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26th February 2018
Stefano ‘Mike Rustick’ Polleti mountain bike guide, Enduro World Series rider and bad punk rock musician, tells us about his year ahead and where to find him..
What are your plans for 2018?
My 2018 will be dedicated to all my loves; mountain bike guiding, marketing development, travelling, taking photos, making videos, racing of course, studying and concerts with my band. I’m not only a mountain biker, I’m also a really bad punk-rock musician. My band is called Rustick Dinosaurs and we are coming to England in October to do tour in the Brighton area. YES!
What races are you focusing on?
I will focus more on the Maxi Avalanche, some Super Enduro and some of the Enduro World Series.
You have had a great year in 2017, what were your favourite memories?
2017 was for me an incredible season of work, travel, fun and races… It was simply perfect…I got 5 podiums on regional race in Italy and 85th on the Enduro World Series race in Millau, I had a season full of tourists and sales and I visited eight European countries due to races… but my best memories were in Ireland.
We left Milan to take part in the Super-Enduro race in a beautiful medieval village located in central Italy… I really enjoyed a good race on the mud (I love mud contitions) with green hills, funny people and flowy trails. After the race with the boss and mechanic from Fulgur we left directly for Ireland Enduro World Series. On one trip I saw all the differences on the continent. I remember so well the changes between Central Italy, the Alps, France and finally the Irish hills.
I have no words to describe the emotion when I saw so many people supporting the series and so many children who asked me …. “give me five bro”… simply amazing, thanks Ireland, you are fantastic to cheer all the riders and not just the professionals!
In 2018 I will miss Ireland. The Irish trails? Crazy, in a small hill you have everythig, trails, flow, pedal sectoins, rocky sections, roots… so for me a really nice and what i’d call a complete race. I was exhausted from the trip and the actual race did not go very well for me, but my goal was to make a life experience. In the evening I also saw the typical life of the Irish; Guinness and Whiskey (ha ha), really funny and sociable, they immediately asked me to sing and dance with them. Crazy Rustick!
As well as racing in 2018, tell us about your work, what other projects are you working on?
We run mountain bike tours with a guide around Lake Maggiore, Finale Ligure and the Swiss Alps in the Summer. I run the race team, so i am manager and rider and i also have an online shop Rustick Solutions – You can also book the bike tours there. My sponsors and commercial partners are:
I have worked with FULGUR since 2015, an Italian company that produces mountain bikes, road bikes, gravel bikes and electric bikes.
Manufacturer of clothing, I work with them for the development and promotion of mountain bike clothing, back protector, and in 2018 our knee-pads will be online together with the clothing for gravel, road bike and crosscountry.
Maikun Italian googles. My job is to develop its products in mountain biking. In the race I use the Arrow model and I have a great availability of lenses depending on the weather conditions.
An historic Italian company in the world of cycling, i use their helmets to protect me on the road, enduro mountain biking and downhill. Light, comfortable and safe products/ I use the Dh5 model for Enduro and Downhill races, the 949DR model for rides with friends and Ultralight Lux models for cross-country and cyclocross races.
During the races, I use power gel, vitamins and nutritional supplements. Fast&Up, offers great products for every situation.
I am always very busy between work, training and many races. It is essential to be followed by an excellent trainer, who knows your life style well and plans training at the right time in a fun and motivational way. In addition to following me at the gym, we share mountain bike days together and help in the correct decisions about races, traing and rest and work. It is not easy to always be motivated and fit when you work as a guide, you have to work in the office, sell and go to the races, besides the passion you have to be organized in a maniacal kind of way!
Its tough funding a race season, who are you working with in 2018 and what do you need help with if the right people get to read this?
To anyone who would like to work with me, or interested in development with Rustick Solutions, i’d love to hear from you. I am not just a bike rider, I am an artist and I am open mind to new ideas and projects. I can only say that in everything I do I have passion and I do it with my heart.
Why do you love the Enduro World Series so much?
The trails of the world circuit are beautiful, technical, physical and where you are compared with the best riders in the world. It’s exciting for me to be there, a challenge with myself. Then I love traveling and I have many friends in the racing world, so it’s an opportunity to share some time with friends on bike and full gas on the race.
Good luck with 2018 and looking forwards to following you. Whats your first race of the year?
The first race of the season will be Enduro World Series CHILEEEEE! Can’t wait for riding in South America and taking photo’s. Then when I return home I will race the Italian Super-Enduro race in San Remo on April 24th. Thank you LOVE THE MOUNTAINS, It was a pleasure to talk with you I hope to see you soon.
http://www.rusticksolutions.com/
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