The Cycling Whore - My Adventure with DBCK

The early bird catches the worm, but the early cyclist joins the wrong group!


Today was meant to be my first run with the fabulous group of biking enthusiasts, the Kuwait Desert Biking Club. Id known of them for quite some time, but had yet to make the commitment of going for an early Friday morning route.

The day started off @ 5:30am, got up, adrenalin pumping, in anticipation of the adventure that lay ahead, and what an adventure it proved to be!

After my morning coffee, I checked my email to double check the time, and place of the meeting. However, I failed to save the number given in the email, just in case I got lost etc.

The drive to the location was uneventful, the most relaxing driving is done on a Friday morning.

Meeting time was 6:30, I was there by 6:20, first impressions are the most crucial, and I hoped to be punctual.

Im in the parking lot looking around and, its just me! There are no cars around, much less cars with cycle carriers. I got out of the car to walk around and, as I looked across the street, I saw what appeared to be my intended group, already huddled together and shooting down the other side of the gulf road!

Desperate to catch up, I threw everything into my bag, hopped on my bike and peddled furiously to make up for lost time.

I was to learn later, what I already knew as well, that my knowledge of gears on bicycles was severely lacking to say the least. Not to mention the fact that my seat was low-set, giving me the appearance, as one person quoted, of an oversized guy on an 11-year olds bike.

Catch up to the group, I did not. I figured, well, I am out here on a Friday morning, the weather is fantastic, I might as well just double back and enjoy the ride back to my car (distance travelled was from the Radisson Blu up to the 30). On taking a “U-turn”, I saw two professional looking biking dudes, and much like the affinity found between smokers where complete strangers can ask for a light, I followed them and asked whether or not they were KDBC. The guy tells me no, we’re Pilipino (an obvious communication error, but, nonetheless, I tagged along).

Two more guys came along, and the first person I talked to told me to go off with them, as they were waiting for more people. Again, my lack of bicycle gear knowledge meant that I was lagging far, far behind the two. Lost them, found them again as one dude had to make a call (didn’t ask for names, although he was British with blue sunglasses), they started off again, and again, I fell behind, but this time, there would be no reuniting. I kept scouting the ground looking for any tell-tale sign of tire tracks, but my ranger skills are as sharp as my knowledge of bicycle gears! I kept pedaling past some officers club, and that hideous brown eye-sore house with all the statuettes that looks like art threw up all over it, or it may be the place where good taste goes to die.

I got to the end of the road, and for the second time that day, in only 40 minutes, decided that my ride is over, afterall, the farther you get from your car, the longer you have to travel to get back, right?

So I headed back, along the way I looked to my right and saw a shiny metal surface and thought Hey! Theres another biker! It was merely my reflection.

I felt it was ridiculous to have travelled so far and have nothing to show for it, so I took a detour, did a bit of exploration and landed on some beach. I was probably encroaching on somebody elses property. I took the usual “facebook” picture, and headed to the other side of the beach, only to find a gate, not wanting to be arrested, I trekked back through the vicious sand, a very difficult thing to do as I kept sinking into it.

Slowly, but surely, I made it back to the area from whence I came, and started my journey back to my car, from somewhere on the 30.

Then what to my wondering eyes should appear, but 6 heavenly figures, bedecked with cycling gear!

I did a u-turn and followed them, finally, I was where I was supposed to be! A quick ride up a pedestrian bridge, and we were on the other side of the 30, playing follow the leader, a few introductions later, and we were all acquaintances.

A lovely trek later, filled with ups and downs, and even a sighting of cows!

A while later, we came to a drop down, Croc explained that there were three ways which we could go down, and for the purpose of this story, the picked the hardest one! It was steep ride down a make-shift hill, and on the way down, I panicked due to the ground being broken up, I hit the break and landed on my side, the water bottle I had just opened 3 minutes ago slipped away in the frackas, a little readjusting later, and we were back on the way to god knows where. A chat with Peter and my knowledge of bicycle gears increased exponentially.

Do not ask me where we went, I had no idea where we were and felt we got back by “magic”. It certainly seemed that the riders knew all the nooks and crannies of the road, at times squeezing through a tight hole in a fence.

The day ended @ PQ, over a glorious cup of coffee. The only downside to the day was that I lost one of my earphones ear-pieces. Other than that, it was amazing.

At the end of the night, I felt much like a bicycle whore, jumping from one group to the next, until I found out where I am meant to be!

I will definitely be back on the road next Friday, it shall prove to be perfect training for the runq8 marathon on the 6th of November!