Second stage of my personal tour that started from XTERRA Romania and will end next Saturday in Germany. The “middle” stage took place on Sunday in Krakow, a beautiful Polish city with an unusual lake very close to the city.
The week after Romania was spent in the hope of recovering my strength and trying to fix the mountain bike with what I had. Nothing broken, mind you, but ordinary maintenance which is not easy on the

road. A good clean of the chain, a layer of SQUIRT lube and off for another week without fear. This time to test the race course I use the Hyperlite to see if they can be useful. It's a beautiful trail in the woods, an infinite labyrinth of headache-inducing single tracks.

You need the right pressure because in some places it can bend a lot and therefore too deflated is too risky. In reality, the bad weather mixes the cards. The night between Friday and Saturday it rained cats and dogs for hours, soaking the track thoroughly. And now? Should the decision be reviewed? I decide not to, trusting in the drying from the good sun on Saturday, the tests of the bikers of the same day and the athletes of the "short" who would have started at 9. In fact, I find the track almost similar to the one tested, even if the roots are unapproachable and dangerous. I keep 1.7 front and 1.6 rear. The Fusion Lites do their dirty work and help me a lot in reactivity in the mixed guided and in the relaunches. Their excellent weight instead helps me to keep some good wheels on the flat section. I run a truly excellent mtb fraction after getting out of the water well, but not very well. Unfortunately, however, I pay a lot in the final running fraction where the tiredness and energy spent on the mtb are lacking. I thus lost the podium, by 51 seconds and finished in fourth place in my category in 3 hours and 18 minutes.

Anyway, I am very happy with the result achieved, without damage to me, nor to the vehicle that still has to hold out for the next stage, the European Championship in Zittau (Germany). Will it be time to change something?