Ride Report - Con Thermos, Redbull Romaniacs 2014
The most daunting part to organizing your Romaniacs race entry was picking the class you will ride, there’s lots of info on the Romaniacs website on how to choose a class, but nothing really can prepare you for what you will face in the wild Carpathian mountains, I know now on reflection its definitely the most critical part in the type of experience you will have at RedBull Romaniacs.
I can tell you simply this, I know of maybe 1 or 2 riders in Australia that could possibly compete and maybe finish in the “Gold” class at Romaniacs, these guys are top Moto Trials riders with solid AORC experience. In “Gold” class you can expect to ride A Grade trials sections on your enduro bike! Nuts.. a task I know only people with Expert/A grade Moto Trials skills could get through, any other riders may get through with help, but will be drained of all energy and eventually time out. To give you an idea of how they set the “Gold” sections at Romaniacs, experienced track managers may spend 5-6 hours attempting a hill climb and if they eventually succeed, they consider this a “ridable” section. Gold class riders ride 3-4 sections like this a day! Expect to ride downhills that are 70-90% steep! 100 meters or more long, creeks and rivers kms in length, steep with 4 – 5 foot steps. Nothing-even simular to what top AORC riders are faced with here in OZ.
“Silver” is slightly easier with the hardest gold sections removed but you still expect to be riding B grade trials sections, crazy steep downhills and painfully long river and creek sections, I would say only experienced trials (A, B maybe c+) riders with enduro bike experience or top Expert or good Expert with some good trials experience should enter this class. The “Bronze” class is still difficult with again the hardest silver, and of course Gold sections removed. Only top-level clubman riders, Expert, or B, C+ trials riders would get through to the finish of Bronze class. Even the “Iron” class is still a challenge with steep hills thrown in here and there and big days on the bike, a decent clubman rider would still find this a “extreme” ride in comparison to Aussie conditions I dought very much that your standard Aussie trailrider with good experience would finish Iron Class, maybe on the second attempt!
How was RedBull Romanaics 2014 for me? Amazing!! Definitely the hardest ride I have ever competed in and the most exhilarating at the same time. To finish under the Redbull arch each day if front of hundreds of people and live TV, knowing that you have been through hell, was the best feeling ever! I was cursing riding Silver class on a KTM 350exc half way through day 1, a terrible prologue in the streets of downtown Sibiu city, placed me at the rear of the Silver for the first Day in the mountains. I started well on Day 1 and passed many riders but by the time we reached the Gold/Silver section aptly named “Doomed” it was stay in order and fight your way up unridable hills!, I quickly ran out of water and knowing we were kms from the nearest road, I really I didn`t think i would getting out of there! Day 2 was better as I started in the top 30 and had a clearer run finishing around position 20 for the start of day 3.