Hadn't seen a thread for this, he makes riding it look easy. I'm guessing it's not...
One to add to the 'to do' list - not the record, obviously.
Incredible, really worth watching.
I said to the wife while we watched it last week 'we sat there for an hour!' 'we sat there eating for 90 mins!' 🤣
Thanks for posting that. 👍
Cheers! Enjoyed that
Loved that 😊
Must go and ride that.
I really enjoyed the film, and got misty eyed and that need for adventure. I would like to do that over a couple of days. Anyone have any good/bad experiences?
I will look forward to watching that tonight. We were planned to do it on the 14th of May this year ..cheers C-19
2021 it will be happening.. maybe not in 9 hours though
Done it twice, 3 days with a mate and beer, great fun, very enjoyable. Second time solo over two days. Still amazing, got great weather as well. Mind blown at Rabs time.
Anyone have any good/bad experiences?
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/wet-highland-way-duathlon-with-the-wean/
I did it with my brother over three days in November 2017. Good trip, almost never feels remote though, huge amounts of it in hearing distance of the road.
Did the horrible bit beside Loch Lomond in the dark. That was fun! Felt like it would never end. Stayed in the bothy at the top of Loch Lomond.
Did Rannoch Moor in the dark and in sideways freezing rain. That did feel remote. The lights of the ski resort were a welcome sight. Stayed in one of the Hobbit huts there.
The descent from the Devil's Staircase is awesome, then blasted along to Fort William, stayed the night in the youth hostel and chatted nonsense with a load of foreign students and a few tins.
It was a good experience. Walking it would have been a bit boring. There isn't a huge amount of quality mountain biking for the distance, but what there is is pretty good.
What Rab has achieved is phenomenal.
Did it in 26 hours a few months back, never trained for it (as you can tell by the time!) and we had a few tumbles that slowed us a bit (were 2 of us), after the LL shitty bit, we eased off and just enjoyed it tbh, it was perfect weather, no mechanicals, loved it.
I've no doubt I could get down to a fair bit below 20 hours with some more training and less ****ing about, but to be fair, we really enjoyed it! Rolling into a lovely fresh bed in FW at 3am was bliss!
Loved the film. Really made me want to go back for a third go. As well as doing it with the kid over 4 days, I previously did it IAD, around 17 hours all in with loads of leisurely stops.
Would like to try a sub 14...
Some achievement and a nicely made wee film.
I think I'd have flung my bike in the Loch in despair at the horrible bit passed Inversnaid, it's bad enough walking it.
It's a great film - I think his previous time was about 10-11 hrs. I had a half-hearted crack at it a few years back, doing it solo unsupported. Ideal conditions all day, but hit Mr Bonk around Tyndrum and then again at Glencoe, so lost a bit of time re-fuelling. Ended up doing it in just over 13 hrs, which I was still pretty happy with.
The section up from Inversnaid is crazy - carrying your bike up, down and across boulders, ladders and rocks, all the while banging wheels against trees is not ideal. After that though it's much more straightforward!
The section up from Inversnaid is crazy – carrying your bike up, down and across boulders, ladders and rocks,
How much distance of this kind of nonsense?
That's a great film and acheivement.
It's one of the best things I've done on a bike . I did it with 2 friends with another driving supporting us , a few years back as logisitcs are always tricky with an end to end especially one in Scotlad when you live in Kent. We did it for fun over 2 nice days on a May bank holiday weekend ,with a night in a pod at the Tyndrum campsite at around the halfway point.I really enjoyed all of it ,even the dreaded Loch Lomond bike a hike-I saw as part of the adventure (I had a 25lb 26er Giant Anthem at the time-so that helped ) ,it is what it is.
It's quite a thing riding North from Milngavie and seeing the terrain your riding through,over and into get bigger.
How much distance of this kind of nonsense?
It actually starts a couple of miles before Inversnaid, but worsens after that. I'd say it's a good couple of hours plus. Rab shouldering a 22lb bike would certainly have been quicker than me doing the same with a 29lb 160mm Enduro bike, and a 25 litre backpack!.
How much distance of this kind of nonsense?
Only about 4km to get through the worst section, but checking back I think it took me about 1.5 hrs to cover that. It's grim.
Done it from Crianlarich to avoid the awful bit beforehand. Good fun, his time is scary fast.
I notice that Rab also did it wearing SPDs, which adds interest.
It's so crazy that the whole attempt can be ruined by a simple mechanical.
Lap of the gods stuff to a degree.
Unreal effort from anyone who attempts it.
I notice that Rab also did it wearing SPDs, which adds interest.
Rab is a XC racer at heart, and as such always uses them, I don't think it would've been a conscious decision for him really.
Sounds like a tidy effort that @GavinB....I did fancy hiking it....maybe I'll try and ride it now. Back in the day I'm confident that I'd have done it in one go. After zero riding for 5 years now, maybe it'll have to be a 2 day affair. Could get the gf to meet me halfway around with the motorhome I guess.
Rab is a XC racer at heart, and as such always uses them, I don’t think it would’ve been a conscious decision for him really.
Obviously not - the gains clearly outweigh the problems - just that it makes scrambling over and down slippery boulders even more interesting.
One of my favourite rides is to start at tyndrum , ride to glen coe and have some food then ride back to tyndrum . The riding itself is not to exciting I suppose but it's just a stunning location to spin along and take in the views .
A few years ago I did it from Glen Coe ski centre to Fort William and back in a day. In MTB terms probably the best bit, and certainly the biggest climbs etc - about 60 miles & 7,000ft.
I left early and got into Kinlochleven just as the 'walkers' were starting their last day. On my way back over to Glen Coe (after I'd been to FW), I met people still walking their next to last day...
It was a stunning day, and dry as a bone.
Obviously not – the gains clearly outweigh the problems – just that it makes scrambling over and down slippery boulders even more interesting.
In the grand scheme of things, Rab would've been off the bike for maybe about 3 of the 96 miles. Start of Conic climb, LLside and a bit of the Devils staircase really.
That's a decent ride Moonsaballoon, for sure, Tyndrum down toward BOO is braw, as is the climb up and over mam carraigh from BOO, brilliant views.
It's fairly lumpy between Crianlarich cut off and Tyndrum btw, I often forget how up and down that section is.
I notice that Rab also did it wearing SPDs, which adds interest.
Not really...the shoes he is using have decent grip so if he does have to walk/scramble stuff, they aren't going to cause too many issues - and looking at his ability and fitness, he probably didn't walk much anyway!
Is a very good film and Rab is a great guy, he is always pushing himself to do better/faster/smoother and just pushing what he can do - quite inspiring I think.
@Tom-B - how the memory fades - just checked and my moving time was 13 hrs, total time was just over 15, so not even close in the grand scheme of things!
SPDs are fine as long as you don't go for the full 'disco slipper' type - I wore my Giro Terradura ones, which had a fair amount of grip for wooden ladders etc, without being too bendy.
The worst bit for riding it solo was all the bloody stiles and gates - it's worse than the west side of the Mary Towneley Loop for that!
How much distance of this kind of nonsense?
We cheated and got a ferry from Rowardennan accross the Loch and rode the main road on the opposite shore to avoid all that.
Not really…the shoes he is using have decent grip so if he does have to walk/scramble stuff, they aren’t going to cause too many issues – and looking at his ability and fitness, he probably didn’t walk much anyway!
I clearly bought the wrong ones when I was dabbling with clipless a while back. Like Bambi on ice when it came to any kind of scrambling.
He's commented on the shoes and apparently they are cyclocross shoes so well suited to being off the bike and scrambling around
Happy days....
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👌
The section up from Inversnaid is crazy – carrying your bike up, down and across boulders, ladders and rocks,
How much distance of this kind of nonsense?
Plan B :
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Cracking video and a great effort. He made descending off Conic Hill look easy. And brought back some horrible memories of Loch Lomond hike-a-bike from a few years ago.
I did wonder though if he should have put support folk with spare wheels at various intervals on the descent down into Kinlochleven. Attacking that descent the way he did was always quite likely to pinch puncture and it's a long way to the bottom if you can't fix a mechanical quickly.
My mate and I did it last year in one go - we said in the run up to starting that we would can it if the weather was bad - we set off at 4am with drizzle (forecast was to improve) and it got consistently worse as we approached Conic Hill, decided to crack on though and nearly wrapped it at Tyndrum as it was absolutely chucking it down, plus I'd ripped the arse out my shorts on the hike a bike. Weather cleared as we hit the military rd and it was great from there on - first 50-60 miles were so grim though, soaked through, major chafage due to ripped shorts etc. We were carrying all our kit for the ride and overnight stay which tbh was the thing I struggled with most, my back was ruined, riding a HT didn't help! Ended up completing it in 17hours with a fair few stops.
Hoping to do it again but only if the weather is perfect! It's a cracking route and fair play to Rab for nailing it in that time.
I did wonder though if he should have put support folk with spare wheels at various intervals on the descent down into Kinlochleven. Attacking that descent the way he did was always quite likely to pinch puncture and it’s a long way to the bottom if you can’t fix a mechanical quickly.
The descent into KLL is a lot smoother now than it used to be, nowhere near as rough as Conic hill descent these days!.
Ref SPDs
Obviously not – the gains clearly outweigh the problems – just that it makes scrambling over and down slippery boulders even more interesting.
Pretty easy to compensate when you're used to wearing a specific sole type and know where the grip is / isn't.
Did it from Fort Bill to central Glasgow in a day a few years ago with two friends. For the hike-a-bike section along Loch Lomond it was already dark and raining. We skipped Chronic Hill and headed straight into Glasgow along the roads. Made it to the finish at my friend's flat at about 1.30 am.
This thread has made me desperate for a day out on my bike 😭 I can't wait for covid to do one .
The descent into KLL is a lot smoother now than it used to be, nowhere near as rough as Conic hill descent these days!
And it’s a lot less fun than it was.
And it’s a lot less fun than it was.
Agreed, but at 11pm, when already pretty tired, I actually said to YoKaiser that this is the first time I've ever been glad to ride a sanitised trail! Strike me down!
Its a serious effort. Rode with rab and he was stupid quick.
Did the whw and then the great glen way in 3 days a few years back. It was an amazing experience but i was balancing going slow enough to see stuff and fast enough to get an ok time but at the same time knowing i had a hard day ahead next day.
Would love to go back and do the whw over 3 days and stopping at hotels etc.
Goddamn I'm going to post some pictures if it kills me
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After inspiration from thegeneralist.
We decided to ride it with our then 9 year old over 4 days the only thing we hadn’t quite prepared for was the 27 degree heat. Though that was combated with ice cream. It was a great experience and so glad we did it hopefully its something he will remember doing for the rest of his life. It was great watching the film last night as we spotted familiar parts bring back fantastic memories and has got me thinking of plans for next year.
The start
Our solution for the crap bit was a water taxi
The End
I have never been as miserable in my life when I was in roughly halfway between Inversnaid and Beinglas campsite when I did it.
Utter bawz.
Aye, agreed Merak. It's the combination of not being able to ride your bike, added to the knowledge of just how far you have yet to go.
Half the time we did it in back in 2003. That's really very impressive. Some dark hours in there on 35lb bikes and no support, but nice to be reminded of a great day out.
Hadn’t seen a thread for this,
I don't know why we bother 🙂
https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/west-highland-way-record-with-rab-wardell/
When I did it, it was on a monster cross bike without a dropper and with luggage. Not and ideal machine. We were sooooo broken when we got to Tyndrum (in the dark, after 12 hours...) 🙂
Agreed, but at 11pm, when already pretty tired, I actually said to YoKaiser that this is the first time I’ve ever been glad to ride a sanitised trail! Strike me down!
Yeah fair enough!
I remember reading your thread at the time.
A fantastic effort for a 9 year old! What an adventure!
That looks amazing. But they have to work on the finishing point, between a Spoons and a Travelodge. Bit grim, is there nowhere nicer?!
BTW had to watch with subs/sound off. Did they really say 10,000ft climbing? That's way flatter than I'd imagined.
Bit grim, is there nowhere nicer?
You've never been to Fort William then?
This has inspired me to do something daft in 2021. I'm not going to be setting any records that's for sure but a long distance trek, like the Southern Upland Way would be good.
Got as far as Inversnaid. Next bit will be by packraft.
Next bit will be by packraft.
That was our backup plan if Jim couldn't make it with his Canadian canoe. Worked out we could fit the yellow Sevylor (pictured above) and my silly kids dinghy in two bags and get the baggage drop van to take them to inversnaid with split paddles, bouyos etc.
Luckily Jim came through as perching two bikes on the dinghy and then paddling 4 miles towing it would have been seriously hard work ( and quite scary with the kid)
Take some photos if you do....
Southern Upland Way would be good.
Just naw! Vast swathes of the SUW is pathless bog.