Worth keeping an eye on http://www.highlandtrail.net.

Just checked the leader board, Kevin and Steve are “Scratched” 🙁

Found Paul E and a few others off course.

Looking like Oliver is back marker…..take your time…make it round !

Maybe it’s harder going than we can imagine from the sofa in front of countryfile with an empty bottle of red and demolished roast.

I know its hard… Ive been saying that since the start of the thead. Ive ridden/walked/pushed alot of the trails they are hitting. Wuldnt fancy much on a loaded bike !

And countryfile weather report on now.

Rain, lots of rain, bearing down fast on them !

Around Orrin/Strathpeffer it was around 12c and a nice temp for riding in short sleeves. Still snow on the hills but it was warm through the night so they haven’t had it bad. Yet.

Im loving the replay feature on the tracker, the leaders will still moving (fast) well past midnight when all others had stopped. Feel sorry for the American dude who seemed to take a wrong turn at the start, unlucky.

Good spot stato

Team Jmc , phil seems to have stopped very early today. – any ideas ???

The Spot trackers (and the website tbh) seem to be a bit flaky. I’m guessing various reception problems. If you have a look at folks history you can see all sort of bit where there was no logging for a while. I’d assumed that Phil Simcocks signal would spark into life at some point and show him close to Aidan.

Some early starts today, movement at 4am!

TR- looking at PS on the replay he was level with AH the majority of the way till 6pm when tracker stopped, prob just run out of battery or something?

Another link since i keep having to search for it 😳

Highland Trail 2013

hope thats the case – he hasnt moved for a long time , aidan seemed to keep going till the wee hours – and was back on it again at early doors this morning.

youd never guess he has previous in this stuff 😉

aidans pulled a 30 odd mile lead over Mark now- over tough terrain. Aidans speed last night would indicate its walking terrain – which would be my thoughts IF its the trail i think it is with a loaded bike !

no idea where phil is – surely not still where his tracker says – he hasnt moved for 14 hours.

The Spot trackers (and the website tbh) seem to be a bit flaky.

I think its down to personal set-up and positioning on the bike, they are not really designed for exact path tracking, just close position at intervals.

Just caught up with this.

I agree with scotroutes although it seems to be a minority opinion. The concept just seems plain wrong. 😐

Obviously wish them all well and good luck to pedalhead (Mark). 🙂

The concept just seems plain wrong

What exactly is wrong? the idea of following them via web or just the idea of poor tech?

The idea of following someones location via the web is a regular issue on the bigger races (where same tech is used) as some people have actually had race interference due to knowing where riders are. Ive read stories of some riders turning tracker off for last hour of riding in hope of ensure a undisturbed nights sleep.

Poor tech cant really be resolved easilly, especially when you consider the very fact you are watching them is because the racers have forked out money for a tracker (£120) and a subscription to the service (99eruo a year) or have hired one (maybe £50 for the week?). Short of having people on the ground posting updates what else can you do?

STATO : I think c_g was referring to my discomfort over the whole event 🙂

i think scotroutes means the concept of racing through some of the most beautiful and remote scenary scotland has to offer.

Yes, the whole event. I dunno, really find myself in a quandary these days with people treating the world as their playground and, yep, confess to being a bit of a hypocrite. 😳

What is worrying, imo, is that this concept could flourish with others being organised along a similar route.

its only worrying if someone tries to profit from it and sent hundreds of riders out into the abyss.

10-20 riders doing it once a year – no issue.

Big companys organising “challenges” and other such races getting involved and sending hundreds of riders out with no respect for the country side. WRONG – bit of rain and they leave alot more than foot prints – more of a scar

Just for balance – I’ve also pointed out that I’m pretty much in awe of all the participants and I’ve been glued to the tracking website.

But how can you stop companies organising this? If there’s an opportunity to make money, can you blame them? Should morals/personal responsibility come into it?

A bit like stopping climbers going up Everest or going up Ben Nevis as I did, which I bitterly regret.

I dunno, need coffee me thinks.

I’m not sure anyone is making money out of this particular event (other than the pubs and cafes 🙂 )
Looks like some more folk are heading for home this morning.

i guess it comes down to us boycotting their attempts.

lets face it , you send out half the people that sign up to the etap caledonia – as a challenge who then pick up a bike a couple months before on this route and all you have done is provide your self with the headache of mopping up the aftermath – its an expensive taxi 😉

Multi day rides like this are beyond just “picking up the bike”

you have to train almost specifically for it or be a very keen cyclist anyway…. therefore the onus is on us to boycott folk trying to organise events like this for profit and support grassroutes controlled “challenges” such as this and the cairngorm loop , there is a reason these guys limit the number of entrants – these could easily spiral out of control. – you have to justify your entry to the tour divide these days and almost “qualify” your place.

EDIT* I realise this event is non profit , non race but the hypothetical is that as these get more popular….

oops, still a bit dumb this morning sorry all.

I dont think events like this will really raise the profile of multi-day events, they are still very niche. Having said that there are plenty available already, especially walking/running ones or even “multi-sport” ones.

While more people are entering them i think there is a limited pool of competitors who are willing (lets not say capable!) to take on events of that nature. One thing that separates those ‘organised’ race/events is support, which is not allowed on this type of event. I think this needs to be clearly pushed on all these remote events or challenges.

looks like paul E ,, paul pomphret and john russell have all defaulted to the road for the trip back to base at drumnadrochit.

looks like brian dawson has either gone well off route into dingwall for repairs/supplies or to catch a train.

Phils still stationary , tracker has to be broken.

I did an audax this weekend….. there was support cars ! ….. ok a mate was greatful of this as his wheel exploded but its not in the spirit of the audax.

noticed from when i started 4/5 years ago a 300k audax taking in some of the biggest hills around got an entry of 30/40 riders… now it reaches cap at 130 riders.

jump to a 600k on a similar route and that drops to 30-40 riders again.

And Keith Pitcher

Alasdair McLean (AlasdairMc on here) has just posted on FB to say he’s out too.

Wow, very high attrition rate. Aidan still looks to be going well.

phil is out , broken mech and GPS and the bus to inverness wouldnt let him on…….

dont know how you would get in touch but he is pushing 60 miles to a trainstation….. anyone in that neck of the woods not busy ?

Put word out to colleagues up north, see if anyone is on a day off and can go get him.

Trail rat do you know where Phil is – on the ullapool rd? I’m flexible today and could nip up and get him if need be.
Do you hve a contact number for him?

i dont , if you want to offer your services i suggest trying his twitter feed at spillippe

ive also emailed someone who might have details.

meanwhile aidan appears to be a few moments off approaching twice the speed of light.

total respect to mark and aidan and all the other SS’ers, i love my singlespeed but there are times when its so hard to make good progress on it, so through the highlands i can only imagine how hard it is!!

In response to those worried about this as an organised event..don’t be. It is just too hard and the website is damn clear that this is a self supported time trial. Why not look at the fact that it may inspire some other lardarses to get off the sofa and ride bikes?

We need more frontiers and these guys are hammering away at them. Go go go!

Aidans hit 306miles ! with a massive lead.

3 are in Fort Augustus, presumed bail out’s or thinking about it.

Oliver has moved on, and looking at the spot is maybe lost or bailing out.

Oliver is back marker going on other chatter on here.

This is way more fun than that fast car race in some town yesterday 🙂

Go Oliver.

I thought Oliver had stopped too. That leaves Nik Kinloch as the last man “on the road”.

keith pitchers binned it too by the looks of it – hes at drumnadrochit…. – you know times are bad when you bail to drumnadrochit…. the cafe there is/was grim – only good thing is you can get mashed on the whisky….

think olivers gone for a swim.

Oliver must be a STW forumite.

Hope he has allowed lots of time off work. Be epic if he does make it round….or even half way 🙂 i get to follow his progress for the next week.

I wonder if he looked at this event and just thought “hell yeah, looks like a giggle” and entered. Can’t win but going to have a stab at it anyway.

Will look back later see if he has doubled back to find the missed turning.

Go Oliver !

olivers been milling about that area all day tbh….

Did anyone manage to get in touch with phil ? Jase and dave are both in tenerife doing that bike riding thing so i cant get a number. thats a sodding long walk.

I think Phil has neglected to notice there’s a station in Garve 🙂

(Still a bit of a trek mind!)

There’s plenty train stations up that way and plenty bus links that take bikes….
Local knowledge is priceless though.

I scratched this morning with Brian Dawson. I had the beginnings of an Achilles strain when I started pedalling and didn’t want it to develop into something more serious during the sixty mile wild bit between Contin and Ullapool.

Nik left us on his way to Ullapool although he’s aiming to do it in the full eight days. Kudos to him though – I really hope he makes it.

Next year’s strategy will be to train more with a heavy bike, just carrying it up hills. Also, to eat more and carry less. Suspension is also being considered as the rigid when fully loaded was hell on my arms.

No regrets though – a brilliant route that seems to test everyone. The leaders were expecting sub three days but that looks unlikely now…

Good attempt Alasdair, well done for having a go.

Sub 3 days is a scary thought.

Off to check on Oliver 🙂