Jonny Walker - 'The Romaniacs is a beast of a race, There’s nothing else around that compares to it.'
By Jonny Walker on 18th Jul 18
Positive thoughts. Thats whats on my mind as I get ready to head to Romania for the Red Bull Romaniacs.
I seem to have had quite the love affair with it during the last four or five years, but now more than ever I need it to fall back in love with me! As round four of the World Enduro Super Series it holds a bit more weight this year, especially if things dont go my way.
Im out front in the championship and keen to keep all that intact. But on the other hand I really want another Red Bull Romaniacs win because its been 2015 since I last won there. 2014 and 2015 were two awesome years for me at Romaniacs.
After a couple of years trying to figure it out, I finally got it together. Everything clicked and I put a win on the scoreboard in 2014. Then the following year I backed it up with confidence and left feeling like I had the measure of the place.
But Romaniacs is a beast of a race. Theres nothing else around that compares to it. Its five hard days of riding. We have the prologue and then four brutally long days in the mountains.Its so remote and so wild that anything goes.
When you get it right it feels easy, but if luck is against you then its hell. And the last two years have been that. In 2016 it was my first race back after breaking my leg in SuperEnduro.
I wasnt 100 per cent right and paid the price. It chewed me up after the first day in the mountains.In 2017 I was carrying another injury, my bike setup wasnt were it should have been and my confidence wasnt near those 2015 levels.
On day three I got trapped under my bike as I fell down a cliff-like chute and was injured again. So, after four big years in Romania, I come back to it in 2018 with a lot of experience under my belt.
Things have been going well this year Im riding well and for the first time in a very long time Im not carrying an injury.
Im hoping next week will be my time to set things right and I can stand on the top step of that podium again because there is no other feeling like it.
Jonny
More like this…
Romaniacs youngest ever winner on being at his absolute physical limit
Round four of the World Enduro Super Series saw Sherco Factory Racing’s Wade Young become the youngest ever winner of Red Bull Romaniacs. For five epic days of Enduro racing the 22-year-old South African battled both his rivals and the elements to secure the biggest victory of his career to date.
James Dent: My first Erzberg adventure!
Not many riders would pick the iconic ErzbergRodeo as their first crack at hard enduro, right? But that’s exactly what Cumbrian James Dent did recently in Austria where he swapped the British Enduro Championship for a weekend taking on the Iron Giant.