ME Xterra Germany 2013 – Zittau

Germany, next stop for Xterra World tour and European Championship and my last chance to qualify for Worlds on Maui. As usually in Zittau the weather was perfect, sunny and hot, well not perfect for me,I prefer cold, windy, rainy and nasty weather. Anyway, pre race nervosity was perceptible so „Toi Toi“ marathon was inevitable .

Strong competitors  field again, no wetsuit so small advantage for me. 1,5km swim in two laps that seemed to me as 3 km swim.  I came out of water in second group around 6th place. 36 km mountain bike with great long hills and nasty stony downhills that verified each riders technical skills.

I felt strong on bike and didn´t lose as much as I expected. Of course the top riders just flew over me like herd of raging bulls, especially winner Spaniard Rufaza, but I kept my pace and cut through the hills and tricky parts.

This time I put tubeless tires and fortunately they remained tubeless to the transition where I came on the 10th place. With big noise of fans I hit the 9 km run section, usually I am enjoying run, but this time it hurt. I passed one athlete and I was passed by one athlete.

Last kilometer I had to sprint because there was a bull behind me who wanted to kick me out of top 10. No no no I said to myself and pushed the tempo. And here I go, 10th place in Elite category and overall. Huge satisfaction in finish line and while I was sipping cold Erdinger beer I knew I can start training for World Championship on Maui .