Cycling on roads in Dubai
Discussion
I may end up with a weekend in Dubai on an upcoming business trip and am planning to take my bike (as I often do on business trips to other places).
I used to live in Dubai (~10 years ago) and did the Al Qudra track a few times, even in mid day summer 50 degrees!
Since then I can see they have extended the tracks somewhat back towards the town, however not all the way to JLT area where my hotel will be. I have been reading up on the RTA's recently introduced cycling rules and see that they no longer allow cycling on roads where the speed limit is 60kmh or higher.
Do any road cyclists who currently live there know if this is strictly enforced? Or have thoughts on how to cycle from the JLT area to the start of the Al Qudra track?
I used to live in Dubai (~10 years ago) and did the Al Qudra track a few times, even in mid day summer 50 degrees!
Since then I can see they have extended the tracks somewhat back towards the town, however not all the way to JLT area where my hotel will be. I have been reading up on the RTA's recently introduced cycling rules and see that they no longer allow cycling on roads where the speed limit is 60kmh or higher.
Do any road cyclists who currently live there know if this is strictly enforced? Or have thoughts on how to cycle from the JLT area to the start of the Al Qudra track?
Don't ride on the roads in Dubai, you'll get killed before the police stop you! If you book a large taxi on Careem then they'll let you pop your bike in.
You can ride Al Qudra - there are multiple options now as the original route 1 loop has had a few additions added on over the past few years. You can do anything from around 40k to over 100k now without riding the same bits again. If you ride West down route 1 and route 3 then there's a new extension which'll take you to Abu Dhabi (I don't think it's complete yet, but it'll end at Yas Island eventually):
https://maphub.net/CyclingTracksAE/bikeroutes.ae-a...
There's also the Meydan Cycling track which is just a loop with a speed limit, however, you can peel off and go up towards the canal at some point. You can then ride along the coast until you get to the Palm:
https://www.wikiloc.com/cycling-trails/nad-al-sheb...
If you want to ride on real roads, you could get in the car and drive to Ras Al Khaimah and do Jebel Jais. I've not been able to do it yet, but this is the approximate route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23970956?lang=en
If you want to ride with a group, our club has rides on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The Sunday coffee ride is good fun and we have lots of people so there are different groups for different speeds:
https://cyclesafedubai.com/rides/
You can ride Al Qudra - there are multiple options now as the original route 1 loop has had a few additions added on over the past few years. You can do anything from around 40k to over 100k now without riding the same bits again. If you ride West down route 1 and route 3 then there's a new extension which'll take you to Abu Dhabi (I don't think it's complete yet, but it'll end at Yas Island eventually):
https://maphub.net/CyclingTracksAE/bikeroutes.ae-a...
There's also the Meydan Cycling track which is just a loop with a speed limit, however, you can peel off and go up towards the canal at some point. You can then ride along the coast until you get to the Palm:
https://www.wikiloc.com/cycling-trails/nad-al-sheb...
If you want to ride on real roads, you could get in the car and drive to Ras Al Khaimah and do Jebel Jais. I've not been able to do it yet, but this is the approximate route:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23970956?lang=en
If you want to ride with a group, our club has rides on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The Sunday coffee ride is good fun and we have lots of people so there are different groups for different speeds:
https://cyclesafedubai.com/rides/
Thanks for the info.
I'm fairly comfortable cycling on the roads and did so a lot when living there, however I appreciate it's not the nicest thing or as safe as the tracks. Knowing the taxis will let you stick a bike in is very useful to know - I don't always get that in cities i go, not even in all the ex-pat places where there's a lot of cycling going on.
I'll definitely look at the group rides when my plans are confirmed. Nice to see lots of distance and speed options - I'm not particularly fast, but will happily chug along for 1-200km in relatively flat places.
I'm fairly comfortable cycling on the roads and did so a lot when living there, however I appreciate it's not the nicest thing or as safe as the tracks. Knowing the taxis will let you stick a bike in is very useful to know - I don't always get that in cities i go, not even in all the ex-pat places where there's a lot of cycling going on.
I'll definitely look at the group rides when my plans are confirmed. Nice to see lots of distance and speed options - I'm not particularly fast, but will happily chug along for 1-200km in relatively flat places.
The Wolfis rides look fun - I think they have a police escort so they can ride on some of the bigger roads.
If you've not visited Dubai in the 10 or so years since you lived there then a lot has changed in the Al Qudra area. Al Qudra road is now a dual carriageway (it's 4 lanes wide on each side on some parts of Umm Suqeim road) and has some nasty sections at Al Barsha South and near Arabian Ranches. When I started cycling there on holidays it was impossible to get a taxi up to the Trek store at the track because it was so far out of town, but now it's really well connected. Whenever anyone asks on our club WhatsApp group about riding from anywhere apart from Mira, Arabian Ranches 2 or Al Barari the guys always say it's a really bad idea.
If you've not visited Dubai in the 10 or so years since you lived there then a lot has changed in the Al Qudra area. Al Qudra road is now a dual carriageway (it's 4 lanes wide on each side on some parts of Umm Suqeim road) and has some nasty sections at Al Barsha South and near Arabian Ranches. When I started cycling there on holidays it was impossible to get a taxi up to the Trek store at the track because it was so far out of town, but now it's really well connected. Whenever anyone asks on our club WhatsApp group about riding from anywhere apart from Mira, Arabian Ranches 2 or Al Barari the guys always say it's a really bad idea.
There's also this next month, even more riders and on closed roads 
fastest 90k I've ever done and I was barely pedaling, total chaos in some sections however 
https://cyclechallenge.ae/
fastest 90k I've ever done and I was barely pedaling, total chaos in some sections however https://cyclechallenge.ae/
ecs said:
There's also this next month, even more riders and on closed roads fastest 90k I've ever done and I was barely pedaling, total chaos in some sections however
https://cyclechallenge.ae/
It really was carnage last year. I`m not sure why people put themselves at such risk for what amounts to bragging rights. The build up rides at AQ are even more dangerous as it`s so narrow. That being said I managed to keep out of trouble and enjoy it and yes fastest 90km I`ve ever done but pancake flat and what, 1500 riders plus? fastest 90k I've ever done and I was barely pedaling, total chaos in some sections however https://cyclechallenge.ae/
From what I`ve seen some riders that are fast for Dubai come and try some races in Eu and get spat VERY fast. While vice versa so long as you have decent top end power an Eu rider threatening top 20% in Eu races then coming to race in Dubai can do very well.
I`ve since moved back to Wiltshire and am struggling with Winter riding because I`m soft now after the winter riding in UAE.
I was in AD few weeks back and tried the bunchies at Yas F1 and al Hudryiat. Nice fun and amazing facilities. Although riding in a chainy on a sora 9 speed rental bike thats seen much better days and would skip everytime i went over 400w was sketchy as f
k)
I then looked at the results / stats of the riders who have been winning smaller stuff, like you say i dont think they would do that well in the UK and the speeds / power are prob 4th cat level.
Then the bigger races and you have strong UAE expats, UAE Dev teams, and weirdly some WT riders guesting (Tim Wellens, Luca Mezgec, Greg Bola etc)
Mixed bag, i want to come over in the UK winter and try some racing as the prize money seems very nice.
k) I then looked at the results / stats of the riders who have been winning smaller stuff, like you say i dont think they would do that well in the UK and the speeds / power are prob 4th cat level.
Then the bigger races and you have strong UAE expats, UAE Dev teams, and weirdly some WT riders guesting (Tim Wellens, Luca Mezgec, Greg Bola etc)
Mixed bag, i want to come over in the UK winter and try some racing as the prize money seems very nice.
Edited by z4RRSchris on Friday 28th February 16:39
Yes I saw that Greg spends a fair bit of time riding over there.
I can only really compete in Masters otherwise known as old b*st*rds now but as you have seen there`s loads of sauced up ex pro riders hanging on to past glories. when i did Spinneys 92 there was a 67 year old ex pro khazakstani rider that did 45kmh average and finished just ahead of me. For one I hope I`m still that fit at that age and two I wish I was that fit at my age now
One thing i`m struggling with is the appalling state of our roads after riding on perfect tarmac in Dubai. Makes me wanna leave the aero bike at home, emonda seems so much more comfortable with ally rims.
Had a weird/funny thing happen after a ride last weekend.......hiccups. For 4 days........was probably the hardest ride I`ve done in 6 months after my spill but had to go to the doctor to get meds to stop it. I asked the doctor to put me down as it just started driving me mad
I can only really compete in Masters otherwise known as old b*st*rds now but as you have seen there`s loads of sauced up ex pro riders hanging on to past glories. when i did Spinneys 92 there was a 67 year old ex pro khazakstani rider that did 45kmh average and finished just ahead of me. For one I hope I`m still that fit at that age and two I wish I was that fit at my age now
One thing i`m struggling with is the appalling state of our roads after riding on perfect tarmac in Dubai. Makes me wanna leave the aero bike at home, emonda seems so much more comfortable with ally rims.
Had a weird/funny thing happen after a ride last weekend.......hiccups. For 4 days........was probably the hardest ride I`ve done in 6 months after my spill but had to go to the doctor to get meds to stop it. I asked the doctor to put me down as it just started driving me mad
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