Victory!

sIf the plan was to finish in 54 hours and Marko finished in 54h 06min (+1h added for shuttle through Sedona), we can say the goal achieved, right? As expected Matthew Lefthand was a convincing winner with the time of 45h 39min. Congratulations Lefty, well deserved!

Marko started as usually, which is quite fast. He reached Borrego about the time that was planned (4h 42min), but here the trouble started. First the TT bike malfunctioned, so after a few minutes of trying to make it work, we had to get back on the road bike and use the trusty San Marino for the rest of the way.  The headwind with the heat of 46*C put his time between Borrego and Brawley among the worst in his RAAM history (only 17,7mph avg for the section that he used to do at 22+mph in the past). That was a bit demoralising, but as the temperatures cooled down, Marko was feeling better again and slowly picked up his pace. After a quick no.2 in Salome, we was back on his bike heading to Congress and Yarnell Climb. 

Arizona day was as hot as ever, but Marko managed the heat and climbs quite well. Other than dealing with constant pain in the lest foot and the right heel, he was feeling as well as you can at riding a bike at 40-45*C. Mingus Mountain is still as steep as ever, but Marko managed it well. A quick foot massage at the top and he was on the way down through Jerome and towards Sedona, where the shuttle part awaited.  Marko slept like a baby during 40 or 45min of shuttling and enjoyed the part through Flagstaff, but not so much the descent after it, beacuse of strong side wind and the road surface that literally kicked his butt.

The stages to Tuba City and Kayenta were pretty uneventful, other than becoming so cold, that he had to put some winter clothing on. Usually during his solo RAWs marko didn't sleep, but this time because of the RAE coming later, plus Lefty being so far ahead and the 3rd person on the road being so far behind, we stopped to sleep in Kayenta. It was planned and the reservation was made before the race, but the thing is that we planned on arriving around midnight, but did  so only at 5AM. Hence, nobody was there at the reception. While Marko set in the car and tried to close his eyes a bit, the crew was trying to find anyone who could help us get the room. Fortunately after some 15min the lady showed up and let us into our room. Marko woke up a bit after 8AM and we continued our journey at 8.40 or so.

For the rest of the race the wind was favourable and Marko was making good times. One more no.2 break before Cortez, the climb towards Durango and a faboulous descent to the Finish line. Marko was happy with his avg speed which was almost identical to his last solo RAW three years prior.  If you consider 3+ hours of sleep, he was actually faster than in 2022. Not bad for a 57 year old guy, right?

Now 5 days of rest and the Race across the East is ON!

Soon after his return from Race across the East, which Marko unfortunatelly ended in an ER because of a crash, he decided to return next year to finish what he started. Being an overachiever like he is, Marko decided to up the challenge with adding also the start in Race across the West. He has already finished RAW four times, two times he won solo and two times he won with different partners in  2-person category. He will be the first cyclist in history to start both events in the same year and of course he believes also the first one to finish both in the same year.

"The challenge will be hard for me physically, but it will also be a very big logistical challenge for the crew. The plan is to use two different crews on West and East, with the common dominator being Irma as a crew chief. So we are the only ones to fly from Durango (Colorado) to Cincinnati (Ohio) and try to use the four plus days of rest in between the races.  At RAW Irma will be joined by Jane, Maria in Henry, all the experienced crew memmbers, and at RAE we'll be joined by experienced Borut and Martin, plus Joe as the only rookie of the team.

How I will in RAE this year is hard to predict as I have no clue how well can I recover in those short (or long if you look from RAAM perspective) four days. For sure I won't be as fresh as last year, so I expect to be somewhat slower in the frist 10-12 hours. After that things will hopefully level up and I could do a good second part of the race. The RAW I won't tackle any different as if it was my only race. I am alread y of age that I Cannot (and don't want to) race with the youth full of power, especially in the first part of the race.  I will try to pace myself so that i can last the whole distance and my plan is to finish hopefully in 54 hours. 

For RAE last year's plan was 36 hours and without the crach I would come very close to that goal. So this year we can probably add some 3-4 hours for RAW exhaustion, so I will be happy with anything under 40 hours."

Please follow us on social media (FB, IG), where Irma will try as much as the time and cell coverage allow her. Hopefully there will be some fun times included. Cycling is supposed to be fun, so I expect that fully.

V četrtek, 27. marca 2025, bo med 10. in 22. uro potekal športno-dobrodelni dogodek, 12-urno kolesarjenje z Markom Balohom, v sklopu katerega bomo zbirali sredstva za Matica.

Dogodka se bodo udeležili znani slovenski športniki, kot so Mitja Petkovšek, Samo Jeranko, kolesarke Kolesarskega društva Rog in številni drugi.

Matic, skoraj 8-letni deček iz Škofje Loke, se sooča z Duchennovo mišično distrofijo – hudo genetsko boleznijo, ki povzroča hitro propadanje mišic in vodi v izgubo gibalnih sposobnosti ter skrajšano življenjsko dobo. Nedavno je bilo v ZDA odobreno prvo gensko zdravilo, ki prinaša upanje, vendar zdravljenje v Evropi še ni dostopno. Matičeva družina potrebuje 3,2 milijona evrov za zdravljenje v ZDA, pri čemer jim še manjka 2,2 milijona evrov. Z dobrodelnim kolesarjenjem se pridružujemo akciji Društva Viljem Julijan, ki zbira sredstva za kritje stroškov zdravljenja.

Kako lahko pomagate?

Pošljite SMS Matic10 na 1919.

Pridružite se nam in zavrtite pedala po svojih zmožnostih in prispevajte po svojih najboljših močeh. Akcijo lahko podprete tudi z donacijo ali preprosto pridete navijat in širit dobro voljo. Povabite družino, prijatelje in znance ter skupaj ustvarimo val dobrodelnosti!

Rezervacija kolesa in obvezna oprema

Kolo je treba predhodno rezervirati na e-naslov millenium@btc.si ali telefonsko številko 01/585 15 00.

Vse, kar potrebujete, so športna oprema (majica s kratkimi rokavi, kratke hlače, športne copate), brisača in dobra volja!

Celoten dogodek bo mogoče neposredno spremljati preko spletnega prenosa na VŽIVO.si.  

 The official start was on Saturday August 24th, 2024 at 11AM exactly. The Track was an outdoor track made inside the race horse venue Polena in Lenart v Slovenskih goricah, which was already homologated and used numerous times for cycling world records. First time by yours truly in September 2008 for my first ever 24h world record.

I wanted to go for this record for multiple reasons. First one was to see what my old(-ish) body is still able to do in such long arduous events and how it will compare to my previous ones. Besides going for the 1000km record, my biggest wish (goal) was to add my 20th 500+ mile 24h attempt to my “collection”.

I used my Spiegel Hurricane Time Trial bike which was set up a bit too aggressively for my liking, but in the time frame available, I just had to hope my neck would hold up for the duration of the ride. Obviously it did! The special bike part I have to mention is the Infinity Bike Seat E3, which is the most comfortable bike seat in the World and made my ride free of butt pain.

I used the 4Endurance Nduranz Energy Drink, plus their bars, gels and jelly gums. Plus lots of water and ice for cooling down as well as hydrating. The nutrition & hydration was spot on.

Usually the best part of my attempts are the first hours, this time around it turned into a heat & wind driven suffer. The first hour was OK, after that with the temperature already above 30*C, my power dropped and my hourly average was way lower compared to my previous attempts. Already in the second hour my skinsuit was white with layers of salt, which is never a good sign for the things to come. I was a bit deflated seeing how quickly my traveling speed was dropping, but kept on pushing, drawing on my experience that ups and downs are normal in ultra-cycling and I just had to be patient waiting to regain some power.

I mean I was still on the schedule for the 1000 WR, but my 500 mile 24h goal would be in jeopardy if I didn’t regain some power / speed. It did happen in the cool of the night, surprisingly (or not for me) my speed went way up after 14 hours passed, so about 1AM local time. With the temperatures at 20*C now and no winds, my traveling speed went back up to 36+km/h. If I could hold this for some hours, I would be saved. And I managed to do it all the way to 20 hours or so, when the heat and crazy strong winds returned.

Did I mention I also struggle with some heel pain with high temperatures? Well I do and this time was no different. I had to massage my heels often during the first afternoon and even more so on the second day. A loss of time for sure, but it made it possible for me to continue riding.

I had just one 56 seconds stop in the first 24 hours, for changing the dying front light. The long pit stop came after finishing the 24h, I needed to stop for a shower because of all the salt coming out of me. After a quick massage I continued for the remaining 154km. I changed the clothing and due to the excessive heat, I also changed the helmet from a TT one to the road helmet. I passed the 1000KM mark at 29h 31min 35sec. 

I am happy with the ride. I do wonder how I would have done in more normal temperatures. With the conditions as they were I did my best and am so proud it was enough for a few new world records (to be conformed by WUCA). 

I guess I am not too old for this anyway… ;)