Highland Trail 550

Highland Trail 550 pictures from the start and King’s House. Unedited or sorted.

Sadly confirming Nik Kinloch as a scratch:

Hey Greg, Nik kinloch here. I am scratching at start of dundonnel section just after ullapool. Can hardly walk with blisters on both feet and a pulled muscle in right foot and generally exhausted.

Nice photos Steve.

Nice to see the bikes/set ups and riders.

Easy to work out which one is Iona Evans 🙂 i did google her but got some square headed bloke, pro rider for BMC come up.

I see a Surly 29+ and some fat fronts in the mix of more normal rigids and suspension forks, very varying amounts of kit being carried, and flat pedals and walking boots for some, which would indicate they expect a fair bit of pushing.

Cracking event, keep going out there, every minute ridden or walked is a minute closer to the finish 🙂

lat pedals and walking boots for some, which would indicate they expect a fair bit of pushing.

I’d suggest from my experiences last year that at least 10-15% of the route is pushing for even the strongest riders.

GregMay – Member
Sadly confirming Nik Kinloch as a scratch:

But that’s after having done the equivalent of 4 24hour races in 4 days…

Hard as £###@. Imagine 12 miles of rocky boggy moorland a day that is ridable for 20 metres or less at a time, plus 20 miles of road, plus a couple of pushes up a 300 meter + hill, plus 30 miles of lammermuirs and pentlands, and once round Glentress black. Then ‘sleep’ in a tent in the rain, then get up and do it again and again and…

How the fast guys do it I dunno. I passed by Phil at oikel bridge start of day 3, he was coming back from the top loop 110 miles in front of me.

Mental.

Without taking anything away from the fast guys, I reckon it maybe takes even more mental toughness to commit to this knowing it’ll be for 6 or 7 days.

agree with that Colin.
crossing path with someone 110 miles up on you…..that takes some guts to keep going.

well done all.

I’m enjoying the 3 way race going on at the moment in Torridon, about to head into Coire Lair.

It’ll be interesting to see how that one pans out.

Keith’s a mate, (kbrembo on here I think), he was texting the other night from the section between Lochinver and Ledmore. It was something along the line of – Bogs! That’s all it is now. Beyond tough!

Ionas now my favourite just to finish 🙂 if i read the spot marker right, she is back marker now ? but going at what i would relate to as a normal pace of about 70miles a day.

The breakdown of times and distance covered are interesting, i doubt i could get round in the eight days, but can relate to Ionas pace as doable.
The others…..just unreal.
The mix of riders and ability, not knowing who will blow up or have a mechcanical, those running for 4 days and those trying to complete in 8days.

A Hutch is at 540 miles and getting close to Glencoe Ski center, will he pull in for a feed ? no one that close to him, he might finish late today ?

Hard as £###@. Imagine 12 miles of rocky boggy moorland a day that is ridable for 20 metres or less at a time, plus 20 miles of road, plus a couple of pushes up a 300 meter + hill, plus 30 miles of lammermuirs and pentlands, and once round Glentress black. Then ‘sleep’ in a tent in the rain, then get up and do it again and again and…

Amazing effort everyone. I like long rides but I can’t quite get my head around what doing this would be like. Very compelling.

2nd placed rider Andrew Hutcheson should be dropping down the Devil’s Staircase just about now – bet that’ll feel nice 🙂

He has lead time for a full fry up at the Ski center cafe, that will be nicer 🙂

HT550 Scratch Update: Craig McGhee is out.

Looks as if Rich stopped just long enough in Ullapool to get some chips down him…. I have misjudged him I thought the bright lights would be his undoing.

Nik – hope your blisters heal quickly (no pun intended)

Iona’s several miles from checkpoint 5, and been still for nearly an hour.
Lunch ? resting ? bike issue ?

Yeh just saw Rich. Correct on the fish and chips!

We were in agreement about the post lochinver section.

She appears to have been taking long breaks since the last check point. Hope she is OK.

Hutch is on the Ski center main road crossing, will he press on or grab some food…. ?

Looks like he’s pressing on.

Yeh just saw Rich

Did he have his 50yrd stare?

Just refreshed, Hutch is rolling on for the finish line then 🙂

Damn i think i would have stopped, but i assume he dosen’t know how much lead he has on the next rider, would be shocking to stop for a bacon roll and get passed 🙂 so close to the finish !

Scratch Update: Gunther Desmedt has quit and is rolling back on the road.

Damn i think i would have stopped, but i assume he dosen’t know how much lead he has on the next rider, would be shocking to stop for a bacon roll and get passed so close to the finish !

My experience from that point last year was I just wanted to be done. IIRC correctly I didn’t eat anything between the ski station and the end as I was sick of everything I had with me :/

crossing path with someone 110 miles up on you…..that takes some guts to keep going.

In fact, I found it very elevating. I had a personal goal that, at that point, I was on. I love seeing people that are on the top of their game. It is a privalage to ride the same course as them.

Tom Rowntree and Steve Heading should also make it back later tonight, will have to watch it now.

Iona might have moved and stopped again.

Greg that still takes mental toughness to just push on to the end, i know the Ski center do food up to 8.30pm, a bit of cake or chips, or push on for a few more hours……

Still, looks like a few will roll in on a 4 day time bracket, which is just mad.

Rolling again 🙂

On my screen Iona’s been at 295.1miles for a while, now at 295.8 so moving again.

Is the final run into CP5 hard going ?

Yes. It is all slow and hard. Quite a long push along pebble / sand / rock shoreline then into boggy trail…

Everyone apart from the best will be pushing 96% of it at least.

acehtn – Member
…On my screen Iona’s been at 295.1miles for a while, now at 295.8 so moving again…

The tail end competitor and still has averaged 75 miles a day for 4 days. She’s tough.

Andrew Hutcheson should be finishing shortly.

A few hundred metres to go…

Looks like he’s in.

Brilliant effort.

Phil SImcock: Moving Time 3:03:52 Stopped Time 0:10:49

Andrew Hutcheson: Moving Time 3:13:31 Stopped Time 0:19:18

Divide the stopped time by the number of days – that’s not much rest!

Andy just finished 5 mins ago. Singlespeed! Seemed quite fresh after only 2 hours sleep last night……

Incredible riding….Well done gents and all still riding.

large418 – Member
Andy just finished 5 mins ago. Singlespeed! Seemed quite fresh after only 2 hours sleep last night……

Wow, didn’t realise that. That’s a win IMO. 🙂

See what happens when you stop watching the dots….. they cross the finish line. Well done Andy (and again for the single speedyness).

Tom Rowntree “Rigid Singlespeed” 🙂 now well past Glencoe ski center and doing 12.5mph, should roll over the finish before midnight with ease.

Steve Heading “Whyte M109c” doing 1.2mph, around the devils staircase and heading towards Glencoe ski center. If all goes well for him, be nice for him to cross the line before midnight or whenever the 4 day mark rolls onto 5 days.

4 round in a 4 day time bracket outstanding.

Iona is very close to CP5 looks like a tarmac section, that must be hard going running into 5 (seen answer to my question on that earlier, thanks chaps)

Johan popped into the shop this afternoon for some brake pads. He reckons it was hard hitting the road after walking the bit from Lochinver as his muscles had forgotten how to pedal! He was going to head down to Achnashellach and continue on the HTR route from there. I have to say, his load didn’t look very well placed – all over the back wheel on a seatpost-mounted rack. Just manoeuvering it onto the workstand was a bit of a challenge, let alone dragging it up and down some of these tracks.

And Tom in 3rd is on a fully rigid singlespeed! That’s double kudos!

who would have thought singlespeeds would do so well 🙂