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 ;).
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!
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!
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!
Sorry to say this, but it was a veritable mudfest this year. We made jokes about the forecast but the weather was way worse than the forecast so we ended up riding 3 days on soaking wet trails.
Too bad for this beautiful place that got to experience such weather in a contest weekend and the trails got to suffer quite a lot ….
This is a shame because here are some of the greatest trails in Ro and I wanted to ride them so bad, just as I remember them.
It was a bit harsh on the organizers too. They found the courage to hold the event, even though the times are not the nicest (Covid and all) and the weather kicked their moral as well.
It was fun the first day in training but being in contest on this kind of a weather, man, it’s too harsh I tell you.
I had to do it just to learn that next time when the forecast comes true and looks like this, I’ll turn myself in an action sports photographer for the time of the contest 😆, it’s safer for me and for my bike, and I still do something more useful than racing 😅🤷♂
Otherwise, the place is great for riding trails, just beautiful. Some nice trails with good dirt, all on a beautiful Mountain with a beautiful lake at the bottom just in the perfect place for you to cool down after a gnarly descent 🌬💪.
Hope next year we get rid of all the troubles and have a perfect enduro season, fingers crossed.
Until next time, cheers to the guys from Bike Attack Resita for holding the contest and check out the trails on trail forks. And don’t forget that the trails are there the whole year, so go visit them, you’ll have a blast riding there 🤗😉. Congratulations to the winners for pulling hard and hope their bikes are ok! Ride safe and enjoy!
P.S. For accommodation in the area, if you don’t look for something fancy, you can check out Haus Hubertusplace, it’s a very nice hut with a great garden where you can even camp 😉 Great food also!
Ok, sezonul rece si noroios s-a instaurat si este momentul perfect sa prospectam o astfel de unealta care ar trebui sa fie nelipsita din portbagajul riderilor independenti de sezoan :P.
Oricum, avand in vedere ca suntem trecuti de jumatatea lunii decembrie si inca ne dam cu spor, putem spune ca este o iarna bikefriendly si cred ca putem deja sa dam crezare “zvonurilor” cu incalzirea globala…. dar cine stie, poate luna martie o sa fie adevaratul gerar
Revenind la JET2GO, am intrat in posesia acestei jucarii prin intermediul unui prieten, Dan Mazilu de la freerider.ro, care mi-a propus as il iau, sa il folosesc si sa imi zic o parere obiectiva despre el.
Fiind posesor de un Karcher OC3, chiar eram curios ce altceva mai este pe piata si cu ce vine nou.
Va zic din start ca desi au acelasi scop, sunt foarte diferite si modul in care le veti utiliza o sa difere. De ce? din cauza aspectului si practicabilitatii fiecaruia dintre cele 2 aparate.
Unul este mic, cu doar 4 litri de apa si un aumulator intern si unul este destul de bulky, cu vreo 15 litri de apa si cu incarcare la priza de 12v sau la bricheta masinii.
Daca as avea o masina cu un portbagaj generos, eventual cu priza in portbagaj, nici nu as sta pe ganduri, as lua jet2go fara probleme, l-as pune in portbagaj si as uita de el. Eventual l-as umple la nevoie cu apa. Daca as avea o masina mai mica, in care stiu ca daca intram 3 insi cu bagaje si mergem la o tura, atunci poate as sta putin pe ganduri, desi, cei 15 litri de rezervor imi surad nespus de mult.
Daca Karcherul trebuie sa il scoti din portbagaj ca sa il folosesti si trebuie sa ai o rezerva de apa caci cei 4 litri abia iti ajung sa speli o bicicleta, jet 2go nici nu trebuie miscat. Il lasi in portbagaj, ii cuplezi dusul, il bagi in alimentare si il pornesti, fara sa il ridici din portbagaj, si iti faci treaba cu el, spaland cam 2-3 biciclete cu 1 rezervor, depinde cat de pretetios si insistent este cel care le spala. Cu tehnica corecta de spalare poti ajunge si la 4 biciclete. Nici nu este indicat sa te fatai cu el umplut cu 15 kg decat daca ai dat drumu la antrenamentul pt sezonul de ski. Chiar este foarte greu umplut cu 15 kg de apa si nu foarte portabil.
Legat de constructia aparatului, este foarte robust si are un feeling foarte heavy duty. Nu este genul de obiect pe care ti-l doresti curat si stralucitor, ci parca vrei sa arate pt ce a fost facut. Este cat se poate de simplu si intuitivi cu un buton de pornire, un port pt alimentare si cablul pt dush, toate in partea din spate a aparatului.
Are 2 buzunare laterale de plasa in care poti sa depozitezi cablurile sau periile cu care vine din dotare.
Ca si accesorii incluse, regasim in pachet urmatoarele:
furtun lung de 6 m – și acesta de foarte bună calitate, flexibil, dar nu moale;
cablu alimentare priză 12V (lungime 3m);
pistolul – din plastic de foarte bună calitate, putere reglabila a jetului de apă. Trăgaciul poate fi blocat în poziție pornită dacă nu vrei să mai apeși pe el;
perie – se insealează la pistol;
duș – se insealează la pistol;
piese de rezervă: conector de plastic, duză din aluminiu, garnituri.
Totusi, lista poate continua prin urmatoarele optionale:
acumulator extern care este și lanternă – pentru a putea folosi spălătorul și dacă nu ai mașina lângă tine;
adaptor priză 220 V la 12 V – pentru a putea folosi spălătorul și acasă, pe balcon spre exemplu;
pistol cu recipient pentru șampon.
Treaba cu acumulatorul extern care este si lanterna este chiar faina. Cati dintre voi tineti o lanterna in masina. Daramite o baterie externa atat de puternica. Nu stii niciodata cand iti moare bateria masinii in mijlocul “pustietatii” sau cum se zice in filme, “in the middle of f**** nowhere” si colac peste pupaza mai ai si 5% baterie la telefon. Da, e highly improbable dar este o sansa.
Oricum, acumulatorul extern este foarte fain si suprinzator de puternic, putand deservi vreo 4 goliri de rezervoare adica un numar considerabil de spalari.
Un alt accesoriu util este adaptorul pt priza, facand astfel jet2go mai versatil, in sensul ca il poti lua in casa sa iti speli balconul, sau, sa iti speli bicicleta pe balcon daca nu ai un balcon prea fancy.
Si, cred ca cel mai tare accesoriu care inclus este dusul. Nu cred ca sunt singurul care visez la ture lungi, la explorat poteci noi si la concedii nomadice in locuri indepartate in care sa campez langa masina dupa o zi de date pe poteci faine. O astfel de tura nu trebuie sa lipseasca din nici un sezon, macar una pe an. Ca e de bikepacking, ca te muti cu masina de la poteca la poteca, este foarte fain atunci cand campezi langa masina si este si mai fain atunci cand stii ca poti sa faci chiar si un dus. Accesoriul asta chiar este super fain si chiar daca il folosesti o singura data pe an, parca isi justifica indeajuns scopul :).
oki, hai sa cumulam mai jos specificatiile tehnice ale acestui aparat:
greutate: gol 4,1 kg; plin 18 kg
capacitate: 13,25 L (oficial 15)
dimensiuni: 41,5x23x35 cm
alimentare: 12V
putere: 60W
presiune apă: reglabil între 3 și 9 bar
flux apă: 2,2 L pe minut
lungime furtun apă: 6m
lungime cablu alimentare: 3m
accesorii incluse: piese de schimb duză, duș, perie, conector
Nu as vrea sa dau mai multe detalii despre acesta aparat si v-as redirecta catre articolul de pe freerider.rocare este mult mai detaliat.
Am vrut doar sa va impartasesc parerea mea legata de acest aparat. Este un aparat care merita si isi justifica pretul si o astfel de ustensila nu trebuie sa lipseasca din portbagajul celor care weekend de weekend ies la dat.
Sorry for the late post, but only now I found the time to do this 😅
I have some videos from this season that I am going to process, probably during the winter, most of them from Enduro stages that happened this year.
Now is the time for Metal Enduro RAW lines. It is fun to see how some of the top 10 riders in RO treated the technical parts of the tracks, a real joy to watch.
Until next video, enjoy and ride safe because the season is not over yet 🤙. Check the youtube channel for videos of metal enduro special stages, all 8 of them 😁
Yeah, and with my thanks to the friends from Bike Attack Reșițafor this wonderful enduro season! 🚵♂🥇🏆👊
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 🤙.
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
Vertical Riding Romania 