“You don’t get many returning customers, do you?!”, Muzza asked me while hike-a-biking up a steep, rocky couloir on the way to Ciucaș peak, during our 2023 tour, It was, obviously, more of a rhetorical question, in more ways than one. My regular guests won’t return, even if they thoroughly enjoyed their time spent in Romania. A good part of their motivation into coming to places like our Carpathian Mountains is to discover new places. The next adventure, by definition, should be somewhere new.
But Muzza, and Iain, and Robert, are not what I would call “my regular guests”. Quite soon after returning home, I got a message. Can I come up with a new program, showing them some more of our steep, natural, crazy-kind-of-trails, and repeating some of the highlights in a 11 days of biking program?
Challenge accepted, program built, one year later… voila the trip report: We did three different, gnarly descents from Omu Peak, via Piatra Arsă, Clincea, and Mălăiești. We went in Ciucaș to check the Muntele Roșu trail and the long descent from Șaua Țigăilor down to the national road, the Piatra Mare traverse starting in Dâmbu Morii end ending at the Predeal railway tunnel, we almost exhausted the endless list of trails in Postăvaru, we revisited the Strunga Pass descent via Bucșa and Strungile Mici, and also the classic assortment of natural trails in Piatra Craiului, around Cabana Curmătura. We used assisted uplifts here and there, but mostly it was proper old style, leg powered mountain biking with the odd hike a bike section on light via ferrata trails.
While in most of my tours my default position is upfront, showing the trails and highlighting the more delicate features, with this lot I was constantly herding the flock from behind. They are the kind of riders eager to ride a trail at first sight, spotting the rideable line at the first glance. Yes, sometimes they weren’t choosing the best lines, or the flowy-est lines, but boy, oh boy, the skills…
… and the equipment. With a special mention for Ewan, who literally built his own frame, welding aluminium bars to assemble a truly unique two-wheels steed. Have a look at the video below, you’ll easily tell what and who I am talking about.
After 8 days of intensive mountain biking in 2023, building a new, 11 days program seemed quite a challenge. Fortunately the mountains around Brașov offer a comprehensive list of options, one that we did not finish. There are still some trails to experience in Bucegi, and further West, in Piatra Craiului, in Făgăraș, in Sibiu.
Yes, there is an abundance of trail options for the people coming here for the first time, but there are plenty of options for a second, or even a third installment. Don’t be shy, send us a message!
Murray 
