Jeff Schalk

Last updated
Jeff Schalk
Jeff Schalk MTB.jpg
Jeff Schalk in the Frederick Municipal Forest in 2011
Personal information
Full nameJeffrey Schalk
Born (1974-02-06) February 6, 1974 (age 44)
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight72.6 kg (160 lb; 11.43 st)
Team information
Current teamTrek Mountain Co-Op
DisciplineMountain Bike
RoleRider
Rider typeUltra Endurance
Professional team(s)
2006-2008Trek-Volkswagen East
2009-2011Trek Mountain Co-Op

Jeff Schalk (born February 6, 1974 in Santa Cruz, California) is a retired professional mountain bike racer. His racing career began in 2006 when he took hiatus from a career in structural engineering, practicing in San Francisco, California. He moved to Washington, D.C. to pursue racing full-time with the Trek Volkswagen East Coast factory team. Schalk's major career breakthrough occurred in 2007 when he won the Shenandoah 100, establishing himself as a primary name in the domestic MTB endurance scene. When the Trek and Volkswagen partnership dissolved at the end of 2008, the Trek Bicycle Corporation continued its support of Jeff by directly signing him to full sponsorship. After his breakthrough in 2007, he moved to Frederick, Maryland and began to specialize in ultra-endurance racing events, namely 100-mile mountain bike races. Over the course of his 6 year career, he amassed 17 wins in 100-mile MTB racing, winning the National Ultra Endurance Series for three consecutive years. Schalk's sponsors for the majority of his career included: Trek Bicycle Corporation, Bontrager, Fox Racing Shox, Shimano, PowerBar, Dumonde Tech Racing Oils, and ESI Grips. All of his racing victories came aboard Trek's flagship cross country race bike at the time, the Trek Top Fuel.

Santa Cruz, California City in California, United States

Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California. As of 2013 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated Santa Cruz's population at 62,864.

Mountain bike type of bicycle

A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain. These typically include a front or full suspension, large knobby tires, more durable wheels, more powerful brakes, straight handlebars, and lower gear ratios for climbing steep grades.

Structural engineering sub-discipline of civil engineering dealing with the creation of man made structures

Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and muscles' that create the form and shape of man made structures. Structural engineers need to understand and calculate the stability, strength and rigidity of built structures for buildings and nonbuilding structures. The structural designs are integrated with those of other designers such as architects and building services engineer and often supervise the construction of projects by contractors on site. They can also be involved in the design of machinery, medical equipment, and vehicles where structural integrity affects functioning and safety. See glossary of structural engineering.

Contents

He retired from racing at the end of the 2011 season, returning to his career in structural engineering. He currently lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, and works for JVA Consulting Engineers.

Fort Collins, Colorado Home Rule Municipality in Colorado, United States

Fort Collins is the Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, Fort Collins is located 56 mi (90 km) north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2016 estimated population of 161,000, it is the fourth most populous city in Colorado after Denver, Colorado Springs, and Aurora. Fort Collins is a midsize college city, home to Colorado State University.

Major Achievements / Results

2011

The Mohican MTB 100 is an ultra-endurance 100 mile (161 km) mountain bike race held annually in early June in North Central Ohio. The course contains over 11,000 feet of climbing on single-track, double-track and dirt roads. This course is very scenic, almost entirely tree covered and more than 90% on dirt.

Breckenridge 100

The Breckenridge 100 is an ultra-endurance mountain bike race held annually in mid July in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Lumberjack 100

The Lumberjack 100 is an ultra-endurance mountain bike race held the 3rd Saturday in June at Michigan's Big M Cross Country Ski and Mountain Bike Trail in the Manistee National Forest. The race is a 100-mile mountain bike marathon and is part of the National Ultra Endurance Series. The race course consists of three 33.33 mile laps in the Udell Hills area and crosses the North Country National Scenic Trail twice per lap. The course contains over 8,000 feet of climbing and is 80% single track. Due to venue limitations, only 450 racers are allowed to participate.

2010

The National Ultra Endurance Series (NUE) is an ultra-endurance mountain bike race series in the United States. The number of races has varied from year to year, however, in 2015 and most recent year there have been 14 races in the series distributed around the USA. Each of the races is approximately 100 miles (160 km) long and primarily off road. The title of series champion is awarded to the racer with the four best results in each of the following categories: Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Men’s Masters, and Single speed. Any ties are broken by the placing results in the final race of the series.

Cohutta 100

The Cohutta 100 is an ultra-endurance 100 mile (162 km) mountain bike race held annually in late April. The race starts and ends at the Ocoee Whitewater Center in Copperhill, Tennessee. The course is one large loop through the Cohutta Wilderness area with approximately 35% single-track and 60% remote forest service roads, and a total of over 12,000 feet of elevation gain. One of the most challenging parts is the numerous small but very steep climbs.

Shenandoah 100

The Shenandoah 100 is an ultra-endurance 100 mile (162 km) mountain bike race held in central Western Virginia near Stokesville. The race is normally held on the Sunday during Labor Day weekend. The race has been run continuously since 1998.

2009

2008

The BC Bike Race is a seven-day mountain bike stage race held in British Columbia, Canada, traditionally held in early July. Six hundred racers ride an average of 50 kilometres a day on race routes that are 75% singletrack.

Chris Eatough American racing cyclist

Chris Eatough is a retired mountain bike racer who was part of the Trek Racing Cooperative team. He is a six-time 24-hour solo World Cup champion and five-time 24-hour solo National Cup champion.

2007

2006

Related Research Articles

Wilderness 101 Mountain Bicycle Race

The Wilderness 101 Mountain Bicycle Race is an ultra-endurance 101 mile (162 km) mountain bike race held annually in late July. The race is commonly called the W101, akin to a first year college course, such as Physics 101, at the nearby Penn State University.

Jeremiah Bishop American racing cyclist

Jeremiah Bishop is a professional mountain bike racer from the United States. He competes in ultra-endurace mountain bike racing, mountain bike stage racing, and the Olympic-discipline event of cross-country cycling.

Sue Haywood American racing cyclist

Sue Haywood is a retired professional mountain bike racer. She raced for team Trek Volkswagen along with notables Jeremiah Bishop, Travis Brown, Chris Eatough, Lea Davison and Ross Schnell.

Mountain bike racing

Mountain bike racing is the competitive cycle sport discipline of mountain biking held on off-road terrain. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the discipline relatively late in 1990, when it sanctioned the world championships in Durango, Colorado. The first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series took place in 1988. Its nine-race circuit covered two continents—Europe and North America—and was sponsored by Grundig. Cross-country racing was the only World Cup sport at this time. In 1993, a six-event downhill World Cup was introduced. In 1996, cross-country mountain biking events were added to the Olympic Games. In 2006, cross-country mountain biking events became part of the World Deaf Cycling Championships for the first time in San Francisco, USA.

The Endurance 100 was a hundred-mile (162 km) mountain bike race held annually in late August in Utah. The race was discontinued after the 2007 event.

Marathon mountain bike races, often referred to as cross-country marathon (XCM), are a very demanding form of mountain bike racing covering at least 40 kilometres usually in mountainous terrain. Events held in Europe are typically just a little longer than the average cross country mountain bike race. Marathon events in the USA and Canada are typically longer than 100 kilometres and are very different from cross country races.

David Juarez is an American former professional BMX and cross-country mountain bike racer. His prime competitive years in BMX were from 1978 to 1984 and in mountain bike racing 1986 to 2005. Since late 2005, he has competed as a Marathon mountain bike racer. In all three disciplines, he has won numerous national and international competitions. Most recently, Juarez finished third in the 2006 Race Across America Endurance bicycle race.

Harlan Price is a Mountain Bike Skills instructor and former professional mountain bike racer. Harlan Price raced for Independent Fabrication from 2006-09, won the National Ultra Endurance 100 miler series in 2006 and placed in the top 5 for multiple years. His instruction business TakeAim Cycling LLC has been in operation since 2011 and is based out of Harrisonburg VA.

The Leadville Trail 100 MTB is the second oldest of the growing number of 100-mile (160 km) marathon mountain bike races held in the United States, the first being the Wilderness 101 in Central PA. The Leadville Trail 100 MTB was first run in 1994 and has become one of the best marketed, attended and known marathon events in mountain bike racing.

Sharon Laws British racing cyclist

Sharon Laws was a British professional cyclist and environmental consultant.

Jolanda Neff Swiss cyclist

Jolanda Neff is a Swiss cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's Team Trek–Segafredo in road races, and Trek Factory Racing in cross-country and cyclo-cross events.

Tereza Huříková Czech biker and Olympic athlete

Tereza Huříková is a Czech professional road cyclist and mountain biker. Throughout her sporting career, she has won numerous Czech national championship titles in women's cross-country, road races and time trial, and more importantly, a prestigious gold medal in the junior time trial at the 2004 UCI World Championships. Hurikova later represented the Czech Republic, as a 20-year-old junior, at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and also rode for USC Chirio Forno d'Asolo and Česká Spořitelna MTB Cycling Teams since she turned professional in 2006. Currently, Hurikova trains and races under an exclusive, two-year sponsorship contract for Germany's Central Haibike Pro Team, along with her teammate and 2008 Olympic champion Sabine Spitz.

Sepp Kuss American road cyclist

Sepp Kuss is an American cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Jumbo–Visma.

References