About Richard
11,141 km
626:57 h
Recent Activity
Richard went gravel riding.
about 16 hours ago
After feeding a litter of cute street dog puppies nearby we set off on some alternative routes on smaller, quieter roads through the mountains. Very scenic and lots of historic village ruins en route. Ended up unexpectedly on gravel trails and then along a riverbed path until finding a way back to the road. Quite hot again in the mid afternoon sun and the extreme frequency of men wanting to take photos and videos of us, started to get a bit more on our nerves today, especially my wife, so we started being more selective of those we wanted to interact with. We found a great spot for cappuccino and cake (as a Christmas treat) and then pushed on for the last 35km along the wide shoulder of a bigger highway which was thankfully very quiet and we even enjoyed for ourselves 8km of perfect, new asphalt not yet free for cars.
04:50
83.3km
17.3km/h
420m
680m
Richard went gravel riding.
a day ago
After a day enjoying some wonderful hospitality with our new Saudi friends we set off again in the hot sun heading northwest on a good asphalt main road in the lower mountains. We surprisingly discovered a wonderful bike path but unfortunately it ended after 400m. Lots more videos taken of us, beeping to say hi and selfies everywhere we stopped. We even had a guy pay for the Cappuccinos we had just ordered. We still haven’t met anyone else on bikes (or any western tourists) so we are quite exotic here. Good roads and not too busy but felt the heat today (30+ degrees) and not easy to get back onto smaller, quieter roads. Frequent shops and cafés en route though and even public, filtered water coolers which were nice.
03:59
82.2km
20.7km/h
350m
190m
Richard went gravel riding.
3 days ago
Good, long sleep in our wild-camping spot and found a modern café in the next town to wash up, charge our devices and enjoy a cappuccino with breakfast so set off riding fairly late. Hot and sunny (>30 degrees) down here at 500m so quite a contrast to the high mountains. Cycled on very good smaller roads through the lower mountains and nice scenery. As usual we were very popular with locals taking many photos and videos of us and giving us water and waving or beeping to us. As we were starting to think about where we might sleep, we were approached by a Saudi who invited us to his nearby country home and horse ranch. We had a wonderful evening surrounded by animals with a BBQ dinner, fun exchanges with the owner and several curious friends who came by and slept there with generous hospitality.
03:12
56.9km
17.8km/h
370m
520m
Richard went gravel riding.
4 days ago
Beautiful weather for seeing the sights of Abha by bike including a very good 2 km bike path along the river and a nice breakfast stop. With the quite cold weather up in the mountains and me getting a cold we decided to take an offer of a ride over Saudi’s highest pass and then descend to warmer temperatures. Absolutely fantastic mountain scenery along the steep ridges of Jabel Soudah and then after a lunch stop, back on the bikes heading north on the highway to the turn for the descent. At the check-stop the police said we couldn’t cycle down as it was too dangerous. After some “discussion” they agreed but only with a police escort. Although unwanted at first we were thankful with the many steep, narrow switchbacks and tunnels. The scenery was breathtaking and probably one of the best ever mountain descents on a bike. A longer flatter ride out below with strong headwinds was a good workout but with nice, warm sunshine. We shopped for camping and had some animated discussions with our police escort to leave us before finding a nice spot to wild-camp in the hills above Muyahil.
02:05
56.7km
27.3km/h
110m
1,650m
monika lidmila and Richard went cycling.
5 days ago
02:01
21.9km
10.8km/h
470m
370m
Richard went gravel riding.
5 days ago
We set out thinking we’ll first just ride the 23km into Abha Center and then plan from there. We were already getting demoralized after the first 8 km with multiple ramps of 15-20% on our fully loaded bikes. We had several fun coffee stops with nice local interactions and. tried to find new routes that might be flatter but to no avail. Thankfully it was Friday (mosque prayer day) so quieter roads and crossing the multi-lane highways was doable. We were happy to get to the center and decided to stay and explore the city up in the Aseer mountains a bit.
01:50
18.8km
10.3km/h
440m
370m
Richard went gravel riding.
6 days ago
Headed out in the cool, windy morning sunshine climbing steadily up to the Al Habala “circuit”. Very impressive deep, sheer cliffs and mountain scenery.. Lots of local tourist infrastructure but all closed down for winter. We met one Bahraini tourist bus group and a nice group of Bahraini motorcyclists who offered us some fruit. Lots of up and down on good, empty roads but quite cool when the sun disappeared. With not much open we stocked up with dates, nuts, fruit and water at one of the many gas station supermarkets. Continued up to 2500m with nice views and a quick stop at a historic village before beginning the nice descent towards Abha. We passed a group of Baboons before a really nice area of winding small roads through boulders. After a tea stop, we decided it was too cold for camping so pushed on towards Abha and found a nice resort hotel offering discounted off-season rates. As it was my wife’s birthday we splurged on an Uber ride into Abha and a nice Indian restaurant to end our first, rather cold full day on the bikes.
04:31
72.2km
16.0km/h
880m
940m
Richard went gravel riding.
7 days ago
After 2 exceptional days in Medina (via fast train) and a long bus trip from Jeddah with bikes assembled and ready to go in the bus cargo hold, we finally set off. Stayed on smaller back roads to get out of the city and was invited by the owner of an historical home to visit. Komoot and google maps incorrectly sent us through a military restricted area so had some challenges crossing highways and busy roads before getting up into some quieter mountain scenery. Had an excellent stop at the Jorash Archaeological Site with a good museum and a private free tour. We got VIP treatment and gave interviews and had a photo shoot after for their promotions. Weather was sunny but cooler in this elevation (10-18 degrees).
02:17
30.3km
13.3km/h
370m
170m
Happy birthday to your wife!
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