One of the Omani’s favorite pastimes is to go camping. For the first time, on this trip I also bring a tent with me and plan to pitch it around on the beaches and in the desert. So, I guess I should tell you of my debut camping.

I left Muscat heading for As Sifaa, a small town with a beach that draws a number of Omanis from Muscat that drives there, make a fire and cooks some food and either go back or stay for the night on the beach. The road took me into some very nice coastal scenery, past a few fishing villages and up and down a lot of short but steep hills. Even on the coast it is an arid desert landscape based on a very basic colour palette of a brownish orange, blue sky and white houses.

The computer showed 45 km when I arrived in As Sifaa – after having done a small detour to Yiti, another popular beach and camping spot. I took some time to have a look at the town before I settled for a camping spot. It has one restaurant and a small coffee shop with a very limited assortment of food stuff. I got entangled in a wedding procession and talked to some of the guests. As ever, people were very friendly. Then I finally went to look for a camping spot. Sadly to discover that my tent pegs are in Denmark! I managed to pitch my tent by using the bike bags to hold everything in place.

You have to take my word for it: It can get surprisingly cold during the night in Oman! I had to put on plenty of clothes but still did not get much sleep.

Beach of As Sifaa. Us campers go to a more secluded spot! Photo: Joel Schumann.

People dressed up! Wedding procession in the small Omani town As Sifaa. Photo: Joel Schumann

I then returned to Muscat as there is no road further from As Sifaa. A visit to the super market made me the owner of a sleeping bag and some bamboo sticks to replace my lost tent pegs. Next day I headed for Quraayat, where my camping proficiency should stand its second test. This time a storm was brewing so sand was flying everywhere. Rather than on sand, I decided to park in a small park which had nice grass to supplement my mattress. Alas, it was to be another no sleep-night. By now, the wind was blowing so hard that I was worried that my tent – or rather my ad hoc bamboo pegs – would not be up to the job. Once more, not much sleep for this camper…

My camping spot in Quarrayat, Oman.

I guess it is about time for a recap of my first week of this trip and a quick teaser of what may come in the next weeks. So here is the situation: I presently find myself in Muscat, the capital of the sultanate of Oman (doesn’t ring a bell? I’ll give a hint or two, Oman is south of Dubai and next to Saudi Arabia.) The next few weeks I will be touring around Oman on my bike, expecting to encounter quite a bit of sand as I pedal along and spotting the odd camel or two from the roadside. With a bit of luck, I might even meet some of the proper nomads roaming in this part of the world. I do have a feeling that any nomad I might find, get around in a huge air conditioned 4WD rather than on the back of a camel.

First I had to get here! Every new bicycle adventure far from home begins with battling the road system to and from the airport. And I hate it! I am happy to have my base in Copenhagen, which has an airport where you can ride your bicycle right to the ladder to the plane or bring it on the train. But generally arriving with a bicycle anywhere in the world means you have to brave riding on a highway or see if you can locate some means of transport that will bring you to your destination.

Arriving in the middle of the night in Muscat, I did not waste much time but put the bike together, loaded the bags onto the racks and went straight onto the highway expecting there would be little traffic at this unholy hour. Without a map anywhere in sight, imagine how much fun I had finding my hotel with only the moon to guide me! There was next to no traffic and a wide shoulder. Still, I tried to find alternative routes but every time I asked for direction, I was told to go on the highway. I have now learned my lesson and my informers were right: Trying to avoid the highways will not get you anywhere in this city. It is a sad state of the human race that you need a car to get around even if the distances are a few km. To sum it up: I have spent hours trawling through the city looking for a bookshop and have not found any. On the other hand, I have seen hundreds of car dealers (including Ferrari, Lamborghini and Jaguar), not to mention the shops selling accessories to cars. We are talking priorities here!

I cannot say, I am particularly impressed by Muscat. The sights are few and getting around is a pain. The main attractions are the old part of town with its harbor and souq (a covered market). I suspect most tourists coming here, are arriving on a cruise ship and see little but this.

Enough! Todays rant is over. I will be kind to it now and show Muscat from its prettiest side.

Postcard pretty view of the old town of Muscat in the Sultanete of Oman. Photo: Joel Schumann 2012

The Souq in Muscat, Oman. Photo: Joel Schumann

With the calls of the muezzins prayer from the nearby mosque coming through my window while the sun sets, I will end this first post. As I said, it is time for me to move on and tomorrow I start the touring part for real. New to me, I bring a tent this time and plan to camp on a few of those deserted stretches of beautiful beaches the brochures in the lobby are telling me about. I hope this will offer a glimpse of hope for those of my readers that are still struggling with sub zero temperatures and sleet and snow back in Europe ha ha.

It so happens, that while I am in Oman some 128 riders from 16 pro teams are using the roads of the sultanate to get back in shape and to do so in a more agreeable climate, that also alows them to work on their tan, than Europe provides. I wont blame them, it makes perfectly sense to me to use Oman with its pleasant climate and varied topography for that purpose. It perhaps makes less sense that somebody in Oman, a country with no bike culture and where 99.9% Omanis would consider it a personal insult if you suggested they took the bike rather than the car to go to the supermarket, came up with the idea to arrange a cycling race.

Tour of Oman is a 6 day stage race and since all but one stages either starts or end in Muscat, I took the chance to go have a look. The fourth stage would be my first as it had its finish about 1 km from my hotel. Curiously, the riders where arriving from a direction that, according to my map, does not even have a road except one that ends blind in a small enclave of posh hotels. Omanis build roads faster than they print the maps, it seems! No ride report here – get that from cyclingnews.com, if you are interested. I will just make a note of how the riders obviously suffered on the small climb close to the finish. It was a delight to see some of the big stars even got dumped.

Next day, I went to see the begining of the stage. Before start, the team were preparing for the race in the setting of the new opera house, as well as signing autographs and talking to media. This is one of the thing I enjoy most about pro cycling compared to other sports, as a spectator you can get up close and watch even the big stars interact across the teams and with the fans. Personally, I had this inspired exchange of words with Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang (In Danish): “Held og lykke Jakob” / “Tak!” (Good luck Jakob / Thanks!) I did not get the impression that he was to eager to take our conversation further than that, and I did not pursue, but focused on snapping pictures!

Next time I go to see a race I ought to prepare better: It was only later that day, I learned that two more Danish riders were present. Did not see them! There were a lot of the hot shots there. Did I notice? Some of them: Andy Schleck kept to himself, Fabian Cancellara impressed the women by stripping to the shorts. I almost bumped into the world champion by chance (clue, why is that rider sporting that white shirt with the rainbow stripes?). But I did not know who most of the others were. My picture of Jakob Fuglsang below was taken without me knowing it was him – that only dawned on me later and I was actually more concerned with getting the 3 Omanis in the composition. Maybe that is why Jakob appears a bit sceptical. The biggest star was perhaps the retired cannibal, Axel Merckx … I am pretty sure the sultan was not hanging out there, but actually I did see a sports car with the number plate “1”.

Nibali, the Italian, won the stage by getting first to the top of the Green Mountain btw. Jakob Fuglsang had a crap day and lost more than 1 minute.

Here are a few of my pics from the day. As you can tell I focused more on capturing the setting than the riders themselves.

Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang before the decisice stage in Tour of Oman, 2012. Photo: Joel Schumann

Riders from various team are hanging out before the beginning of stage 5 in tour of Oman, 2012. Photo: Joel Schumann

Mark Cavendish, the world champion, seconds before the riders are sent of in Tour of Oman 2012. Photo: Joel Schumann

Finaly, a picture from the day before. The short climb before the finish line:

Fourth stage in Tour of Oman 2012, Wadi Kabir in Muscat, Oman. Photo: Joel Schumann