Category Archives: 8. Diverse

SHAPING THE SOUTH, MEHEDINȚI ENDURO

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This year is the first edition of Mehedinti enduro, courtesy of Alexandru Pufan aka The Pufalot who has worked his ass off for us to have an awesome contest on the 12th of May here in Topolniței Valley, Mehedinți county.

Yep, this guy has shaped some awesome trails here and took the time to show us around. It is the second time coming here and we had the same feeling, being amazed of what this place has to offer.

The contest itself has around 27.5 km with and elevation of 1350m and 5 downhill stages varying between 1 and 2 km long. Here’s a description of them made by The Pufalot, on which we agree 👊.

The 5 specials from Enduro’s first Mehedinți edition are located on the Topolnița Valley, a diverse area geographically, making the trails quite different from each other.

The first trail, La Muerte Peluda, is the rockiest and the longest (and the most difficult to reach, with a transfer of nearly 7km), with several exposed and inadequate areas. Completely natural, this is in fact an old touristic trail brought back to life with the occasion of the contest.

On the other hand, the second special PS2, Imagination land, will be the shortest but most interesting. It will pass through the ruins of a fortress and will descend along a natural carousel, so that in the end it will pass through a rocky and open area.

The following two, PS3 and PS4 have the same starting point, being constructed from scratch over the past 3 years. Much easier from a technical point of view, they will probably please those who prefer more of a bike park type of trail with lots of berms and jumps.

PS3, Stevie Nicks will actually be a berm skill test for the riders, having a dozen of berms, while the next one, PS4, Blame Canada, will show us who is best in the air, building the biggest gap in the competition. And yes, this guy’s a South Park die hard fan 🤣🤟.

The last trail, Taming Strange, completed this month, is actually a combination of everything we’ve ever met. Technical areas alternate with flow paths, including very tight switchbacks, straight-forward portions, drops and gaps, on unforeseeable terrain 😳.

Hope these words made you an image of what to expect, and if not check up this edit that we made from our first day of riding here.

Second day we took a short trip to Herculane baths to check up some sick exposed trails that we will be uploading soon on youtube. Besides this we will upload all 5 contest trails in the next days so stay tuned on VRR youtube channel 🤙.

Also, you can find the complete map of the contest here: MEHEDINTI ENDURO ON TRAILFORKS! 🚵‍♂

Yes, it was a sick weekend and all we have to say is that we can hardly wait for the contest and to come back here to check out more trails. For sure in autumn we plan another trip here, there are so much more trails to be ridden.

This guy is actually shaping the south of this country! Cheers mate! 🍻

P.S.: Remember 12 mai 2019 – Valea Topolnitei.  Photo credits: Alexandru Pufan.

You can also check out this article about Mehedinti county: MEHEDINTI FTW

WHITE VALLEY SPRING SKIING

WHITE VALLEY SPRING SKIING

Maybe this was the last run of the season, and what a season it has been. Great snow, great touring days, great slopes and great friends. One to remember with lots of new places discovered and new things learned. That’s most important, always to learn something, never to settle for less. Another one added to the pile of memories. Cheers mates! ⛷❄🍻

HAPPY SKIER FACE

LESPEZI PEAK SKI TOURING DAY

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This one has to be one of the best ski touring days of this season. Second time I have been on Lespezi Peak, both on skis. This beautiful 2.5k peak is also known as Corporate Everest because of its shape and relatively easy access even in winter conditions, making it pretty crowded…😅❄⛷

It’s a nice peak that offers a terrific view over Făgăraș mountains range. As you climb you can see the whole south valley of Transfăgărășan road with great peaks on each side and when you reach the top you can see Negoiou peak and Călțun lake with the great Călțun wall in all of its steepness…

As a descent route you can either go back the way you climbed, or get back 100m elevation and then enter the valley beneath the peak, or, if conditions are good, as we catch them, you can enter the valley almost directly from the peak on one of the ridges (almost spines) that forms underneath the peak.

Either way, check the conditions and get all information.

For us, was a great climb, a little windy, and a wonderful descent on a sunny afternoon.

For sure we will try it next year too. Cheers and ride safe! Enjoy!

CIOCANU MTB TRAILS FIRST RIDE 2019, CIOCANU ENDURO

First ride yesterday @ciocanumtbtrails, Bughea de jos, Campulung.

Looks like the season has started exactly where it ended 🍻🚵‍♂👊. Nice to be riding my bike again. Cheers mates and hope this year will be at least as good as the previous! Ride safe!

BARCACIU SKITOURING, BARRYVOX LIMITED EDITION

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BARCACIU SKITOURING, BARRYVOX LIMITED EDITION.

Last weekend we managed to reach Barcaciu mountain hut in Fagaras Mountains. It has become  tradition to go ski touring here each winter. Barcaciu is holding an event, each year around this time, event aimed to promote the ski touring possibilities in this area of Fagaras Mountains. We could not be present at the event so we decided to go 1 week earlier and make our own limited edition of Barcaciu Ski Touring, Barryvox Edition 🤪👊🍻.

It was a full weekend and did almost everything that we wanted in terms of ski touring. This winter really delivered big time. We had some top score powder and some good weather with no wind. A little problem with visibility on Sunday but we managed anyway. Because of the great amount of snow this year, the couloirs are very generous, larger than before and you can descent greater. But all this comes with a risk and you have to be cautious and know your way around the area. We did some cool descents in powder and on Sunday we played a little with some equipment from Mammut that Mihai had for testing and presentation. Cool stuff, light but reliable equipment as I have seen so far.

After making a snow profile and fool around with an avalanche backpack, we did a classic descent in Puha Valley.

Overall it was, as I said, a full weekend and we now have some fresh memories of Barcaciu to last us for a while.

As one said to me, you never regret going, so, go explore! Ride safe!

GROHOTIS MOUNTAINS BLUEBIRD SKI TOURING DAY

Last Sunday we got lucky in Grohotis mountains, near Ciucas. This place has so much to offer, just this year I really got it :D. Bluebird day and some fresh powder in the mix. I was pretty tired but as one said, “you never regret going”… cheers mate! Enjoy, ride safe and have fun!

Ciucaș MOUNTAINS BEAUTIFUL SKI TOURING DAY

Made it to the top! 4th ski touring day in Ciucaș mountains has been great. No more fog, just a perfect sunny bluebird day, great for pictures and with corn snow and hard pack on descent.
Enjoy and ride safe!

PHOTO CREDIT: ALEX BRENDEA

GROHOTIȘ AND CIUCAȘ MOUNTAINS SKITOURING BAR AND GRILL

Short ski touring trip in Grohotis and Ciucas mountains with happy ending… not what you think, just a bbq in an old wrecked hut. Enjoy and ride safe! ⛷❄🚠💙🍻👊

Ski de tura, inconjurul crestei Gropsoare – Zaganu

“Inconjurul crestei Gropsoare – Zaganu, de la Cheia peste culmea Buzoianu spre Poiana Stanii apoi spre pasul Boncuta – Curmatura Stanii- saua Chirusca – valea Berii – Cab. Muntele Rosu – Cheia. Unii au mai dovedit un Zaganu si seara, acasa…asa la reconstituire…” – Lucian Marculescu

Best trail in Iezer mountains

Best trail in Iezer mountains, this is it! no doubt about it!

You have to work a bit to reach it but when you start your descent, the view, the trail itself, the flow makes it perfect. We did this trail twice this year, first in the rain and next in a sunny late October day and we had the same amount of fun in both conditions 🤩. So, no matter the weather, this trail will be perfect. Just remember on the 3-4 h uphill that the best descent awaits you and you will not feel tired. Check out the other ride in the rain here, video included 🤙.

We leave you some nice footage below. Last pictures are from Ciocanu MTB trails where we took a ride the next day. Enjoy! 🚵‍♂⛰👊

Hardtail love in Leaota Mountains

Last week we took an late autumn ride in Leaota mountains. I promise Cromo that I will show him the mountains and that I did. Lucky us we catch a superb day, cold but very beautiful with clear sky and and billion dollars sunset 😍.

This was my first time in Leaota mountains, and we ware both lucky. Wild mountains with rough technical trails. Loving it!

We leave you some pics and an edit, and you can find the track here. Enjoy! 🤙

Transilvania bike trails casual ride

This is how a casual ride on Transilvania bike trails (TBT) near Viscri and Crit looks like.

This year we visit 2 times this trails because they are just superb. Mellow trails with ups and downs in a beautiful forest near some old historical villages where you can find great accommodation and food. You could not ask for more believe me.

We strongly recommend you to stay at Agrotouristic Guesthouse Elena, in Crit village. Man, the food is fantastic and the hosts too. Friendly people with nothing to care but their guests. We eat so much and so good that we had to roll out of the beds to reach our bikes :))) Seriously!

And what goes well after a good meal? We tell you, a good single track thru the forest that ends up in an orchard of pears and nuts! Perfect combination! After this we stopped at the local pub (birt) to have a beer with the locals. Always an animated experience.

No more words just pictures now. Hope we given you a good idea on how to spend an weekend there. The tracks you could do are these:  Track 1 , Track 2. Enjoy and ride safe! 🚵‍♂🍻👊

 

Iezer Mountains awesome over 1000m descent

This video is from a few months back when we did an awesome descent in Iezer-Papusa mountains, probably the coolest there is there. There are lots of trails but this one is the best here and its very long, over 10km and over 1000m of descent :D. For more info about this trail or other trails in Iezer-Papusa mountains, also check out this: Iezer-Papusa Enduro Singletrack or this Enduro bikepacking in Iezer-Papusa :D. Enjoy the video and ride safe! Link to track here!

VELIKO TARNOVO HALLOWEEN BIKERIDE PARTY

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So we took a last trip to Veliko Tarnovo to attend to the Halloween ride, curtsy of Old Mountain Epic. It was all Nedko’s idea and this I think is the third edition of the event.

The ride itself it’s a night ride on one of the tracks, which is a very fun thing to do, especially if you have some powerful lights to scare off the creatures of the night that Nedko summons up for the event 😂😂.

But for us was just a pretext to go ride Veliko Tarnovo’s trails and to see the crew from Veliko again, always a pleasure to go shred with these guys. I think next year we will plan some more trips to better discover Bulgaria. Not that we have ridden all the trails we could in Romania, but they are similar and we just want to ride more and more and more 😅.

The event was fun and as I said, the night ride it’s something that each of us must do at least once. I’m starting to like it more and more.

The trails were harder because of the leaves and the loose terrain but we had fun anyway, just check out the clip :D.

For more details about Veliko or Bulgaria rides you could check out Old Mountain Epic’s Page or some of our other articles: Veliko Tarnovo and Sopot Ride, Veliko Tarnovo Enduro Warriors trip.

We leave you some pictures and a movie bellow and don’t forget, Old Mountain Epic Halloween ride @ Veliko Tarnovo! Enjoy!

Cindrel mountains bikepacking trip

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This is an old one, but quite a beautiful one, one of the best bike packing adventure we had this year. Yeah, we could had some less rain, but who are we to complain?! we had an good night sleep in dry cloths… heck we even found slippers in the hut, and we had some good drink to ease our sorrow! This is how trail riding, hunting and enjoying looks like!

These are Cindrel mountains, some beautiful, mellow and sometimes unwelcoming mountains in Romania. For sure we will redo this one just as we planed it, hut included because its just superb right there in the middle of the forest! With some good luck, we will skip the raining days.

The plan was to do a bigger ride and explore the west part of the mountain. But, because of the rain that started sooner then expected, we had to cut short the first day and reach the hut earlier. We ware soaking wet when we reached it. The only luck in that day was the fireplace that we found in the hut where we could dry our clothes… aaaa and the slippers. We had a good night sleep and in the morning a beautiful day awaited… or better said half a day.

We did some serious pushbike back on to the ridge of the mountain and straight on to Cindrel peak. After this we hold the ridge to Frumoasa peak, and then take the rocky road to Canaia Refuge. The single track down to the refuge was beautiful! Just when we reached the refuge, the rain started again. And what a rain, it was poring like crazy. After a while we just didn’t care anymore and started riding in the rain. It was a cold rain, our hands and feet ware freezing. I think I almost prayed for the rain to stop :D. But it didn’t matter we didn’t had an inch of dry clothes on us anymore… the rain didn’t stop until we reached the car, but after a while we blend in. It was raining so much that all the mud was whipped. The stones ware grippy then before and I for one could ride with full thrust and ease. Until we reached our car, we had some good segments of beautiful single track. There was a portion of the trail that looked more like a pool then a trail. It was a flat surface of water on top of some gnarly rooks hidden underneath :))).

Beautiful, brilliant but we didn’t deserve so much rain. Hope next year we will have quite some contrast here, but we shell see.

We leave you some pics and and some movies to better understand our complains. Second movie is all about the rain :))). Beautiful memories, here’s the tracks: DAY 1, DAY 2. Cheers!

My hardcore hardtail is fantastic, NS BIKES Eccentric CROMO

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This year was new bike year. After riding a pump track on a hard tail of a friend of mine, in my head the idea of owning a hard tail was implemented. So this is how the conceiving of Cromo starts.

This bike is made half with second hand parts, half with new parts. After some time and lots of lets say planning, the bike took shape and its a beautiful one. And rides like no other… its just perfect.

I can say one thing, if there exists the one bike, the most beautiful one of them all, it must be a hard tail 😍.

In terms of parts ill just say the following:

  • NS bikes eccentric frame 2017 on 27.5 wheels  second hand but in perfect condition;
  • DT swiss CSW AM wheels second hand with Magic Mary tires new;
  • BX components dropper post new;
  • Guide R brakes second hand;
  • Race face Turbine crank second hand but in perfect conditions;
  • GS shifter and rear derailleur second hand but in good condition;
  • Revers components saddle new;
  • Fox 34 140mm fork 2016 model new;
  • Truvativ descendant and steam new;

Even if I went a bit over the budget it is still a good deal and came up way to good for how it looks and handles :D. I’ll be using this bike to have fun in the city, for trail riding where I have more mellow terrain (like Viscri or even Ciocanu rides) and for longer bike packing trips where I know I have bigger climbs that I can do on the bike (if it’s pushbike I rather push my enduro bike). I’ll just leave you some pictures and a movie to see just how good it is :D. Enjoy! 🚵‍♂🤘👊