Old Bastakia
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Old Bastakia
Jack Briggs was Dubai Police's last expat Commander in Chief from 1965 to 1975. Jack lived all his working life in the Middle East. He spoke and wrote fluent Arabic, translated books by Dubai's Writers from Arabic into English and lectured on Arabic Affairs in UK Universities.
But cycling was Jack's passion. That is cycling on a racing bike in road races and time trials, not trundling around on two wheels admiring the scenery! Jack had no one to race against in Dubai so he convinced some of his young Dubai policemen to give the sport a try. There were no racing cycles in Dubai as it used to be so Jack placed an order for six racing bikes with the Bike Shop in his UK home town. Jack had always bought his racing cycles from this shop. But how wsas Jack to get these cycles to Dubai?
Dubai's Royal Flight had taken delivery of a new Boeing 747 SP Jumbo Jet. Jack heard the Royal Boeing 747 SP was flying to UK for maintenance checks. So Jack hitched a free ride back to UK, made his own way to his home village to collect his racing bicycles from the local bike shop. Jack then ttransport his six cycles back to the airport, loaded them onto the Royal 747 and flew back to Dubai when the Boeing 747 had completed its maintenance checks. This was nothing out of the ordinary as far as Jack was concerned. But Jack's local Bike Shop Owner was excited at selling six racing cycles and all the circumstances surround their delivery to Dubai. So he altered the local Newspaper who were equally excited and published the story. That story was picked up by both Regional and National Newspapers and circulated around UK unbeknown to Jack. Not long after arriving back in Dubai, Jack was told of the UK Newspaper headlines and shown the headline which read........
"Dubai's Ruler sends Jumbo Jet to collect six bicycles"
Cycle Road Racing started in Dubai as a consequence of Jack's passion for cycle racing. Road Racing became a recognised sport in the UAE supported by both National and Expatriate Riders. Sadly Jack passed away in 2006 at the age of 86 while riding his bike in Dubai.
www.Dubaiasitusedtobe.com |