Sinaia is only 1,5 hours away from the flat plain that Bucharest sits on. Suddenly you are in the Carpathians and at 900 meters elevation. If you like to you can reach 2000 meters above sea level with the cable car. Me like.
I had a customer event in Sinaia yesterday and brought the bike for a short ride afterwards. I have never ever succeeded to go for a short ride in big mountains so why would I succeed now? Moreover I would like to check out the mountains a bit before my friend Micke gets here in July. So I used the Cable car to avoid the first massive climb. But anyway I ended up doing 5 hours of riding, 1100 meters of vertical climb and over 2000 meters descent.
It looked a bit gloomy on the way up but if you’re a flat land boy looking for mountains the weather is secondary
Good to know that the guy running the cable car got himself a couple of beers…
And what do you know… Behind the clouds at the edge of the mountain side the sun was shining on some nice trails. 15 degrees and a nice break from the 30 downtown.
Strange sign…
Really nice in the sun
A special day for me but just an ordinary one for this shepherd at 2200 meters above sea level. I’m quite impressed by the literacy of the shepherds in Romania. Many times you see them reading a book while taking care of the sheep
I get company on the trail
Cabana Babele and the remarkable formations
Bit of a brand image of Bucegi – the Sphinx
The harsh winter is long gone and by now it feels exotic seeing snow again
The ski resort Azuga in the background
Target visible: Cabana Umo at 2507 meters above sea level. Not the best light in this picture but take a look at the switchback trail on the mountain face. That’s the trail I took to get down. Probably the most aggressive I’ve ever ridden
Same place but looking to the left. The trail to the top
Same trail but from the top
Amazing scenery.
The cabin at the top
Going down was extreme. Steep with rolling rocks. I crashed once but luckily falling towards the mountain and not towards the valley. After that I slowed down a bit
Maybe not the best bike trail but an absolutely amazing experience of the nature
The last 400 vertical meters were the best. Very fast trails and a grand finale to a long ride
Well…grand finale… I had to do 10km on the road to get back to the car but slightly downhill so no probs!