I’ve been wanting to experience dirt biking ever since I got my motorbike license back in 2006. I had ridden sports bikes, naked bikes, cruisers and scooters but always felt dirt bikes might be more fun. The only reason I never got one is because I couldn’t figure out how to make it financially viable. If I did buy a dirt bike I’d have to take it out a few times a month which sounds doable, but I’d also need a trailer to transport it and that seemed like too much of a hassle for me to end up wanting to do it more than once or twice a month.
Then a few weeks ago, I got a notification on Instagram that one of my Facebook friends is now on instagram as @xkuwaitofficial. A guy I met nearly a decade ago through my blog called Faris Al-Obaid had set up a business called X Kuwait offering extreme experiences one of which was dirt biking based off the photos he was posting on the account. He always was into extreme sports so I thought it was cool that he had set this up. I decided to check out his website see how much one of these dirt bike adventures cost so I could mentally restart the process of considering buying a dirt bike, I figured maybe I could store the bike with them and they could take it out for me whenever I join on one of these trips. While checking their website I noticed that under one of the dirt bike adventures they mention that they provide the bike and gear. Right away I got in touch with Faris to confirm that they provided the actual dirt bikes and he confirmed that was the case. I wanted to book instantly but my back was super messed up that weekend so I waited a couple of weeks before finally booking a 4-hour adventure which I went on yesterday.
It was one of the scariest yet most fun experiences I’ve had in ages.
We met up at an empty lot on the other side of the Sheikh Jaber causeway bridge at around 10am. I got there and the two bikes were already set up and Faris was there getting some stuff ready. They provide the gear so the first thing I had to do was change and put on a bunch of safety gear then the outfit and then the boots, helmet, and gloves. I got a brief of the route we were going to take and then got a tour of the bike. Since I already knew how to ride a motorbike I was familiar with how bike works but just to quickly give you readers an overview, the gear clutch is controlled with a left-hand leaver, the front brakes with a right-hand leaver, then your left foot controls the gearbox (you tap a leaver with your foot up and down) and your right foot controls the rear brakes. But, because dirt bike boots were made of hard plastic and so weren’t flexible (similar to ski boots), I had no idea how I was going to change gears or even feel my feet changing gears. He made me ride around the empty lot for a bit to get myself familiar and I realized changing gears was going to be something I’d just have to get used to.
We then left the parking lot on the bikes and headed off-road. Faris knows the area really well, calls it his backyard so the route he had planned for us would start off easy and get more and more difficult the further we went into the 4-hour adventure. The first part of the trail was mostly flat hard sand with some soft sand spots so I could get a feel for the bike and when he saw I was doing ok he’d take me on a path that was slightly more challenging. We took our first break 15 minutes into the ride so he could check up on me and see if I had any questions. After that, we headed out again and did multiple stops throughout the whole trip at different interesting sights.
I think my favorite part of the trip was a long strip of a closed off highway that was covered in sand. It felt like we were in a post-apocalyptic world where nature had taken over. At that point it was also the most difficult part of the trip since riding on soft sand is super dodgy. You can’t stop, you can’t slow down and you constantly have to be on guard because the rear wheel has a habit of slipping and going sideways.
The hardest bit of the journey was actually right at the end of the trip, a rough rocky terrain that required slow speed and lots of standing up on the bike which I thankfully had gotten used to by that point of the trip. I was exhausted both mentally and physically but the idea that I hadn’t fallen off the bike yet that day kept me going and gave me more confidence. We finally got back to our cars and it felt great getting back into my soft sneakers and comfy car seat.
The cost of this 4-hour experience was KD169 which for me at least was a great deal. It’s much cheaper than buying a bike and I had so much fun. You definitely need to know how to ride a bike to experience this and he does offer lessons although I’m not sure how much they cost. It was much harder than I was expecting it to be and really tough mentally and physically but I’m glad I did the 4-hour adventure and not the 2-hour one since it gave me twice as much time to get familiar with dirt bikes. Currently, Faris can take up to two people per adventure but he might be selling one of the bikes and then he’d only be able to take one person out. If you want to get more info on X Official, their Instagram is @xkuwaitofficial and their website is xkuwaitshop.com
