Romania on the Rocks

There is at least one way someone can strike into Romania’s valleys, deep forests and rocky mountains paths: on a dirt bike! But, as we, Romanians, love and respect our nature, we have found a way to do this as clean as possible, through official competitions and organized tours. Maybe this is why, Romania still manages to be a paradise for off-road motorcycling lovers.

Perhaps the most notorious off-road competition in Romania and Eastern Europe is Red Bull Romaniacs, considered to be the world’s toughest hard-enduro rallye. This is a four days race in the Carpathian Mountains, plus a Prologue on a track with artificially built obstacles, right in centre of Sibiu, the old and famous Transylvanian city. Red Bull Romaniacs is organised by the Martin Freinademetz, a former world champion of freeride snowboarding, charmed by Romania and established here. He works togheter with Andy Fazekas, a well known Romanian snowboarder and president of Sibiu’s motorcycling club. Andy is responsable for the Prologue track, which takes riders up to the 5th floor of a building in a perennial construction, or obliges them to surpass wooden and rocky obstacles, in front of thousands of spectators! The hard enduro action performed by pilots far away from civilization, becomes visibile for city dwellers too!

The first edition af Red Bull Romaniacs took place in 2004, and over the years, this race attracted some famous enduro pilots, such as Cyril Despres (winner of the last Dakar Rallye), Andreas Lettenbichler, Chris Birch, Paul Bolton, Frans Verhoeven and so on... Even if the race is very serious, it still has a great humorous side: „chicken lines” for rider fearing to try the craziest tracks (marked with the corresponding image of a chicken...), funny names for the steepest climbs, like „Martin’s revenge”, puppets dressed as enduro riders and hanging from trees, or even Dracula itself, trying to scare contestants in the sections demanding maximum concentration. Did we mention the „sexy check point”? Just imagine yourself riding all day through mountains and woods, and when all you want to see is the Finish line, you are stopped by some topless Romanian girl, in the middle of nowhere! So, did I make you want to participate in Red Bull Romaniacs? You should know that next to „Profi” and „Experts” classes there is also a Hobby one, for more domestic riders like you guys, but I must also warn you that Mr. Freinademetz has quite a high level of understanding of „hobby riding”. Last, but not least, Red Bull Romaniacs has just became a stage in the World Extreme Enduro Championship, together with The Tough One in UK, Hell’s Gate in Italy, Eisenerz in Austria and The Roof Africa, of course, in South Africa.

Romanian Extreme Adventure

We’re talking about the longest extreme off-road competition in Europe, dedicated to cars, quads and motorcycles. If Red Bull Romaniacs usually takes place in Transylvania – well, in 2006, the whole show started in Bucharest with the contestants fighting their way to Sibiu, far from any concrete shapes, Romanian Extreme Adventure takes place right in the middle of the historical region of Wallachia. Nevertheless, the riders still have to get the Carpahtians, this time in the Nehoiu massif. Last years, heavy rains turned the competion into an inferno for spectators, challenging the riders so much, that for sure, after finishing the race, they felt the taste of paradise. After all, this is what enduro is all about!

Parlez vous francais?

There is another Enduro Festival, which is organized by a Frenchman, Mr. Patrick Boissy, another westerner who got charmed by Transylvania, and established himself in Gheorgeni. He is the one to be made responsible for establishing enduro as a sport in Romania, and giving a significant help to putting up an Enduro championship in this country. This is why, after some good years of working for this sport, Patrick allowed himself to organize an enduro festival near Gheorgheni, called International Enduro Festival Transylvania. Trust me, even as a Romanian, I have been impressed by the wild places and almost virgin forests I could see there, from my bike. And the atmosphere? Czechs, Romanians and Hungarians, all rode together and partied for a whole week-end, and I think it’s enough if I mention that the check points enduro contests usually have were replaced by a single „Ciuc Point”. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, that „Ciuc” is a well known Romanian beer...

Enduro Cups and contests

The Romanian Motorcycling Federation is working to keep a close eye on these events, in order to minimize their environmental impact. Starting from March to September, almost every week-end is filled with some enduro or enduro-cross (a mixture between Enduro and Motocross) contests, all over Romania, in cities such as Targu Mures, Sibiu, Zarnesti, Petrosani, Deva. No wonder why, starting with 2011, The World Enduro Championship will be coming to Buzau, for a stage organized by the same guys who take care of the Romanian Extreme Aventure! This is why I have to mention Buzau Extreme Adventure club, and since I got to this chapter I will also mention the enduro rider everybody loves in Romania, that is Mani Gyens from Vectra Racing Team. By the way, this was the strongest private team in Dakar 2008. In 2009, Mani won the Production Class of Morocco Rally, a class dedicated to motorcycles without major upgrades, when compared to the factory versions. So, if you have a dirt bike in your garage, what are you waiting for, come to Romania for the ultimate enduro fun!

You might like to visit:

The Romanian Motorcycling Federation

All you need to know about Red Bull Romaniacs!

International Enduro Festival Transylvania

Enduro expeditions in Romania

Off-road tours organized by the „Orange Family”, KTM

Romanian Extreme Adventure

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