For four days before the date set for the record it was raining hard and I don't really like the rain and cold weather. For training I just did a few hours on an indoor trainer. My legs were really aching; I couldn't wait to get some road surface beneath my new Vuelta Carbon PRO wheels. When I woke up on May 2, 2006, I was in luck! Even if it was foggy, the roads were dry. It was very cold, so I dressed up pretty warm.

I started exactly at 7 a.m. as planned. I was flying for the first few hours, the first hour's average speed being 38,8 km/h (24,11 miles/h). I reached the first red light during the second hour, which came handy for taking some clothing off. I was quite a few minutes ahead of foreseen schedule (set at 34 km/h), so a group of cyclists from Ptuj had a hard team time trial trying to catch up with me. I was still sailing with a speed of 25 miles/h at that time. From Slovenska Bistrica on the road became pretty hilly. That plus a bit of a stiff headwind slowed me down a bit. All I had to do at hard times was think "RAAM" and it made me push harder. Two red light stops in Celje and a few raindrops from the sky didn't stop me much.

I designed the route to pass by our family house, so Irma, Ana and Erik could come outside and cheer for me. Thank God for handy phones, because I was almost 45 minutes up on my 34 km/h schedule and they would have missed me for sure, if my crew chief Andrej hadn't called them. Of course, Irma was a part of the team again, this time not in the pace-car but working from home to take care of the news on my website www.markobaloh.com.

Three more red lights and one railroad crossing going through Ljubljana (the capital of Slovenia) slowed me more than I wanted, but soon I was on the mission again. Some people say that you only go down from Ljubljana (at 340 m above sea level) to the seaside, but I can tell you there are some leg-breaking climbs in between. Riding around a few rainstorms (lucky for me again) going through Postojna and the last climbs around Kozina, I approached the seaside in a beautiful, sunny and warm weather. A downhill from Crni Kal was a blast. After that 15 km of undulating terrain and I was at the finish, almost half an hour a before my foreseen arrival.

My record ride took place on World's Asthma Day and there were almost 200 children at Asthma Health Centre Debeli Rtic cheering for me at the finish. The feeling of accomplishment was unbelievable! I am an asthmatic and I proved my point - sport can have a positive effect on people with asthma. You have to take control over the disease under doctor's supervision and then every goal is achievable. Even as hard as finishing RAAM? We'll see... I hope to see you all in Atlantic City!

The record has been certified by the UltraMarathon Cycling Association - an international organization that oversees long-distance amateur cycling events. Fredi Viraq, the UMCA official, observed his ride to ensure that he complied with all cycling regulations and traffic law.

Official Record:  340.3 km (211.5 miles) with 2225 m of climbing (7300 feet) in 9 hours 34 minutes at an average speed 35,54 km/h (22.1 mph)
Start:  border crossing Hodos (parking lot the left side of the road 20m from the border)
Finish:  Debeli Rtic health and vacation Centre, turn left from the road, finish after 20m at the gate of the Centre (the ramp)