The Muscat Cycling Club organized a weekend getaway to Sur, which is a small coastal town about 200 km south from Muscat. We hadn't drove that route yet, so it was perfect to see something new, from a bike no less. We dropped our bikes off Wed evening on the truck and would rendevous with the group Thursday morning in Qurayyat (80 km from Muscat).
There was 15 riders of different skill levels and various nationalities - Omanis, Brits, South Africans, a German, Kiwi, Frenchman and us Canucks. It had all the elements of a true Tour - breakaways, crashes (1 of which I was involved in, but came away unscathed), king of the mountain, and a unrelenting peloton. Okay... maybe not quite like the Tour as we did take the scenic route to check out the Sink Hole, Wadi Tiwi, took a few pit stops to regroup and enjoy our cold water refills, bananas, gels, and bars. But we did clip along the 120 km route at 30 km/h, which isn't bad! The group arrived at the Sur Plaza Hotel 4 hours later. Just in time for beer o'clock!
I might as well elaborate a bit about beer o'clock. The hotels and select restaurants that sell alcohol can only serve at certain times out of Islam respect. For example at the PDO club, on weekdays alcohol is served after 6PM, Thursday (weekend) it's 12-1 and from 6 PM on, and Friday (weekend) sometimes it's after 2 PM and other times after 4PM. You can never really be sure because the times change (from week to week) and there's no sign with the hours. Best bet is to always take your cooler with you to the beach.
The evening plan was to drive to the Turtle Reserve at Ras Al Jinz. The center is fairly new, may be a year old, which had a musuem and facts about sea turtles. The guided turtle tour is either early morning at ~4:30AM or 9:30 PM, when they are laying eggs. Unfortunately, we didn't see a turtle. It was a waiting game that a group of tired cyclists were not willing to play, so we left at 11PM to find some food. We stopped at a coffee shop over looking the bay in Sur and had a great meal - Karek Tea, grilled Hamour, Adam went for a staple burger. The fish was cooked whole (head, fins, bones all in). The tab came to $30 cdn for 6 of us!
The following day we rode round trip from Sur to Ras Al Hadd, about 100 km for the day. The road was further inland which made for much hotter riding, 38C was the peak. It was a newly paved road filled with rollers, just enough to segregate the peloton. We kept the support truck busy, a few more stops and everyone's bottle needed replenishing!
We arrived back at the hotel at noon for a quick jump in the pool and lunch. We told stories and recounted jokes from the adventure before parting ways. It was a great trip, lots of laughs and met some great people.
There was 15 riders of different skill levels and various nationalities - Omanis, Brits, South Africans, a German, Kiwi, Frenchman and us Canucks. It had all the elements of a true Tour - breakaways, crashes (1 of which I was involved in, but came away unscathed), king of the mountain, and a unrelenting peloton. Okay... maybe not quite like the Tour as we did take the scenic route to check out the Sink Hole, Wadi Tiwi, took a few pit stops to regroup and enjoy our cold water refills, bananas, gels, and bars. But we did clip along the 120 km route at 30 km/h, which isn't bad! The group arrived at the Sur Plaza Hotel 4 hours later. Just in time for beer o'clock!
I might as well elaborate a bit about beer o'clock. The hotels and select restaurants that sell alcohol can only serve at certain times out of Islam respect. For example at the PDO club, on weekdays alcohol is served after 6PM, Thursday (weekend) it's 12-1 and from 6 PM on, and Friday (weekend) sometimes it's after 2 PM and other times after 4PM. You can never really be sure because the times change (from week to week) and there's no sign with the hours. Best bet is to always take your cooler with you to the beach.
The evening plan was to drive to the Turtle Reserve at Ras Al Jinz. The center is fairly new, may be a year old, which had a musuem and facts about sea turtles. The guided turtle tour is either early morning at ~4:30AM or 9:30 PM, when they are laying eggs. Unfortunately, we didn't see a turtle. It was a waiting game that a group of tired cyclists were not willing to play, so we left at 11PM to find some food. We stopped at a coffee shop over looking the bay in Sur and had a great meal - Karek Tea, grilled Hamour, Adam went for a staple burger. The fish was cooked whole (head, fins, bones all in). The tab came to $30 cdn for 6 of us!
The following day we rode round trip from Sur to Ras Al Hadd, about 100 km for the day. The road was further inland which made for much hotter riding, 38C was the peak. It was a newly paved road filled with rollers, just enough to segregate the peloton. We kept the support truck busy, a few more stops and everyone's bottle needed replenishing!
We arrived back at the hotel at noon for a quick jump in the pool and lunch. We told stories and recounted jokes from the adventure before parting ways. It was a great trip, lots of laughs and met some great people.
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The Grand Depart |
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| Day 2 - Ready to Ride |
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| The Sinkhole |
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