Some rides I narrate. This one I couldn't — partly because the road demanded both hands and my entire annual supply of courage, and partly because anything I said would have been drowned out by my own heartbeat. So this episode is a pure riding film: five mountain tunnels, six stacked hairpin turns, and one slightly terrified newbie discovering what the word technical actually means.
The Road They Carved Into a Mountain
Al Suhub Road is the East Coast's show-off project — a ribbon of absolutely flawless tarmac that climbs out of Khor Fakkan and switchbacks its way up to the Al Suhub rest area, the viewpoint I first fell in love with on a quiet winter ride with Balaji. Back then we ambled up it like tourists. This time the mission was different: ride it properly, corner after corner, and find out whether a rider who got his licence in his mid-fifties has any business on the most technical stretch of road in the Emirates.
Getting there is half the show. The highway to Khor Fakkan punches straight through the Hajar mountains in a series of long, beautifully lit tunnels — five of them, one after another, each one a sudden change of light, temperature and engine sound. On a bike, a tunnel is not just a tunnel. It is a private concert hall where a boxer engine performs for an audience of one.
Six Hairpins, One Ego
Then the climb. Six hairpins, stacked on top of each other like a desi wedding cake, each tighter than the last. All my YouTube cornering theory — outside, inside, outside; look through the turn; smooth on the gas — evaporated somewhere around hairpin number two. What remained was the basics: breathe, trust the tyres, and try not to think about the fact that Manchalee and I together weigh roughly as much as a small car.
A hairpin doesn't care how many cornering tutorials you've watched. It asks one question — can you commit? — and on Al Suhub Road it asks it six times in a row.
The PRG riders I usually chase up mountains make these turns look like a casual stroll to the karak shop. I made them look like a man defusing a bomb. But here's the thing: I made all six, both ways, and nobody had to pick a BMW off the tarmac. For a newbie, that counts as a podium finish.
Worth the Detour?
Completely. At the top, the reward is the same one that keeps pulling me back to this coast — the whole sweep of Khor Fakkan beach below you, mountains behind, sea ahead, and air that actually feels like air. If you're building a list of must-ride roads in this country, this one goes near the top, right alongside the routes in our best motorcycle roads in the UAE guide. Just respect the hairpins. They've humbled better riders than me — although, to be fair, that is not a high bar.
⏱ Key Moments in the Video
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