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 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!
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 hutas 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!
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
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:
Extasy & Isallo extasy;
Iginerere;
Toboga trail;
Rollercoaster;
Maria della guardia;
DH men;
Crestino;
Sentiero H;
Nato base;
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 ;).
Vertical Riding Romania 