Tag: Omu
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…
"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,…
Sometimes we forget about just enjoying the mountains. Which is what brought me (you?) to mountain biking in the first place. Now it is a lot about the flow, the grit, the ride, the shredding. About the width of the tires, the number of clicks in the rebound or the number of teeth on the granny gear. The six days of biking with Alda and Ronan put back the accent on the mountains, and less on the biking. We were blessed with great weather, so we properly enjoyed the great…
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…
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…
Alex is a student in Cluj, just about to finish his medical studies. A keen mountain biker, he thought of a short bike trip in the Romanian mountains for him, his dad Martin and his cousin Christian, trying to discover what gems lay hidden in this corner of Europe. For the first day of their adventure they went to the Sinaia bike park, concentrating on clearing various jumps and gaps. For the next three days they wanted some wild, natural trails, so they called us to design a suitable program.…
This season we tested extensively the papanași* as a genuine Romanian sports nutrition supplement. They worked wonders before, during and after intense mountain biking riding :). (Hey, some may argue the papanași are a very good substitute for sports itself, but we definitely wouldn't go as far). And what better endurance test than the Transylvanian Alps tour? Intensive climbs, technical descents, single trails riding up and down from 800 to 2500 m altitudes, through forests, pastures, deep into the mountain gorges or on the mountain crests. Plenty of carbohydrates, sugars,…
Most of the times mountain biking is a man's world. Any stats I stumble upon, be it magazine readers, equipment purchase, website's audience (yes, including this one), they all show that men are an overwhelming majority in anything related to mountain biking. It's true even with topics leg waxing, or what gloves colour would do justice to the newly bought lime-green frame-set (and also accommodate those awesome purple baggy pants). So, a seven persons group of mountain bikers from Germany counting no less than four women was something really out…
In a day and age where the electric mountain bikes are stealing the front pages, a six days trip around and up the Bucegi Mountains with Mark, Rob, Rod and Paul was as refreshing as a gulp of fresh water from a mountain spring. With just one guy below 60 to balance a little bit the average of the group, the four Brits proved time and again that age is just a number. Long climbs on dirt roads, like going from the old city of Brașov up to the local…
