Category: expert
Carpathian Peaks is the latest addition to the list of programs here on mtbtours.ro and it is proving quite popular. All my tours are perfectly defined by the UP. DOWN. REPEAT headline, but it is the Carpathian Peaks where the UP part is the most consistent, with many a steep, intensive climbs, including bike pushing and bike carrying. I had expected for this tour to attract more hard-core mountain bikers, like this gang from Scotland (see reports here and here). To my surprise, the concept of working your way up…
Claus's smile and his three words sentence say it all. "This was epic." He is looking back to the winding trail coming down from Ciucaș Peak, along steep, grassy slopes flanked by some weirdly shaped rock formations. There is a hint of hot metal in the air, and his eyes are gleaming with delight. It was hard work getting up there. Serious pedaling on technical terrain, followed by push and carry biking. The kind of uphill that makes you wonder if this is really worth it. It definitely does, and…
"You don't get many returning customers, do you?!", Muzza asked me while hike-a-biking up a steep, rocky couloir on the way to Ciucaș peak, during our 2023 tour, It was, obviously, more of a rhetorical question, in more ways than one. My regular guests won't return, even if they thoroughly enjoyed their time spent in Romania. A good part of their motivation into coming to places like our Carpathian Mountains is to discover new places. The next adventure, by definition, should be somewhere new. But Muzza, and Iain, and Robert,…
In the big world of sports, cycling is a relatively small part. In the relatively big world of cycling, mountain biking is a small section. Then, in the relatively big world of mountain biking, there is a rather small crowd of people aiming for rides that are very accurately described by our three words headline: UP. DOWN. REPEAT. Iblea and Albert are definitely part of this small, but spirited crowd of people. They have trained their legs for some proper climbs in their home ground Dolomites Mountains, both on and…
Traveling all the way from New Zealand, Tom, Peter and Adam spent the first part of their mountain biking adventure in the Swiss and Italian Alps. It was Andrew's idea, the fourth member of the party, to try something off the beaten track in the last part of their European holiday. Hence the quite unusual sight of four kiwis riding their bikes on the Romanian mountain trails. Adding to the unusual element of the trip, it was the first time we combined regular, "unplugged" mountain bikes with an e-bike. We…
I must have known Iain, Bob, Muzza and Dene in a previous life. There is no other explanation why the Carpathian Peaks tour matched so nicely their mountain biking riding profiles. There is no "push-bike" in these guys' vocabulary. And not because they are Scottish :-). No, it's because if you can push the bike, it means you could also ride it. Pedal uphill. Then if you cannot, it means you have to carry it. But wait. They don't call it "carry bike" either. They say "hike-a-bike". Maybe because no…
We had a busy year in 2021 with Tom, biking on some jaw dropping Carpathian Peaks in the mountains surrounding Brasov city. For most of the 2022 Tom spent his biking days on easier cross-country rides on the flat lands, plus a good number of days abusing the cable cars while stacking bike-park runs under his belt in Sinaia, Azuga and Poiana Brașov. One of these days, while waiting for the uplift, he realized he missed a good pedaling day up in the mountains. So he gave me a call.…
Our latest mtb tour format just went through its first iteration. Nine peaks in six different mountains, ranging from 1800 to 2500m. We've designed the Carpathian Peaks tour format having in mind those bikers who are looking for a true mountain experience: ready to sweat on the uphills (and push or carry bike sessions) in order to be immersed in some exquisite views, to feel the satisfaction of reaching a few summits, and - of course - to savour the thrill of the descents. Tom is exactly this kind of…
Starting with the 2021 season we are offering to our guests a new tour concept: Going for the peaks. Be it for a one-day ride, a weekend tour, a full-week program or a comprehensive ten-days adventure, the aim is to get up every day on a peak in the South-Transylvania Carpathian Mountains, and then bike all the way down to a cold beer, a nice meal and a good sleep. After a few good years of exploratory rides we proudly present a list of about 10 carefully selected peaks that…
Our second instalment of the Carpat MTB Enduro program happened in July 2019, featuring a couple from Sweden enjoying a longer family trip to Romania, and three German friends on their routine mountain biking trip abroad. A great week as always, in spite of some rather tricky weather, unusually wet for mid summer, and a few technical and logistical problems with one of the bikes. Nothing that can't be solved with the appropriate clothing and a good set of toolbox - plus equipment to spare. We biked up on Bucegi…
