04 Andi auf dem Gipfel (1752m) • Andi has reached the summit 05 Campen ohne Grillfeuer ist wie ein Nicolai Rahmen ohne Schweißraupen • Camping without BBQ is like a Nicolai frame without weldseams 06 Lecker Grillfleisch • Yummy BBQ 07 Vollgas! Nach 800hm Klettern geht es endlich wieder bergab • Full speed! It´s finally going down the hill after a 800m elevation uphill. Dauer der Reise • 15 Tage • Gefahrene Kilometer • Auto 4100km • Bike 260km • Bikes • Helius AC 27.5 • Helius AM • Ion 16 26“ & 27.5“ • 330000ml Wasser • 0,45 Hektoliter Bier • 23kg Obst und Gemüse • 36000cm³ Fleisch • 10,8m Brot • Gefahrene Höhenmeter 15000hm P reconceptions are sometimes the best reason to try something. For instance, that in Romania you get robbed the moment you set foot in the country or that the 650b is only marketing and has no real benefits to speak of. In this case, both are totally false. This road trip couldn’t have opened our eyes more. Imagine your favorite trail, double it and take off through the countryside going as fast as you can. This is Romania. We went down with a stopover in Budapest with one of our engineers and a brave (if not crazy) truck driver who, despite oncoming traffic overtook other trucks and had more than enough stories to tell over the campfire to keep us entertained. And this was just the beginning. In Homoraciu about an hour and a half from Budapest, a former intern greeted us with the countries typical drink of Tuica Schnapps and we toasted to all that was ahead of us. We spent the first days there and couldn’t imagine leaving. The abundance of trails was incredible. The highlight of one our stops was the 30km immersion into the wilderness, over the timberline at 1500hm and a trail leading back from there that didn’t want to end. It offered everything you could want, high speed travel through the meadows over dust and stones, to long flowing forest trails where you remembered to make as much noise as possible so you didn’t run into any of the bears in the area. In the end the only trace of bears we saw in Homoraciu was their fresh tracks, which was enough to give us a kick. Then we packed up our stuff and headed up to the second highest mountain in the country. Although we’d seen it on one of our tours, the drive and finding a bear-proof camp cost us most of the day. Patience is the first lesson you have to learn in Romania. The roads usually have a single lane, are full of traffic and some one invariably decides to drive slower than 60km/h. After going by cable car through the clouds, we were standing at 2000m high looking back down as if in a plane and we still had another 500hm to get to one of Romania’s highest located chalets. Once we arrived, we were treated to a strong hot chocolate and a bowl of potato soup with sausages to get us back down to the valley. Despite the lofty vistas, we struggled between driving cautiously or just going for it. As we were in no hurry to visit a Romanian hospital, reason eventually prevailed. Soon we would be rewarded by our efforts. About another 600hm before us was a downhill track, which we hadn’t got a good look at yet. The bikes now had a chance to show off all their potential and they didn’t let us down. We were rewarded with airtime on road gaps, corner jumps and doubles, going for it over stone and deep descents. The smiles on our faces remained for the rest of the evening. The next day, we had to go back down the track again even though heavy rain took its toll on both the terrain and us. We packed our things and made our way into the Romanian Aspen. We arrived at a very comfortable but very cheap bungalow and were treated to the world’s largest zucchini dinner as well as a lot of Tuica! The following day, like all those before them, provided us with the perfect trail. Traveling by lift up to 1800hm, we looked down on a 16km descent, which by the way had an avalanche warning for the next few days. It was a mixture of winding around wide curves at full speed and steep technical descents with massive stones and countless lines. We would top off the day with a little culture in the city of Brasov. Most of the cities we visited were charming with beautiful jaw dropping architecture. We visited limestone caves, Dracula’s castle (Bran Castle) and the Transfagarasan, a road built in 4 ½ years using 6 04 05 06