Tag Archives: downhill

Is there a bike to rule them all?!

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What’s the perfect bike you should own?! or is there a bike to rule them all?

This article comes a bit in addition to the information you get from the last article about the bike ride language you take on the ride.

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.

You can also find additional information about the bikes you may consider of owning in the article Enduro bike ideal for adventure from freerider.ro or in this brand new article form dirtbike.ro that is very concludent about how to chose a starting point 😉 10 sfaturi de achiziție realiste pentru începători.

Bellow you can find some clips from different rides I took on different bikes, rides that I find relevant for the content of this article.

Enjoy and ride safe!

Valea Jiului MTB trails

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Don’t stay home, it’s a trap. After this pandemic period, the weather went crazy, lots of rain, If we were to listen to the forecast, we should have stayed in home for the last couple of weekends.  But as I say, if you snooze, you lose so to avoid this, we headed to Straja for 3 days ride in the area. We heard some rumors that the trails are in perfect conditions and that we would have shuttle there so we seized the opportunity.

We were quite right and the guys from Straja Extrem Park hooked us up with a shuttle for 2 days. It’s a blast to ride the 2 long trails from Straja. Baloo trail is nice and flowy and Wolves trail it’s a bit more technical but with loads of natural flow. Both are very long and you can feel your whole body worked up by the end of the trail. You don’t need more than 5-6 descents to declare yourself pleased for the day.

But this ain’t all, there is more in the area for you to ride. Don’t miss Valcan trail, this one is without a doubt the funniest of them. Again a berm jem and longer than the other 2. You really feel you’re alive. We hit it like 8 times and didn’t get bored :D.

What we want to tell you is that the combinations of the 3 long trails are for sure the recipe for a terrific weekend ;).

For accommodation we went to Allma mountain hut as usual. Nice cosy place where you feel directly @ home. You can cook yourself anything in the kitchen and hang out in the living or on the great view balcony. We always stay here once in Straja, you can see the place in the picture bellow.

Ok, so this article is just a hint for how and where to spend a nice weekend riding with your buddies. All trails are on trailforks. More ideas are to follow so just stay tuned 😉 Enjoy and ride safe!

Post lockdown ride in Leaota Mountains

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FREEEEDOOOM!

Yes, we really deserved this ride. Please don’t be scared of the number of people in the picture, yes, we did know that we will meet but we were separated groups of 3 persons or less that met there and happened to take the same ride in Leaota mountains, so don’t judge.

It was a well deserved ride, hard, but we enjoyed it very much. Leaota mountains are quite underestimated. They hold a bunch of awesome trails, hard to access because you have to pedal your way up but, let me confirm that you will not regret the climb of a few hours.

The terrain is wild, natural, technical and offers a great view over the horizon and the other mountains in proximity like Bucegi, Iezer or Piatra Craiului.

Only the view is enough for rewording the climb, but if you consider the trails, clearly you are the winner.

Not long after the start we kind of forgot the harsh past 2 months and we gave ourselves to the ride, enjoyed it and made laughs of our rusty bodies …. this is truly a medicine for the heart, mountains are beautiful and bikes are awesome

Until next time, enjoy and ride safe, we sure will!

Link to garmin connect for the ride track here!

BALEA LAKE POWDER DAYS

An experience of some weekends ago, probably the only powdered days of the year.
Balea Lac and Fagaras mountains remain one of the coolest back country and freeride areas in RO and probably the only mountains with serious lines. Easy to admire but dangerous to approach 😆😅💪… I m glad we chose to go there. In the first day we skin our way up from Capra cottage to Balea Lac, then ski down to Doamnei valley, skin up again and made a final descent on Balea Valley, just under the cable car. We had fresh snow and was nice to remember how that feels. Then we took the cable car up and parked out skis at Balea Lac.
We sincerely liked to stay at Balea Lac or Balea Lac 2 cottage, clean rooms, clean bathrooms, hot water and good food, we clearly recommend it.
The second day spent at Balea we skin our way up vaiuga , near Vanatoarea lui Buteanu peak, made a descent to Capra lake, skin up again and then chose to go down the south part, in the sun and at a later hour, following a group of austrian skiers that had a guide. I would honestly  recomand to avoid this area on clearer days and with temperatures over 5-6C degrees, especially when there is fresh snow accumulations. I found the snow quite heavy…
Ofcourse, we had to go down anyway because we had our car at Capra and we would either go down now or later…The transfer to the south part during the heating periods is very debatable.
Until next time, ride safe!

Harghita Enduro CNE 2019

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5th national cup race, second time at Harghita Enduro, and it was uberfine!

All things lined up for a perfect weekend, the crew, the accommodation, the weather, the weekend (with world cup dh finals in line) just perfect. We had lots of fun hanging out together, catching up with the boys from other areas of the country and just riding perfect trails.

At these events it’s not all about the racing. Maybe for the top places it is but for middle riders it’s more about hanging together and about the atmosphere that creates around the event.

Last year it rained like crazy and this year it was dry like desert. Totally different conditions and the trails are too. In dry conditions I think you really get to see the harder part of Harghita trails. When trying to ride them fast, they really bite you 😉

There are 3 different trails here, one harder than the other, the last PS being the dh course with a hard-steep part at the top and a flow line at the bottom.

All specials decents around 300m elevation and have almost 2km in length. The transfer is on a fire road that is used for reaching all PS starts. For exact map of the contest trails, check out trailforks here ;).

There are a lot of options for accommodation in the area all with great stuff, clean spaces and good food. This year we stayed at Vitus Pension with more of a mountain hut feel, and all we can say is that the food was just GREAT! Sugo pension, where the race office was, is a great option to ;).

Madaras peak is near, around 30min hike, and is a great peak to reach because of the view and the unique appearance.

For a different story, also check out the article from last year here.

Special thanks to Ride more crew and Bike Attack Resita for organizing the event and the cup!

Until Metal Enduro, ride safe and have fun! See you there 😉

Semenic Enduro first edition #CNE 2019

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Year of firsts ;), Semenic Enduro. I think all riders that didn’t know the area, were very surprised of Semenic trails, we for sure were. Man, the dirt, the rocks, the lines… just sick!

This one is not to be missed next year, you must trust us on this. Or better, check out the clip above and the pics bellow and we are sure it will be enough 🤣🤟.

The trails are technical, with rocks and different lines, loam and dirt. All of these make it quite difficult and challenging to ride at a higher speed. Don’t get us wrong, they have a lot of flow, but you have to pay attention and work a bit to get back from the trails safe ;).

One second of distraction and you will pay for it :)). The stages are demanding and long and you will feel it, for sure on ps2. When you think you finished it, bam! the hard part begins :D.

The top of the mountain has some different feel to it, the view, the abandoned mountain hotels make it that way. We enjoy riding here a lot, and being so close to Resita, makes this place a destination to visit even beside the contest ;).

Thanks again Bike Attack Resita for putting another spot on the map, you can look up the contest trails here, on trailforks!

Until next time, ride safe!

Straja and Parâng quality trail riding

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Ok, so we haven’t posted for ages, that’s true, but we hope to make a recovery this fall.

Somehow, the plans didn’t go exactly as we wanted and we sacrificed the writing for riding and working :P, but we have a lots of stories to tell and a lot more going on. Mainly we wanted to make an article about each stage of Romanian Enduro Cup, that was just sick as so far. This weekend is Harghita Enduro, you can read more here, and then final stop, Metal Enduro Resita.

Ok, that’s it for now with apologies, let’s say something more meaningful. This weekend we went to a short trip to Valcan mountains (Straja resort on trailforks) and Parang mountains, 2 places that we have never ridden on.

Man, it was a good choice because we found out some serious trails here.

At Straja, we knew the terrain from last year, from Straja Enduro, but we have only been there as photographers. This year we got to ride the place. Still sorry we didn’t manage to reach the contest but next year for sure we will not miss it.

Straja has mainly 4 trails, 2 at the top of the mountains, a bit more alpine and you can reach them with a chairlift or by peddling out, and 2 long descents at the bottom where you have a gondola to help you out. The gondola and the chairlift do not always work so is good to check it out before you head there.

There is also shuttle service but it has a minimum number of riders that gets it started, at least 5 so check this out too.

The 2 main trails, the ones that run both sides of the gondola, Lupilor and Baloo by their names are just sick! you really feel that you are alive when you ride them. Your arms to :))))

For accommodation if you enjoy a basic mountain hut with cozy beds, shower, a great view and oh yeah, a great host, please check Allma Pension ;).

After a fuzzy evening with the fellas, next morning we headed out to Parâng mountains after a quick breakfast at a Medieval restaurant in the center of Petroșani (P.S. very good omelet there :D)

In Parâng we took the chairlift up. It’s an old chairlift with no support for bikes. It’s something improvised so please take care of your bikes. Check out the way they put them on the chairs and put some protections for the frame, just below the saddle because they will hang out by the saddle. We used our knee pads for this :).

From where the chairlift lets you off, we headed for Parângul Mare peak. It’s only pushbike from here, or, if your name is Ludo May, you might be able to ride it out… not us.

After 3 hours of pushbike, carrying or hiking it, we gave up and headed back. It was a bit late, so we decided to head back early. It was a bummer but the descent from Cârja peak was awesome. Steep, rough, loose technical, a real jam :D.

Form where the chairlifts let us, we rode fox trail, that takes you back to the base of the chairlift, you can find it on trailforks.

Man, that’s a very nice trail, with a lot of flow! it is a bit obscured in the middle or at the end but it’s ok, just ask the locals for directions.

Overall, it was a nice weekend, really funny with quality riding. Check the videos and photos bellow to convince yourself :D. Ride safe!

Finale Ligure enduro MTB trip 2018

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This year we swapped the EuroBikeTrip for an EnduroBikeTrip and the destination to conquer was Finale Ligure, Italy.

Known for its white sand beaches and its views, but more important for its infinite trail possibilities, Finale Ligure is located near the Rock of Caprazoppa, a steep limestone mountain on the southwest, and much of the town extends up hill slopes.

We find out about Finale from EWS, the enduro world series and after some quick search and some quality content that is out there, it wasn’t too hard to chose this year Eurobiketrip destination :D.

It’s flat out mtb trails are starting way up high in the mountains above Finale Ligure at around 1200m elevation and descending all the way down to the Ligurian Sea.

There are endless possibilities to descent (over exaggerating here but you wont be dissapointed), and the terrain is changing with the same speed that you are descending with :D.

In the upper part of the trails, where the shuttle lets you off, you have more grippy trails, with lots of berms and a bit more handmade work put into them. There you have the best of flow and you can carry speed on each corner. As you go down the terrain changes and also the vegetation so you have more rocky terrain, with sharper and more loose ground, a bit more natural and technical.

In less words, you have it all, maybe not much mud but who wants that :))).

And also you get lots of sun in this period so I wont call it the best period for riding those trails but if you want to combine a nice sea and beach vacation with a bit of awesome trail riding, this is the perfect location and time. If you only are interested in riding, you can go there in the off season, it will be cooler and you can do some nice climbs if you want.

We tried first 2 days to do the trails on our own power but the heath killed us so starting with day 3 we took some shuttles up the mountain. We did around 4-5 different trails per day and only in last day we repeat some of the trails we liked most.

We stayed there 6 days and spend another 2 on the road. We traveld by car, a group of four people from Romania to Finale Ligure and back. Its over 4000km trip and a bit hard to do it in one piece without an intermediate stop. Next time if we go back there by car I think we will make a stop in Sloveia to visit some bike trails there.

We initially wanted to go also to Sospel, France, which is 1.5h drive from Finale, and is another trail and enduro bike paradise but after we’ve seen what it’s in Finale, we decided too remain here and ride more trails, and do another dedicated trip to Sospel in the future.

So, the best trails we ridden in the exact order of awesomeness will be:

  1. Extasy & Isallo extasy;
  2. Iginerere;
  3. Toboga trail;
  4. Rollercoaster;
  5. Maria della guardia;
  6. DH men;
  7. Crestino;
  8. Sentiero H;
  9. Nato base;
  10. the others 😀

In terms of expenses, we could say that we spend around 500-550 EUR/person from witch we can detail the following:

  • 600 EUR for gas and car insurance;
  • 535 EUR for accommodation thru AIR BNB in Finale;
  • 150 EUR road taxes;
  • 500 EUR food and bavarage;
  • 120 EUR shuttle services;
  • 80 EUR our insurances.

In terms of riding, we probably ridden around 200 km of trails :D, but that is not even half of the amount of trail you will find there, so if you have second thoughts, we hope this argument killed them :))).

So much for the details and talk, we leave you bellow some evidences, video and photos so you could convince yourself. We will definitely go back there some day! For tracks and trails, just look up Trail forks by region Finale Ligure and you will find everything you need. For shuttle, just ask around Finale, there are lots of shuttle services all having the same prices ;).

Enough said, enjoy!

Ciocanu MTB Trails end of season ride

Last ride in many more frames, #ciocanumtbtrails at its best 🤘. Riding, crashing, laughing and having fun, This is what it’s all about, except the second word. Until next time, ride safe! 🚵‍♂. Foto credit: Cristina Ion 👍

P.S. next articles and movies will include snow ⛷🏔😎

#trailriding #verticalriding #singletrack #enduromtb #mtb #funride

Ciocanu mountain bike trails late autumn ride

Ciocanu mountain bike trails late autumn ride with beautiful colors, friends, fun trails and a bit of rain. It’s all you need to have fun. We made 4 runs and on the forth one we took some pictures on the main trail. In first video you can see a second best trail :D, a nice one, wit a flow line that ends up between Bughea de Jos houses.

After the 4 runs we stayed in the village for a beer and some trail stories.

The season ain’t over yet! Ride safe!

CIOCANU MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAILS DAY AND NIGHT RIDE

Last weekend we have been to Ciocanu mountain bike trails, near Campulung, Bughea de Jos, Arges county.

There, you can find some nice trails done by the local riders community. There are a sum of 4 tracks there, that average from 2 to 3 km long and with an elevation between 300m and 400m meters.

Are dirt trails, with some nice features done to them, like small drops, switchbacks and some natural roots section. Because of the altitude (starts at 800m), and that all tracks run thru forest, they are a good alternative to a bad weather day.

There is no shuttle there or cable for that matter but there is a forest road that takes you right to the starting point of the tracks.

We did a day and a night descent there. It is nice to descent a track at night. It’s like the track is totally new, like you discover it then, way more fun than the day descent. So, when you get tired of doing a trail, try to do it by night, rediscover that trail :D.

Bellow you will find movies and pics from there, and at this link, an older article that includes track and other footage. Enjoy!