Danube Road Randonnuer (DDR 2026) - Romania

What’s DDR 2026 and why? DDR 2026 is a Les Randonneurs Mondiaux (LRM) event organized by Randonneurs România. The ride is famous for Danube River, Europe’s second longest river. The ride for the most part is done next to the river on both shores. Why DDR 2026? Mohan Sir suggested we complete Europe Challenge Randonnèe (ECR) since we had already completed 3 out of 4 required rides, the award given for completing 4 LRM rides in Europe: Paris-Brest-Paris (2023), Miglia Italia (2024), London-Edinburgh-London (2025) (cut short due to Storm Floris) and at least 1 more European ride. Among Midnight Sun (Sweden), MGM (Spain) and DDR 2026 (Romania), we selected Romania for 2 reasons: 1. Riding next to River Danube for almost 1000+ kms and then opportunity to visit Transfagarasan Highway after the ride.

Prep: Prasad and me participated in Jog 1200k with 10,000m+ elevation. It was a perfect training ahead of the DDR 2026. 

Bucharest: We arrived 2 days ahead of the ride on 13th August 2026. We spent the morning fixing the bike and next day we cycled around Bucharest to view key places of interest. This was to ensure the bike parts are in working fine after Flight. Also, we learnt a few key words in Romania like: Water (apă), Fasting Food (De Post). 

Dinner with Mircea: Meanwhile on 13th, Mircea, a Romanian long distance cyclist called folks for dinner at a restaurant. Mohan Sir insisted we go for the dinner so that we get to meet local riders and also understand on the local conditions ahead of the long ride. Mircea was courteous to explain in detail for every question that we asked like food, weather, and what other challenges. This gave us some confidence.

Ride Stages: 

Stage 1 — Videle → Giurgiu (115 km / 400 m) — Gentle rolling terrain across the Romanian Plain toward the Danube.

Stage 2 — Giurgiu → Dăbuleni (179 km / 500 m) — Follows the Danube through four counties: Giurgiu, Teleorman, Olt, and Dolj.

Stage 3 — Dăbuleni → Drobeta-Turnu Severin (235 km / 800 m) — Danube-hugging roads through Dolj and Mehedinți counties.

Stage 4 — Drobeta-Turnu Severin → Naidăș (185 km / 1,500 m) — Most demanding climbing through the spectacular Danube Gorge; crosses into Serbia at Kaluderovo.

Stage 5 — Kaluderovo → Iron Gates (174 km / 1,600 m) — The "queen stage" along Serbia's EuroVelo 6 corridor; includes a ferry crossing at Stara Palanka; re-enters Romania at Iron Gates.

Stage 6 — Iron Gates → Dăbuleni (248 km / 800 m) — Longest stage; reverse of Stage 3 along the Danube through Mehedinți and Dolj.

Stage 7 — Dăbuleni → Videle (167 km / 600 m) — Final leg through Dolj, Olt, and Teleorman back to the start.

Pre-ride welcome and formalities:

Awesome dance by school kids, Mayor handing over every rider with a medal for participation, and then native Bread and Salt. Guests are traditionally greeted at the threshold with a round braided loaf of bread and salt as a sign of utmost respect and warmth. In Romanian culture, bread and salt hold a profound symbolic and sacred value representing life, hospitality, respect, and lasting bonds. Five of us from Bangalore Randonneurs lined up. ES Reddy joined us from Hyderabad. In all we were 6 riders from India.

Also, at each Manned control, we were expected to sign with a marker against our names on a big poster involving all the participants of the ride.

Volunteers had arranged breakfast with wide spread of items including veg and egg.

Day-1 (0 to 293kms): Videle to Dabuleni

Ride started at sharp 9:00am, with a car leading the way for next 8 kms.

Brevet Card App: Audax Romania organizers had shared a Bravet Card app, this is one amazing app to track the progress on each Control Point by each rider and we could share this progress link to our friends and family. For me the App did not work at the start point and volunteers suggested me to speak to Iulian who was also riding. We started 5 mins late trying to sort this issue, so I had to rush faster to catch up with Iulian who was part of the Peloton.

Peloton: I requested Prasad that I try to ride faster and catch up with Iulian. They were riding with a peloton of about 20 riders. By this time Monish was already part of this peloton, and with some hard push I was able to catch up at the tail of Peloton. Monish and me now relaxed a bit with Peloton helping us tackle the headwind. Monish after about 10kms at the tail told that we should now lead the Peloton and contribute our part. I agreed, and we overtook the peloton and went to the front. Peloton joined us and for next 20+ kms we led the peloton. I was feeling hungry and I slowed a bit to eat banana and that was it with Peloton, was never able to catch up.

Control Point (CP1 - 71kms) - Comana - Vlad the Impaler’s Tower: Monish continued with the peloton and stopped at photo CP to buy some snacks and drinks. 5 mins later, I caught up with everyone and Iulian was there. He suggested I take Timestamp selfie and continue. Luckily the app started working and the miss was on my part not to turn on location. While I hurried to catch up with Peloton, I always knew Prasad will catch up in < 10 mins in any given situation. This is due to his high speed event without being part of Peloton. So, we called up Prasad and he was right close to the CP. By then Reddy also had reached. Mohan Sir and Dhananjaya Sir were closer to reach CP. Meanwhile, Monish, Prasad, me and Reddy started off from CP. Monish and Reddy sped off, while me and Prasad took it a bit easy. Mohan Sir and Dhananjaya Sir paired up from beginning and rode together.

CP2 - Giurgiu - 114kms: We reached the CP, checked into the BrevetCard App. Volunteers served us Pepsi, Banana and protein bars. We stopped by a restaurant for Veg rolls. It was super hot, so we had Ice Cream as well. Plan was to ride for another 50kms before we next stop. 

CP3 - Independence War Heroes memorial (1877) in Turnu Magurele (228kms): Monish and ES Reddy had reached early and Monish called us since he was about to place order for food. We reached by CP by Luckily we got veg rolls again. We tried crushed ice juice, which was more ice than juice.

Dogs of Romania: This was a big surprise, and luckily Mircea had cautioned us during dinner meet. We were mentally prepared to be chased by Dogs. And rightly they started chasing almost entire night. Romania had both big shepherd dogs and also smaller pet dogs. Anyways both chased!! Frankly, we felt they were much easier to tackle compared to what we had seen in Thailand (group of 10-20 dogs would attack). As usual, me and Prasad started speaking to the Dogs in our native language Kannada to confuse them, and the trick did work.

Danube River: From Dabuleni, we started riding close to River Danube. Life for Romania on one side and Bulgaria on other side of river revolves around this river.

Splendid night sky: While the darkness started only post 10pm, the clear night sky showed the famous constellations I love the most: The Big Dipper (Ursa Major) and the Hunter. Throughout the night, we can follow their path. What surprised me was the Milky Way! Initially thought it to be cloud, but over the time, realized Milky Way was clearly visible.

Day-2 (293kms to 600kms): Dabuleni to Drobeta

CP4 - Dabuleni - 293kms (Drop Bag CP): We targeted to reach 1st drop bag point by approx 2:00am, so that if we do take a couple of hours sleep, then by 5:00am we could start. Instead we reached much earlier by 11:30pm, that gave us slight buffer, so we decided to start by 3:00am.

The drop bag point was an indoor stadium, volunteers were at the entrance asked us to stay quiet as other riders were sleeping inside. We quietly got our drop bags, I went to take bath, meanwhile Prasad went straight to bed. After a good hot water bath, I filled a cup with ready to eat and water and kept it to soak while I slept for 2hrs. The air beds were bit tricky to sleep on, it took a while to get sleep. Prasad had woken up after 2hrs sleep and once he got ready he woke me up. 

Monish and Reddy also were ready and 4 of us together were about to start when Monish noticed a flat on his back tire. He had parked his bike on a plant with thorns. He suggested we 3 start off, with ample buffer, we decided to stay back with him. Under pressure since he was making us wait, Monish was fumbling a bit to remove tire from wheel. We stepped aside and told him to take it easy and no hurry. It was almost 3:30am, we started off heading out of Dabuleni. Around 6:00am, we started seeing the Danube river, I started feeling bit drowsy, I found a coffee machine outside a shop. Me and Prasad were bit behind Monish and Reddy. We both were figuring out how does the machine work, right then 2 Romanian riders stopped for coffee, and then helped with 3 one Lei (Romanian currency) bills to get us coffee. We started off and Monish called us to check on us, they had stopped a km ahead at a Petrol pump. We again had one more cup of coffee along with Chips. Monish had 1 more flat, he fixed it quickly, but somehow the tire was bulged at one point, so he had to release the air, fix the tire properly and fill air again. 

Agriculture and Oil drilling: Sunflower and Corn are most common crops across the central Romania. The large scale sprinklers spanning across 200meters with wheels at regular interval, so the entire sprinter can be moved from one end to the other of large fields. And we could spot many large oil drilling units installed if there is no crop grown.

CP5 - Casa Ștefan Popescu - 456kms: The CP was a house, they had made nice arrangements for Watermelon, Pepsi and protein bars. About 15kms later we stopped for lunch at a Supermarket. Monish suggested we can buy bread, cheese and some vegetarian topping along with mayonnaise. We added juice and chips.  We requested if we could eat inside, the cashier suggested we eat in the park opposite side of the shop as it had shade. During the lunch

, I had removed my floaters, and I stood up to throw the left overs, I didn’t realize had stopped over glass pieces from a broken beer bottle. Luckily no harm done. Around here, while Prasad, Reddy and I continued, Monish ended up with 3rd flat. He could fix it quickly and caught up with us.

CP6 - Drobeta Turnu Severin - Drop Bag CP - 528kms: The ride from 500kms to 900kms (Segment-2) was the tough part in this ride with ~3500m elevation, Ferry. So, all the way riding towards this CP, our plan was how soon can we reach the Ferry. The earliest Ferry was at 7:30am on 17th August. And then at every 3hrs, so we wanted to catch either 7:30am Ferry or 10:30am so that we avoid risk of late evening ferry and missing it as next ferry would be following day 7:30am. When we reached Drop bag, plan was to take a quick shower and short nap for 30 mins and get going. But, we realized 7:30am was not achievable, so we aimed for 10:30am following day. We had ~210kms to the ferry, we only had ~14hrs to reach to target 10:30am ferry.

Day-3 (600kms to 903kms): Romania-Serbia border and the Ferry!

Drobeta E70 Horror Road: All four of us were about to start from CP, just then Vlad Coman and his friend arrived at the Drop Bag CP. Vlad specifically mentioned to be careful for next 30kms, it’s going to be crazy traffic. He suggested stay inside the shoulder of the road and be careful when you are about to enter the tunnels. That tip was helpful, the E70 was one hell of a road. With 1+1 lane road and very limited shoulder, it was quite a big risk to ride. The cars and Trucks were speeding and with great difficulty we could go through tunnels.

Finally some peaceful meal: Thanks to Monish, he pushed us to eat dinner 25kms away from CP at a town called Orsova, he had found that there was restaurant Brella Terrace referred in the WhatsApp group, and he made us to ride all the way till there. It was 9pm, dinner time. It was an excellent restaurant at the lake front. Only vegetarian food available was Pizza, me and Prasad willingly agreed. I went to the rest room and on the way back, explored the refrigerator to find a Nectar juice, that was yummy. We requested for parcel, while Burger was non-vegetarian, the waiter agreed to not put chicken/meat and keep it vegetarian. Unfortunately, someone else packed it and ended up keeping a chicken piece. After about 40kms, we stopped to eat packed meal, we then discovered it. A dog came looking for food, Prasad gave away his entire Burger. I was hungry, gave the chicken piece and ate the burger.

The rock sculpture of Decebalus (AD 87–106), last king of Dacia: We ended up passing through this stunning sculpture at night on both directions.

Nap time: After about 30 mins around 1:00am, we all felt drowsy, and stopped near a Bus stop. I wasn’t keen to sleep there as we did not have much space for all 4 of us. Instead of looking for another place, me and Prasad agreed to sleep on the floor. We covered ourselves well with ShowersPass jacket, head cap, and socks to cover feet. Took a good 30-mins nap.

CP7 - Casa LenGrand in Bazias - 685kms: We reached the CP6 by 7:40am, plan was to stop briefly and start soon to reach Ferry before 10:30am (Serbia Time) / 11:30am (Romania Time). 3:30hrs for 53kms was doable. So, we took it a bit easy and fortunately, the volunteers served us yummy breakfast. We started off at 8:10am (Romania Time). Unfortunately, the road was in bad condition and we had to slow down a bit.

CPX - Border control and entering Serbia - 714kms: Monish entered the Romanian Border check, quick photo and scan of 4 fingers, Passport was checked and he was allowed to exit. When Reddy’s passport was scanned, the Officer noted his Single Entry visa and took some time to discuss with their colleague. He the
n took Prasad’s passport and mentioned he needed a multiple entry Visa just how Prasad has. After a while, they allowed Reddy to exit mentioning this may be an issue if he has to re-enter Romania.

CP8a - Stara Palanka, Serbia - Ferry - 738kms: Monish reached Ferry boarding point by 10:05am (Serbia time), and Reddy followed him few mins later, me and Prasad reached by 10:15am. We could meet many riders waiting for the Ferry along with several cars as well. By 10:30am, the ferry arrived and it took 15 mins to off board, and then we boarded. Parked the bikes on the railings and sat in shadow of cars. It was scorching heat. Right about to start, the Filipinos  reached the Ferry at last minute. We all greeted each other and settled down, the plan was to steal a short nap while the Ferry goes across the river Danube.

CP8b - Ram - Ramska Tvardava Fortress - Serbia (741kms): The CP was a fort, a stronghold from 15th Century. We had to check into Brevet Card app, but none of our mobiles had connectivity as we were in Serbia. While we checked in, it had not synced yet. While we started off, a Serbian cyclist was riding closer to us, he then overtook and went ahead into the next town, he waved friendly at us while he moved ahead. We spotted a small supermarket where almost every rider had stopped by to quench their thirst. The Serbian rider came and shook hand with us and took us to the refrigerator and asked us to get water and he wanted to pay for it. It was a nice gesture, while we did not know how to converse with each other due to language barrier, but his love for fellow cyclists was evident. He wished us all good luck and headed in a different direction.

CP9 - Golubac - 782kms: While we all crossed a town Veliko Gradiste, Monish and Reddy stopped to check if we needed a hydration break, my point was to move on and find a shop next to CP which was hardly 15kms away. So, we controlled our urge for hydration and rode along in the hot sun. Soon, we exited the town and CP was not in sight yet. The CP was a beautiful fort on the river edge. To our surprise, there was absolutely no shop nearby. We then decided to move ahead and find a shop in the next town. 

60kms of no food, no hydration - Serbian shore of River Danube: The Rocky Mountains are humungous. Roads were very well maintained. We had come 15kms in the hope of getting a hydration break, and then for the next 45kms it was horrible to ride. We were slowly climbing the mountains, but there was no shop to be seen. After about 30kms, me and Prasad found a small water stream next to the road, we quenched our thirst. Yet there was no sign of a town or shop. After the grueling 60kms, there was a small town, Monish called from a restaurant to tell us veg food was available there. Amidst all this drama, we went past 20 beautiful tunnels carved in rocky Mountains.

Re-entering Romania: We reached border control by 10:30pm, it took us about 20 mins to get our Passport/Visa verified, and then photo/finger prints validated. We now had to be careful again on the highway leading to Drobeta. Luckily the car traffic had drastically reduced as it was late in the night.

Day-4 (901kms to 1136kms): Drobeta to Dabuleni

CP10 - Drobeta - 901kms (Drop Bag CP): We reached Drobeta by 11:30pm. Plan was to sleep until 2:30am. We made a call to Mohan Sir and Dhananjaya Sir informing them about the potential issues with visa. It concerned both of them, but they continued to chug along.

Visa hiccups: While Reddy could find a way out through Border check, Mohan Sir was not allowed to enter Romania. Reddy had to spend almost 14hrs at Border Control office to get his documentation done to get re-entry into Romania. From Drobeta, we reluctantly started off knowing that Reddy and Mohan Sir were facing Visa issues. There was not much we could have done. And luckily Carolin, Adrian and other volunteers were full-time supporting Reddy and Mohan Sir to find a way out. Dhananjaya Sir continued alone from here.

CP11 - Crivina - 939kms: Good sleep and a strong coffee helped us to stay awake and reach CP11 by 5:42am. 

CP12 - Maglavit - 1027kms, Unexpected tailwind: Surprisingly it was a heavy tailwind, and it was time to start flying. We were consistently cruising at 25+ avg speeds. At one point, me and Prasad took it a bit easy and were coasting along. We saw Monish going dangerously close to a car and then was about to hit a road divider. We hurried to him and suggested he should take a quick nap. On the contrary, Monish wasn’t happy with the pace, he wanted to increase the pace to avoid sleep. We let him go ahead and stop at either a shop or next CP. Very soon, I started feeling drowsy, Prasad observed and suggested we take a short nap. We stopped near a field and found shade. But the grass was pricking, we did not have a choice, we took a short 20-min nap. Monish called us after that, but we told him to continue and stop at CP. We stopped at a local bar for a hydration break.

CP13 - Dabuleni - 1136kms (Drop Bag CP): We reached Dabuleni by 7:00pm much ahead of our planned time of 11:00pm. We certainly needed to sleep well here before we proceed ahead. But, unfortunately the stadium was quite hot, we could not sleep well. 

We barely slept for an

hour, and started off by 9:00pm. We met the Filipinos outside the CP, they were eating dinner. We stopped by a super market to buy bread, cheese for late night. Next CP was about 65kms, plan was to ride non-stop till there and then take a break for late night dinner. We rode through the small villages and towns and so many young boys and girls were partying. A bunch of boys followed us on bike and asked us all the questions like where are we from, where did we ride to etc, and on their way back spit some swear words and sped off!! We were remembering such rogues in India as well. 

CP14 - Independency War Heroes Memorial - Turnu Magurale: Monish had reached by 1:00am. Prasad and me reached 30-mins later and ate our packed dinner of bread, cheese, mayonnaise and ketchup. We knew we will certainly feel sleepy after a while. It was already 1:30am, after about an hour, we started looking for a place to take a short nap. Monish wasn’t fully convinced to take nap, but we wanted one. At the top of short climb, we found a coffee shop in the petrol bunk. We asked the shopkeeper if we could take a nap infant of his shop, he was not sure if we could sleep well, but agreed. We went inside our ShowersPass, head cap and socks to cover ourselves, and then used Helmet as pillow. We kept an alarm for 30 mins. Monish was struggling to sleep as it was getting cold and our bodies had cooled down as well. Prasad requested the ShopKeeper if we could sleep inside the shop, he did not allow us. We continued our disturbed sleep for next 3 hrs in the cold weather

outside the shop. While Monish barely could sleep, Prasad and me got some power nap. Meanwhile, a truck driver entered the shop and bought a coffee in the shop. So we realized the Shop was open though lights were turned off, the shop was so warm inside. While we sipped hot coffee, Monish took a power nap inside the shop sitting on a chair.

Day-5 (1136kms to 1303kms): Dabuleni to Videle (End control)  

Drafting with smaller team: Monish and me were trying drafting with just 2 of us taking turn to lead every 2 kms. We were pushing Prasad to join as well, so that we will get break for 4 kms. Prasad reluctantly joined and when his turn came to lead, he sped off at 28kmph, we did follow him through, but he was quickly tired and said enough drafting. Monish and me continued for some more distance.

End Control in sight: We were about 35kms to end CP, while we wanted to speed up and reach soon, but our tummies had other ideas. We tried eating a few berries found on the roadside trees. But, it wasn’t sufficient. We found a super market, and bought some chips, juice and refilled water bottles. This break helped us gather some energy for the final push. 

Videle, End Control: We comfortably reached Videle at 9:44am, slightly over 4 days (96hrs) since the start of the event, about 12 hours ahead of the end time. The end control was different from start point, it was a vast open field, very well decorated. We entered majestically, only a couple of riders were already there. Volunteers welcomed us after completing 1303kms. 

ES Reddy completed the ride around afternoon and Dhananjaya Sir made it to the end point by evening.

It was a feast the end control. Freshly prepared food, juice was much needed.

Journey of Endurance rides and learning continues: DDR 2026 was yet another unique ride, got to learn how to survive on minimal veg food, chips and juice. And the learning continues!

Than you Note:

DDR 2026 Volunteers: Iulian, Carolin, Adrian, Timea and many others who supported us at Controls, Drop Bag points and at both start and end controls. Thank you for hosting an amazing event. We came to Romania as strangers and we area leaving with so many friends!

Riding Companions Prasad and Monish — thanks for the awesome company all along the 1303kms. It’s a privilege riding with you both. Thanks to Monish for slowing down to ride with us. From leading pelotons and chasing ferries to sleeping on bus stops and speaking Kannada to Romanian dogs, it was an unforgettable ride together. For 3 of us it was ECR ride. But more than that the camaraderie we have shown in so many long rides since 2016 is just amazing. ES Reddy and Dhananjaya Sir — it was great riding along in parts of the ride.

Mentor and Guide Mohan Subramanyam Sir — from suggesting the ECR goal to insisting we attend Mircea's dinner, your guidance shaped this journey in ways big and small. Looking forward to your continued mentorship.

Family Sushma, Ananya, my parents, in-laws and sisters — thank you for all the support and motivation before, during and after the ride. Every long ride is only possible because of the patience and encouragement back home.

Cycling Boutique - Biju Kunnappada - Thanks for flawless service to ensure the smooth ride.

Community Bangalore Randonneurs and Audax India — thank you for the constant motivation and the community that makes these adventures possible.