Tag: mountain
Bikers from all over the world come to ride our trails, and most are very much into mountain biking, bringing over their beloved equipment, and showing incredible technical and physical skills. Some are less into biking and more into spending memorable experiences together with old friends. The demands of the mountain biking we are offering in our tours might take them by surprise. But this never stood in the way of a proper jolly time. The intensity of the climbs and the technicity of descents are swiftly turned into challenges,…
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.…
Helmut works for a car components manufacturer, and in his free time he collects, restores and then drives old cars. He came to Brasov for a short holiday, driving all the way from Germany to Romania. There is no better way to put it than saying he is a motorhead, eager to see what the electric revolution will bring to the table. But not with his mountain biking. Here he likes things done the old way, earning the thrills of the descents with the hard work of pedaling up. And…
Udo brought his friends for a ski touring trip in the Romanian mountains back in 2018, and saw the potential for a mountain biking adventure. Fast forward to August 2022: Udo and his five Bavarian friends came to Romania for a five-mountains, six-days mountain biking tour: our one and only Transylvanian Alps program. The photo gallery below, as extensive as it is, will only tell a small part of an amazing experience. We explored five mountains in Central Romania (Ciucaș, Grohotișului, Baiului, Bucegi, Piatra Craiului). We've biked through forests, through…
Like most of our guests, Willi and Francesco started planning their mtb trip to Romania with many months in advance, in October 2021. They were hoping, like we all did, that things will come back to some sort of normality after a couple of years totally messed up by the COVID pandemic. Then the war in Ukraine started. Planning for weeks or months ahead became, again, pointless. Still, Willi and Francesco were decided to come to Romania for a mountain biking trip, even if that meant making a last minute…
It was scheduled to happen in June 2020, but a tiny virus had other plans for the entire planet Earth. More than one year later our Belgian guests finally arrived in Romania for the week-long Transylvanian Alps tour, adding the South East Carpathian Mountains to their impressive list of mountain biking destinations. The menu was, as always, complex: long and demanding climbs, push and carry-bike sessions, epic descents on "Bonanza trails". Zero bears encounters, but a few shepherd dogs (honestly a bigger threat for the unaccustomed traveller). Lots of loughs,…
We love mountains at least as much as we like biking. In our book mountain biking should be a lot about mountains: majestic forests, alpine pastures, rocky ridges, and the assorted mountain trails. But the pinnacle of any mountain landscape is the peak. Obviously, not every peak is bikeable. And “bikeable” is like beauty: it’s in the eye (mind, legs, arms) of the beholder. Some peaks can be climbed on a bike. Others require push-bike, sometimes carry-bike. The descents, also. These mtb experiences are not for everyone, but those who…
One of the great things about mountain biking is that, with every new ride, you become a different mountain biker. With each new trail you've ridden, with each day spent on bike, you get better at it. You trust more your balance, you hone your skills a little bit more. You look at the same trail a little bit different. You see new lines, new options on sections of trails you thought were't holding no more secrets. Sometimes you do it on your own, sometimes you do it with your…
“Beware of the mountain bikers coming from flat countries”. That was the advice I got quite early in my mtb guiding experience and I keep mentioning it during our tours, as it always brings out a laugh or two. It obviously is one of those general statements that can easily be cancelled out by specific individual examples, of which we’ve seen many during our very own tours. But there is an obvious element of truth in it: you cannot know what mountain biking is unless you bring your bike to…
Mountain biking is one of the fastest growing sports around the world, and it is not a mystery why this is happening. It is accessible for pretty much everyone because the minimum requirements are very simple: a bicycle, the ability to ride it, and access to a trail through some off-road scenery. (Sure, this is just a starting point, and once you jump the wagon you can complicate things endlessly.) It can be practised as a very intense workout, or as a fun, adrenaline inducing activity. Or both at the…
