Everyone from around the world especially the states and me included wants to quickly label they’re classes as A,B and C. You quickly learn this is not the case at Romaniacs or any WESS round I’m told. I had the awesome and random experience of hanging out with Martin the creator of Romaniacs and Paul Bolton one morning at breakfast. After learning it was my first time at the event they simply asked me why iron? I answered because coming here for the first time and spending what I had spent to get here and try a lifelong dream I wanted the best chance possible to “FINISH” Romaniacs. I have seen so many local heroes from all over the states come here and enter silver and bronze and even iron and they are out within 2 days. I then stated that guess it was out of respect for Romaniacs. I could tell they really appreciated the way I looked at it and they went on to tell me they’re thoughts. Martin told me I was smart to do my research because the iron class was created because of that. To give people a chance to actually finish and create a learning platform for future tries at higher classes. Most who enter IRON and go back stay IRON and those  who choose to bump up to BRONZE go back to IRON the following year. In his words “You can come over here for the first time and enter SILVER or BRONZE like most people do but most likely you are not going to finish there is just to much to learn in your first year for the average rider.” “The iron class is filled with riders new to Romaniacs but none are beginner level by any means this is Romaniacs and a World Enduro Super Series event. We simply have no place for beginners here.” Paul Bolton then pointed out that out that next to me in the iron class was not only fast local A’s and AA’s from around the world but retired national Champions from around the world not just this one area. He then said “ If I were to retire today I’d come back to this event with me mates and I’d run iron class all day long” it’s hard to explain and wrap your head until you are here and see it unfold but I learned to sort of look at it like this.

GOLD- World level hard enduro specialist

SILVER- National level hard enduro specialist

BRONZE- Local AA enduro riders

IRON- Local A riders willing to push themselves and learn a hard enduro format and former retired AA riders.

I quickly learned not to trust the course markings or lack there of. Wether it’s a funny farmer rerouting things or locals hoping to see more of a show by running people into the worst scenarios ever in the mountains you had to be very careful and mindful that you could still be off course so check your GPS consistently much like an ICO computer. I also gave up on trying to feel the trail flow. Every time I would flow with the trail I’d look down to find out I was off course with my GPS. Romaniacs flow is much like a Jordan Brandt google maps ride. With all of us asking “where’s the flow bro?” And much like a J. Brandt answer they’d say “it’s all flow bro! big sorry bro!”The GPS is king out there and as long as you follow it “no matter how hard” you won’t get lost and you won’t get an additional time penalty added for being off course. With that said the GPS is one of the things I struggled with the most. It is a huge learning curve much like learning to ride a time keeping enduro. You need to know your equipment and how to use it to your advantage.

I quickly learned why it’s called an enduro Rallye and not just an enduro. You are literally riding everywhere. It’s a marathon not a sprint. This was particularly important for me to learn because as most people know in my earlier years of racing I would run hot and push hard only to explode myself the bike or both on the first lap or special test. Fast for 5 minutes but not the whole day. I guess this is why they say most enduro riders hit there prime in their 30s because it’s takes us slower minded enduro brains to figure out the slower is faster mentality. To finish each day you and your body have to last and your bike has to last. I met so many people in all classes that had the similar story of being at Romaniacs for the 4th 5th even 6th time still trying to achieve their goal of earning a finishers medal because they have had bike failures, injuries or just completely run they’re body out of resources and hour out. The mileage of the common course alone will wear you and your bike down if you don’t plan properly and ride smart.

The race mileage is NOT the total mileage for the day on the bike. More often than not you’ll have to ride to the start and this can be a substantial amount of time on the bike. Then after the start they may have a gap in the race course. They call this a liaison. This was also substantial and not such a nice easy ride like they explained it was a long distance of Romanian highway in Romanian traffic, mucked out logging roads and some fairly rocky road sections all while dodging logging equipment, tractors, chicken trucks and livestock. 80 kilometers per hour they said! Sure! I I hit 2 cows on 2 separate days. I explained it to my dad that it was like racing the first half of the day at clear creek then riding to Hollister Hills for the second half of the day. Then once you reach the finish line for the day. Yep more riding to get back to your personal headquarters or wherever your team was meeting for the day. I guess I should also mention the fact that the riders meetings were at 9:00pm every night and transponder pick up is at 4:30 am each morning so you can forget your normal sleep time.

Romanian weather is completely unpredictable and it can rain at literally any time. I quit even looking at weather reports and just started taking each day that was brought to me one at a time. The rain obviously made things much much harder but you also have know way of know which course out of the classes would hold up better than the others. It could be flash flooding on one mountain for example at the start of day 2 and then sunny on the other mountain at the finish. It was also weird to me to have both cold weather rain and hot weather rain never knowing if I needed a rain jacket or not. To sum it up. It rains a lot and if there was ever a Romaniacs without rain from what I hear then it just wouldn’t be Romaniacs.

I knew going into Romaniacs that I would have to have a slower pace than usual not only to help my vision problem but to conserve energy for the extreme sections and bottlenecks. I quickly learned that my speed was still way to fast. For the first 2 Offroad days I was passing the same people over and over only to have a GPS mishap or worse after I would put time between myself and other riders I would just loose it all when I reached a bottle neck or tougher section and all I really accomplished was to use more energy than they did. And you NEED that energy to clean those sections as much as possible. You could loose seconds on common trail by backing it down but you can loose minutes in the tough sections by being worn out and not cleaning them the first time when you get to them. Especially if you don’t have help.

Speaking of having no help. It can be drastically beneficial to have help from a fellow rider and just stay together. People come to this race to FINISH and some of them bring out all the stops. I found out that I was one of the only Iron riders up front that didn’t have help in the extreme sections. Some people had chase riders others teamed up with one another while some had people staged throughout the course. These people put a lot of effort into it and it showed as they had ropes, pulleys, electric wenches and even carpet! Yes! I saw dry carpet on wet muddy roots and it worked wonders! Bet your ass I followed them before they’re helpers could pick it up. There is talk of having no help zones but as of now there are no rules on having help honestly if I could have had help I absolutely would have taken it in a heart beat. At first I was jealous and envious but grew to appreciate the fact that I did the whole race on my own. I didn’t plan on doing as well as I did my goal was just to finish and have fun. But by doing well on my own it kind of let me know that I have a better chance of reaching my new goal to finish Silver. “I will tackle BRONZE first” there is no shame in getting help even the gold guys need it in their crazy sections. But if you can get through your class with little to none I think it let’s you know you have room to push yourself a little harder. 

It’s not a question of if but when and how long you will struggle. If there is anything I’ve learned by doing these extreme Enduro’s and EnduroCross type of events lately it’s that myself and 90 % of everyone around me is a pretty average rider and we look like absolute goons compared to the elite guys like Webb, Haaker, Jarvis, ect. I mean let’s face it we are goons ha.  So prepare to check the ego and be laughed at and be able to laugh at yourself. Those guys make everything look so easy and it’s obviously not. And it does no good to compare and point at the guys around you either because where they struggle and flounder well the next section can be completely opposite and you’ll be the one guppie fish breathing on some hill while they somehow find traction or a way to get through. I would say I’m an average A rider here in the states and the iron course “which was often bronze and silver because of the rain” was by far the hardest race course I have ever got to ride, push, crash and fumble a dirt bike through. There were times that I felt like the bike was riding me around the mountain. The course completely kicked my ass and humbled me and I found it pretty amazing that so many riders were willing to help one another even if it was just positive reinforcement as I was pushing the bike while puking my supplements up because they were doing the same thing at one point. 

I had been dreaming of this race since I was a kid back in 2004. I spent roughly around 10K not including all the riding and training I did before hand. I wish I did it sooner. Coming from a state like California where dirt bikes are hated by most and governed by rules as we watch our races and riding areas get smaller, canceled or closed down it seemed so surreal to see the city of Sibiu and there love for the event and all the riders was purely heart warming to me. The ambience while walking in the town square alone let’s you know you are at a world enduro event. I not only got to meet riders I’ve looked up to my whole life but other amateur riders just like myself and the boys I ride with back home from all around the world. It felt like one big family to me. We all love this sport we all have the same addiction to it and we all have personal struggles with it. Hearing so many people’s stories from all over the world and what they had done to be there or how many times they have came back trying to earn just 1 finishers medal ect....  well it made me wonder why I even stress about mine at all. My vision problem still hasn’t been fully diagnosed, I can’t ride as fast as I used to and sometimes I have to just stop until it clears up. Big deal. Hell thats what got me into these extreme races anyways! The fact that I could slow way down and concentrate on harder sections I was hoping would allow me to keep racing. And it’s worked so far. This race has a way of really testing what’s inside you and how much grit you have. I started to really let things soak in more and  I got to see so many people have the ride of their lives and reach they’re goals. I think that’s pretty cool even if it’s not the famous GOLD class guys. To see grown ass men tear up finishing Offroad day 4 “including myself” was pretty inspiring. I got to see close friends and new friends live in the clarity of their own moment and achieve personal greatness. Moto Doc’s face after the finish was priceless after his 1st try at Romaniacs last year didn’t work out. Rob Chavez that guy is a freak of nature he is so happy! All the time! Like almost annoyingly happy! ALL THE TIME! He pushed his limits so far and just got hammered every day in the BRONZE class that by the end of the week he looked like he was an MMA fighter. And every day he still had that smile on his face at the start of every Red Bull arch telling anyone who was struggling mentally to just keep going and Rob got a BRONZE finishers medal! Imagine seeing that in at least another 100 people. And then seeing the GOLD class guys cheering and giving props to everyone else fighting they’re own fight to get to that last finish. It was a great reminder to me of what’s really makes enduro riders cool in my opinion. I feel that the heart of it all results are great but in the end..... they don’t mean shit! It’s the struggle that makes hard enduro worth trying and it’s completely pushing through that struggle to the finish that makes it so rewarding that you don’t even care about the results at that point. The only results that matter to you is.... did I finish or not finish? Did I push myself and do my best? At the finish Martin Freinademetz asked me So what do you think of Romaniacs and the WESS series? Unbelievable was all I answered. All I could do was thank him for creating such a unique race like he did back when nobody was doing it. I never thought I’d have the chance to make it all the way to this race it’s a lot of work and very expensive. Luckily I had some great friends and family who helped to keep me working towards my goal and to stay positive and committed. 

— Danny Melvin Instagram