Ride or Run?
It all started with a simple question, posed inwardly each weekend; “Ride or Run?”
Time pressures of work and family left a prized Sunday morning slot for these two essential leisure pursuits. But which to choose?
Faced with such a dilemma, innovation was the only answer. And similar to legendary foods such as Cornflakes, Coca-cola and er… Worcestershire sauce, so R+R was born; that is, entirely by accident. Heading out to Shek O on the scooters one weekend, we decided to don our running gear and stretch the legs; and with that, history was duly created.
However, what began simply as a means of cramming two leisure pursuits into a competing time slot, started to open up a whole new world…
We started exploring new trail-running routes outside our usual comfort zone. We looked for new entry-points to trails, those not easily reached by train, bus or even taxi. Truth be told, we’d become set in our ways, heading back to the same, familiar trails for our regular trail running fix. But now we were excited to see what else Hong Kong had to offer.
Another catalyst for these independent adventures was the onset of covid which scuppered any best laid plans to join organised trail running events. In Hong Kong these have grown hugely popular in recent years so just about every combination of hill climb, beach run and trail route has been tested at some point.
But our scooters gave us access to some less conventional routes. Add the fact we always needed to return to our start point (for the awesome ride home) we were solely focused on ‘loop’ routes. We had inadvertently found our niche!
Suddenly, we were enjoying the newfound freedom of designing our own routes and running them when we pleased. The direct access our scooters provided to the trails meant we could bypass the dreary road walk from the train/bus station to the start of the route, buzzing from the thrill of a ride up the hillside instead, often along a road less travelled. A number of Hong Kong’s best trails are buried up in the hills so we could conserve energy from the start by “stealing” some elevation gain on two wheels. Double bonus!
Besides the practical benefits, Riding + Running is just a perfect combination. There’s no better buzz (or means of cooling down) after a trail run, than a blast on the scooter.
That first, unofficial R+R outing down to Shek O, led to us discovering our first, and still firm favourite, HK Island track (see here). It showcases some of the finest riding/driving and running/hiking experiences that Hong Kong has to offer. Which is really what we’re all about.
We’re still hunting out new, harder-to-reach, routes each week but it was this original route that inspired us to explore further; if left undiscovered, R+R might never have become a ‘thing’. Imagine that. Nearly as scary as a world without Cornflakes😜
