ABCD - 2
Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2026 6:34 pm
Hello all,
Last ABCD drive was in early November when it was still a bit hot and I could not enjoy the drive until the end due to messed up alignment. I was glad that a repeat trip was posted by @scorpio during nice and pleasant February weather.
I was joined in the trip by a friend whom I have known for 20+ years and who happened to be in Abu Dhabi for work and extended his stay. Umm Zumuul is not one of the locations where I would normally take a passenger, but my desire to go there was so big that it left me with no option. Due to his commitments we only left Abu Dhabi around 5.30 after stocking up on Dizinil.
It was a bit of a traffic on the truck road which connects Al Ain road with Razeen road, plus a brief stop at KFC so we reached Al Qua around 8.40 pm. At the petrol station we met Imran and Sharhan.
We quickly moved to the camp and my passenger got a first feel of the desert when I went up straight into the darkness :) Two Mustafas were already in the camp. My wife marinated chicken and even though it was a bit late for BBQ and we were full from KFC it would have been a big crime to take it back home.
Sleep was disturbed by occasional wind gusts and snore form my tent mate. By morning we realized that 3 cars were not going to make it. My friend stood in place of @nidal since he looks a natural copy of him, but we still did not have a replica of @aljamhi and Ahmed Hassan.
I already knew that we would not be able to stay until 5 pm since he had later commitments, but at least I hoped to stay until early afternoon. Within an hour of a drive he announced that he started to have anxiety :) Almost every big dune I had to negotiate as he wanted me to take a simpler route.
Still, an hour was way to short so I had to apply all psychology tricks...from telling him he was a pussy, that it was not safe for me to leave convoy alone, that soon @scorpio would get tired and we will drive flat... so with this approach I managed to bargain time until noon. At that time the convoy got disconnected due to 2nd tries and since we could not find it due to many tracks I took the rest of the cars to Sabkha since we would be more visible to the rest. Since we were on sabkha and Scorpio was not slowing pace I lost 2 out of my 3 arguments and had no choice but to turn back. It was a pity since I was truly enjoying and the car was doing well, but at least I got 3 hours.
All in all he rated the scare factor at 10 out of 10. He was really impressed with a club and the support from all members.
As for the drive - in the time I was there we could not establish consistent flow. After every few big dunes we had to stop and re-group. 3 pop outs, several self-recoveries, but the most dangerous part is lack of distance control. Few times it was pretty close call.
I hope there would be one more drive in the area before it gets hot, but for now few weeks of ski for me.
Take care.
Orlantsev
Last ABCD drive was in early November when it was still a bit hot and I could not enjoy the drive until the end due to messed up alignment. I was glad that a repeat trip was posted by @scorpio during nice and pleasant February weather.
I was joined in the trip by a friend whom I have known for 20+ years and who happened to be in Abu Dhabi for work and extended his stay. Umm Zumuul is not one of the locations where I would normally take a passenger, but my desire to go there was so big that it left me with no option. Due to his commitments we only left Abu Dhabi around 5.30 after stocking up on Dizinil.
It was a bit of a traffic on the truck road which connects Al Ain road with Razeen road, plus a brief stop at KFC so we reached Al Qua around 8.40 pm. At the petrol station we met Imran and Sharhan.
We quickly moved to the camp and my passenger got a first feel of the desert when I went up straight into the darkness :) Two Mustafas were already in the camp. My wife marinated chicken and even though it was a bit late for BBQ and we were full from KFC it would have been a big crime to take it back home.
Sleep was disturbed by occasional wind gusts and snore form my tent mate. By morning we realized that 3 cars were not going to make it. My friend stood in place of @nidal since he looks a natural copy of him, but we still did not have a replica of @aljamhi and Ahmed Hassan.
I already knew that we would not be able to stay until 5 pm since he had later commitments, but at least I hoped to stay until early afternoon. Within an hour of a drive he announced that he started to have anxiety :) Almost every big dune I had to negotiate as he wanted me to take a simpler route.
Still, an hour was way to short so I had to apply all psychology tricks...from telling him he was a pussy, that it was not safe for me to leave convoy alone, that soon @scorpio would get tired and we will drive flat... so with this approach I managed to bargain time until noon. At that time the convoy got disconnected due to 2nd tries and since we could not find it due to many tracks I took the rest of the cars to Sabkha since we would be more visible to the rest. Since we were on sabkha and Scorpio was not slowing pace I lost 2 out of my 3 arguments and had no choice but to turn back. It was a pity since I was truly enjoying and the car was doing well, but at least I got 3 hours.
All in all he rated the scare factor at 10 out of 10. He was really impressed with a club and the support from all members.
As for the drive - in the time I was there we could not establish consistent flow. After every few big dunes we had to stop and re-group. 3 pop outs, several self-recoveries, but the most dangerous part is lack of distance control. Few times it was pretty close call.
I hope there would be one more drive in the area before it gets hot, but for now few weeks of ski for me.
Take care.
Orlantsev