This week I headed out to the cycle track at Nad Al Sheba for a few Kms on Monday evening straight after work. This is a great facility and demonstrates just how fortunate we are in Dubai to have dedicated tracks that allow us to cycle in a safe environment away from the open roads.
Those who live here will know that at this time of year sunset is around 6:00pm in Dubai and it gets pretty dark pretty quickly. At Nad Al Sheba as the sun sets the solar lights around the track turn on. Whilst these are great they are certainly not floodlights and there are still some very dark stretches and here is where the fun starts. As I mentioned above these dedicated facilities are here to help keep cyclists safe. So why do so many cyclists choose to make things so difficult? On Monday there were many people without any lights on their bikes, many wearing all black, two people riding the wrong way round (clockwise), and one group riding four abreast with no lights.
Cycling the wrong way round is thoughtless and four abreast is pretty poor form. I understand wearing black and I do this myself on some rides – the black bib shorts and jersey combo helps to hide the many extra kilos that I am carrying. No lights is pretty dangerous and especially as you approach the three vehicle crossing points at Nad Al Sheba and the very helpful security guards struggle in the darkness to see you. Let’s try to make it easier for them.
Above and beyond all of these, the biggest issue for me is those riders who choose not to wear helmets. I appreciate in other parts of the world there is freedom of choice and many debates exist regarding the pros and cons of cycle helmets. But here in Dubai on all tracks the wearing of a helmet is compulsory. Not wearing a helmet appears to be a growing issue and I have started to notice this more and more and there looks to be two main categories, 1) those that are new to the sport and don’t know that they need to wear a helmet and 2) those not new to the sport who are aiming for the cool retro bereretta look of their cycling heroes.
The facilities provided are here to keep us all safe, I therefore don’t understand why some cyclists are going out of their way to make these facilities less safe. If there was to be a serious accident we could all lose access to all of these facilities, so please wear a helmet and when you are out there and you see someone not wearing a helmet a loud but polite reminder to ‘where a helmet!’ should be the responsibility of all of us.