The Romaniacs experience

I have to admit, until a few weeks ago I wasn’t a big fan of enduro motor sport. I knew that in Sibiu, every year in July is organised the toughest hard enduro motor bike rally in the world, but so far I was watching only the Prologue, which was taking place in one of the main boulevards of Sibiu. I did’n knew who were the winners of the last years, I didn’t knew what the rules were, I didn’t pay too much attention to the off road stages in the mountains. A couple of month ago I was contacted by an Australian lady, asking me the possibility to organise a tour for her and her friends  before the race, and during the race, to drive them through the mountains around Sibiu, to see the race. The first days of touring with them were like any other tour: we went to Bran Castle, saw Brasov and visited the Rasnov fortress. Then we drove over the Carpathians twice, on Transalpina and Transfagarasan road. But the best part of the trip was yet to come. Finally the Red Bull Romaniacs started, with the spectacular prologue I already knew:  rocks, tractor tyres, giant logs, concrete blocks, all of those obstacles preparing the riders for the next off road day. Since 2 guys from our group were competing, my guests were watching the race with an infinitely greater emotion and passion. And all this effervescence also contaminated me. I began to stay with my eyes on the race mobile app, checking the time of our riders, counting the minutes until they will show up at the spectator point or the service point, being anxious  every time they were late to appear to our sight. In the four days of the race I discovered a new universe, with superstars, with incredible life stories, with people extremely passionate about this sport, with riders from all over the world, coming to Romania, to cross the race off from their bucket list. Looking forward for the 2018 edition.