For those who have never ventured onto the shifting sands of Dubai's desert on two wheels, a desert riding course with an experienced instructor is really the best way to go - for reasons of safety and to have the best possible time.
Even if you have ridden in other terrains - on tarred or dirt roads, mud or bush tracks - the desert is something entirely different. It is the dynamics of desert riding that make a course so invaluable. The shifting sands provide an experience akin to riding on ball bearings. Throw in some dunes and, unless you know what you're doing, you can spend a lot of time sprawled on the ground.
There are only a few companies running organised off-road motorcycle trips in the UAE, and I chose KTM Adventure Tours because they also offer a course for those new to desert riding. The head instructor, James West, has many years experience of off-road riding, having won some of the world's most prestigious events in this field, including Mexico's Baha 1000, the World Rally Championship and the Dubai leg of the Desert Challenge.
Along for the lesson, I joined Dennis and Michael Spillane, twin brothers originally from Ireland now living in Dubai, out in the desert just south of the city (the courses are limited to a maximum of four people with an instructor). Once kitted up, the three of us listen intently as West uses a combination of simple explanation and demonstration to get us riding on the sands of Dubai's desert.
Appropriate use of the clutch underpins the entire process of desert riding, and this is where West starts his instruction. He explains the importance of using a combination of clutch and throttle control to moderate your speed in the sand. "Basically, the clutch ends up working like your brake - it saves you from being tempted to grab the front brake," says West. "When you pull the clutch on, it slows the bike gradually, which is what you need in the sand."
Whether cresting or descending a dune or simply slowing on a flat section, West explains I should roll the throttle off and gradually pull in the clutch, using the engine and transmission as a brake. If needing to slow a little quicker, I can dab the rear brake slightly, but under no circumstances touch the front brake - unless I want a quick visit to the desert floor.
Positioning yourself correctly on the bike is also related to having correct control of the clutch. As West explains, "sit or stand in the centre of the bike, with your arms bent, so you have full control of the throttle and steering."
Most of the time while moving through the dunes, you stand on the footpegs to keep the centre of gravity low, gripping the tank with your knees and keeping your legs slightly bent to absorb the impact of bumps and move your body with the suspension of the bike.
Unless you want to ride in a straight line for hours, you need to know the best way to make a turn in the desert.
West demonstrates a turn at speed, taking a short run-up before making a 180 turn. He first explains the process - "just ride along straight, grab the clutch to slow down slightly, begin making the turn and throttle-on slightly as you're about halfway through."
He then executes four neat arcing turns, churning up the sand as he powers out, left leg extended slightly and just brushing the ground to put more weight over the front wheel. While it looks simple enough, it takes me a few tries - and a couple of falls - before I make a relatively clean turn.
West explains the importance of keeping up your entry speed when approaching a dune, and not being afraid to hit the dune at a decent speed. "You can always take them on faster than you might think," he says. Accelerating while on the dune will cause the back wheel to dig in and can lift the front wheel. "The ideal way is to coast up to the top," he says.
According to West, you need to resist the urge to stop at the top of a dune, as keeping your momentum helps ensure you don't get stuck and keeps the bike more stable. Once you have reached the top and slowed enough to assess the terrain on the other side and pick your line down, keep the clutch lever pulled in and gradually release it as you roll forwards, also adding a touch of throttle.
Again, sitting towards the bike's rear is crucial in avoiding going over the handlebars. Keeping a gentle acceleration as you descend also means you're ready to negotiate any bumps you may hit on the way down. By accelerating over these, the weight is taken off the front wheel slightly.
"If you coast down, you're making the front end heavy, causing it to dig into the sand, and you'll go over the bars," says West.
After these pointers were covered, the brothers Spillane and I took off across the dunes, following in the sandy wake of West, for a chance to put the above techniques into practice. Further into the desert, a startled gazelle dashed across our path, scared by our snarling engines.
Later, as we are parked, doffing our dusty helmets and gloves, I ask Michael, who has been living in the UAE for about 16 months, what brought him out to the lesson.
"I've always had an interest in riding, even if I hadn't really done much in the past. Riding in the desert is something new, and something unique to a place like Dubai, where we have the desert right on our doorstep."
His brother Dennis, living in Dubai for more than two years, was happy he took the KTM course. "We were starting from scratch, basically, so we opted for a course. There's no huge formality with the process, with all the techniques demonstrated, and you can learn at your own pace. I never felt like I was riding at a level I didn't feel comfortable with."
The courses are run year round, though the months between October and April are the most popular. For Dh700, you receive the use of a bike and two hours of practical instruction, along with the loan of protective gear.
motoring@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
Company%20Profile
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Company%20Profile
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SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
Graduated from the American University of Sharjah
She is the eldest of three brothers and two sisters
Has helped solve 15 cases of electric shocks
Enjoys travelling, reading and horse riding
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
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Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
Specs – Taycan 4S
Engine: Electric
Transmission: 2-speed auto
Power: 571bhp
Torque: 650Nm
Price: Dh431,800
Specs – Panamera
Engine: 3-litre V6 with 100kW electric motor
Transmission: 2-speed auto
Power: 455bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: from Dh431,800
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
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THREE
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if you go
The flights Fly Dubai, Air Arabia, Emirates, Etihad, and Royal Jordanian all offer direct, three-and-a-half-hour flights from the UAE to the Jordanian capital Amman. Alternatively, from June Fly Dubai will offer a new direct service from Dubai to Aqaba in the south of the country. See the airlines’ respective sites for varying prices or search on reliable price-comparison site Skyscanner.
The trip
Jamie Lafferty was a guest of the Jordan Tourist Board. For more information on adventure tourism in Jordan see Visit Jordan. A number of new and established tour companies offer the chance to go caving, rock-climbing, canyoning, and mountaineering in Jordan. Prices vary depending on how many activities you want to do and how many days you plan to stay in the country. Among the leaders are Terhaal, who offer a two-day canyoning trip from Dh845 per person. If you really want to push your limits, contact the Stronger Team. For a more trek-focused trip, KE Adventure offers an eight-day trip from Dh5,300 per person.
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