Lake Geneva Treadfest

Well, nothing great to report here, 9th place, it was a long day Sunday. I have a lot of great excuses for riding poorly so here they all are, in order.

Rather have been sitting on the coach watching football and drinking beer (lacking motivation). Tired, didn't sleep well at all night before. Fatigued, Friday my commute to the train and back was a combined two hours on the bike with a 20 bound backpack on my back each direction. (All great excuses for sucking)

This coming weekend is the second biggest race of my season, Chequamegon in Hayward, WI. Name of the game this week is rest and rest some more, I don't want to be tired on Saturday (day of this race)

Let you all know how that works out!

Crytal Ridge

First Race back after TR3 and I felt good. Despite the 92 degree hot and very sunny day, things went well. I felt strong again on the bike and I was climbing well too. The start to this race is on an up hill that usually gets me a little winded, but I took off and had no problems giving it an extra push to the single track. This put me in a good spot for the rest of the race.

On the first lap we had a shortened lap (commonly called a prologue) that had very limited single track then right into another long climb (For Wisconsin). I felt great going up that as well. I just keep the gas on the entire race, I decided not to pace at all and give it 100% in hopes not to blow up before the end.

I ended up in 5th, the guy in 4th place was always in my sights and he even told me after the race that he was keeping an eye on me and every time he thought I dropped he would see me coming. I saw him up ahead and I was working hard to pull him in but just didn't have the gas on Sunday. Maybe next race.

Off to the Sawtooth mountains to get away this weekend, can't wait!

See yeah.

Home and Well

Stayed tuned for a full report on the entire TR3 Experience next week. It was a Great time.

Transportation over the continental

Long day.

5:18 hour in the saddle and a lot of climbing. Jess is making some dinner and I may just pass out afterwards. Today was much more fun then yesterday. Better tires, less mud and the climbs were longer but not as hard.

Couldn't wait for one of these!

It was a long hard race today. It rained all night and was still raining when I started at 10:20 this morning. The mud on flat sections were harder then the climbing today. Might go get some different tires.

Sexy!!

If that doesn't say sexy what does?

The Views from our Hostel

Fernie BC is very beautiful here mountains surrounds the town. We are just relaxing today, get registered for the race and may go check out the first climb on the first stage.

Breakfast in North Dakota

First off, I would like to send out a HUGE thanks to all of you who have supported the Endurance Trust this year on my behalf.

You can follow along the big event for 2010. Tomorrow, Jess Kruchoski (one of my Endurance Trust teammates) and I are driving to Fernie, British Columbia to compete in the three-day TransRockies stage race. The event courses through the Canadian Rockies starting Sunday and will finish on Tuesday. Each day, we will complete a separate stage that will eventually bring us over the continental divide.

One of our team product sponsors is a company called “SPOT.” They make GPS transmitters that send signals to some satellite in outer space. The satellite then sends the signal back to a web-page in real time so that at any moment, you can tell where the receiver is. (A lot of wives have thought about sneaking one of these into their husband’s golf bag). Still…I thought since many of you personally supported the phenomenal cause that we are racing for, I would send out the link so that you can “check in” to see if Mark and I survive this madness. We’ll be driving straight to Fernie, leaving tomorrow evening and our first survival will be making it to Canada in 24 straight hours. Second, since the race organizers sent out a mandatory requirement for all athletes to have a can of bear spray with them during the event, this race may have a few nuances I am not used to. If you see the locater beacon moving erratically through the woods, I am either in the jaws of a grizzly or just hypoxic. The transponder will show where we are on a rolling 24 hours. I’ll shut it off when we are sitting still but will throw it in my pocket when we are on the move. Fun huh? The start time for Sunday’s initial stage is yet to be determined but the stage on Monday and Tuesday will start at 9 AM Mountain Standard Time.

Here’s the link:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0UqVllG1XuPMekTU35hluOqESSmHQRNrX

Again…thanks for your support in 2010 and wish us luck. If you have any interest in supporting the Endurance Trust or learning a little about the non-for-profit organization we race for, the link is below. Take care.

http://www.firstgiving.com/markbalkenende

Meaning for the last Picture

The picture of the bear holding bear spray is because the race in Canada we have to carry bear spray with us on the coarse. So, I have visions of bears fighting back, they don't want to be sprayed any more then we do, they don't even want to eat us, they just want to be left alone. Let's hope we don't need it!

Fighting Back

Aimee and on a recovery ride

Boise Crit

I just finished a 45 minute Crit in downtown Boise (Sporting my ET Kit) Sure I was with in top 20 may 15th, will check later tonight when we go back down to watch the Pro's. It is 95 Degrees here and extremely dry! It felt like some one had a hair drier on full speed blowing down my throat and my water had to be close to boiling! Nearly missed 2 big crashes and on the guys bike kicked up and hit my knuckle and took some skin! Good Times.

Planning on some epic climbing tomorrow. Will let know what I climb tomorrow morning.

Dump Loop in Boise, ID

Untitled by markbalk at Garmin Connect - Details

Here's a cool YouTube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIPuiJyYeRg&feature=youtube_gdata

Subaru Cup Race #5

Well, I had a terrible race on Saturday. I was just plain TIRED, no energy to get my butt up the short steep climbs at the race venue. I had a great start and recovered nicely for the first hard 10 minutes but once I started to climb I was pooped!

I just did way to much stuff the week before, between moving a friend out of his old house and then helping move in to the new place, I should have just stayed off the bike. But I road also during the week and I am pretty sure I over did!

I again took a short flight in the forest and I am pretty sure I landed in the poisonest stuff. I am hoping nothing breaks out.

Looking for some Road Racing in the coming weeks! Enjoys and will update soon!

Sunburst Race #4

Sunburst is not the most exciting place to race, actually many people skip the event because the course is just plan bad. It is bad because there is one good climb in the woods and the rest is pretty much following a "mouse maze" someone mowed in the grass.

It is getting that time of the year where I hope to see improvements in my fitness and improvements in my results. Since I race in a very competitive age group and class I may have a decent race but still finish outside the top ten. I can't base my performance solely on the place I finish so I use another measure.

On the within the Age Group placings, I look at the column labeled "Time Back". This tells me the time between the guy that won my age group and my finish time. Jess Kruchoski (Teammate and good friend) finished first in my age group at 1:34:59 and I finished 1:40:29 which is 5:29 back from Jess. In the first two race this year I was over 10 minutes back from the leader so I have cut the "Time Back" from the leaders in my age group in half. If I keep cutting the time in half I will eventually get to the Podium again! I hope I can keep getting stronger and keep having good races like this past weekend.

This coming weekend is a fun filled training weekend in Iowa City, lets all pray for no more rain in Iowa for the rest of the week!

Too Funny!

First Official Crit (Road Race) of the Year

Couldn't finish due to bike issues. To bad, I felt great and was in the race to the end and felt like I could have done a sprint for the finish. Better luck next time.

Rhinelander Race # 2 is Done!

6th Place in the age group. I am pretty sure it is only because some faster people didn't come. I don't know why they didn't make the trip.......10 hours of driving for a 2 hour race? The camping was nice and the weather was beautiful, though.

It was a long race, mostly because I should have brought the bike with more suspension. I lost a lot of time acting like a human shock! Very rough course. On the upside I felt very good, and over paced myself through the race because I had more gas left in the tank at the end of the race. The training is coming alone and should see some 6th places finishes or better that are earned.

Since the next race is over Memorial Day it will be some time before the next MTB Race. However, I am looking to do a road race this coming weekend, we'll see how that goes.

Rhinelander #2

Getting ready for race #2

WORS 2010 off to an Average Pace as Always!

Well, maybe not the greatest pictures of the day, and I think Orange makes me look FAT (NOT Fast).

I had a pretty good day on the first race of the year, I wasn't expecting to much, since I am still a bit over my race weight and I haven't started hitting the intense rides all that hard yet. I moved into the next age group this year and they only seem to get faster with age. I came in 15th out out 21. My teammate and good friend Jess came in 1st in our age group and 11th over all. At least I know who I am chasing this year. I am pretty sure I lost 3-5 spots in the last 2-3 miles. I should be able to hold those positions by my third race which will be some time after the 9Mile Race.

Until then, I hope I get lighter and faster! Oh and I need to start raising some money for the Endurance Trust!

Endurance Trust 2010 Sponsorship

Dear Friends and Family,

As I enter into the 2010 calendar year, I would like to ask you for help in supporting my 2010 non-for-profit sponsor, The Endurance Trust. Whereas in the past I have raced for sponsors that sold beer, bikes, and nothing worthwhile, I plan to fully support this charity organization as it supports me for the upcoming endurance racing season.

The Endurance Trust is a non-for-profit organization that raises money by supporting athletes like me such that they can collect funds to support research to find cures for PLGA - the most common form of children's brain tumors. I plan to raise awareness for The Endurance Trust throughout 2010 by racing every event I enter wearing their team uniform. With every pedal stroke I take, I hope to help raise awareness to their organization and will ask that you consider supporting them on my behalf.

I appreciate anything that you can do to help them in this very worthy cause.

Here is a link to my Donation page that donates to The Endurance Trust and supports PLGA Directly. Donate Here

Donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fund raising efforts.

Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!