Metal Enduro 2018, in our opinion the best enduro contest in RO, and, this year, EWS qualifier!
Its fun, its hard, its long and the trails are just sick!Β π I personally didn’t finish after a crash in the first day but things turned out ok because I had time to take pictures and film some segments in the second day, just enough to put this edit together.
For those who don’t know yet, Metal enduro its an enduro contest in our notional enduro cup, hold in Resita city, old industrial city with bigΒ old factories in steel industry and metal processing…. get it… metal enduro…π€
The contest takes place over 2 days and 8 specials that run between 1.5km and 2.8 km and around 300m elevation and all single track.
If you haven’t ridden Metal enduro trails yet, you must! and in this period, the landscapes are just beautiful.
No more words, if you want to find out more please check thepage of the event or our last article form last year when we put out some more words. Thanks to Bike Attack Resita for organizing this awesome contest! and Straja Enduro too so stay tuned!Β π
We leave you this edit to better get the felling of the contest and some pics π Enjoy!Β π΅βββ°π₯π·π€π
A few weekends back we took a trip to Bulgaria to meet again with the crew from Old Mountain Epic.
They have invited us to do a track in the Central Balkan Mountain Range near Sopot. Being a 5h drive to Sopot, we decided to make this a 2 days trip, and spent 1 day in Veliko Tarnovo and the next day we went to Sopot and checked that trail out, which we heard it would be massive in terms of view, terrain and intensity :D.
In Veliko, you cannot go wrong. You have the trails, the city, the people and each time we’ve been here we had a blast. The trails are in perfect condition and it’s the place to ride till the seasons ends because of the friendly weather. The town is nice and you have great food here. The crew from Turnduro (enduro bike community) and Old Mountain epicare top!
Ok, so we had a great Saturday on the trails doing Ani, Rodopa, 2 Offcambers and the DH trail. You would say next day we should have rested but not us :D. On Sunday we woke up at 6 am, went to Nedko and started from there in 2 cars. After 2.5 h were in Sopot, around 10 am waiting for our chairlift. We took the lift up to 1500m and from there we pushed the bikes until 1800m elevation. From there started our single track. I cannot say too much about the exact location, instead I’ll leave you a link bellow to the track we took, but I can say for sure it was the most demanding trail we’ve done so far. And also very rewarding. We had a beautiful single track, wonderful view and some huts along the way. The bottom part of the trail was just hard enduro but beautiful as in a fairy trail :D.
We leave you bellow some pictures, a movie and soon we will upload on youtube a longer edit with the Sopot Old Mountain Trail.
This year we took part of Harghita Enduro, the seccond stage of Romanian Enduro Cup.
Man what trails they have! tehnical, natural segments, steep, hard! Combine this with some english weather and you get an up grade weekend race :))).
The contest has only 3 specials but they are quite something. In my opinion this is how enduro looks like. I hope in the future another special will appear here but for now we can be glad we have this ones.
The contest is held in Harghita Madaras, mountainΒ group of Transylvanian Carpathians belonging to the Eastern Carpathian Mountain Range. The highest peak is Harghita Madaras Peak, with 1,800 mΒ (source wikipedia).
These mountains are beautiful and wild, if you wander alone on this trails, you have lots of chances to run into a bear or a wolf so be careful πΆπΊπ¦. Or into an awesome single track for that matter :))).
For accommodation you can choseΒ Sugo Pensionbecause is very clean and cozy and has great food! We enjoyed staying here a lot!
Also once here, you must take a hike or a bike up to Madarasi peak, the sacred mountain ;0, the peak it’self is one of the most beautiful ones in RO and the view is breathtaking because you are right in the middle of our Carpathians :D. Here’s an album to show you just how beautiful it is on the peak and trails π
But, mainly if you are into enduro, you must come ride here, even in contest weekend. Here you find the track of the 3 specials and bellow we leave you some pics and a movie to get you fired up! Enjoy!Β π€π΅βββ°
Magura Codlei, nice gem of a trail on small mountain!
This is the track MAGURA CODLEIbut don’t take our route up. You can barely call it a trail! Just climb on the descent, you can cycle half of it ;). Enjoy!
This weekend we remade a track from last year, the one from Suru mountain hut and rocky ridge in Fagaras Mountains. It’s a must do for each year, really is one of the most beautiful and epic ride we took lately.
It’s a 2 days experience and you get to ride 2 awesome trails, one of 7km with 1000m descent and the next of 12km with over 1500m descent, and you get to stay at one cool mountain hut (Suru mountain hut) in the Romanian Carpathians, Fagaras Mountains. It’s just epic, you don’t have to take our word for granted, just watch the videos and the pics bellow and you will convince yourselves :D.
Cozia it’s one little, mean, but beautiful mountain that holds one of the gnarliest descent we’ve encountered. The trail it’s just superb, it starts with a narrow and technical singletrack, then it becomes loose and steep, then you have to carry you’re bike, then you have another technical section with some climbing and at the end you have a speed section with lots of flow.
In total you have another over 1000m descent that we for ones are willing to work our asses around 3-4h to climb the mountain and then send it :))). It’s an nice epic descent that I think we will do each year because its just to good! We don’t try to convince you but we leave you some pictures and also this movie that we’ve made :D.
A small slice of Cozia, a trail that deserves it’s place in the calendar of bike season. Enjoy and ride safe! ππ΅βββ°π₯ Soon an longer video and an article. Soundtrack: Strung Out – The Animal and the Machine.
This is a small retrospective of the last year in terms of mountain biking. Almost all footage is from Romania, except for a few seconds from Tour do Mont Blanc that we did in September. Awesome time riding here in RO and hope that this year will be at least as good as 2017. Check out this blog for more detailed content. Enjoy and ride safe!
Daca ar fi sa prezint cuiva Romania prin ochii unui iubitor de munte si nu numai, cu siguranta i-as arata partea asta a Bucegilor. Mie personal mi se pare unul dintre cele mai frumoase locuri din tara.
Cand ajungi aici iti vine sa zici, “wow, parca as fi in Elvetia….” e uite ca nu esti, esti in Romania, care ii mai frumoasa decat Elvetia!!! pacat ca e locuita :))
Ori si cat, avem mai nene niste locuri superbe ce trebuiesc vizitate si apreciate, dar haide sa ne intoarcem la tura noastra care a implicat 3 coborari super faine :D.
Planul era sa dam o coborare pana in Padina, una pana in Simon si una pana in Busteni. Ca sa facem asta am procedat in felul urmator.
Am urcat cu cabina pana la cota 2000 de unde am dat o coborare rapida direct pe partie in Valea Soarelui. De aici am urmat marcajul dunga rosie ce o ia in dreapta de la capatul partiei si dupa ceva vreme coteste la stanga si se intersecteaza cu drumul asfaltat ce duce la Piatra Arsa.
De aici incepe cu adevarat prima coborare pana in Padina. Nu este lunga dar este destul de accidentata si tehnica. Nu are nici un fel de flow dar are farmecul ei :).
Odata ajunsi in Padina, nu zabovim mult si o luam spre Saua Strunga, iconic place pentru muntii Bucegi. Marcajul pentru hiking este de 2 ore. Pe bicla se fac ceva mai repede dar implica si ceva pushbike.
Din saua Strunga si de la refugiul cu acelasi nume, incepe cea mai cea coborare, luuuuunnnga si faina cum numai in povesti auzi. Daca la inceput este mai tehnica si bolovanoasa, pe masura ce te apropii de padure incepe sa devina mai cursiva si rapida. Pacat ca sunt cativa copaci cazuti la care trebuie sa te opresti dar in rest este chiar de nota 10! Nu ratati filmuletul de mai jos cu coborarea din sa.
Coborarea se termina in Simon unde dai si de asfalt. Noi de aici am continuat pana in Bran unde am facut o mica/mare pauza si apoi i-am dat spre Rasnov de unde am urmat un drum asfaltat care dupa cativa kilometrii se transforma in drum neasfaltat si apoi drum forestier si care ne-a purtat aproape de Dihamul Militar de unde am urmat triunghiul Galben ce duce la asa zisa Muchie Lunga. Am aflat ulterior ca este un drum forestier ce pleaca din Bran si te duce spre dihamul militar…:(. Acum ca veni vorba si avand in vedere cat am urcat pana la ea, sa stiti ca nu este chiar atat de lunga si sincer sa fiu parca nu a meritat toata urcarea din Rasnov :P. Asta e, trebuia facuta si asta si daca tot ne aflam “in zona”… Nu e lunga dar e faina, putin cam wild si neumblata, am reusit sa speriem chiar si un porc mistret care umbla undeva pe langa poteca :).
Oricum, fain mod de a incheia un traseu, si felicitari lui nenea rider mecanic chef Urzik Vlad care a luat un traseu “lejer” si la transformat intr-unul cel putin Epic. El a fost singurul care a facut tot circuitul pe bicla, fara cabluri, like real men :D. Lui i-au iesit cam 85 km cu vreo 2300m diferenta de nivel iar nou, cei care ne-am tras pe cablu pana la 2000 si care ne-am oprit in Busteni deoarece am avut getaway driver π ne-au iesit cam 66km cu vreo 1500m elevatie.
Va lasam mai jos materialul foto video de rigoare, gratie lui Cosmin si Petre si sper ca v-am convins sa va faceti un drum si prin Saua Strunga sau sa va mai faceti unul :P. Linkul cu traseul il aveti aici. Pana data viitoare, enjoy and ride safe!