Thank you Romania & XPower

Here I am sitting on a plane 22 hours into a 38 hour trip back to Melbourne, the body is healing (my blisters now have blisters inside the other blisters) and time to think back over the trip is kicking in. We keep pinching ourselves on how lucky we are to have had another trip halfway around the world, riding dirt bikes with 
a group of great mates.

The trip was an absolute stunner and definitely one of the best we have ever done. From day 1 in the remote villages to day 5 when we were handed a GPS and navigated our way 150kms back to Sibiu through forest, hills, paddocks and bush bashing. I will never forget the first 5 days, it pushed me and the lads to new limits thanks to our lead rider Varger Zolt (Romanian Endure champion). We honestly thought dirt bikes could not do what we have done this trip!

From the very technical riding to the amazing accommodation we received, it was next to perfection thanks to the team at X Power. I can’t fault Romania or it’s people, Romania is not like the bullshit you have seen across Europe with the Gypsies hassling you, it seems to be the polar opposite in Romania, we didn’t get hassled or annoyed by any locals or beggars. Romania is a bloody gem and a place people should put on their hit list, the southern part of Romania is actually all Hungarian towns and Romanian is not spoken. 


The Romanian trip has opened another window to riding and possibilities we didn’t think existed. It’s a very big world we live in and tasting Europe on a bike for us has taken the Mad 5 Dirt ride to the next stage of adventuring. It is mind blowing still seeing shepherds mending to their flok across the countryside as we ride through deep hills, or the horse and cart being used as the main form of transport.

In the last 11 days of the riding there was an enduro side of the adventure, it started on day 1 and ended on day 5, this was called the Dracula trial and the highlight for us all. The Dracula trial allowed us to start in one town and end in another town 150ks away through beautiful countryside were the scenery was always changing. The best part of this Dracula trail was the people you meet and the friendships made along the way, lucky for the team we meet 2 ripper lads Mike and Corndog a.k.a Richard. These lads totally made the trip awesome with cracking laughs and funny antics, Mike & Corndog are working in Dubai and have been coming to Romania for the last 4 years. Lucky for us both blokes could not only ride well but more importantly they could do it hungover!! The lads were not shy for a big night and keen to party, Travis and Jake had a crack with the boys one night but paid for it the next day.

For the last 3 days, we were based in Sibiu and doing day rides in to the hills of Sibiu, this was the hardest part of the tour and a challenge for some of us in the group. I’m not going to mention the rider’s names but leave you with a hint, one bloke looks like Jesus and the other could be out of midnight oil!! The hills through Sibiu is the place where the famous endure ride called the Romaniacs takes place, unfortunately it was a little out of the skill set for Jesus and midnight oil. We had a ripper crack but the slippery tracks and fatigue kicked in.

A huge thanks to the lads, Alby, Jake and Travis for working together to make this trip one of the best we have ever had. A special mention should go out to the newest member of the team Jake, a young lad that came solo and joined the group from a post Travis had put on Facebook (we required another rider to make the trip happen), Jake was an absolute star that fitted in with the lads straight away. Not only did Jake fit in with everyone but became good mates as well with the boys, so I end this last blog for 2017, it has been another quality year of fun on the bikes.

I hope to see all the Mad 5 Dirt Riders in Vietnam come 2018 – stay tuned for details!