{"id":19370,"date":"2022-10-27T00:01:25","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T07:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=19370"},"modified":"2022-10-27T03:27:01","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T10:27:01","slug":"roaming-in-romania-part-ii-the-transalpina-highway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2022\/10\/27\/roaming-in-romania-part-ii-the-transalpina-highway\/","title":{"rendered":"Roaming in Romania: Part II &#8211; The Transalpina Highway"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We awoke in Moto Camp, located in Sibiu, just before sunrise.\u00a0 Moto Camp is probably the best base camp we\u2019ve ever had and the best one anybody could ask for when staying near the Transylvanian mountain passes.\u00a0 These mountains are home to several of the world\u2019s most sought-after motorcycle roads.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19387\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/7-600-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/7-600-2.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/7-600-2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We researched the weather while drinking a strong cup of Romanian coffee.\u00a0 The day looked promising and the weather gave us a green light for riding. The buzz from riding the Transfagarasan Highway the day before was still with us and we both were anxious to see how the Transalpina Highway would compare.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-19381\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/900-2-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/900-2-1.jpg 900w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/900-2-1-300x135.jpg 300w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/900-2-1-768x346.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Transalpina Highway was two hours away from our base camp.\u00a0 We searched the least traveled roads to ride, which provided entertainment as we passed through tiny villages untouched by time.\u00a0 Horse-pulled carts rolled next to us and the occasional sheep crossings reminded us we were in Romania. These sites are common to Romanians, but for us it was like stepping into the early 1900s.\u00a0 Between the scenery and our motorcycle engines humming it was a perfect mesh of culture and time that fit nicely.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19374\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/1-600-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/1-600-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/1-600-1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As we continued to ride, the small towns gave way to a remote pine forest speckled with beech trees shedding their leaves.\u00a0 As we sped by, we rustled the leaves to create mini sparkling whirlwinds in the morning sunlight while accelerating into the sweeping corners of this magical road. After 30 minutes we stopped along a dam with food and souvenir kiosks to grab a snack and drink.\u00a0 While sitting there we noticed about 40 Porsches stop and take the entire length of the dam. \u201cPorsche Club of Romania\u201d was stickered on their cars.\u00a0 Not wanting to be stuck behind any of the traffic we ate with a purpose and tackled the second portion of this road.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19376\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/4-600-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/4-600-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/4-600-1-300x135.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/> Once we left the dam, the sweeping corners continued with steeper gradients, angled such that we had to lean into them and keep our speed up while doing trig calcs on the fly to avoid falling. We continued gaining elevation when suddenly a bolt blew by me on the left, then another, and another. It was the Romanian Porsche Club; it seems they wrapped up their snacks at the same pace we had.\u00a0 As they roared past like orcas going for the kill (even on blind corners) I thought:\u00a0 \u201cHey, I still have Boston blood; I can be an apex predator, too!\u201d\u00a0 We rode with them in formation as we roared past numerous cars on their Sunday drive.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19377\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/5-600-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/5-600-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/5-600-1-300x135.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Having been engrossed with the Porsches and the road (and our minds working geometry problems in the corners), we hadn\u2019t noticed how the terrain had changed yet again.\u00a0 It went from pine forests to open alpine meadows with volcanic lakes. We continued to ride along these alpine meadows as heavy fog moved in. We were at just over 5,200 feet, but we felt we were on top of the world.\u00a0 As we adjusted to the new terrain the fog banks closed upon us and our visibility dropped to almost zero.\u00a0 Then, just as quickly as the fog appeared,\u00a0 it retreated. When this happened, the veil lifted to give us a snapshot of the road ahead before it dropped again.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19378\" src=\"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6-600-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6-600-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6-600-1-300x135.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once hitting Ranca, our turnaround point, the fog rolled in so heavily that even the Porsches turned around. As we sat along a wall to fully absorb the view, we could hear the Porsche engines roaring in the distance as they continued down the pass, popping in and out of the fog.\u00a0 With the fog in no hurry to leave, we thought it was time to return to Sibui and mark another wonderous day of riding one of the best motorcycle roads in the Romanian mountains: The Transalpina Highway.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Never miss an ExNotes blog:<\/p>\n\n<hr \/>\n<p>Help us help you:\u00a0 \u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Hit those popup ads!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We awoke in Moto Camp, located in Sibiu, just before sunrise.\u00a0 Moto Camp is probably the best base camp we\u2019ve ever had and the best one anybody could ask for when staying near the Transylvanian mountain passes.\u00a0 These mountains are home to several of the world\u2019s most sought-after motorcycle roads. We researched the weather while &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2022\/10\/27\/roaming-in-romania-part-ii-the-transalpina-highway\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Roaming in Romania: Part II &#8211; The Transalpina Highway&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":19382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[89],"tags":[3073,3074],"class_list":["post-19370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motorcycle-adventure-ride","tag-motorcycling-in-romania","tag-the-transalpina-highway"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/0-900-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19370"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19392,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19370\/revisions\/19392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}