Recently we got to visit Macin mountains and their beautiful trails. Never expect less from this place. If you have a camera with you, even a phone camera, this place will turn you into an awesome photographer. Not a good rider, just an awesome photographer :))). But if you ride these trails a lot, you eventually will become a good rider to 😛
The trails are nit, beautiful and unique in their own way. You have some trails with loose over hard pack where you need to control your speed and brakes very good, you have rocky trails where you don’t want to get a flat or fall, and you have Tasmanian forest like trails … the scenery is very diverse for such a small region, but totally worth the effort. Its quite close to Bucharest (3h drive) and very close to the sea side so you can actually go for a swim after a day of riding ;). Check out Măcin hype, its true! enjoy and ride safe!
This year,Bârcaciu ski touringevent hold place, a bit underground, among friends but it had happen. And it was a great weekend to spend on the mountain with beautiful snow, fresh lines and bluebird days. It was also the birthday of the man in charge, the one and onlySherpa from Carpati, Mihai Petre, and seems the gods favor him that we had this briliant conditions.
I feel that i’m repeating myself but this area has so much to offer in terms of mountain acces, lines, trails, tracks and anything in between (good food and good accommodation😊)
Don’t be shy, check it whenever you have the opportunity. I will not continue buzzing you with the same details, just check the pictures and movies bellow and if you want, the the past articles like Bârcaciu Skitouring VRR Editionor Făgăraș from peak to creek #barcaciu. Enjoy and ride safe!
Sketchiest day so far at Balea Lake. I know that from the cover it doesn’t look that way, but it was. Things can change very fast on the mountain, so expect anything. We had a beautiful start of the day, with a decent descent from the ridge of the mountain to Capra lake, but then, the fog came and it stayed for diner… and breakfast next day too :))).
After that, we tried to become friends but she wont open up to us…😆 hard to make a bond when there’s no communication, you feel like talking to the walls :))). Enough with the funny talk, here are some pictures and 2 movies to judge by yourselves. Also for more riding in Balea Lake, you can check BALEA LAKE POWDER DAYS. Enjoy and ride safe!
This is a classic tour for us, each year we do one or tow rides in Ciucas. Why? because its accesibile, usually holds good snow despite of the windy ridge, has good slope with moderate inclination and you can have 2 or 3 decent descent in one day. I recomand a tour in Ciucas for intermediar to advance skiers and the recommendation is to check the weather and in before you go there. You can also look for a guide to take you there, its 1 day job and for sure you will find some good ones here like our friends from Massif Experience. if its heavy snow after a long dry period, better stay bellow the tree line or on mellow slopes. If not, you can try even a descent from the peak. each way you do it, check the conditions on the spot ;).
It’s a good question that I try to answare myself a lot lately. To be honest with you, I haven’t figure it out yet, it depends a lot of what type of rides you like to take usually and what’s the amount of riding you really do. For me it’s a bit clearer that judging from the last tow years perspectiv, owning 1 bike it’s not enough, because I get to ride every weekend in different conditions.
I start enjoying a good enduro contest once a month, or some quick rides in the bike park or on some local trails that we know, but I also enjoy longer day rides with lots of elevation and exploring or even epic rides that exceed 2 days lengths.
In my perspective, yes, you can have a bike that makes a good compromise but if you want the best in each ride, you might consider to have dedicated bikes for different purposes. If you can afford in terms of budget, specs or deposit them, and also if you can find the time to hump, excuse me, ride them all, than here are my choices for the personal bike fleet:
One hard tail for street and urban riding between weekends and skill boost 😉
I for one like a good between weekends evening run on the street or in the local parc that has some short lines just to help you remember the moves and the enduro rig its an overkill for this. Also, owning a hard tail has clarified one thing, A hard tail doesn’t forgives you when you make mistakes but rewards you when you do thing the proper way.
One full suspension trail oriented for those longer harder masochistic days or trips that gets you motivated for a month or more, not only for a day or a week.
I also like a good all mountain ride, that’s how I start riding, on xc hard tail bike only to discover the beast inside when moving to a full suspension. An super enduro bike is overkill for this kind of ride, I tried to take the 16 kg aggressive nukeproof on multi day rides and yes, its rewarding on descents but man, its hard work to reach the peaks on it… lately, its hard work on any bike but let me lie to myself that the bike is to blame :))
One super enduro beast that can handle dh tracks or gnarly enduro trails and give you a run for you’re money.
I also like to have a rig that pushes me to the edge and shows me that she can and I can not and that it’s my nuke of a proof bike at this point.
Yes, it may be a bit over the budget but as i said, it must be a personal choice based on the amount of riding and the habits you have.
This is my opinion based on the present facts but things change very quickly in this dynamic present that we live in… One thought dow, if I was to live near a mountain, probably an electric bike would be included 😉
As geometry changes and electric bikes get more supple, this choices of mine wold have to suffer also but at this point this above are my thoughts.
Bucegi mountains have a lot to offer in terms of hiking, climbing, skiing, biking, and a lot more. Each year we schedule some rides here and is great when we discover new trails that are simply perfect for mountain biking. This time we tried a new one that reward us with flow and view. It’s the trail that descents from Scara peak near Omu to the cross above Malaesti hut and passes Tiganest mountain refugee and Tiganest lakes. It is a trail whit a kind of technical access, almost via ferata :)) but once you put yourself on the bike you are immediately possessed by the trails and the flow it has. the view is epic, and I think this part of Bucegi mountains is the most beautiful one. The sections from the cross to Malaesti hut it’s to steep and not so clean so it’s a hike a bike sections but from Malaesti down, a new trail awaits you, technical at the start but flowy at the bottom. The trails are on trail forks so check them out. The track of our ride its here on Garmin connect. It’s one of those rides that we will probably take each year, along with Tiganest descent or Strunga descent. These 3 are our top 3 trails in Bucegi mountains. Enjoy and ride safe!
After this ride, we know where we will be each year for first of November, no doubt about it 🥰.
Valea Cernei is a delight for the sight in this period, and combined with the beautiful single tracks along the way it makes for an perfect day out. I strongly recomand to go visit this place and Mehedinti county in general, it’s a region in Romania like no other with a lot to offer. #shapingthesouth hashtag must be replaced with #gosuth because slowly it becomes a must ;). Thanks Pufi for the great ride and see you soon! Cheers!
This is another epic that you must check in Mehedint county. Is the second time we send this trail and the feedback is the same, awesome and gnarly trail with beautiful scenery, forest and technical parts. The start of the trail is epic, and you have a clear view over Baile Herculane valley but the end of it is hardcode. Some tight corners on rocky sections and loose ones makes you think twice before trying anything.
This year again I didn’t get to nail all the bits of the trail and as I grow older its hard to say if I’m ever gonna send it from top to bottom. But no worries, this is not all its about, the gang, the mountain and trail itself make it worth the effort, as always…
As usual, we never leave Mehedints county without checking Mehedinti enduro trails build and maintained by our local trail forks ambasador, Alexandru Pufan aka The_pufalot, cheers mate!
Cindrel bike packing adventure reloaded. I think this is the third year we
do this track and not only the trails keep us coming back, I think the refuge
is. The way it looks and where its located has something to it. And doing the
trip this late in the Autumn, when the probability of finding someone at the
refuge is low, makes this more desirable.
This time we did it in the same manner as third years ago, Cindrel
mountains bikepacking trip, but the weather was top. A bit
windy but only to make thing more adventurous. Not to many peoples on the
mountain this time of the year and that suits us well. We saw a guy with a 4×4
going down from Cindrel peak, only to find him turn over on the trail to the
refuge. What a crazy dude to try this track whit a 4×4 car 😲…
didn’t thought he was gone make it down but with a little help from us, he
managed… we pushed him to the refuge and a bit beyond but from there, via con
Dios my friend… 😆
The night at the refuge was top, all alone we started a fire under the 1k
stars hotel. We had lots of food and some Romanian quality beverage 🥃🤩
just enough to get us worm and quite cheerful… In the refuge was quite cozy
and we had a good sleep but wake up early in the morning.
Next day, breakfast with leftovers and then pushbike back to the ridge of
Cindrel mountains, if we could call it a ridge. We did a descent to Canaia
refuge on the other side and then straight back to Paltinis. On our way back we
climb Batrana peak and then made the fun and gnarly descent to Paltinis. This
trail is long very Enduro like and gets easier at the bottom.
All ended up with a beautiful descent to Curmatura, from Oncesti peak, after
meeting up with Alex, a good friend of ours from Sibiu. Check out his YT
channel right here: La vale!
This is the receipt for a terrific weekend ;). Also check out our electric
adventure from last year in this beautiful mountains: Cindrel
electric bikepacking trip, thanks to NevAcademy. Enjoy and
ride safe!
Suru challenge VRR edition!
It has been a while science we got to ride the trails around Suru mountain hut. First time here was I think 4 years back. We did part of the ridge from Scara peak to Budislavu and Suru and then down to the hut. It was a hardcore experience and I bet that we are one in the few groups that did this part of Fagaras mountains by bike….😅💪🍻 look up the old article here: Fagaras enduro and freeride tracks.
You have 2 trails that worth your time, the descent from Suru hut down to Sebes village that is a bit technical at the start but after is full of flow and flat out speed sections and, for the next day you can do the rocky ridge (Chica Pietrelor) that starts right from the ridge of the mountain. For this second descent you have to pushbike 2h from the hut. It is not an easy job but it’s rewording because you will always have a stunning view over the horizon, with Avrig and Sibiu cities and Olt river sneaking at the bottom of the mountain.
The Suru hut itself is nice and cozy, with good beds and great food for which I thank Andrei and I wish him the best.
This came as a pleasant surprise. I knew that Cindrel mountains hold a bunch of great trails but this one was fantastic. Is the type of trail that you could ride a whole week around and not get bored.
And is not the only trail. For those of you loving the all mountain sections and wanting to explore a bit, the ride to Cindrel peak it’s a must. The trail runs right on the ridge of the mountain offering a pleasant view over the surroundings. From Cindrel peak you can take a ride down to Canaia refuge and then head back to Paltinis and link the return with the descent from Batrana col. Last year we did a cool ride with electric bikes around Cindrel mountains that you can check out here: Cindrel electric bikepacking trip, thanks to NevAcademy.
You also get a nice small bike park at Arena Platos where you can practice a bit and get dilled with your bike and skills. The bike park has 3 lines with perfectly built elements.
Fagaras from peak to creek, a weekend to remember @barcaciu mountain hut. The plan was on for this year, we wanted so bad to visit Barcaciu hut and ride some fresh trails in Fagaras mountains. The trigger was some post on NUFO BIKE TRIP YouTube channel and we were certain we wanted to ride those trails as soon as possible.
We made a quick plan and booked some places @Barcaciu even though the weather was not looking friendly. But as I say (ain’t always true) gods favor the strong ones and this weekend was so true. We had some small showers on Saturday, just enough to keep us cool, and on Sunday we had the perfect weather, chill, a bit cloudy for good pictures and no rain.
And the trails, let me tell you about the trails, they were in perfect conditions. You recognize a good mountain hut by the trail that accesses it, and this one was clean as a bike park trail.
On Saturday we send it down from the hut on the same trail we push-biked on and it was amazing. It’s a 4km trail in perfect conditions with some technical bits in the first half, roots and stones and lots of lines, and at the end some nice flow with some tight switchbacks just to keep you on your toes ;). Then pushbike back at the hut for some drinks and a good meal. We had a nice evening, even built up a ramp and jumped it in the sunset light for some cool pictures, thanks Mihai for the good idea, and keeping us in shape for them trails.
Next day we woke up in the morning for a beautiful breakfast in front of the hut. Mrs Mariana cooks up some great food and we left the hut with our energy levels restored. The target was Scara peak and some epic descent on an unmarked trail. We had 3h of pushbike up to the peak and after that over 90% descent, and a long one, around 12km of descent on an epic trail with an unique view over the west part of the country with Olt river sneaking in the horizon. Once we entered the forest, we passed the trail that links Barcaciu to Negoiu hut and stayed on an unmarked trail that was in rather good conditions.
The trail is incredibly beautiful on a loamy terrain. It’s good to have a GPS track with you. We put it on trail forks so check it out if you’re in search of new trails to shred.
Overall it was one of those epic rides that will remain pinned in our memories for a long time. Check out the pictures and the clips bellow for a clear verdict ;). Enjoy and ride safe!
This ride has become a season opener for us. It seems we always take on this ride at the beginning of the seasons when the snow melts and the trails become accessible.
It is an epic and beautiful ride that goes around Bucegi massif. We usually take the cabin from Sinaia, up to 2000 m and from there we begin our ride with a descent to Padina, then a climb to Strunga refuge where we stop for a quick lunch break. From there a beautiful trail awaits us and takes us down to Simon village. After Simon, we start a 3 h climb to Diham mountain hut. From this point we can take several trails down to Busteni, like Izvoare descent, Muchia Lunga or the fire road that takes you to Gura Diham. All of them are easy to ride and fun.
It is one of the rides we will take each year because of the easy access and the beautiful views along the way. You can find the track of our ride at this link on garmin connect. The trails are also on trail forks. Enjoy and ride safe!
This year was supposed to be the first edition of Bacau Enduro, a stage in CNE (Romanian enduro cup) but, due to Covid problems the whole cup was canceled after first stage, Semenic Enduor.
This does not mean that we cannot shred the CNE stops so we headed to Bacau to check out the trails. Cristian Totu, the main shaper here was kind enough to greet us and show us the trails. The community is a small one but very friendly and the trails are fun and kind of tricky, just like Ciocanu Enduro trails. They seem easy but they bite you when you least expect it. From a competitive point of view, the fit racers will have an advantage here because of the pedaling sections but you also have some technical sections that surprise you after some full speed ones. It was very dry and hot so is better to ride the trails in spring or autumn conditions, but we managed them in the August heat too. The access for the peak of the trails is quite easy, you can pedal it all the way up. They have 3 trails ready, all similar but with different features. You will find berm, rock gardens and jumps, all in a progressive way and all fun. Overall they are quite fun trails and if you ride with the locals you will have a 100% authentic experience ;).
Thanks Cristi, Andrei, Ana and Danut for the great time and the beers we had. Can’t wait to ride with you guys again! Cheers mates and we owe you one for setting up these places.
You can look up the trails on trail forks!Enjoy and ride safe!
Vertical Riding Romania 