Great blog Rich, what an inspiring ride. High five Minipipps!

firestarter – Cheers

epicyclo – Let’s hope bikepacking will be a new event. 🙂

Thanks Peter.

Some bloggage from me:
http://newretrotom.blogspot.com/2015/06/highland-trail-550-2015.html

Family pips for president…. 😀

Loved the video richpips!

@NewRetroTom – Loved the blog post! I like how you get up, cycle for 7 hours, then stop for a spot of breakfast 😮

Question – how did you find the new Specialized Rime shoes? Also, how the heck to you ride for so many hours a day on rough terrain on rigid forks?

Some fantastic accounts here. Really enjoyed them, as I have done following the whole event. Is that your heart beat I can hear on the video Rich? It seemed a bit elevated on the Devil’s Staircase and on river crossing. Well done minipips!

Lovely write up Tom and an amazing effort to get round that quick. I’d need to be in some state to contemplate sleeping on one of those damp, mouldy mattresses at Carnmore.

Nikk – The shoes worked well – I’ve had two pairs of the previous version with the Boa. These ones have just velcro which means less to go wrong.
The velcro did block up with cack and stop working at one point but a couple of minutes scraping made it work again.
The rubber rand has started to peel back from the toe box which is a bit worrying when they are only 3 weeks old. Admittedly I have done more riding on them in 5 days than many folks would do in a year.

Riding all day on rigid – you just adapt your riding style to absorb the trail and flow over it rather than smashing the bike into it.
Having said that 9 days after finishing the tips of my ring and little fingers are still numb….

Thanks Tom! I am getting some Rime’s now.

Does anyone in the Edinburgh area fancy meeting for a post-HT550 drink and blather? NewRetroTom? AlasdairMc? My round…

It’s hard, but not as hard as the quantocks!

Careless talk like that may lead you into trouble tracksterman..

I reckon he’s more than capable though, looking back through his blog. I really like the his er, direct, style 😉

Does no one take their socks/shoes off for river crossings?

Or is it not worth it given the boggy walking?

Some riders stripped off, but to be honest with the rain and wind we were going through half a dozen wet/dry cycles a day. Wouldn’t be keen to do it in bare feet mind, so socks are likely to be wet anyway.

Haven’t done the HTR but have ridden much of the trails it uses plenty times. Even in summer, feet always seem to end up wet within a few hours. My policy now is to wear summer shoes with plenty mesh which will let water in easier but also dry out that wee bit quicker. I’d use SPD crocs if there were such a thing.

tracksterman (if it’s the same one) is a bit of a legend – think he used to post on here many moons ago.

Nikk – The shoes worked well – I’ve had two pairs of the previous version with the Boa. These ones have just velcro which means less to go wrong.
The velcro did block up with cack and stop working at one point but a couple of minutes scraping made it work again.
The rubber rand has started to peel back from the toe box which is a bit worrying when they are only 3 weeks old. Admittedly I have done more riding on them in 5 days than many folks would do in a year.

Tom, I used Specialized Tahoe Sport, also vibram sole and stifness index 6.0. Been using them for 4 or 5 months before the race. I think it´s a factor of doing more hike a bike and pushing, or hiking on steep terrain so tendons around the ankle get used to it. I just did a little bit of hike a bike before the race. Still I think my ankles got too bad for what I did and I find that problem was crucial for the race.
Specialized tahoe sport

Is anyone using compression clothing or socks or calf supports?

NikK

Blether for HT550 sounds good – this week is looking pretty busy. I’ll be at the Inspired to Ride showing on Friday, so a drink after that could be good? Capital Trail folks may want to get an early night though!

Definitely worth a read..
http://rickiesolo24hr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/highland-550.html

That’s brilliant. A great read indeed.

I’m very drawn to this challenge but would prefer to ride it in July. More compelled by the event than doing it as an ITT though.

July is worse weather (usually), less daylight and much midgier. It’s also into stalking season….. Oh, and the accommodation is more likely to be booked up.

Though I’d give this a go last week with my girlfriend, or part of it at least. Did very little research about the route other than reading a bit of this thread and a few blogs. Brought a few bits from alpkit and off we went. Aim was to start from Fort Augustus and see how we got on. Weather was pretty wet for the first day and a half, so by the time we swam into Oykel Bridge it didn’t take too much persuasion to sack of the Northern Loop. Probably could have done with one extra warm layer.

Though we were moving pretty well until we realised how much the terrain changes after Ullapool. Big pushes, tough single track, slow going. The forecast for day 4-5 was pretty dire, so as this was ‘just a holiday’ we called it a day (or 3) after Poolewe and headed for the train line.

Great reccie of about 1/3 the route and good to understand what might be needed for a successful 550 attempt. Hope to post a blog in the near future.

PS, first night in a barn near Struy, 2nd in the School House bothy (no rooms available in Oykel Bridge as fishing season in full swing), 3rd in Shenavall.

Thanks to all those who have contributed to this thread in the past, some of the advice was very helpful.

Hi,

A bit of thread resurrection.

Anybody got GPS track for whole/part of the trail?

Cheers!
I.

drop me a pm and i will send 2016 route

Available @ bear bones bike packing too.

Thanks Chaps!

PM sent.

Cheers!
I.