{"id":12372,"date":"2013-07-06T17:14:13","date_gmt":"2013-07-06T16:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/?p=12372"},"modified":"2019-04-02T11:16:02","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T10:16:02","slug":"surrounded-by-romaniacs-in-sibiu-romania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/surrounded-by-romaniacs-in-sibiu-romania\/","title":{"rendered":"Surrounded by Romaniacs in Sibiu, Romania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave the motorhome is still parked in a field near the village of Gusterija neat to Sibiu, Romania. He’s just a little over 100m from the finishing arena for the Red Bull Romaniacs Hard Enduro Rallye<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last night we went for a walk that Orvi, who lives in the house across the road from where we are parked, suggested. The hill top opposite is home to a huge cross which lights up at night, and also gives a view over the city of Sibiu. To get to it we wandered up past the finishing arena; a JCB was hard at work creating a mound, a tanker delivered water to fill a huge ditch and campers secured the best viewing positions. Then two huge Romanian-registered motorhomes wobbled past us and parked up. We’d opted to stay down at the bottom of the hill as the ruts in it could easily take off one of Dave’s wheels. It was tempting to fetch Dave and join them as they were setting up for a BBQ, but we erred on the side of caution and stuck with where we were.<\/p>\n

\"Last<\/a>

Last night, the calm before the storm!<\/p><\/div>\n

The walk to the hill top took us over a huge motorcross track, open and free for anyone to use. As we scrambled up the steep jumps we speculated on where the riders would go, surely if they were finishing just the other side of the trees, then they’ll be using the motorcross track too? At the viewpoint, an electric spark cracked rhythmically and the cross lit up. Below us Sibiu, shrouded in mist, also lit up as the street lights came on. In the distance the Carpathian hills had clouds hanging below their peaks.<\/p>\n

\"Someone<\/a>

Someone got caught seeking out a very muddy puddle!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The cross on the hill overlooking Sibiu<\/p><\/div>\n

Back at Dave we moved him as far off the road as we could on Orvi’s advice, as\u00a0the rough road tends to flick up stones when cars and bikes go past. Throughout the night big sounding stuff went by, but Dave was fine. The big-sounding stuff was chased by Orvi’s dogs, who barked us to sleep.<\/p>\n

This morning we peeked out to see many more cars and trucks up by the finishing arena, it was all starting to take shape. On top of the massively steep mud slope was a Red Bull arch – the finishing post – clearly visible from Dave. Cars and off-road bikes continued to pour past, some of the bikes opting to use the fields instead of the road. We joked that the ubiquitous Red Bull mini cars with oversized cans on the back would never make it up the gravel road, then ten minutes later two drove past us. Figuring it was all about to kick off, we slapped on some sun screen, packed some snacks in our rucksack, dug out the camping chairs and set off to find our viewing spot.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/a>

Red Bull comes to the Romanian countryside<\/p><\/div>\n

Ducking under some bright orange KTM tape we were inside the natural bowl shaped arena. We climbed a small mound of earth to one side and set up camp on a flat spot right opposite the finishing post. Realising that we weren’t going to get any shade, Jay headed back to Dave and grabbed an umbrella to create our own. By the time he had returned our chairs were surrounded and the place was filling up. The Offspring, The Sex Pistols and numerous other angry sounding tunes blared out from the speakers set either side of the Red Bull branded Hummer that the DJ sat on.<\/p>\n

\"Where's<\/a>

Where’s Julie?<\/p><\/div>\n

The announcer thankfully used both English and Romanian to tell everyone what was happening. There was so much going on we didn’t know where to look. Someone attempting the steep finish climb (unsuccessfully), a JCB still piling up dirt, banners being hung around the security fencing, armed police with bullet proof jackets wandering around, off-road bikes weaving through the crowds – it kept us entertained until the helicopter arrived and landed in the motorcross field behind us. A signal that the first of the riders was due.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The huge stickers for your car were selling like hot cakes<\/p><\/div>\n

\"They<\/a>

They start them young around here!<\/p><\/div>\n

Of course this was hard core stuff, we’d been foolish to think they would use the motorcross track, that was far too tame. These guys only seemed to tackle vertical slopes, many many of them. Sometimes the bikes made it up and the riders didn’t, other times the rider scrabbled over the last bit of dirt while the bike fell away. Then they had to try and reunite themselves with their machines – as there seemed to be only a few spectators among the trees on the steep banks to help them.<\/p>\n

\"Any<\/a>

Any means was used to get down the near vertical slopes<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

A shattered Mart Meeru from Estonia struggles<\/p><\/div>\n

Attempting the big finishing slope was optional, but soon the first rider arrived at its base, but when I say big, well that really doesn’t cover it, it was huge. He made it about three quarters of the way up, then his bike ground to a halt and tipped over. Again and again this happened until eventually someone made it, to a massive cheer from the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The slope to the finish line.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Simon<\/a>

Simon Jose Luis Fatule from Peru eyes up his next challenge.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Emanuel<\/a>

Emanuel Geyenes from Romania at the start of the steep climb<\/p><\/div>\n

\"It<\/a>

It was bad enough that the main slope was almost vertical, but then you had to navigate around its victims<\/p><\/div>\n

\"So<\/a>

So near, yet so far!<\/p><\/div>\n