How hard is Romaniacs bronze class?︱Cross Training Enduro shorty

www.carpathianadventures.eu www.crosstrainingenduro.com
The Romaniacs prolog is over and its day 1 off road. The competitors have an hour long drive out to the starting point of Rau Vadului in the epic Carpathian mountains. And here I run into a small problem. The organisers make it a tricky process if you want to run a helmet cam. And since I don't know anyone running a helmet cam, I'm going to substitute footage from a two day ride we did prior to the event. Our guides from Carpathian Adventure say we'll be doing some bronze tracks, so hopefully this vid will give you a rough idea of what to expect from bronze class. Carpathian Adventures are based in a small village near Sibiu and after only two minutes we are straight into a long long hill climb. Immediately it's tougher than I realised. I don't find out till later that day, but my bike is so new it doesn't have mousses or TUbliss fitted yet, so the air pressure is very high to prevent punctures. And I can't figure out why I'm not getting grip. It will lead to a pretty big crash later. Under the dead leaves are roots, sticks, clay and all sorts of things you can't see. Momentum is definitely your friend in these conditions. The guides throw a tougher hill climb at us for anyone who wants to try it. Momentum momentum momentum. I decide to give it a try, but I back off slightly when I see someone coming down and it's all over for me. the downhills can be sketchy too if you can't see under the leaf litter. Red Bull Romaniacs isn't all hard slow terrain of course. If you've seen previous events, you'll see that even the gold class riders get to do a lot of open flowing tracks especially when you get above the treeline. In fact a friend of mine who entered a few years back was a bit disappointed there was so much fast open terrain. He preferred the challenge of technical tracks where less speed also meant less chance of major injury. Incredibly dark in some of these forests. And the climbs and descents occur throughout the day. Most of this would be iron class but according to the guides there are enough tricky climbs to bump our ride up into the bronze category. While it has rained recently, the grip isn't too bad. But if the ground was soaked then certain tracks would be a fair bit harder. When you emerge from the trees you feel as though you can get some speed up, but the ground is still very rough under the grass and it's easy to be thrown off the bike suddenly. The views simply staggering. And we hit peaks like this about five times every day, as do Red Bull Romaniacs racers. It's certainly one of the many advantages of doing a tour instead of riding the race... being able to soak in the incredible scenery and take your time. What goes up must come down. We start off slowly to take in the view. But eventually the speed picks up and you really need to stay on your toes as it doesn't take much to kick your front wheel out. Plenty of shepherds huts at this altitude. They stay up here in the warmer months with their flocks and then back to the villages during winter. Oh and talking about front wheels washing out, I wasn't filming at the time but that rock hard front tyre failed to grip on a fast downhill run and I went sailing through the air and landed with a thud and long slide to a stop. I don't think it cracked any ribs, but man the ribs and shoulder were sore for days afterwards. Bummer I didn't have enough room in the luggage for my armour for our Red Bull Romaniacs tour lol. I look back at this footage now and wonder why we all felt so beaten up at the end of each day. Admittedly most of us are between 40 and 60 of age, but when you are riding most of the day it really takes it out of you. I can see why fitness and endurance are so important if you want to try doing all five days of Romaniacs, even in the relatively easy iron and bronze classes. You come to appreciate all those open flowing tracks as a chance to recuperate before the next climb or steep descent. Hope you enjoyed the ride guys, plenty more Romanian vids on the way. Oh and by the way, congratulations to Graham Jarvis on taking the lead for Day 1 of Red Bull Romaniacs. Keep it up son, us old fellahs are rooting for you.
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[@CowboyMikeandHisMotorbike]

Having binge watched hundreds of endure videos recently, I have distilled it to its essence. You race as fast as you can to the first turn, throw your bike to the ground, pick it up and carry it for 2.5 hours

[@bikersoncall]

I can see how taking the tour would be a hella lot of fun.

[@1MarkBevans]

Great Vid Barry, I guess they made it challenging for ya, using tubes and 15psi. Iconic location for sure. Looking forward to more of the same, but be careful those pumpkins will bite!!

[@nicksnicknet]

Loving the frequent updates. This is my go-to enduro/cross-training channel. Just ordered my Beta. Should be a nice upgrade from my 04CRF450R :)

[@maciejgasior2274]

any enduro bike will be better than crf450

[@enduro-parts-aus]

Would love to do a tour before the race then go watch the crazy stuff

[@ArnoldJudasRimmer]

Great vid! Really good to be able to watch a Romaniacs vid without any spoil........ oh... ffs...

[@crosstrainingenduro]

🤣

[@bj0rnn0rgaard1996]

Awesome vid wish I knew you were at the prologue I would have love to have said hi and thank you in person for all the great tips 👍

[@ultraspank8479]

Beautiful views!

[@lucianbogdan3777]

Beautiful country!

[@metlmuncher]

Charlie was right. We need to go

[@paulschonschack3051]

Beautiful vid.

[@mellowbill8473]

Bronze eh? I reckon that puts me around aluminium class. or possibly mild steel..

[@polimorph2023]

Oh come on Barry, I was there at the prologue, why didn't I know you're coming? I was looking forward too meet you, even more than meeting Jarvis! Please announce next time you come to Romania! Best wishes!

[@crosstrainingenduro]

scuze radu. it's been so busy there was no time to speak with anyone. 😥 filming all day then editing all night. but i'm loving the trip in your country... foarte frumos!

[@rajkirannatarajan9276]

I do believe there is a so called Iron Class in the Romaniacs, one below Broze, which doesn’t include any technical sections but is for those who want to take it leisurely.

[@bobballard6325]

I raced iron this year, it was in no way a leisurely ride. Give it a go and see how you go. Not easy in the weather at all but great fun

[@roge1375]

Are you really riding a KTM?? :) :) Keep on posting the Romaniacs... love it!!

[@crosstrainingenduro]

just don't tell anyone lol. i should alter the colour when editing so it looks red...

[@dragomirionut5992]

Welcome to my Country, Barry! Next time, please let me know before you come, maybe I' ll leave my job for a da or two, and join you in a ride. 👍😁

[@crosstrainingenduro]

mersi dragomir, this was a very busy trip but i hope to come over again and have more spare time on a future trip...

[@victor-emmanuel7485]

The Red Bull guys staring to act more and more like Bernie Ecclestone...

[@bikersoncall]

They gave you a bronze class route, are there classes below Bronze in Romaniacs? Then it's Silver Gold going up?

[@crosstrainingenduro]

I think they've got an iron class now.

[@bikersoncall]

@@crosstrainingenduro Sounds right, thanks, I remember hearing that class somewhere..

[@maciejgasior2274]

I started 2021 at bronze.. I'm really disappointed.. was expecting to push, lots of hard uphils, sections, rivers etc... it was more like cross country race. Despite this was tough , becsuse of the daily distance, high temperature, humidity.. I'd you're expecting hard sections, then tho to sliver... onky problem wirh silver is that is not 30 or 50% harder.. it's just much way different that bronze. Imho it's good to start at bronze, see how it works and nezt year prepaire to silver.

[@crosstrainingenduro]

It's a real issue with a limited number of classes... trying to pick the right class based on your ability AND fitness/age. E.g. Veterans have told me I have the skills to handle silver class stuff but I'd never have the energy or fitness to last the distance as I'm getting too old... so bronze might get too frustrating.

[@maciejgasior2274]

@@crosstrainingenduro on bronze was just fast.. I'm not saying that I would easily finish silver but maybe next year I'll try. and yes, you must be fit, hydrated every. if you want try yourswlf at romanian race, go to enduro Panorama in may. I promise that 90 km every day i hobby class is way more harder than bronze at romanaics

[@mototrailz]

Lucky bastards!!!

[@CowboyMikeandHisMotorbike]

Enduro is only as hard as the stuff you fall on!

[@riveraluciano]

Holy shit, that is BRONZE??????

[@crosstrainingenduro]

yep! iron class is a fair bit easier of course.

[@riveraluciano]

CROSS TRAINING ENDURO SKILLS I thought bronze was the "lowest" category. Props to those guys!

[@ChrisKAloha]

15psi? That’s funny

[@m1z622]

Second

[@totkop2156]

First