Bike Training and Yacht Show in Abu Dhabi

On March 9th I arrived in Dubai after spending 14 hours on a non-stop Emirates flight from LAX. (BTW, If you have to fly halfway around the world non-stop, Emirates is a nice way to do it.) Among my luggage was a box containing my road bike. On Thursday night I ran to Tamreen Sports Abu Dhabi (aka the CANNONDALE shop across from the cannon on Airport Road (2nd) and Khalifa Street (3rd)). They were great. They assembled and tuned the bike for a reasonable price. They had a few accessories that I needed as well: the quick release axles that weren't packed with my bike (EDGE Mechanics- that's where those extra axles came from sitting there in the assembly area ;), an emergency pump, CO2 cartridges, and reflectors.

The shop's 2 Emirati owners were really nice. They stayed open for almost an extra hour to help me get set up. During our chat, I found out that they had attended school at UCI and UC Riverside so they knew the Orange County rides. It is a small world. It was a nice, albeit scary ride home in the dark. Cars in Abu Dhabi drive fast and aren't used to sharing the road with bicycles.

On Saturday, I rode the bike to Ladies Beach, did a 4k swim with the Abu Dhabi Tri Club, followed it up with a 6K jog, and then rode back. My first "brick" workout in months. The distances weren't anything to write home about, but it was nice to be doing all 3 again.

After getting home and doing some chores, I visited the Abu Dhabi Yacht Show. It was fun to see the miniture cruise ships, but purchasing multi-million dollar boats is still a little out of my price range. The Kuwaiti, Qatari and Abu Dhabi Royal families present probably found it more relevant. The Rolls Royce display on the shore was another nice diversion.