We had tentatively accepted to come on this bike trip earlier in the month contingent on our air shipment arriving in time. Thankfully it came just in time, 2 days before and lucky for us it did because the bike trip was fantastic!
There were 2 options for the weekend, the first being a road bike ride to Sifah from Bandar Marina in Muscat and the second being to drive or take the water taxi to Sifah and go mountain biking once there. We went with the road bike option and met the group at 10am. It was smaller than we thought with only 7 riders, Tom and Donna who you've already heard about, Michelle (the grandfather of cycling in Muscat we were told, he's 68, been in Muscat for 17 years and is from France), Neil (from the UK) and Robin (from RSA). Off we went on a beautiful day, blue sky, sunny and almost no wind. The entire ride was around 50 km and we had 2 support cars following us with our bags. Now coming from Calgary and having biked in the mountains and foothills we figured we'd seen hills before so when we were told in the first weeks here that you will never have ridden hills like there are in Oman we thought "ya right, how much worse could they be". Boy were we in for a surprise. We have never ridden climbs like there were on this ride, 20% gradients and roads going places you would think there is no way you could go, even with a car. Climbing aside the day was absolutely amazing, fantastic views and unbelievable roads. After 5 or 6 of these climbs and one last really steep one we were almost in Sifah and cold beer awaited. However there was one last downhill that was the steepest hill we had ever scene. Going down Janelle said it felt like having vertigo because it was so steep. You were on the brakes the entire way and had this feeling you were going to go over the front handlebars. To put an exclamation point on how perilous the hill was a truck laid in the ditch crushed from going over the edge.
Steep decents and climbs behind us we pedalled into Sifah and the Sifawy 5 star hotel. The hotel had only been open for 6 months and is part of a much larger resort development planned for the area that eventually will include a golf course, numerous villas and 3 more hotels. Walking into the lobby of the hotel we were greeted by the wonderful smell of incense and a Omani playing an Arabian guitar. Needless to say the rest of our stay at the hotel was even better, the rooms fantastic and the food absolutely outstanding. As part of the bike package we got the hotel room including a buffet dinner and brunch for the 2 of us for only 60 OR (150 dollars). We left the next full from the great brunch and feeling completely relaxed. Rather than riding back to Bandar we opted to take the water taxi and enjoyed the view of the coast from the ocean.
All in all a great weekend and one that we would both gladly repeat!
There were 2 options for the weekend, the first being a road bike ride to Sifah from Bandar Marina in Muscat and the second being to drive or take the water taxi to Sifah and go mountain biking once there. We went with the road bike option and met the group at 10am. It was smaller than we thought with only 7 riders, Tom and Donna who you've already heard about, Michelle (the grandfather of cycling in Muscat we were told, he's 68, been in Muscat for 17 years and is from France), Neil (from the UK) and Robin (from RSA). Off we went on a beautiful day, blue sky, sunny and almost no wind. The entire ride was around 50 km and we had 2 support cars following us with our bags. Now coming from Calgary and having biked in the mountains and foothills we figured we'd seen hills before so when we were told in the first weeks here that you will never have ridden hills like there are in Oman we thought "ya right, how much worse could they be". Boy were we in for a surprise. We have never ridden climbs like there were on this ride, 20% gradients and roads going places you would think there is no way you could go, even with a car. Climbing aside the day was absolutely amazing, fantastic views and unbelievable roads. After 5 or 6 of these climbs and one last really steep one we were almost in Sifah and cold beer awaited. However there was one last downhill that was the steepest hill we had ever scene. Going down Janelle said it felt like having vertigo because it was so steep. You were on the brakes the entire way and had this feeling you were going to go over the front handlebars. To put an exclamation point on how perilous the hill was a truck laid in the ditch crushed from going over the edge.
Steep decents and climbs behind us we pedalled into Sifah and the Sifawy 5 star hotel. The hotel had only been open for 6 months and is part of a much larger resort development planned for the area that eventually will include a golf course, numerous villas and 3 more hotels. Walking into the lobby of the hotel we were greeted by the wonderful smell of incense and a Omani playing an Arabian guitar. Needless to say the rest of our stay at the hotel was even better, the rooms fantastic and the food absolutely outstanding. As part of the bike package we got the hotel room including a buffet dinner and brunch for the 2 of us for only 60 OR (150 dollars). We left the next full from the great brunch and feeling completely relaxed. Rather than riding back to Bandar we opted to take the water taxi and enjoyed the view of the coast from the ocean.
All in all a great weekend and one that we would both gladly repeat!
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| 20% grade, tough cycling! |
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| Sifawy Boutique Hotel |
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| Cycling to As Sifah |
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| View of the marina at Sifawy Hotel |
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| Village traffic jam |
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