Trail Rider Magazine

KEVin nOVEllO  6 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Wheel Spin I t has been a while since I've been excited about board- ing a plane and traveling. The desnaons are usually a good me, but the collecve annoyances of airline travel can take its toll aer a while. There is also a certain inevitable fate that I am resigned to when flying. I can safely expect that I am going to fold like a pancake and ex- change my relavely healthy eang habits for something offensively tasty and fried. I can then bank on having one too many libaons before final boarding call and having my bladder reach its holding capacity as we taxi towards the runway. I can also expect that my neighbor is going to be grossly overweight to the point of spilling in to my seat. And on not-so-rare oc- casion, said neighbor will be unapologecally flatulent, apparently averse to a pre- empve Beano strike. So when I booked my transat- lanc flight to Romania, it was a mixed bag of excite- ment and dread… Mostly dread. As expected, my portly neighbor was quietly napping in our seat when I arrived. Some things I just can't escape. Nonetheless, spending 10 days in Romania really revital- ized the travel bug in me. As you will read in the following pages, the touring that I did with TC.P xpower was noth- ing short of spectacular. Racing the Red Bull Romaniacs was equally spectacular and well worth the money. I en- joyed everything about Romania and Romaniacs; the food, the people, the quaint villages, the city of Sibiu. There was so much to do and see that I never even came close to scratching the surface of exploring the country- side or discovering the sights and sounds of Sibiu. It's also worth menoning that Romania may have the best riding in the world. Fortunately we'll have a chance to test that theory. When I expressed my disappointment in not having enough me to see and do everything I wanted to, the owner of TC.P, Thomas Fasching, said, "Well, come back! And bring a bunch of your friends." He even offered to provide a discounted tour to the readers of this magazine and allocate a week in October to host us on a Tracks of Romaniacs Tour. Check out the ad on page 39 for some more details, or go to their website at hps://www.tcp- xpower.com/en/. He also offered to have us come back and aend tours in Italy, Croaa, Bosnia, Rus- sia and Turkey. As you will read in the following pages, I gave these guys high marks for their over- all operaon and wouldn't hesitate to join them again. Hopefully you can join us from October 19- 26 for the Tracks of Roma- niacs Tour where we will follow many of the trails used in the 2014 Red Bull Romanaics. We will end the tour with a climb up "the Lizard", which is that long hill that ends the final day of Romaniacs. There will also be a chance to check out Dracula's Castle and ride the infamous Black Mamba and other notable trails. I've been assured that we'll have dif- ferent ability groups, too. For a guy that doesn't care for traveling, especially abroad, I've done a 180 on the issue. I can't wait to hop a plane again and see what adventures await. As you will find, the tours are affordable (the airfare blows, though) and enrely worth it. I didn't think it possible, but I caught the elusive travel bug. Folks, if you get a chance to travel abroad and go on an off-road tour, do it. Add it to your bucket list. You won't regret it, the riding is just too good. Travel Bug

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