April is usually one of the best months for riding our local trails. It might sound surprising, so let me explain.
The trails are really quiet: not many hikers, not many bikers, as people are still kept indoors by the not-really-gone winter. The temperatures are close to ideal for biking: not too cold, not too warm. The trails are pretty dry, as the trees and the plants are sucking all the moisture from the ground to fuel to soon-to-come explosion of green. Visibility is quite good inside the forest, without leaves and bushes obstructing the view, letting you nicely plan your line two or three moves ahead. And, last but not least, there’s the joy of getting your bike out of hibernation, starting together a new season of mountain biking.
2019 was no different. April started with nice, mild temperatures, typically dry weather (in truth, Romania has a general dry, continental weather all along the year, so riding on wet terrain is rather unusual for us), giving me a good number of days to introduce my new COTIC FlareMax bike to the surroundings.
And then the first tour came, with Daniel from Sweden wanting to stick a few days of trail riding to his business trip to Romania.
Guess what, the weather turned wet and cold. That type of weather which, in normal circumstances, will keep you indoors, safe and dry. With a programmed tour, though, you don’t really have a choice, you just get out and ride. And it ends up being as fun as ever, maybe even more so. The feeling of accomplishment after nailing some tricky trails on really wet conditions is in a thoroughly deserved boost mode, not to mention the cold beer, the hot shower and the warm meals afterwards.
All the credits and the merits go to Daniel, who wasn’t put off by the situation, and who was also pushing me really hard both uphill and downhill, following his training schedule for the coming mtb marathons he is planning to run.
Here is a short video showing some of the trails we rode on our last day of the four-days program, including trails in Viscri area, in Postavaru mountain, in Piatra Craiului National Park and in the Bucegi Natural Park:
A small photo gallery: