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  • - Cycling as a sport, as a hobby, and as a recreation,

  • is just something that's opened up to everybody,

  • and I think that's one of the nice things about Dubai

  • is that you find yourself becoming a big family.

  • And Dubai welcomes everything like that.

  • (bright music)

  • (wheel spinning)

  • The wind blowing, and it's raising your heart rate up.

  • Everything else just starts to calm down.

  • You're just out there, completely you on your own,

  • there's a wash of calm that just comes over you.

  • (bright music)

  • - My name is Mark Beaumont,

  • and I'm an endurance athlete with the current world record

  • for cycling around the planet.

  • Seeking adventures and finding stories

  • is what I'm most passionate about.

  • (motorcycle revs)

  • Ever since I can remember,

  • I've had that sense of curiosity about the world.

  • (splash)

  • This time I've come to Dubai.

  • Today I'm meeting Stewart to find out how Dubai's

  • cycling community is growing.

  • - When you get out in the morning on the Al Qudra

  • cycle track and the sun rises over the desert,

  • there's just that palette of oranges and blues

  • reflecting through,

  • and it's so quiet and so serene out there

  • that I don't think that there's many places on Earth

  • that are as beautiful or as picturesque

  • to go out and ride.

  • As it is now to what it was eight nine years ago,

  • an immense change.

  • Now we have probably what is the most iconic

  • cycling route in the world.

  • - What a dream as a bike rider,

  • saying can we build you a cycle track in the desert?

  • - Seven eight years ago, there was a handful of us

  • out here on Al Qudra.

  • Now on a Friday or Saturday morning,

  • I'd say there are thousands of people out here.

  • - So what's the plan from here?

  • - So now we're gonna go and find some hills

  • out in Hatta, the Hajj mountain.

  • You can see what the hills in Dubai look like.

  • - Superb, let's do it.

  • (mystical music)

  • Do you see more and more riders out here,

  • or do they tend to stick close to the city?

  • - So good because it is a nice different challenge

  • to people to come out to the mountains.

  • You think you're gonna be the only one when you get here,

  • and yeah, good couple hundred riders out in a group.

  • - I'm used to the highlands of Scotland,

  • but these are certainly drier rockier

  • At this time of day, you can kinda see the way the light

  • is starting to change and sort of cast those deep shadows.

  • - I think you're gonna have to take a big deep breath now.

  • Alley oop!

  • - Deep breath

  • (breathing)

  • It's another world up from the desert.

  • (upbeat music)

  • Do you also kinda find that cycling gives people

  • a different perspective on Dubai because a lot of people,

  • if they've not been here, or maybe they've been on holiday,

  • will just picture that.

  • - There's so many things that happen outside

  • of the vibrant city that is Dubai.

  • You're a stone's throw away from a hustling bustle

  • of a vibrant city.

  • You're a stone's throw away out into the desert

  • to go and cycle or up to Hatta Mountains to go play

  • in the mountains.

  • The lakes out on Al Qudra,

  • the cycle track, the desert safaris,

  • the camping that goes out,

  • it's just an amazing place to live.

  • - Superb, let's crack on.

  • Year on year, Dubai changes insanely fast,

  • the infrastructure, the build,

  • certainly when it comes to cycling,

  • I mean I've seen it in my world as a professional

  • bike rider.

  • In the last ten years, that's just exploded

  • in popularity globally.

  • And here in Dubai, it's been matched with building

  • of cycle tracks and huge investment and events

  • popping up all over the place.

  • I can see through spending quality time with Stewart,

  • he's just passionate about the sport.

  • He loves sharing that.

  • To land here and see somebody who is so ingrained

  • in the culture and trying to make a change,

  • to this great place to ride.

  • (tone)

- Cycling as a sport, as a hobby, and as a recreation,

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