Tag: Poiana Izvoarelor

“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…

Shinny, happy, muddy bikers

Pat, Ryan and Martin came to Romania late May for a medium mtb-tour in the Bran County. The rainiest spring we had in many years didn't provide the best of premisses - there was water and there was mud everywhere. The kind of weather that isn't really inviting you to get out, on your bike and ride. But once you've got over that hateful first minute, you realize that some wet dirt cannot and should not stop you from having a great time. With plenty experience of riding in the…

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…

Bucegi Circuit, July 2013

[singlepic id=970 w=500 h=333 float=left]A late report of a tour we organized this summer, with Mihai C. as a guide. He took a group of bikers from The Nederlands and Germany to a seven days tour around Bucegi Mountains. They rocked the trails of Postavaru, they passed by mountain huts (Poiana Secuilor, Poiana Izvoarelor, Padina, Omu), they photographed the Sfinx up the Bucegi mountains and downhill-ed on the West side to finish the tour in style with a day of riding in Piatra Craiului National Park. Here is the photo…

Transylvanian Alps, the Dutch connection

Four mighty mountain bikers from The Netherlands came to Romania this September to do the "Transylvanian Alps", our advanced six days tour. Karin, Yvonne, Angelique and Henk packed their bikes, jumped the plane in a rainy Eindhoven and arrived in a perfect autumn evening on Otopeni airport, eager to test the Romanian trails. We biked around Ciucas, across the mountains to Azuga, we explored Bucegi mountains from all angles (East and West side foothills and the Bucegi main plateau). We enjoyed thrilling views up the mountains, great runs on forestry…

Training for Iron Bike Oradea 2011

[singlepic id=528 w=500 h=333 float=left]“Must have been tough on that bike, wouldn’t it have been better had I given you a scythe to help me?” The man was sharpening his scythe in a field on the outskirts of the Magura village, near the cart road that goes up from Moeciu de Jos. The afternoon was hot, the man was surrounded by long lanes of freshly cut luscious grass, while I was already leaving behind 90 km of bike trails and a 3.000 m elevation. The time was right for some…

From Braşov to Buşteni

Since I had a free day during the week, I decided to use it by going on a recky I had been planning for a long time, but hoped I would not have to do by myself – you never know when something on the bike breaks, and you are in the middle of nowhere with no one to help you. And so, I convinced Mihai of Medias to join me in this ride from Brasov to Busteni (the initial track was to Sinaia, but we were cut short by…

Oh che bello, oh che bello!

At the end of a ski touring trip organized by Iulian Cozma in Bucegi in 2009, Mario promised he would soon return to the Carpathians. He kept his word - together with four other friends from Switzerland and Italy, they packed their mountain bikes, hopped on a plane and came to Romania for five days of mountain biking. Iulian arranged their entire stay in Romania (accommodation, transport etc.) and I was left with the fun part of the whole thing – planning the rides and doing the guiding. We got…

Braşov – Zărneşti in 100 km

The amazing success of the ride in Baiului had to be repeated, and quickly too. And there was an unexpected opportunity. Mihai was getting ready for Iron Bike Oradea and needed many kilometers to train. Paul had brought his bike all the way from Cluj and was looking for a ride closer to home. Christi however lost the fight in Baiului and came out with a busted knee – he therefore excused himself, although we suspect laziness was his first motive. I bet that especially after looking at the photos,…