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My partner and I are looking to relocate to Dubai. We are both very keen on sports and wondered if you guys could please advise.

I am a keen track and filed athlete (100m & long jump) and road cyclist. My partner is a keen basketball player.

I know that Sports City is due to be completed end of 07 but as we will be based on Sheikh Zayed Road, are there any athletic tracks or long jump pits in the area that I can train on in the mean time?
(I have looked at the parks like Al safa but they do not have these facilties. I have also emailed the colleges but no replies. There is the national sports stadium too in Abu Dhabi but that is a little far.)

Also is there a womans basketball league or even women teams that play informally and does anyone have any location/contact details for them?

I have checked out a website for Wolfi's cycling shop in Dubai. He seems to run a cycling group but I does anyone know if there are any other road cycling groups, teams and competitions in Dubai? (not mountain biking please.

Lots of the accomodation says there are gyms included. Are these gyms generally sufficient with lots of CV equipment (treadmills, bikes etc) and free weights and machine weights or are they a bit sparse with a few pieces of equipment but if you are serious about training then you need to join a a separate gym?

Are there any separate gyms on Sheikh Zahed Road that anyone can recommend for good facililities? ie good CV equipment, big free weights area and extensive bank of machine weights covering all the body parts.

Also, do gyms and sports facilities tend to open early 5am and close late 11pm or 24hr like in the US and Germany or are they shorter opening hours?

I notice that the sun rises quite late 6am ish and sets early 7pm for most of the year. Does this hamper outdoor sports facilties or are they all just flood lit so people can train till whatever hour they want?

Lastly if I was looking to commute by bicycle to work is it possible to ride on Sheikh Zahed road? This would be a way of me 'getting the miles in' but the road looks more like a highway. Are bicycles permitted in it and generally are bicycles permitted on most of the main roads?

Many thanks

okay, i can't comment on the track and field, or the gym's - but was a keen cyclist at one stage so will add my comments for that they are worth.

in five years i have seen about 4 or 5 road cyclists....!!!! or prehaps i just don't get out enough!

i hate to put a damper on things, but the driving in the uae and dubai is pathetic - if you are on a bicyle you don't stand a hope in hell and you take your life in your own hands. forum members will bear me out!

about 6 months ago a cyclist was killed on one of the main roads out of town, by a uae national who was driving in the road margin (at about 140km/h) and "didn't see him" - the road is perfectly straight and pretty flat... to make matters worse, the national got off with a slap on the wrist!

unfortunatley he was not the first (and probably would will not be the last), if it were safer i'd be the first to join you on the road - off the top of my head about three other cyclists have been killed or badly maimed over the past few years... and its not as if you see hundreds of them around

seperate male and female gyms .....

dbxsoul, thanks very much for the reply. I must admit, everything you have said is borne out by other reports I have heard about the lack of cylists, the ridiculously dangerous driving, so thanks for that.

Does anyone have any info. on any athletics tracks, basketball courts, gyms etc. ?

Much obliged.

the only cyclist i ever see are those at night on the wrong side of the road with no lights