Part one: Preparation
You better brace your self for some difficulties, hard moments, exhaustion and dispair, but also laughs, companion and team work that will repay you. First things first, you have to properly inscribe to the event.
Make it a fast inscription thought due to the fact the event and all it's levels are getting full with riders in the first month, weeks or even days since it gets announced.
You will be asked to pay 50% of your participation fees at the inscription. The rest of the amount you will be asked to pay at your check in at Ramada hotel.
Since you receive confirmation emails that you made the deposit and you have a starting number, well you made it. You are one of them.
The succesful attendace to this game thought is not even started yet.
TIP Pay serious attention to the emails you are going to receive after you inscribe. The organizers are making serious and useful announcements (that we riders often ignore) about the event, concerning timetables, park ferme, services, tire offers etc.
How to start preparing:
Read the regulation carefully (always located here). It is complicated and big but read it. Follow it letter by letter, because trust me, the organizers will not hesitate to cut you at the control point for minor details such as CE mark on your helmet, or a flare gun in your back pack. I found my self running around Sibiu trying to locate various stuff while our riders waited and the control point to be checked. Believe me, it's not funny or wanted gear won't come cheap from the locals when you find it.
After you read the regulations you will realize you need to start packing up stuff you never expected to pack for an enduro race or journey.
1. A valid racing license.
You have two options, a) bring your own b) bring a letter that your local FIM certified club allows you to issue one in Sibiu.
The paragraph that declares regulations about the license is the following:
~
b.- European citizens need one of the licence listed below:
1) International FIM Enduro or Cross-Country licence or..
2) UEM Enduro or Rally Raid licence or..
3) National licence from the motorcycling federation of the country of which he is a national or in which the applicant is a permanent resident, with written start permission by the FIM recognized motorsports federation allowing to compete at Red Bull Romaniacs.
Or.
2) UEM Enduro or Rally Raid licence or..
3) National licence from the motorcycling federation of the country of which he is a national or in which the applicant is a permanent resident, with written start permission by the FIM recognized motorsports federation allowing to compete at Red Bull Romaniacs.
Or.
If you don't, have a competition licence yet.
4) written permission from your national motorsport federation to have a event licence issued by the Romanian Motorcycling Federation (FRM) (this licence can be purchased in Sibiu at the race for a cost of 45 euros, sport medical test of 5 euros and insurance cost of 50 euros)
4) written permission from your national motorsport federation to have a event licence issued by the Romanian Motorcycling Federation (FRM) (this licence can be purchased in Sibiu at the race for a cost of 45 euros, sport medical test of 5 euros and insurance cost of 50 euros)
If purchasing a event licence from Romanian Motorcycling Federation seems to be the best solution for you, and you face problems getting the permission from your national federation, then please report to Cristina Badiu cristinab@xventure.net
c.- competitors from outside of Europe need one of the licences listed below:
1) International FIM Enduro or Cross Country licence.
Or.
If you do not, have a competition licence yet.
2) written permission from their national motorsport federation to have a event licence issued by the Romanian Motorcycling Federation (FRM) (this FIM licence can be purchased in Sibiu at the race for a cost of 50 euros/per race, sport medical test of 5 euros and insurance cost of 50 euros). Has to be announced to FRM (ceo@frm.ro) no later than 1st July 2015 !
2) written permission from their national motorsport federation to have a event licence issued by the Romanian Motorcycling Federation (FRM) (this FIM licence can be purchased in Sibiu at the race for a cost of 50 euros/per race, sport medical test of 5 euros and insurance cost of 50 euros). Has to be announced to FRM (ceo@frm.ro) no later than 1st July 2015 !
If purchasing a event FIM licence from Romanian Motorcycling Federation seems to be the best solution for you, and you face problems getting the permission from your national federation, then please report to Cristina Badiu cristinab@xventure.net
~
Prices are given in Euros, and the procedure is going to take a while at the check in.
Print the regulations. Highlight your obligations so you wont face any unpleasant surprises at the check in. Organizers are more than willing to help and they will eventually find or solve your case, but since you lack of something important against the regulations you will be anxious and tired at the end of the day and despite the fact that you will go through it, you don't need that before the race. A proper understanding of the regulations will pass you through their control points fast, leaving time for a cold beer in downtown Sibiu.
2. Survival gear
This is where we laugh! Survival gear at first sight scares the living daylights out of anybody. If you are going to need any of this gear, well, you brought your self into serious trouble, so you better have the best of what you will need. In my experience, there is no way you are going to use any of these, but since they are requesting the list, they know better.
Make sure, (if you can afford it) and buy the smallest and lightest gear of the following list in order to squeeze everything in your tiny back pack with the maximum water amount you can get in it.
1. Gps, we will talk about this later
2. Torch, bring a waterproof led torch, preferably the one that you can put on your forehead. It is small, light, consumes less energy and waterproof.
 |
| Led lenser |
Ledlenser (which is one of my favorites) has a zoom function and a regulator of led power that can really save consumed energy.
3. Gsm mobile phone. Iphone works well, so does Samsung galaxy and the rest of the phones in the market right now. In my opinion, the one in your back pack should be a non touvh screen, solid construction phone, that can take a hit or two on rocks. If you own or planning to get a bullet proof case for your precious smartphone then get it with you. You are going to meet mother earth in many case during this rase. A cracked glass screen on your 800 euro phone is the last you need.
 |
| iphone case |
 |
| Seals VR7 |
4. 6 smoke rocket flares and 2 red hand held smoke flares, it's the best way to let someone know where you are in these thick woods. In 2011, while waiting for Andreas our driver to show up in a check point, I had gear and my GG EC 300 available so I thought I should look around since I had a couple of hours available. In 30 minutes, I found my self passing more than 10 cross roads and alternative routes in the woods. You can easily loose orientation and find yours self lost in these woods. Yes, flares can be a life saver.
 |
| 6 of these |
 |
| 2 of these |
5. Compass. As you already have guessed, you are going to visit your local navy store, or mountain store so buy a compass. Small, light and accurate. I don't know how you are going to find your way out of the woods once you drive up and down streams, valleys, river beds and trails, but they need to check it, and not the one in your iphone Apps.
 |
| Compass |
6. Distress mirror, Victorinox has a great survival kit that contains such a mirror.
 |
| The mirror |
 |
| and how to use it |
7.Litre of water, I personally rec USWE hydration packs, light, cheap and they do have a very cool back pack that Andreas last year managed to fit all the survival gear in it. You can find their products here. For this race, I don't recommend the use of hands free system. That cable that extents on your back, is exposed to branches and bush that you are going to fight in many cases during the race.
 |
| The pack |
 |
| The backpack |
8. Foil survival blanket nothing to say here. Just get the lightest you can find and the most foldable.
 |
| Foil blanket |
9. Wind and waterproof jacket, they will not be ok with your racing jacket, even if you wear a Klim water proof jacket. They will ask for the foldable, wind/rain jacket you use when you go fishing.
 |
| smaller than this |
10. Pencil, contact number and first aid form, you will find this at the check in. You will be asked to bring a pencil. Be careful, they will not accept a pen.
11. A spare spark plug, make sure you put it in a bag.
12. A tool set, that you probably already have. In my opinion, you must Cary everything you can Cary with you toolswise. Klim and Wolfman have a great tool case that goes on the front fender. I saw a lot of riders having such a case installed and when I asked them, they all had positive remarks on it. Other wise you can use your belt bag or a roll up tool case in your backpack. Remember to put the tool somewhere accessible and not deep inside your back pack under tons of useless gear.
 |
| This is the wolfman tool case |
14. One set of batteries for your GPS. Yes, your GPS is going to be your best companion in this race. You are going to be looking at it more that everything else during this race. I believe even wonderful Romanian ladies or landscape is not seen in this race as much as the GPS. You don't want to run out of batteries and don't have spare ones. Consider getting a spare set of batteries for all your electric gear (torch, cell phone etc.)
15. A helmet. No comment. I don't know why they have it here, probably they have seen riders attending without one so... Anyway, they ask for a clean helmet with the CE sticker and tags in place so they can inspect.
The Control of the survival gear is done in the "motorcycle security park" where they will inspect all these things. Also, at every start they may check it all again and they will give you a time penalty of 30 minutes and a 150 € fine if you don't carry any of these and they find out. (They never inspected any of this during the race BUT they have the right to since they declared it... so... !!!)
Since you have all the above, you are half way there.
End of part one...
Next Part, Preparing the bike !!!
No comments:
Post a Comment