Tour of the Emirates is a charity bike ride to raise money and awareness for Cancer Charity Big C and SOS Children. Ollie Blackmore and Jason Roberts will be spending 4 gruelling days in the saddle as they ride through all seven Emirates of the United Arab Emirates.
The ride starts in Abu Dhabi at the Bluehaus offices on 27th Feb 2013 and ends 4 days later in their Dubai offices.
Each day brings a new challenges, both riders have trained for months to prepare them for the ride. This site details each day’s route and challenges. We take on temperatures in the mid 30’s Celsius with a blazing hot sun. We ride through arid deserts with difficult headwinds which can generate sandstorms at any time. We ride through mountains and coastal roads, often dangerous with busy traffic and rubble blocking the road.
Every penny raised goes straight to our designated charities. More details about The Big C and SOS Children can be found on the Charities page, please donate as much as as you can.
The ride wouldn’t be possible without the fantastic support of everyone involved, a huge thanks to Bluehaus Group for making it happen!
Day One
Abu Dhabi to Al Ain
The first ride of the trip! Heading from the Bluehaus Head Quarters in Adu Dhabi office. We’ll have to deal with the lunatic traffic leaving Abu Dhabi heading into the dessert heat during the middle of the day. As we arrive into Al Ain on the border, we take on the infamous Jebel Hafeet Mountain, an 7.5 mile climb, 8% average ascent and 21 hairpin bends. The view from the mountain overlooking Al Ain and into Oman will be stunning when we reach the top, as will the ride down!
Day Two
Al Ain to Hatta
We’re right on the border with Oman and in the thick of it for mountains. Hopefully our legs will be recovered from the Jebel Hafeet climb on Day One, but we can expect some challenging climbs here too with a much steeper gradient.
The roads will be much quieter being so remote, many climbs will be to steep to head up straight – we’ll have to zig-zag across the road!
In order to cross the border with an emirate, we have to travel out of Hatta before turning around and heading back.
Day Three
Hatta to Dibba
We continue in the mountains for the shortest of the rides, still 103 miles / 170km nonetheless!
After several days of mountains and dessert, we’ll head towards the coast and ride the road towards Dibba. This section is likely to be extremely windy and challenging, however as we get closer to Dibba the hills relent and the road becomes flatter, thankfully.
The final day! We hit the desert hard with potential sandstorms and very tired legs. The final day will be a welcome relief having spent a total of 40 hours in the saddle. We will arrive back at the Bluehaus Group offices to celebrate a fantastic 4 days riding through intense heat, desert, through mountains…
