Highland Trail 550

It’s not that long, then you’ve got a jaunt alongside the forest of eternal midgies (awesome trail though) , then you’re back on the road for a superfast downhill section into Kinlochewe – nice cafe there – then another long fast road section down to Torringdon. She has a nice ‘easy’ section for the next two hours or so now.

Only a few miles left for Johan nearly there !

Nice to see Markus is out of the worst of the terrain now, the climb out of Glen Lichd must be the worst of what remains? (I don’t know the stuff between Affric and Ft Augustus).

Wondered why the route didn’t take the climb up beside the Falls of Glomach and descent down Bealach na Sroine? Was that just a little too sadistic for the organisers to consider? I guess the climb up to the falls could be a bit tricky in the dark after 24 hours riding… 😕

Oh, and I see Steve Heading STILL hasn’t finished! The final descent into Tyndrum isn’t that scary… 🙄

Just had a text from Richpips. He’s having his supper at Fort A and pushing on to finish tomorrow. Top man.

I can confirm the pizza report. It sounded nice.

Front hub well and truly on the way out. Lets hope the road to Tyndrum runs out first.

That’s AlasdairMc almost finished. He’ll be looking forward to a decent nosh-up in Tyndrum.

RichPips isn’t too far behind him.

The question is; will Markus pull out a long one to make it within the eight days? “Only” 70 miles to go, but much of that is the easy spin down the GGW to Fort William.

Markus will dig in an finish within the 8 days have no doubt about that.

Good one Alisdair – I have been telling Rich that you were “just in front” for days now….. I may have failed to tell him that it was a good half a day. oooppps.

So, you finish 3rd in a 550 mile race on a rigid SS. You’d rest up for a bit after, wouldn’t you? Not NewRetroTom – he’s just emailed me to see if I fancy a whiz round Gisburn Forest tomorrow! What a legend!

MrSparkle – Member
So, you finish 3rd in a 550 mile race on a rigid SS. You’d rest up for a bit after, wouldn’t you?…

What do expect?

First thing SSers do before removing the derailleur is disconnect their brains.

Saw plenty evidence of that in Ireland recently… 🙂

If he’s stopping and selling stuff, no wonder he’s a little off the pace…..

Sorry, this made me laugh 😆 [/pedantry enthusiast]

In my defence I was slightly distracted by the potential of a large bag of bicarb, child’s chemistry set and some of herbage growing in the garden coupled with a understaurated market of bored housewives with large disposable incomes.

I really must get the hang of multitasking…

Onto other news he is almost finished and the children are still alive.

What a great race. On the train back now, eating my way back to normality.

To echo what others have said before, it’s bloody tough. That’s not to say I won’t ride it again though, as it’s amazing.

High points include the great riding, the amazing scenery and the little things like bumping into fellow riders when you’ve not seen anyone all day and getting a little lift from a quick chat.

Low points – dragging my bike through everything. Up big hills, down the other side, repeat. Midges – lots of midges.

Double post

Come on Rich only 6 miles left. 🙂

I was worried there for a moment. It looked as if he had thrown the bike into the loch. Or maybe he has and he is running the last 6 miles.

It is so good to see Iona still digging in there.

Looking forward to seeing how many KOMs he’s got on Strava.

Seriously he was out practising (I checked that on the grammar website) shouldering his bike with kit attached. Sounds as if that may have been quicker than the drag bike through bog method, but he does like his sleep.

Come on Rich, get it done 🙂

Yay.
Showing Rich as finished. 😀

Race Status Finished

Well done mate that’s awsumz.

He did it … He did it…He did it… WOOOOOOOOHHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Not bad for an old man.

Chapeau Rich 🙂

Wonderful 🙂

Excellent 🙂

Good man. Looks like Markus is just about to descend the Devil’s Staircase. Couple of hours and he’ll be finished too.

Well done Rich, utterly amazing.

Cha-bloody-peau Rich! Next year he’ll be taking minipips round with him, nailed on!

Nice one Rich!

Minipips has already penciled it in. Rich may not be so keen.

Looks like Markus made it in before midnight. That’s a monster day on its own, let alone after 6 others!

Just Iona left, and she’s still on the go at the 450 mile mark.

Amazing effort.

We’ll done sir Pips.
Inspirational

Any clues on Iona ?

She appears to be about 400m off course at Tomich, not too far from Fort Augustus.

Cafe there ?

Has she run out of time to able to complete, as in has to rejoin the real world for work.

Or just having a rest and carrying on later ?

Hope she can make it round, another day should do it….. keep going 🙂

plot looks to be bang on hotel / PO in Tomich..

You see more detail than me sir, Ta for the update.

Cake stop then 🙂

Nah, I use the VeloViewer Flipper overlay, puts Iona’s track onto an OS map 🙂

It does look like Iona is heading for Cannich. Shame if so, she’s put in a valiant effort.

Her tracker is currently showing her at the Tomich Hotel, but also shows the last update as 2.4 hours ago. Her SPOT signal has been intermittent all week so it’s likely she move on some time ago.

Just checked back, on my screen she is still in the same spot.

Overnighter with a bath tub perhaps 🙂

Will look back later see if anythings changed or Iona’s spot marker has moved.