The Paschal Tour 2010 - part 1 (The county of Arad)

It's 1st of April, it's an important day for me, the day when I met one of the keenest and the best cycle tourer from all the Banat Region. I knew him from the internet and I was so eager to meet him and to set out on a bike tour together.
Our meeting place was between Siria and Covasant. It's an historic moment for me and it it is an epoch-making event for the romanian cycle tourism's world.
Here we are Carpaticus and Liviu - a dreamy cycle team.


The weather is quite cold but I'm wearing summer outfit. With my Kona Sutra bike I cycled 35km in one hour and a few minutes. Now it's time for us to cycle to Ineu, to the place where I live.


We stop at Siria to have a beer and then we cycle till Ineu where we have a feast and we chat drinking beer till quite late.


Then I give him a room and we go to sleep. Next morning after the breakfast we are ready for the adventure. We take leave of my parents and off we go.


The weather is fine, the road is flawless, and the traffic is light. The denuded trees look so desolate.



Before reaching Bocsig we can see a fishery on the left.


We feel so good. I'm still wearing summer clothing despite the cold outside.


On the left, Codru Moma Mountains loom larger in the distance soon.


I am pretty fit, because during the long winter I trained a lot.


At Buteni, after cycling 28km we make the first halt to eat something. Here we are glad to see a girl riding a bicycle.


From here the relief changes a lot. We enter a hilly region with plenty of forests.


We are quite in a good mood and happy to be in the middle of nature on our bikes.


I am wearing about 25kilos but I'used to this.


Before entering Almas where I used to be a teacher a few years ago, we stopped to drink some water from a spring.


Here it's quite a nice cross and it is said to be the entrance in the Tara Motilor Criseni (The Highlanders' Country from the Crisius River's Valley)


As we carry on cycling we can see in the distance the snow-capped peaks from the Western Carpathians. The winter is still reigning there.


At Gurahont we have to stop to eat and drink something. I know here a restaurant where they have delicious traditional sausages.


It seems we get along just fine so it's time to celebrate our first 100km cycled together. Long live pur passion for cycle tourism!



Then we have a picture together on the bridge crossing the Crisius River that is the river of my childhood.


We cycle some more kms till I come across an interesting tree that I assume it was struck by lightening.

Aparitiile mele in presa scrisa nationala si internationala

Eu in Glasul Aradului - 2009




Eu in Banateanul - 2008




Eu in Jurnalul National - 2008


Eu in Jurnalul National - 2009


Eu in Revista Mbike - Aprilie 2009








Eu in Revista Mbike: Septembrie - octombrie 2009






Eu in prestagioasa revista Pedalier din Spania - 2009 (sunt primul ciclist roman cu aceasta performanta)






eu in revista clubului Unione Internationale dei Cicloscalatori - 2009 (sunt primul roman cu aceasta performanta)




eu in Revista clubului international BIG Challenge - 2008 (primul roman cu aceasta performanta)




Nu vreau sa ma laud dar adevarul este ca probabil sunt romanul care a facut cele mai multe pasuri si catarari din Carpati si Alpi si cred ca detin si recordul la numarul localitatilor prin care am pedalat prin Romania.

October bike trip in Transylvania (part 4)

After climbing 2 long hours we get to a holiday complex. Here we are at an elevation of over 1300m and it's time for a break.


While we eat some sour soups we try to dry our clothings. We are lucky that there is a nice fire in the stove.


We stay here about 2 hours and when we get out we are astonished by the amount of snow.


It's quite a wintry atmosphere.


We are very eager to carry on even if I don't have the proper outfit for such a weather but I am lucky because Razvan helps me out giving me some trousers what I really needed.


We start climbing, we have another 13 km to go till Balea Lake.


The more we climb the more snow we get.


We are jumping for joy, the atmosphere is fabulous.


The words can not express the feeling we have cycling under these circumstances.


The more we climb the more I feel the cold biting my feet. I have no winter boots but summer sport shoes so it's going to be hard on me.


We can not believe our eyes to face this weather in mid-october. It's snowing like in fairy tales.


Wow! but Razvan is well prepared and used to this sort of weather. The only problem is he doesn't have a proper cap and the helmet is not efficient to struggle against the vicious cold.


The night overtakes us, our progress is very slow and the layer of snow grows thicker the more we climb. In the last km we have to face a dreadfull smowstorm, but we are lucky to get to Balea Lake in the nick of time before getting hypothermia.
Here we recover in a restaurant eating a great steak and we have to rent a room which is quite expensive, about 50EUR.
During the night I suffer from my toothache again and I hardly can get some sleep, writhing with agony in my bed all the night long. Oh, what a night! Oh what a day! The Saint Parascheva must have punished me for my sins.
The next morning after the breakfast we decide to return to Avrig and to take a train home for we ran out of money.
This time the weather is fabulous but the temperature is bellow 0 centigrade.
We have to go down on ice so in a short time I fall and hit my back against the frozen road. Holly Shit!


The view below us is absolutely magnificent.


The clouds are so white and fluffy!


I am quite delighted to cycle here and I'm happy that my toothache disappeared but our hands are freezing.


On the left we can see Transylvania where autumn still dwells.


Till Balea Waterfall we still can enjoy winter weather with plenty of snow.


As we descend below 1000m the snow begins to decrease.


We are now in deciduous trees' area again.


We cycle another 30 minutes till we get to the main road where we have to head for Avrig.


Here we eat well at a restaurant then we take a train to Arad and then to Ineu where we have some other bike trips but in my region.


For this amaizing adventure on 2 wheels where the temperature varied between + 26 degrees centigrade and - 10 degrees centigrade in just one week, I thank from the bottom of my heart to my generous, trusty and kind friend Razvan Anton.
Dear brother I'm looking forward to you coming back to Romania to have a new bike trip together in the wonderful Transylvania!