dunes, let alone in a foreign country...list goes on. It was 45 (113F) and blowing sand. It was awesome and I look forward to doing it again. Next time with something to cover my left ankle from being burnt on the engine, something over my face and ears for blowing sand and more sunscreen... Photo looking up to the top.
The photo in my title is of a camel train we came across just before the dune we rode. Over 20 camels in a train, very cool sight.
This weekend we are off to Al Ain to ride Jebel Hafeet again and then to Fujairah, another Emirate NE from here. Some snorkling and twisty mountain roads await!
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