Bear Tracks | Edelweiss Bike Tours Oman Part 2

Oman Tour Part 2. Edelweiss Bike Tours have a great new tour location, Dubai and Oman. An easier 14.5hr flight than Europe from Australia... Bear headed over for a ride...

Oh Man. Oman! Amazing roads and closer to home. Like you, I love heading out for a ride. Like you, I love riding somewhere I’ve never been. But also like you, I don’t look forward to the long flights. Here is part 2 of my Oman trip, just 14.5 hours flight to Dubai ex Sydney…

“Another world awaited us when we turned right into the mountains that back the peninsula’s narrow coastal plain”…

Yes, we were hanging out for Oman’s mountain roads, but we had a way to go yet in the UAE, and were initially disappointed as we followed a highway lined by shops and other commercial buildings down along the coast. We stopped to take a look at the oldest and smallest mosque in the UAE, a surprisingly interesting little building with a signboard noting that its age had been established with the help of the University of Sydney.

But another world awaited us when we turned right into the mountains that back the peninsula’s narrow coastal plain. This was the riding we had been looking forward to, two-lane roads twisting through that amazing rock. And just as amazing was that it rained. Not too much, but just the fact that there was any rain surprised our guide and us.

Read Bear’s trip to Oman Part 1 here…

Our last bit of sightseeing before the border of Oman was a dud. We were supposed to get a look at the Hatta dams which collect the precipitation from the Gulf of Oman. We got as far as the lowest dam, which features a giant mural of the happy founders of the UAE, Sheik Zayed and Sheik Rashid, on its spillway but roadworks were blocking access to the other dams. Our guide Angela tried arguing, but the front-end loader is mightier than the Ténéré 700. We retreated and tackled the border instead. It was surprising how thoroughly fortified this is, with high walls and razor wire.

“Oddly, in a few cases the modern roads still have water crossings. I suspect it’s just a matter of time before bridges are built, but in the meantime it pays to be careful”.

Later, we found the third amazing feature of the countryside and roads. Remember I mentioned all the power lines? Well, in Oman these run right over mountain ranges as well as through the valleys and across the flats. And of course they need access roads for maintenance! And of course these are not sealed. They are just dozer cuts in the scenery, which makes them hugely enjoyable on the kinds of bikes we were riding. There was one drawback, and that was the amount of dust lying around, but at least there was little or no sand.

Follow the Bear tracks here…

Oddly, in a few cases the modern roads still have water crossings. I suspect it’s just a matter of time before bridges are built, but in the meantime it pays to be careful – the crossings are shallow and fairly smooth, but they can also be slippery. I came up to one of them and most of the party was already on the other side, stopped and looking back nonchalantly. Uh oh. That usually means there is a chance you’ll be going down, so I slowed down but still slipped sideways a little. Just behind me, not everybody was as lucky and we had one slide on the slippery concrete. No harm done.

The rest of the tour was a pleasant mix of sightseeing and riding, with the emphasis on riding. We also wandered around the old town in Muscat with its small but colourful souk and stayed at The View, a hotel with pods that overlook a wide valley and a lot of those tortured mountains; and we  rode up to a few wonderful sightseeing opportunities. The road to the top of Wadi Ghul, which is a canyon either deeper or not as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US (it’s great when you have more than one source of information in these places – they never agree) on some of those blade cut tracks. I discovered that you can actually tackle this dusty stuff fairly fast; in fact it’s often better fast because you just fly over irregularities.

“My overall impression of Oman even apart from the roads is good; the people are every bit as friendly and helpful as they claim to be”…

There’s a bit of video that shows me tackling a right angle turn in deep, deep dust which demonstrates that the one thing you have to remember is to keep the throttle open. I learned my dirt skills, what there is of them, at the BMW off-road school in Hechlingen, in Germany, 25 years ago and while I can hardly recall anything consciously, everything fortunately ends to come back when I need it! I will, however, ignore the suggestion by one of the group that I should try out for the Dakar.

The turtles we were supposed to see laying their eggs at one stop were having the night off, and why not. The boatyard where they still build the traditional Arab dhows, on the other hand, was truly impressive. I have to admit that I was sorry to see they were using iron bolts these days instead of making the boats entirely from wood. That’s the modern world, I guess. The boats are beautiful, and a small museum on site lets you enjoy a detailed look at the techniques.

My overall impression of Oman even apart from the roads is good; the people are every bit as friendly and helpful as they claim to be, food and fuel and soft drinks are cheap – although there doesn’t seem to be an Omani cuisine. Cafés and restaurants advertise Pakistani, Yemeni or Turkish food and someone told me that the national dish of Oman is chicken biryani, which is Indian. This is not a place where you’ll find many souvenirs to take home, either. But that doesn’t matter.

The thing about Oman is that for visitors like us it is a rider’s country, and the Edelweiss Adventure Dubai & Oman tour is a rider’s tour. I have been on quite a few of their trips, and the balance of riding, culture, food, sightseeing and whatever varies on all of them. In this case, it comes down on riding above all which, you might be surprised to learn, suits me just fine!

Oh, and those flash roads without crowns or drainage? During our last night in Dubai, there was an elemental thunderstorm. The next morning, half the city’s roads were under water – water which showed no sign of draining away because there was nowhere for it to go. Drowned Lamborghinis look remarkably helpless. Funnily enough the underpasses were dry, so someone had thought of putting in pumps for them. But it took a few detours to get me to the airport.

The Bear took this tour as a guest of Edelweiss Bike Tours, www.edelweissbike.com.