First 8 kilometers it is persistently up the hill
Last weekend ride was in scenic area of Nahda 2 – known as “Little Chicago” as they used to take there all naughty boys and galls
I arrived lil’ bit earlier to check the track. Am hamdullilah no tsunami materialized in spite of predictions, but there was terrible gusty wind which slapped my car doors to my face as soon as I opened it after I parked (like my wife when I come home too merrily, late and UI!).
I rode for few kms to check the track and came back before 15:00 – we had 12 riders (Tom, Ingmar, Andree, Luke, Greg, Shukri, Frans, Robin, Simon, Hussain and guy who came from Saudi just for weekend – was it “John”? – sorry guys, I am just not very good with names, so pls correct me, hopefully I will remember it for next time). The graded road snaked now between new houses which are mushrooming everywhere around.
First 8 kilometers it is persistently up the hill – the incline is only 1-3% but in combination with relatively soft gravely tracks it was quite demanding. A top of that – my computer was showing this
which did not add to pleasure (plus all that wind all the time). We had short stop already 4 kilometers from cars in shade of jebel to cool down little bit. The area is quite flat and it is like riding on the moon – brown-redish rocks scattered everywhere – only closer to mountain there are small jebels coming out of surface like jagged teeth.
Hot and strong wind and permanent climb took it's toll and Luke and Hussain decided to take sensible option and returned to cars. 3 more kms and finally we reached the highest point of our track, enjoyed the view over wadi and took some photos with shooting range as background.
From now on fun started – twisting graded road and single tracks, nice technical riding in between jebels just on foothill of majestic Hajar mountain range. Even if terrain was undulating it was kind of “downhill” so we rode faster.
After while we arrived to wadi with bedu settlement with at least 30 cute goat kids which ran around us as little puppies (even wiggling the tiles).
We pressed on and soon found ourselves on new tarmac road where I took iconic picture “Flash car vs. flash bike” last time (click here and scroll down till u find it if you do not know what it’s about) – but no Corvette this time. We crossed the road and passed another bedu settlement and stopped in the shadow of the tree, group of goats with “horny” boss passing us.
From now on we climbed the ridge and hit again nice technical riding – highlight was technical trail 4 m above pinkish wadi floor.
Then we climbed several ridges and again rode down to valleys, on places it was like biking in dry Scotland. In progress we were even lost (riding “cross-country”) but again found our way and emerged close to Nahda village where locals enjoyed usual weekend football game.
We did approx. 26 kms, back to cars around 18:00. Here we bid farewell to Andre who is leaving for family reasons, but never say never, all the best to you and maybe we will meet again.
Photos are on flicker resp. for search for pics from this ride http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=MTB+ride+12.04.2012+Nahda2+Oman