Highland Trail 550

Up my way, it’s been pretty dry this last week, but it was like this in the shady bits

It’s been lashing down today.

The hardest man will win.

Mmmm looks lovely!

Wondering if I should swop my trail biking shoes for walking boots with gaiters!

Only 24 hours before the mentalists set off! Long range forecast looks pretty decent 🙂
All the best guys.

Should probably post here too…

I’ll be posting updates of those who scratch on Bikepacking.net and trying to keep a general thread update going. I’ll do my best to update here as well.

Quick Twitter update from IanB of Wildcat

“Like my luck couldn’t get any worse this month- bike fell off bike rack and written off Jones Loop Bar. Anyone near Glasgow … … to either sell me one or lend me one for the htr550? Thanks!”

Anyone?

If anyone is driving to the HTR past Hemel Hempsted area today let me know, I have spare loop bars, grips and tape Ian can borrow. zero double 7 98 7874 nine five if so.

Charging of device can be done in cafes fairly easily.

Charging of device can be done in cafes fairly easily.

Well that depends on how long you spend in cafes 😉

Greg, I have put this on other forum hoping that someone in Glasgow can assist..

Charging of device can be done in cafes fairly easily.

There seems to be a few people using dynamo hubs this year. I’m going for a big battery instead, I get three or four full iPhone charges out of it or loads of Garmin recharges.

And he is sorted:

“Diverting to Manchester to see @keep_pedalling.
Jones bar being hand delivered to Manchester Piccadilly. That’s service – thanks! #htr550 ”

Apparently there is a crash around Loch Lomand and AlanG has been sat in traffic an hour…you’ve been warned.

Good luck to all riding this.

Epic is an overused word nowadays, but its definitely applicable to this. I’ll follow on the spot-tracker website. [off to find the link – found a few posts up 🙂 ]

It’s about now that I’m wishing I’d stuck to my plans to do this, though I know really that I’d have struggled and therefore not enjoyed it at all. I will still be immensely jealous watching the trackers and I just can’t express how much admiration I feel for the participants.

Aye, good luck everybody involved 🙂

amen to that.

I’ve been out most of today.

A bit of rain, so tracks aren’t going to be dry unless they’re rocky. And still plenty water oozing out of the soil.

I hope everyone has a great ride.

Do you need to have brilliant off-road bike handling skills to ride something like this?

I recognise the name of one of the riders, and there’s a massive gap in abilities between us! I’ve hardly done any off-roading. I’ve a little experience of riding a few longish road events, so have some idea of what to expect with lots of miles and little sleep. I’d quite like to be able to do this route, even if in shorter segments, and not as a race against the clock.

Good luck to everyone riding. Is there going to be live tracking on the net like last year? I don’t see anything set up on the HT550 site.

http://Trackleaders.com/highland14

There are long sections of “doubletrack”, bits of tarmac/minor roads and some lovely singletrack, all interspersed with the occasional river crossing. However, there is also a significant amount of “hike a bike” and even more so if you’re not capable of riding a loaded bike over boulder-strewn peat hags and up/down rocky, stepped paths. What’s more, every time you are off and pushing is eating into your daily average distance. The other major factor is one of logistics; the NW Highlands are not exactly over-run with opportunities to buy food so you’ll end up carrying lots and could well be held up waiting for shops to open should you run out completely. In summary, I’d say it’s not much like a long road ride at all 🙂

Cheers Alasdair. Good luck tomorrow.

and they’re off!

For ease of access:

Trackleaders Tracking Page

Go Stu

I think Phil may have forgot to turn on his tracking.

Couple of others too

They’ll remember at some point 🙂

My mate Gary Tompsett is a bit of an outsider in this, but is doing well in 4th place.

NewRetroTom doing well on his rigid ss. He’s a good rider but I’m sure that bike is helping 😀

Steve Heading is absolutely smashing this out!

[/url]mike1 by singlespeedvegan[/url], on Flickr[/img]

IMAG0073 by singlespeedvegan[/url], on Flickr

IMAG0069 by singlespeedvegan[/url], on Flickr

IMAG0068 by singlespeedvegan[/url], on Flickr

IMAG0065 by singlespeedvegan[/url], on Flickr

IMAG0064 by singlespeedvegan[/url], on Flickr

IMAG0063 by singlespeedvegan[/url], on Flickr

looks like i messed up that a bit but if you click on them you will see larger pics of newretrotom, micheal cleavland and marcus stitz at the start this morning.

Has Marcus got a sister called Norma?

Has Marcus got a sister called Norma?

*like* 🙂

Phil Simcocks tracker wasn’t working at the start and only came on after Fort Augustus so he isn’t showing up on the leaders board. However, he is still riding (16 hours now) and has built up a decent lead.

Looks like we have one retirement already.

Any news on richpips? His tracker hasn’t moved since last night, about 85 miles in. That tracking website isn’t the most user friendly design I’ve ever seen although that maybe cos I’m viewing it on a tablet.

Looks like he’s on his way to Fort Augustus for breakfast

Oh yeah, his tracker has moved forwards a bit now. He was stopped for a long time!

Can’t believe the lead that Phil Simcock has got already! He’s almost up at Bonar Bridge.