Philosophy and Art beyond conventional practice: Carpathian Enduro Adventure

Monday 20 July 2015

Carpathian Enduro Adventure

My friend Borko and me decided to take a day trip with our motorcycles, which ended up as a dangerous adventure. Our first destination was a beautiful city of Timisoara in Romania. Next destination was a Carensebes. A city in Caraș-Severin County, part of Banat region in southwestern Romania. After a small break in Carensebes we decided to take another way back to our home city Kikinda in Serbia. The way took us through Resita and national park Semenic the western Carpathian Mountains called Banat Mountains. We were not aware that these Mountains’ are actually a Carpathian Mountains. Very stupid from us that we didn´t prepare better for this trip. A few hours trip as we planned became the most beautiful enduro terrain. We had with us chines navigation that had some bad maps. When we came to Anina around 19.30 h, a small mountain city with 9000 people the navigation showed us the fastest way to Oravita, our next destination. Suddenly we found our self on a dirt road with a big stains and holes. The mountain was getting steeper and steeper. It looked like that we came at the end of the road. I was very afraid of falling down from my big motorcycle. Heart was beating very fast and my inbreathe was short. Actually I can barely put my both feet on the ground at the same time when I seat on my tall GS 800 so riding that off-pist part felt extreme difficult. We saw a small mountain house with a big yard and a fence. Few children and few adults were seating and smiling at us. They probably knew that we were lost and afraid. My friend came down from a motorcycle and asked them if they speak English. Only word we recognized from listening their Romanian was a German. Borko pointed on me and told them that I can speak some German. What was not entirely a truth. I can understand a bit and I can say ein bisschen, but I can´t speak. At that moment I had to make up something just to get us from that mountain alive. An older guy explained us how to get to Oravita with some basic German but enough that I could understand that we need to follow further that way up the mountain. I said to him multumesc (thank you very much on Romanian) and we went to our bikes. He followed us to the bikes, looked at them and he said that it would be difficult. I was really afraid when I saw his face expression. The situation became even more intense after he said that. We have Enduro bikes that are made to go also off-pist. So how difficult it can be then, I was thinking at that moment. A got a small panic attack. The guy saw my scared face and he offered to drive in front of us. He went inside the house and drew out his quad. We slowly started following him. I was driving the last in the motorcade, my friend Borko was in the middle. He is an experience driver so I was not afraid for him, but I saw that he was also panicking since we were lost and dark was falling slowly. The way was so bumpy and steep that I thought my bike would fall apart. Few times my front wheel slipped and only God knows how I didn´t fall down. I totally didn´t know what I am doing there. After few hundreds meters, my motor stopped working. Luckily it was only an electricity problem cussed by bad, bumpy road. But in that moment I felt despair. Lost in Carpathian Mountains, A new beginner with the big bike, climbing the rocky mountain dirty road, where only special vehicle can drive through, with night falling slowly and my motor was shutting down felt like a real adventure. Luckily we made it. The hole trip took 12 hours. We came home late in the knight exhausted but happy to be alive.