After a long period of no ride reports, Geocyclist is back!

Yeah, biking in Bahrain has not provided too many exciting photo opportunities to write about. I decided to bring my camera along for a ride and take a few pic’s of my two hour (70 km) training ride loop. I have three cycling routes I ride in Bahrain; yeah, it isn’t a very big island. My short 70 km ride takes me across to the Northern island of Muharraq and around the international airport. My longer (100-120) km ride starts with the Muharraq Island loop and than takes in the SW side of the main island of Bahrain (down toward the Formula 1 track). My longest route takes me through central Manama and right down the middle of the island to the end of the paved road at Durrat Al Bahrain (new urban development) for a whopping distance of 125 km. The only Bahrain century ride I’ve done was a combination of my short and long route; not too exciting considering I have to back track on a few of the roads. The only up side of cycling in Bahrain is the 25 C winter temperature. Also, if you don’t like cycling hills, you can ride a full century and climb a whopping total of 150 metres of elevation.

This ride started at sunrise with a cool 24 degrees C temperature. Yep, you have to love the warm weather to cycle in Bahrain. The high temperature today was 35 C. Anyway, the ride starts with a crossing of the bridge from Juffair to Muharraq. I cycled past the container port before I had a nice view of the sunrise over the aluminium smelting plant. You have to love the zoning, these houses have a beautiful view of oil storage tanks.

The road to Amwaj Islands can be a whole lot of fun when the wind is howling out of the NW; down in the drops and sluggin’ out against the wind makes up for not having any mountains to climb. Today was a bit unusual, as there was no wind at all. The Amwaj Islands are the first man made island project in Bahrain. There is a second project underway (Durrat Al Bahrain) off the SE end of Bahrain. Anyway, I like cycling around the Amwaj islands, as the roads are new and there isn’t too much traffic.

Nice report. A bit bleak . . . eh?

Amwaj Islands are several man made island, sort of like the Palms off Dubai. The islands were made for residential development, hotels, resorts, and clubs. The housing ranges from the modest townhouse / condo to the monolithic villas.

Off the islands and around the international airport. The last two photos shows the view across the causeway toward the capital city of Manama.

Cycling in Bahrain? you're the man. I have been there more times than I care to recall and never saw anyone riding. For me, it was a trip off the base, negotiate a cab to the souk, buy some gold, and have dinner at Hard Rock or KFC. Fake bacon cheeseburgers are great!

View across the causeway of Manama. The pyramid shaped high rise building is located by the new harbour development area. I’ll try to get some pic’s down in this area during another ride; as there is a lot of high rise development going on in this area.

A few more photos of the road going around the outskirts of Muharraq. The fountain and falcon are at the entrance to the international airport. The mess wire cages by the sea side are fish traps.

The final three photos I took while heading back across the causeway to Juffair. Yeah, I live in the middle of this mess!

So, this is a glimpse of what cycling in Bahrain is like. I put this ride report together while sitting in the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. Yeah, I’m travelling again, but this time I’m on vacation instead of heading to work! This afternoon I’ll be cycling out of Sitges, Spain. The next two weeks I’ll be cycling in the foothills of the Pyrenees. I hope to get some great photos. I you can bet I’ll be posting any good Kodak moments that I capture!

Ride On!!!

Looks like it was a good thing you got an early start, those roads don't look too bicycle friendly.

How do the drivers treat you.

BTW the place actually looks fairly pretty in an odd sort of industrial way.

Ride on Geocyclist. We are both a long way from the land of the rising sun.

Good grief! What a dismal looking place.

Very nice photos thanks for posting. I was looking for a shot of your bike!!! I have attended functions at the Embassy of Bahrain in DC and have never ever struck up a conversation about bike riding with any Bahranian! I'll make it a point to ask if they know you. Great stuff.

Wow. Thanks for sharing.

I took this photo winter 2007 during one of my rides through the desert. The pic was taken at the first oil strike in the middle east.

Nice post but not too scenic :). Wonder what goes through the locals' minds as they see you plodding along in the headwinds. Great stuff.

So all the roads look brand new and very empty.

Is it simply over-built, or because you're riding at the crack of dawn?

That almost makes a trainer look exciting. Almost, but not quite. Ride on.

somehow that place looks like New Jersey to me, but with palm trees and lots of sand.

looks like quite a place to ride

So all the roads look brand new and very empty.

Is it simply over-built, or because you're riding at the crack of dawn?

Once people start moving into the housing on the island, this road will be another traffic nightmare.

The traffic is quite an issue in the city, especially at the start of the weekend. I have sat in 2 hour traffic jambs during a holiday weekend. I’ll post a Bahrain traffic ride report sometime in the future.

Bleak or not it's cool seeing how someplace on the other side of the world can look just like Rancho Cucamonga.

Wonder what goes through the locals' minds as they see you plodding along in the headwinds.

I was 2x or 3x heckled by local teenagers when I was a contractor in Kuwait, & went running in 100F-ish temps (w/ sweatpants! so as to not offend the locals), & other runners said they had experienced the same thing.

I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but it seemed like it was along the same lines of what local rednecks in Virginia Beach say to us people in weird clothing. At least it didn't seem like anti-U.S. insults or anything like you'd hear in Berkeley.