A little bit about my first experience into self-supported ultra racing. It was not my first experience in self supported cycling, as I have done numerous brevets in the last 19 years or so. That is since my first qualification for @Paris-Brest-Paris 2007. I added a couple os 1.000km brevets for the Randonneur 10.000 badges. Anyway, racing is another story and I find racing with crew support safer, more fun and for sure faster. Which was my thing, always going for the win. But there is such a thing as declining performance as we get closer to 60. Yes, I’m not as fast as I used to be, but I still enjoy competition. Without being stressed about the whereabouts of other competitors I can enjoy pacing myself the best I can. In a way you can say I reached a nirvana of ultra-cycling, right?

About the race in short:

The weather at the start was horrible. It rained heavily and didn’t look like it’s going to stop soon. So I put on my rain gear, hoping that the rain will stop after the first loop of 200km and perhaps I could change into dry clothes. The way out of Santander in the rain was tricky on the bike paths, so I tried to take it carefully, until a young guy passed me and I couldn’t let is slide, so I followed him in a allowed distance. When we were finally out of town I could finally get into the race mode. A group of 5-6 of us formed at the closed railroad crossing and that’s how we reached the first climb. I did it on my sweet spot power as always in a race and on the top there was just me and a guy on a Specialized. He stopped at the top to put a jacket on and I started decending pretty carefully in the rain. The guy passed me after a while and it seemed a little too fast for me. Unfortunately he did crash a few kilometers later, so I stopped to check on him. He was bleeding from his eyebrow so I offered to call emergency services. He said it’s just a bruise, he can take care of it himself and I should continue with my race. Reluctantly I did so, but stayed very careful in all the descents.

The rain kept pouring with short brakes the whole first 7 hours and with for on the climbs, we didn’t get to see much. The official media car did pass me and tell me I am in the lead actually. The only guy who has passed me later was the eventual winner, Felix from Belgium. A young guy  (22 years young) and someone to watch in the future. Some 35 years younger than me, so I was happy I could stay close for the first 200km. This is where I had to refuel, change my 4 bottles with nutrition and refill the camelbak with water. Also I did change into dry clothing, changed everything from head to toe, including shoes. It took me about 20 minutes, somewhat longer than I have hoped for. But I was dry and happy that the roads began to dry out as I started on the second loop, 300km long.

We did get a glimpse of the evening sun before the night fell. I got a rear puncture which was kinda messy to repair as the bike was muddy as if I had ridden a cyclocross. It did get my morale down a bit, thinking if I get another one, I might as well turn around, DNF and go to sleep in my hotel. Fortunately I fixed it well and could carry on. The climbs were relentless also during the night, some 4.500m in a 300km loop. On one of the climbs I got a surprise visit from a fellow ultra racer Ziortza and her partner and their cheering woke me up really nicely.

And I got a call from my wife Irma telling me I am still in a third place. Until that moment I didn’t have s clue how many racers passed me during my long(ish) break. I started worrying where will I get a water to refill my bottles. But before I had to check the app to find it, I drove by a gas station that had a water hose outside. It took me some long minutes to mix my pre prepared bags of nutrition, but I was happy as that would take me through to the finish. I also put my warm jacket and winter gloves on, as I was shaking on some of the descents. It was 8*C. The rest of the way was uneventful, just a few 20% pitches and some getting lost in small towns. Just a toll of riding unsupported, I think I will get better at it… I was happy to reach the finish line in less than 22 hours, which was about an hour slower than I expected, but with the weather we had, I’ll take it. Especially when learning that somewhere in the night I passed a racer in front and finished second myself.

Congratulations to all the finishers, thanks to the organizers for putting up a great event and I will see you next time!

With my friend Philippe Jodin achieved 3rd place at Tortour 500KM.

Po 14 letih od prve udeležbe (2012) sem se odločil ponovno preizkusiti na maratonu Dolomiti. Takrat sem traso odpeljal vrhunsko, v 5 urah 29min. Vsekakor sem zdaj 14 let starejši in zato sem si pred dirko postavil cilj odpeljati pod šestimi urami.

Vreme je bilo kot naročeno, lepše težko pričakuješ tako visoko v hribih. Šlo mi je po pričakovanjih, peljal sem klance solidno (za moja leta), spuste sem užival kot vedno, dobil bidona od Irme po malem krogu, skratka vse je šlo po načrtu do začetka vzpona Falzarego. Tu pa krč v desno stegno, tako močan, da sem se moral ustaviti, se zmasirati in počasi na najlažjem prenosu naprej. Po kakih petih minuah sem začel dodajati plin in se počasi približeval normalni moči v klanec, pa me je pred vrhom presenetil novi krč, tokrat v levo stegno. Ponovil sem vajo z masažo in nadaljevanjem na malem prenosu. Na spustu je bilo vse OK, pred zadnjo špico Mur de ... pa ponovno krč, tokrat v obe stegni. Kljub temu sem nekako pregural klanček v stoje in veselo nadaljeval proti cilju, ko me je 1km pred ciljem ponovno zadelo. Tokrat 2-3minute nikakor nisem mogel nadaljevati, tako močni so bili krči. No, počasi sem se privaljal do cilja s časom 6h 11min, kot 20. v svoji kategoriji (55-60 let).
Niti ni tako slabo, boli me, da je moja skupinica prišla v cilj v 5h 58min, kar pomeni, da bi ob naslednji udeležbi imel pravico do starta v 2. startni skupini.

Vsekakor pa priporočam udeležbo vsem kolesarjem/-kam, ker je organizacija vrhunska, tereni (klanci) epski in razgledi božanski. Nepozabno doživetje!

Slovenski ultra-maratonski kolesar Marko Baloh se je letos odločil, da se poskusi v konkurenci 2-članskih mešanih ekip. Z Ryanom Collinsom (ZDA) v letu 2023 postavila rekord trase na Dirki preko zahoda  (RAW) med moškimi dvojicami. RAW poteka istočasno in na isti trasi kot prvi del Dirke preko Amerike oz. RAAM. Medtem, ko se kolesarji na Dirki preko Amerike 2026 še bližajo svojemu cilju v Annapolisu, je bila dirka preko zahoda končana včeraj (petek 19.6.2026).

Dirka preko zahoda je dolga 1.390km in ima več kot 12.000m vzponov. Poleg zmage je bil cilj izboljšati rekord trase, ki ga je leta 2019 postavil ameriški dvojec Team OB2, s časom 53 ur in 29 minut (oz. 17,36 milj/uro). Cilj je bila torej povprečna hitrost vsaj 17,4 milj/uro in to je bil primarni cilj Markove letošnje ekipe, imenovane “Team Baloh Coaching”.

Plan je bil opravljati menjave na vsakih 20-25 milj, torej med uro ter uro in pol. V tem času se lahko spočiješ, naješ in si pripravljen ponovno dati vse od sebe na naslednji menjavi. Startala sta po pričakovanjih odlično in že na prvi časovni postaji Borrego Springs po 142km sta imela kar lepo prednost pred ostalimi ekipami na dirki. Hkrati ps tudi pred virtualnima nasprotnikoma (OB2) in obtoječim rekordom trase. Prvo noč sta svoji prednosti dodajala od 5 do 10 minut vsako časovno postajo, v malo težjih klancih v Arizoni pa sta še bolj oddaljila tako od letošnje konkurence kot od rekordnega časa. Na cesti sami so se prehitevali le z vodilnim Avtrijcem na posamični Dirki preko Amerike, Philippom Kleiderjem. Le-ta je na poti, da se vsaj približa ali celo izboljša rekord RAAM-a. Po drugi noči, ko si je le-ta moral vzeti dobro uro za spanje, sta ostala sama v vodstvu in pripeljala prva v cilj Dirke preko zahoda. Dirko sta zaključila v času 43 ur 49 minut, oz povprečno hitrostjo 17,74 milj/uro in s tem izboljšala stari rekord za neverjetni dve milji na uro.

Marko pravi: »Zaradi vse večjih stroškov povezanih z Dirko preko Amerike je bilo smiselno poiskati malce bolj dosegljiv cilj, ki pa bi me hkrati dovolj motiviral za trening potreben, da ostaneš konkurenčen vedno mlajšim tekmecem. Z Kimmy Campbell se odlično razumeva odkar sem njen trener in na dosedanjih ultra dirkah je dokazala, da je sposobna prispevati porteben delež pri podiranju rekorda dirke. Dirko sva odpeljala res na visokem nivoju in se zasluženo veselila zmage. Tudi ekipa je odlično opravila svoje delo in na koncu smo se zasluženo veselili doseženega rekorda trase, ki ga bo v prihodnosti precej težko preseči.«

REZULTATI RAW, 2-članske ekipe:

1.mesto Team Baloh Coaching (M.Baloh SLO, K. Campbell ZDA) 43 ur 49 minut

2.mesto Legends of the road (M. Dymond, J. Ward oba USA) 48ur 36 minut

3.mesto Team GIRo (G. Lamberts, J. Van Goor oba Nizozemska) 57 ur 20 minut.

Race across the West (https://www.raceacrossthewest.org/) covers the first 840 miles of RAAM, from Oceanside (CA) to Durango (CO). Marko has won the race solo two times already (2014 and 2022) and two times in men’s 2-person teams (2018 and 2023). 

In June 2026 Marko will team up with Kimmy Campbell from Bakersfield (CA). She is one of the best up and coming female ultra-cyclists in the World, she has won the Hodoo Race in Utah multiple times. In June they will team up to win and try to set the new record at RAW. Marko has already  set the age category solo record and the overall 2-person Team record. We are confident that with Kimmy they can add the record in a Mixed 2-person Team division.