After a mountain biking week, being in the mountains with Sigge’s friends, I realized how great it is to be fit and to be able to try everything on the bike in the mountains. This time I learned another lesson. With the group from Steven, I was amazed to observe how the people, when fit enough, are enjoying the Romanian natural trails. It’s interesting and I’m sure the trails which are build for moutainbiking are very nice but I think the natural ones are something special. Of course they are more demanding and as one of my guests was saying: “You have to spit out your lungs and to work hard to deserve the next great downhill”, but this way you develope a special relation with the mountains and the nature too, during the ride. You have to avoid obstacles which are set by the nature and not by the people. Rocks, roots, trees, slippery trails are giving you a hard and beautiful time in the same time and challange you to adapt. You are not just a visitor anymore, you are a part of our nature and of the trail. You start to discover the romanian nature in a very intimate way and you feel somehow at home.
It was an advanced tour and the way they aproach it it was totaly open. They were ready and prepared for everything. And when I’m saying prepared I mean the mental state but not only. Also the physical condition is playing an essential role in allowing you to reach this point of mental state. Then everything is flowing.
We were biking all kinds of trails: rocky, meadows, forest trails, a few forest roads but never lost the apetite for riding. Playfield were again the Postavaru, Bucegi, Leaota and Piatra Craiului Mountains and as always they spoiled us with beautiful lanscapes and surprises of all kinds. Trails, sheepfolds, archaic houses and locals scything the meadows are part of the game and we riding our mountainbikes were a part of it.
Mihai,
August 2013
