Tag: piatra craiului
"Well, I just doubled the number of sunny days for this summer", Martin said after the first day of glorious weather during our Transylvanian Alps Open tour, September 2017. And five similar days followed, with incredible blue sky, and some fluffy clouds for better contrast. As the other three Swedes in the group, when travelling abroad for the summer holidays Martin is looking for something generally warmer and sunnier than what's usually on the menu at home. Or at least less muddy as the trails Charles and Garry (another two…
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,…
October is an ideal time for short rides. Yes, the times of week-long tours are gone, but blitzkrieg type of tours are there for the taking. Like the two days mountain bike tour we enjoyed with Robin, from Iceland. Piatra Craiului and Bucegi Mountains were still a little bit shell-shocked after a short but intensive snow session up on the high pastures, but on the lower slopes the trails were just brilliant. There are still a couple of weeks till we switch for the winter hours, so get your bike…
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…
A quite rainy and muddy Skills for Thrills session we had in Piatra Craiului and Bucegi, the kind of weather you loath having for your mountain bike adventure. Until you get on the trail, that is. Because mountain biking is, more often than not, about mud. And once you get wet and dirty, everything gets back to normal. The single tracks are as enjoyable as ever. The learning experience is also very good, as your technique is really put to the test. You have to be so much careful when rolling…
The Carpat MTB Enduro comes with a carefully selected list of trails to please the most demanding singletrack aficionados. Natural, trekking and hiking trails with whatever mother nature decided to throw into the mix: roots, logs, stones and rock gardens, sharp turns, exposed ridges. Plus some man-made, bike-park kind of runs. You name it, we got it covered. About three times more altitude drop than climbing on bike, meaning we'll use cable cars or motorised vehicles to cover some of the uphill. Still enough climbing on the menu, with some…
After sampling the mountain biking tours experience with us in 2015, Eva and Christian were eager to taste the unique Transylvanian experience together with a bigger group of friends, offering them a combined trekking and mountain biking program: some people would go mountain biking, some would enjoy hiking, and everybody would regroup over the dinner table. Sharing loughs and stories from the day spent on the early summer flowery trails, eating great local food and recharging batteries for the following day of outdoor adventures. Coming up with a program matching both…
Milo wrote us an email rather late in the summer, when our schedule was almost full. His request for an intensive, single trail, technical descents backed up by some good climbing kind of program suited very well our preferences. We had a four days window opportunity for a custom tour, squeezed in between already existing tours, and Milo was quick to grab it with both hands. There were actually four hands, and legs, as Milo was coming with his brother Lubo. And there were good, strong legs, much stronger than…
We return with a video production after quite a long pause. We hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did while riding the trails of Piatra Craiului, filming and editing the piece. There is a quite simple reason why we lagged behind on the video production front: when you go filming, that's pretty much all you do. The fun factor of the biking is significantly limited, as riding is always interrupted. There is no flow. The backpack is heavier. Getting that big camera out for another shot, attaching the…
