Endurance City Dubai, 2015
We love to refer back to evolution. It makes things so true, so real, so indisputable. Men being a being made for walking or even for running, a being which gained it’s superiority over other species because we were ever since able to perform in the heat. This is at least what evolution tells us.
We spread from the East African Graben all over the globe by walking which seemed to have us made predestined walkers. This is what the hypothesis says. Yet another thought concept.
There are lots of phenomena we usually explain by evolution as if we knew which course it exactly took. Whether this line of argumentation is correct, nobody knows as evolution itself is a though concept, and one of the strongest paradigms biology ever brought forward. Thank you Darwin!
Men’s ability for endurance performance is strongly rooted in the evolution
After having been exploring Bahrain we flew into Dubai, the vibrant giant at the Arabic Golf, the City of Superlativs. Similar to Bahrain the United Arab Emirates try to stimulate their own people and youth in specific to live an active lifestyle. Already back in the 80ies when I lived in the Emirates the problem of drugs, alcohol and overeating was apparent, but still neglected and swept under the rug. Not so today anymore.
Idle boredom was and often is an illness of wealth. And so the dreadful illnesses of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, insulin, metabolic syndrome and psychic disorder cover our earth like a veil of unhappiness and grief, unsolved until today. Our efforts to counterbalance this development needs time to take effect until reversing the detrimental outcome. Generations may have to vanish. Austerity may turn out as the only cure for the problem.
But actually, things could be so easy: let’s eat less, eat better and move more …
The wealthy areas of the Middle East suffer exactly the same health issues as we do in our Western countries. For decades the relation to their bodies has been weird, one only moved by car, even if it were only meters to the next destination. The royalties of the Gulf countries recognized the problem since quite some time and finally started to act.
Endurance is not only about camel and horse riding anymore
We set out in the morning in the direction of Al Ain, the desert oasis in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, a city the size of Paris, but its population only counting about 600.000. This is a little bit less than Frankfurt. I had been working in a hospital there in the mid eighties, not the place of my dreams! So it happened that we did what we usually do when we are abroad: We make a plan and change it as we move on.
Instead of driving directly to Al Ain, we took a detour following the signs to the Dubai Endurance City, not exactly knowing what we would expect.
It was a stormy day. Already in the morning the skies had been tinted by the colors of the desert. On our way we passed the camel race course, the pride of Skeikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. Then we turned off the main road following the sign »Endurance City Dubai« curious what this place would be like. We passed the huge horse and camel stables of Dubai’s most prestigious families. All their pride and wealth is reflected in these sites.
The Arabic peninsula is the cradle of the famous Arabian horse. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses in the Middle East that resemble modern Arabians dating back 4,500 years.
Beside horses the dromedary or Arabian camel is the other pride of the desert sons. All along our way we saw camel tracks, areas where camels can move freely without constraints. They are well cared of by their keepers.
The dromedary’s origin is unclear, but it was probably domesticated in Somalia or Arabian Peninsula about 4000 years ago. Unfortunately, we didn’t meet the falcons, the third pride of the desert sons. But in the middle of the desert we met cyclists, an amazing extraordinary picture.
We arrived at the bike course after about 2 hours of stop and go through the desert.
It is still under construction, but a course of 49k is already available.
It leads right through the desert, bizarre but fascinating. I love the desert, so next time I’ll be there I’ll take a ride. You can rent a bike there in the middle of nowhere.
If you once travel to Dubai, take the chance and do it.
Finally, totally thrilled by what we have seen we continued to Al Ain. It was a beautiful trip. The only annoying thing at the end was the breath-taking traffic jam in Dubai, a city that seems close to never sleep.
