Day 3
Hi everyone,
Everyone’s been very busy keeping with chasing Shane around the mountains to various service
points and spectator areas, plus bike and rider maintenance so sleep has been a very valuable, but
rare, commodity this week. Let’s get down to business.
It was another early morning, but quite pleasant. Day 2 results were up and Shane started day 3 in
14th place after finishing 10th on day 2. His racing partner, Miha Spindler, was right behind Moose in
15th place overall, 11th on day 2. Shane is steadily climbing up the results board as he figures out
Romaniacs style racing. It poured rain again last night but as day broke it was cold and cloudy with
no more rain. The strategy for the day was to pin it early on in order to get into the lead group of
Pros as there is usually more help at the tough spectator sections and this would get them ahead of
the Hobby and Expert riders on the combined trail sections. By the 2nd checkpoint Moose and Miha
had climbed up to around 6th and 7th. When the duo arrived at the service point halfway through
the day they were cold and wet but otherwise in good spirits, sitting inside the top 10. Moose’s 2009
Husaberg FE450 (the MOOSaberg) was running like a champ so we spent the 20 minute service
period getting more food in Shane and draining the water out of his boots. I guess the creek
crossings were a little deep!
Immediately leaving the service area was a short, but very steep climb that made for great
spectating, but was very dangerous for the riders. After watching young Greg Evans’ bike tumble
the 50 feet back down the vertical wall (completely destroying the subframe), Moose used his years
of experience in Canada to safely climb the obstacle, preserving body and bike. A few kilometers
later there was one very difficult section that was making for some interesting stories. Shane
described it as the hill from ****. The first kilometer of the hill was fine, but as the hill progressed, it
got steeper and more technical until it eventually became impassable. The soil around the
Carpathian mountains has a lot of clay in it, and the mountains tend to be rounded and covered in
trees. The combination of clay soil, tree roots and the rain we’ve had has made all of the hill climbs
extremely difficult. Moose and Miha worked together and were eventually joined by more riders until
eventually 6 of them managed to lift the bikes up the hill, one at a time. Shane described it as
exhausting work, literally lifting (not dragging) the big bikes one foot at a time up the mountain!
Talking with all of the top pros, all of them, even the competitive leaders battling for seconds, had to
help each other get the bikes up this hill. Offroad racers truly are a rare breed to battle tooth and
nail for 5 days, yet still help each other when needed.
After the **** of a hillclimb, the riders continued to ride high into the mountains up to altitudes of
2200m. Moose said it was very cold up there and they were riding along narrow sidehills completely
in the fog. Navigation was very difficult as the fatigued Husaberg duo pushed through the clouds to
the end of the day, but eventually they made it inside the top ten.
The clutch in the Shane’s 2009 Husaberg FE450 needed replacing after the hillclimb from ****, but
otherwise the only maintenance being done is oil changes and fresh tires. Very impressive
considering the abuse the bikes are taking here in Romania.
Well, that’s it for this update. Moose is tired and sore, but still going strong and happy to almost be
finished this edition of the Red Bull Romaniacs. For more on Shane’s progress including results,
check out
http://www.redbullromaniacs.com.
Steve
