Another Bobo bro has joined us for today, he'll be riding sweep with Charlie. A former class winner of Romania's famous Romaniacs off-road event, he's riding his wife's pink bike. I want one.
Our first proper day of riding and it's 10km of lumpy road riding through villages and a small town on heavily knobbled tyres, in the rain, before we reach the trail into the hills. Top speed in sixth gear is just about 100km/h but 65 is more comfortable and 80 bearable without earplugs. The bikes are so responsive that you feel they would go much faster if the gearing allowed it.
We head on to the trail and upwards. The rain is on and off as we wind our way through the trees across meadows in and out of the clouds. Large sheep dogs bark madly at us and chase the bikes as we ride past. We've been advised not to try to out run them as it encourages them to run and sometimes they try to dart in front of the bikes - that ended badly on a previous ride.
Stopping for coffee and there are potentially lovely views into the valley and beyond, except it's hidden by cloud clinging to the hills. The rain looks like it's easing off so I remove my outer rain jacket. The tracks are rocky wet tracks interspersed with muddy ruts and I'm feeling more comfortable riding the bucking bronco that is my 300cc two-stroke beast.
Stopping for lunch and by now the rain has returned as a drizzle, in fact it hasn't really stopped all day, but now it's definitely making me wet. Entering the restaurant and the rain really starts hammering down. We timed lunch well.
Looking at the forecast for the week and it is rain, rain and rain, interspersed with thunder storms. The temperature has also dropped to the point that condensation forms when we breath out. Setting off again and the rain jackets come out, it helps a bit, but soon we're all pretty much wet through. More mud, and rocky tracks and I'm in my stride following Bobo the leader; when we stop, he says I've really improved. On starting again and the first thing I do is fall off into the bushes right in front of everyone! Cameras out, of course.
A short while later Danny attempts to chop a tree down, but the tree wins. A particularly nasty muddy stretch sees him a little winded by the collision and the tree bark scraped. Slight bike damage as a panel has snapped, but otherwise the bike is fine. It takes a while for him to get his confidence back but he's soon keeping up with the rest of us. Ray's also had a couple of offs, but there's only hearsay as the record. The puddles are particularly huge here and we splash, spray and squelch our way through the ever wetter forest.
The conditions don't improve but we're still all having a blast as we gain confidence over the rocks, through the mud and even when we're being smacked in the face by sodden, low hanging branches. The scenery is mostly hidden by the clouds, but I get the impression that it's magnificent under its grey blanket.
We arrive back at the farmhouse and Charlie and Bobo congratulate us on riding well. We are all totally soaked, even Gore-tex boots are wet inside. We hang our gear from every available hook and the clothes airing frame is soon festooned with socks and riding tops.
I go for a run doing the same loop I did yesterday morning, while the others consult their phones to exchange photos and catch up on the day's news. My watch says we covered about 95km and rode between 475 and 1415m altitude.
The hot tub is ready again so we take a dip, but the water is so hot, that cold needs to be added and stirred well before we can get in.
Dinner, stories and bed. But not before we play musical chairs with our socks and boots, Danny cheating as usual.
Tomorrow we are not returning to the farmhouse so we need to pack a bag for transit. We'll be on the trail for three days and we all hope the weather improves, but prepare for the worst. We're all so glad we brought sunblock! No doubt we'll also be squeezing ourselves into wet riding gear in the morning, never pleasant.
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