“I don’t know how you do it, but your guests are always nice, interesting people!”.
Maria runs a rural pension close to Bucegi Mountains, her place is listed on airbnb as one of the most popular choices in the area. So she gets to meet special people from all around the world.
Still, the people coming with us, over the Bucegi Mountains, riding their bikes and carrying big smiles on their faces, are of a different sort. We stay at Maria’s for the last two days of our week-long mtb tours Bucegi Circuit and Transylvanian Alps, and we are spoilt by the cosy rooms, the shady garden, the fresh fruits from her trees, the exclusive home-made meals she is preparing just for us.
She is, of course, absolutely right: our groups are special. It has to do, probably, with our ability to make people happy, by choosing the right trails, giving technical advice, and generally smoothly running a multi-day mountain biking trip. But mostly, it’s about our guests, they are always interesting people. After all, there needs to be something special about those weird humans enjoying long, tough uphills, or push/carry bikes, just to rush then into tricky, sometimes risky descents that are bound to he much shorter than the ascents. 🙂
Because every group, every guest is special, it seems somehow unfair to highlight one specific case, but the group of German mountain bikers coming this August for the Bucegi Circuit tour was special in a… very special way. Ten years ago one of the participants had a motorbike accident and he was about to have his foot amputated. He decided to go through a complicated process of foot reconstruction that allowed him, ten years after, to be able to join his friends in (mountain biking) adventures across the world.
Is this inspirational or what. Get out and ride your bike!
Franzi 
