'Dubai petrol heads'
Jan 7th Meeting Dubai Petrol Heads
82km
After a day on the laptop I go into Dubai to see if I can locate some light weight motorbike trousers for the up and coming hot days. The BMW shop has some nice stuff but oh so expensive so resolve to look at the other motorbike shops sometime soon and ebay if that fails.
I then meet up with a few from the Dubai Petrol head motorcycle group who wanted to hear about my trip and how they can help. Marcus joins us too and we are able to expand on our experiences to date but mostly I try to obtain from Vivek and his friends, who are all of Indian descent, if it will be viable to go to India with Vafa as I was still undecided. They are very sure it can be done and recommend I join an Indian bike forum, www.xbhp.com, who will be able to offer support. This sounds a great idea and after a few photos I ride back to Stephan's feeling a lot more positive about India.
82km
After a day on the laptop I go into Dubai to see if I can locate some light weight motorbike trousers for the up and coming hot days. The BMW shop has some nice stuff but oh so expensive so resolve to look at the other motorbike shops sometime soon and ebay if that fails.
I then meet up with a few from the Dubai Petrol head motorcycle group who wanted to hear about my trip and how they can help. Marcus joins us too and we are able to expand on our experiences to date but mostly I try to obtain from Vivek and his friends, who are all of Indian descent, if it will be viable to go to India with Vafa as I was still undecided. They are very sure it can be done and recommend I join an Indian bike forum, www.xbhp.com, who will be able to offer support. This sounds a great idea and after a few photos I ride back to Stephan's feeling a lot more positive about India.
Jan 8th Big zen
0km With the laptop I am borrowing going off for an upgrade I can relax from trying to work and spend the day servicing Vafa after getting a hair cut.
Even with the wheel bearings I fitted last week I still felt a knock coming up to the handle bars when hitting the speed bumps so decide to investigate the steering head bearings again. This time I go for it and strip the wheel and forks so I can get the top yoke off to inspect the taper roller bearings that had been installed 20000 miles earlier. This was a job I had not personally done before and so I am mightly relieved when Billy and Trish appear to show me their new GPS unit they'd finally brought after much discussion the night before. With Billy's help we redistribute the grease around the head bearings and set the running tolerance and I hope Vafa will now glide over the huge speed bumps I have been warned about in Asia.
0km With the laptop I am borrowing going off for an upgrade I can relax from trying to work and spend the day servicing Vafa after getting a hair cut.
Even with the wheel bearings I fitted last week I still felt a knock coming up to the handle bars when hitting the speed bumps so decide to investigate the steering head bearings again. This time I go for it and strip the wheel and forks so I can get the top yoke off to inspect the taper roller bearings that had been installed 20000 miles earlier. This was a job I had not personally done before and so I am mightly relieved when Billy and Trish appear to show me their new GPS unit they'd finally brought after much discussion the night before. With Billy's help we redistribute the grease around the head bearings and set the running tolerance and I hope Vafa will now glide over the huge speed bumps I have been warned about in Asia.
Jan 9th Looking for trousers
86km I go back to Dubai to tour all the bike shops in search of summer motorbike trousers. At the first shop, Gecko, I meet Carlo from Holland. Carlo had been in Dubai a month and had just finished servicing his BMW GS100 ready to continue his trip. Having been on the road 8 months he was going to go to Pakistan and India but like me had been put of Pakistan but the warnings of unrest and so now was departing for South Africa, another biker like me with no plan. In the evening I am back at the stove and knock out another stir fry for Billy and Trish who we'd invited for dinner. This was followed by ample servings of chocolate cake Trish had brought so I retired to bed later knowing my India reserve was well stocked up.
86km I go back to Dubai to tour all the bike shops in search of summer motorbike trousers. At the first shop, Gecko, I meet Carlo from Holland. Carlo had been in Dubai a month and had just finished servicing his BMW GS100 ready to continue his trip. Having been on the road 8 months he was going to go to Pakistan and India but like me had been put of Pakistan but the warnings of unrest and so now was departing for South Africa, another biker like me with no plan. In the evening I am back at the stove and knock out another stir fry for Billy and Trish who we'd invited for dinner. This was followed by ample servings of chocolate cake Trish had brought so I retired to bed later knowing my India reserve was well stocked up.
Jan 10th Desert dudes again
Being the Islamic New Year, the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar, it is a national holiday so we go off to do what is natural in the UAE and go and play in the desert. In our case on motorbikes, while others use 4x4's and some powerful quads.
Back on Stephan's friend's KTM 250 two stroke I am more confident this time and so suffer more falls as I try to match my skill to my levels of confidence.
It begins to hammer home to begin just what the Dakar racers must go through as I dig the bike out of the soft sand near the top of a dune for the Xth time that day, upright it and summon again the energy to climb aboard and kick start the bike back into life. Luckily for me it was a winter's day so the temparature is a mild 19 degrees rather than the 30+ the Dakar guys have to race in, my bike is light as I am carrying no spares and I have only a few tens of kilometres to go to get to my destination instead of the 600+ km sometimes the Dakar bikers need to do.
I also experience the variations in the sand, parts of which are hard and easy to ride on while other bits are soft and require constant throttle to power the bike through while fighting the steering to stop the bike going off course.
With more speed I was also finding the steering going light at the top of the dunes as the forks extended but failed to keep the wheel in contact with the sand as I have over powered the top over the profile of the dune does not match my expectations. When that happened I learned to pull my knees up to transfer weight to the front end and rotate the bike over the dune top and down the otherside. Fantastic fun and a great way to spend the second New Year's day of 2008.
Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sanctified months of the year. The others being Dhul-Qa'dah, Dhul-Hijjah and Rajab. Since the Islamic calendar is lunar rather than Gregorian, Muharram moves from year to year when . Muharram is so called because it was unlawful to fight during this month; the word is derived from the word ‘haram’ meaning forbidden. The tenth day of Muharram is called Yaumu-l 'Ashurah, meaning, ‘the tenth day’, and it is a day of voluntary fasting.
Back on Stephan's friend's KTM 250 two stroke I am more confident this time and so suffer more falls as I try to match my skill to my levels of confidence.
It begins to hammer home to begin just what the Dakar racers must go through as I dig the bike out of the soft sand near the top of a dune for the Xth time that day, upright it and summon again the energy to climb aboard and kick start the bike back into life. Luckily for me it was a winter's day so the temparature is a mild 19 degrees rather than the 30+ the Dakar guys have to race in, my bike is light as I am carrying no spares and I have only a few tens of kilometres to go to get to my destination instead of the 600+ km sometimes the Dakar bikers need to do.
I also experience the variations in the sand, parts of which are hard and easy to ride on while other bits are soft and require constant throttle to power the bike through while fighting the steering to stop the bike going off course.
With more speed I was also finding the steering going light at the top of the dunes as the forks extended but failed to keep the wheel in contact with the sand as I have over powered the top over the profile of the dune does not match my expectations. When that happened I learned to pull my knees up to transfer weight to the front end and rotate the bike over the dune top and down the otherside. Fantastic fun and a great way to spend the second New Year's day of 2008.
Jan 11th advising more Dubai petrol heads
Stephan had offered Billy and Trish, and his friend Duncan, a ride in the desert in his truck. This meant there was no room for me so I had to don again off-road motorbiking gear and jump on Stephan's Honda 450CRF motocross bike and ride along side the truck. Although my body ached from the day before in the desert I was more than glad to be once again on a crosser flying over the dunes, even more so when I saw the conditions Stephan was able to put his aging truck through feeling I would be very sick and the 2007 Honda was so easy to ride compared with the 2000 KTM I'd been on the day before.
Another group from the Dubai Petrol Head forum were planning to ride to the UK and had asked Stephan and myself to go along and talk about our experiences and offer advice. So the run in the desert ended early and we are packed up, showered, fed and ridden into Dubai by 2.30pm. Stephan had ridden twice back to the UK over the recent summers and so was able to offer a lot of advice to the group of 9 or 10 expat bikers gathered in the Irish Village bar grounds. The group was originally thinking of riding to the UK from Dubai in just two weeks, so it was quite a relief when we arrived and they had worked out for themselves this was possible but not enjoyable. An hour and a half later and they were back to stage one as I explained it had taken me 17 days to get through Iran alone and that felt rushed. So we left them to consider their plans, though as they were not planning to go till 2009 they had plenty of time to reconsider.
Jan 12th
Spend the day searching the internet for new chain, sprockets, bike trousers etc ready as my parents have decided they will come out to visit Dubai while I am still here. Also continue the post 15000km clean up of Vafa and twiddle with her nuts and bolts.
Jan 13,14,15
Mainly spend the days computer contracting. Though did manage to go for a walk with Billy and Trish one day and Stephan the next while also helping him add a box of electronic trickery to make more of his bikes lights flash.
Billy and Trish are close to getting back on the travelling road. In one sense I'd like to join them but the weather had turned wet so remained happy to sit and work. Especially as the road systems are designed only for dry conditions so a decent amount of rain and the lack of drains means the roads are quickly flooded and dangerous.
On the 15th Stephan is sent home early from work as the roads are so bad and told not to return for 3 days. Dubai and Sharjah are suffering exactly as England would if it snowed with many people unable to get to work, though emails from friends tell me it is raining hard in England and Italy as well.
