19/03/2025
๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ต ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ - ๐ฎ๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ (๐จ๐๐)
You are never too old to learn and you are never too young to die...a few hard lessons learned from my near-death experience today.
What started out as a "quick" ride in some wadis in the heart of the Hajar mountains turned bad rather quickly and I think itโs fair to say that we only just made it out by the skin of our teeth. The happy photos below were shot at the outset of the ride in Wadi Shawka, however as we moved deeper and deeper into the boulder-strewn beds, we realized (at first silently each in his own mind only), that the route was not as advertised or even indicated on the sparse bread-crumb GPS I had strapped to my bike. But you keep pushing on โ the eternal โdonโt worry, itโs going to clear up just aheadโ mantra setting the pace and tone. And so we got sucked in deeper and deeper into a structure of massive and deep gorges, that had (unbeknown to us) been completely re-shaped and re-routed by a massive flash flood a few weeks earlier.
It was at the point where Kennyโs clutch finally gave in that we stopped, looked at each other and admitted that we were in deep โshaizeโ. It was at this point that we also realized that the way back was less of an option in comparison to whatever lay ahead โ actually both seemed equally impassableโฆand frankly unclear. I was out of water and dehydrated badly, and apart from his cooked clutch, Kennyโs bike was running on fumes. On top of this, we were completely burned out from walking our bikes across miles and miles of unrideable boulder-strewn terrain that would make a goat blush.
We eventually arrived at a steep rocky slope โ the kind that you may be inclined to tackle on all fours โ but with no choice but to push on, we โmountaineeredโ our way across the incline โ one person climbs ahead a few metres while the other holds the one bike in position โ then the bike gets pulled/pushed up a meter or so at a time โ after which the rear guy climbs up and so we repeated the process..twiceโฆtwo bikes.
What was supposed to be that aha moment at the summit, disappointed gravely โ all we could see was more wadi โ more boulders โ and no end or significant landmark in place in the barren desert landscape. Eventually you just reach a point where total exhaustion takes over your body and you just don't have the power to even pull in that clutch or balance anymore over the bloody big rocks...We had long back started cramping and were barely able to move a few metres at a time. You become so tired that you simply want to lie down and close your eyes to sleep. The bikes were long forgotten, left some way behind us on the rock-strewn track. Now it was simply a case of survival by foot. By the miracle of a small section of exposed black plastic waterpipe, we survived and made it out. That part of the story to be told on the next ride ๐.
Yes, I do know better - and I should have done what I knew was the right thing, but it did not go down like that:
Quick summary of my mistakes:
1. I did not eat breakfast before we left.
2. We did not take any food with us โ it was supposed to take us no more than 2 hrs to complete the route.
3. I was already dehydrated before I started the ride.
4. I only took 1.5 litres of water - instead of the 3 that my KamelBak can take โ again, it was only supposed to be a short route.
5. The route that was shown to us was described as a route that was used before and nothing technical at all...ya right...I think the flash floods of recent times changed that completely.
6. We had no spatial perception of terrain - the breadcrumb GPS that I was using simply did not prepare us for the myriad of inclines that we had to push each of the bikes up one-by-one.
7. Complete lack of cell phone signal - I laughed at one point when I literally felt like I was ready to just fall over and desperately needed to get any topographical bearing ... the UAE has 95% cell phone coverage...the joke was that we had found the other 5%.
8. I did not insist on Kenny loading the route onto his own GPS.
W***y was a silly boy...
Happy to be home sore but safe - would not have made it if I was alone. Thank you, God, for keeping your hand over me...again.
Now, apart from the technicalities of the above, it was such an intensely rewarding ride...had bits of everything in it, and we had so many river crossings at the start of the wadi...Kenny fell into a stream, and my 501 also got dunked. A few scratched plastics, a couple of broken clutch levers and so on... ..and Yes, I will go back - but this time I will follow MY route...
P.S. ...I never went back...
