Tag: guţanu

“Brutal und Total” – five mountains in seven days

My German language skills are quite limited, especially if the Austrian accent is also involved. However, sometimes translation is simply not needed. “Brutal” and “total” were the most used words by our four guests during our seven-day mountain biking tour across the Carpathians. Day one – warm up in Ciucaș Mountains [singlepic id=1468 w= h= float=none]Due to a very late (early?) flight, the first day was more of a warm-up mission. We started in Cheia and went on some nice trails around Cabana Muntele Roșu. We were lucky enough to…

The mtb trails of Transylvania

Eva and Christian are travelling to Transylvania quite often, tracing back family roots in and around Sibiu (Hermannstadt) area. This summer they wanted to try something different so they opted for a guided mtb tour, exploring trails in the Fortified Churches area, near Viscri, and then on the foothills of Piatra Craiului and Bucegi mountains. It was a thrilling experience: the already familiar Transylvanian landscape gained new dimensions while biking every day around 30 km of forest, pasture and alpine single tracks, covering vasts areas of unspoiled teritory. [singlepic id=1446 w=728] The mountain…

This is mountain biking!

Santa came early this year for mtbtours.ro. It was mid-October when we had the joy and the privilege to organize a tour for a select group of French bikers. A fair deal: I showed them the wonderful trails around Brașov, they showed me what one can do with a bike. All in all a cross-country, all-mountain and enduro experience in the very pleasant company of five joyful mountain bikers. I saw what Pierre Geo Plantet was able to do during some XC competition during the summer, when he finished second…

The Swedes riding the Transylvanian Alps

Sigge and his Swedish friends are old friends now, we've been riding together the trails around Braşov for two summers now, as you can see in these older stories (here, here and here). For the summer of 2013 we designed an all-mountain six-days tour with some enduro flavorings. The basic frame of the program was the Transylvanian Alps tour (details here). The (in)famous Postavaru trails were on the menu, together with less popular but equally exciting trails in Ciucas Mountains, or in Grohotis-Baiului. Bucegi mountains were the icing on the…

Up in Bucegi Mountains, Omu Peak

They live in Denmark for more than twenty years, but still speak Romanian with a genuine accent. They left Constanţa on the Black Sea shore when they were kids to live with their families close to the wet and chilly North Sea. How were George and Răzvan able to get into mountain biking in Denmark, a country with the highest point barely reaching 171 metres, that's beyond me. Still, they contacted me to help them cycle up in Bucegi Mountains, all the way to Omu Peak - 2504m. They did…

Şaua Strunga descent: this is how it’s done

A 11 min video edit from a Bucegi all-mountain session this summer, with Sigge and Micke. We climbed from Padina to Strunga Pass, then all the way down to Bran village. The camera (Go Pro Hero2) was mounted on Sigge's bike during the tough descents (no, there is no fast forward effect) and on mine on softer terrain. Natural sound, as usual, if you want a soundtrack just choose something appropriate from your playlist. Sigge and Micke they both use full-suspension bikes, 150mm travel (rear and front). Pretty heavy bikes…

High up the Bucegi Mountains

Bucegi Plateau, Omu Peak, Drumul Granicerilor, Padina, Strunga Ridge and then a descent to Simon. For a long time I have been planning this trip and I had lost all hope of doing it this year, since we had a mostly cold and rainy summer. But the weather was on our side this time, and a good thing that was too. The first ever story we published more then a year ago on this blog was also about a ride through Bucegi. That time we started the ride in Sinaia,…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I hope 2010 was good on you and 2011 will be even better. Until the snow comes, if it ever does, we invite you to look over a summary of our 2010 rides, edited together in a 3 min video. Music by Moonlit Saylor. Have a good one!

Autumn light

This autumn, the weather we were expecting in October came in November. It’s been weeks now since it hasn’t rained in Brasov, the sky is almost always clear and we are enjoying mild temperatures, even early in the morning. Just the perfect excuse the give the bikes one more try, before the weather eventually turns sour and we start thinking about winter sports. We opted for a tour around Poiana Marului, a place we just recently visited, and another tour under the western wall of the Bucegi Mountains, around Poiana…

Mountainbiking in the hills near Bran

During a weekend when everyone was focusing on the Sibiu marathon, I went mountain biking on the Simon hills, near Bran. My touring partners: Steve and Robbie - who, after fours years of living and cycling in Romania, decided to take things one step further in the difficulty department. So, from taking the cable car up the mountain in Sinaia, they were now dealing with the ups and downs of Poiana Gutanu, underneath the Bucegi Mountains, and the ridge situated on the south east of Simon. During our trip we…