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

Thanks for that update James. Always next year to go back and do it better eh?

Maybe, I will have to talk with my wife about that idea first, unfinished business

Andys around halfway between Fort William and Kinlochleven.

All nighter ? or stop for chips and a sleep at kinlochleven ? and roll in friday morning

Chips n morning. It is a glorious evening here.

Knowing how he was doing things, he’ll be stopped for the night now, but he’ll be up early 4.30 or so for the final push in. Lovely chap BTW, was an honor to ride with him. Wish I was out there as well 😥

Honey, I’m home!

Have yet to read the thread,will do now, currently making 3rd dinner of the day after driving back from Tyndrum.

Firstly, thanks to Alan for putting this on. No, I don’t hate you…currently.

Short version of race – Utterly brutally tough. Took every reserve of mental and physical energy I have to finish.

Long version of race – Hang on till I type it up and get the editors to look over it.

Back in a while after I read all these pages….

Andys still on the move, very very close to Kinlochleven now.

403mile mark and 13mph so must be running downhill.

Greg, well done.
I understand the constraints and word count limits of mag articles.
If your able to do an indepth, no word/photo limit online account of the race when your able too 🙂 that would be brilliant.

I think some of us who thought of having a stab have maybe realised that romantic dreams “of having a go” could end badly. Many very capable riders have dropped out, that means it was hard, really hard.

Bike set up and equipment carried will be of great interest, also keeping yourself fueled, what food did you opt for ?, cold food ? take a cooker ? tent or bivi bag ? etc etc.

Andys still out there, it’s not over yet, but really looking forward to an indepth report or blog link from anyone that had a go.

🙂

achtn-

I am going to do two versions. One for ST that’ll be a nice account of how I didn’t get eaten by grues, but a look at just how honestly brutal it is. (Assuming I can plot the nonsense that is in my head)

I’ll also put together a full run down of my race, equip, training (very little) and approach to the race. Happy to help anyone who wants to do this.

My only word of warning.

This is a very serious route. Don’t take it lightly. We got near perfect weather for it, minimal rain and wind. It still reduced the field to nothing.

But, f’me what a route. Racing it was wonderful. More than enough time to look around, enjoy the scenery, ride tech trails at 11pm with no lights. Epic.

All prep for Tour Divide.

Andys at 403miles, looks like he has stopped at the crossover point above Kinlochleven.

Greg 🙂

We have been following the weather, it looked a bit dicey at times.

Following the spots has been fun, and some updates have come in after we have seen spots veer off and stop at hotels, or get on the train.

Aidan and Paul Errington i am aware of, this is what they do, only one of them made it round.
Broken bikes, smashed faces, blown knees, and this is well prepped riders, half of you didn’t finish. I will stick to daydreaming….might change my mind when i read the write ups, then be all sensible again and leave it to more suitable people to try.

Good training for GTD 🙂

Been following this all week, been great fun, just Andy to roll home now.

Andy is near the top of the Devils Staircase this morning. You have to get up early to catch him!

Hi guys,

Just wanted to say a big thank you for the messages people have sent about the HTR ride – even though nearly all of them were about how my DMO Element frame had held up and not how I had in fact faired 😉

Having only competed 115 miles of the loop I’m probably not in the best position to comment on the overall severity of the riding – however I can honestly say that they were the hardest miles I have ever done!

Now for those of you more interested in my frames…… the Element stood up to everything I had to throw at it – the descent off the Devils staircase being probably the harshest test – unbelievably punishing!

As mentioned in one of the previous posts, my intention was to tour around what I could, trying to average 50 miles a day but being very conscious all of the time to force myself to take in the enormity of the landscape and to stop once in a while for fear of missing something. This tactic resulted in me having an unexpected brandy with a very remote hostel manager and trying my hand at some beach cast fly fishing!

All in all the riding I did do was simply amazing and I will be back next year to make it to Ullapool – or who knows, maybe even a bit further!

Olly, DMO Frameworks

Hi Olly, seems my recolection of Corrieyairick Pass ‘not being to bad’ was wrong, a few have said it was tough! That tent I borrowed would not fit back in the bag so sent the warden an Alpkit drybag as thanks for the free camping and brandy.

Andy Farish has just finished in under 6 days, major effort to just finish as anyone who was out there will testify.

Andy Farish tracked at Finish — at 09:46:21 AM (BST) 05/31/13

Well done Andy, especially after putting in a few extra miles on day one.

“Hi Olly, seems my recolection of Corrieyairick Pass ‘not being to bad’ was wrong, a few have said it was tough! That tent I borrowed would not fit back in the bag so sent the warden an Alpkit drybag as thanks for the free camping and brandy.”

you boys were hitting it from the fort augustus side right ? thats a better side to ride up but coming down is a babys head boulder fest which i wouldnt fancy on a loaded bike – infact i must admit i wouldnt fancy most of that route on a loaded bike.

But it does intregue me and ill probably have a ride of it sometime as a loop as oppose to the bits ive done.

Really happy to hear Andy is back, and way ahead of his own planned schedule.

Body refused to not sleep in today – nearly 12 hours straight with only one pee break 🙂 Not even close to feeling refreshed. Wonderful.

Big Virtual clap for Andy Farish. Big achievement to get to the end
Well done fella

Bust rib and a knackered left knee here, but great to see the race has generated a lot of interest. Quite a toughie that one! 🙂

trail_rat – No, the race approached from Laggan / Melgarve up the steep bit and dropped into FA.

Did it a few years ago on a day ride and thought it was ok. Different kettle of fish loaded it seems. Or it is my old brain starting to go….

it used to be ok , its erroded badly over the last few years Especially near the top.

the descent would be bliss though. its an excellent day ride.

trail_rat – I rode the Corrieyairack a couple of years ago from FA to Laggan. It was on my wee Ti hardtail, with panniers, and it was OK. There’s been a LOT of resurfacing going on since then, aimed at preventing damage to the structure of the old road.

Well done all, we need a whisky and tales thread from you all…

Whisky tales wont be hard, I popped into the shop in the Green Welly after. LOTS of choices, was hard to only take home three bottles 🙂 Oban, Talisker, Laphroaig.

Huraah ! 🙂

All back, good go Andy under 6 days.

+1 on photos and tales of glory and daring do.

So next year then, nutters will be aiming to get under 3 days, maybe doable. And anything out to 5 days is good going.
So my math would have me still out there for another 2-3 days, maybe longer. I will just follow this from the sofa next year, quite certain mountain rescue will be happy with my choice.
Before you know it someone might do LEJOG version, that would be epic.

Well done to all who rolled off the start line.

There are some really easy ways of extending the Highland 400 to well over 500 miles and still having a lower %age of tarmac than the “off-road” LeJog 🙂

Before you know it someone might do LEJOG version, that would be epic.

EWE

I’ve been talking to my wife today and she has already asked if I have unfinished business. I think she expects me to ride it again. As Greg is saying its a brutal route in places, but one that gets you to ride some very lonely, but amazing bits of trail but I’d love to see Alan add another few hundred miles to the route. Maybe an out round the Caingorms and heading further north than Ullapool? Whilst Corrieyairack is high and long it’s really not that hard, well not from Melgarve to FA anyhow. The were other much, much harder climbs on this route. As someone that had to pull out, I’d advise anyone planning to ride it to really think about how you would get yourself of the route and back to civilisation should something go wrong with either you or your bike. Some sections are a long way from the nearest road and public transport link.

Seems my decision to come home early meant I missed the best bits after Ullapool.

Agree with Jame’s comment about getting yourself off course .. though I did get to ride most of the great glen way but also at end of the day had to ride 50 miles of the A82 from Fort William to Tyndrum .. most unpleasant 🙁

The little I rode was thoroughly inspiring .. great trails .. saw some amazing views and met some cool people along the trail .. everyone meet the guy with the BOB trailer pushing up Devils Staircase at the start ?? .. legend … he was eventually making his way home to Sweden via Norway 🙂

James – my wife said the same about unfinished business. I’m game for next year but need to do a lot more training beforehand so I can get more than the 150 miles I managed.

Strava details from each day of my ride can be found here:

HTR Day 1: http://t.co/K6wT5iw7qk

HTR Day 2: http://t.co/fUei37B5og

HTR Day 3: http://t.co/5D03aETF89

HTR Day 4: http://t.co/13fZpwJiPd

HTR Day 5 Part 1: http://t.co/Ly3giRIPI7

HTR Day 5 Part 2: http://t.co/nyiFH6kylz

Thanks for the support, guys. I’m glad it was fun to watch. Apologies for not resetting my Spot on the final 31 hour run-in. I was hallucinating pretty hard on that Caledonian Canal section, so it slipped my mind 🙂

Just put my Strava recording in, too:

Day 1: http://app.strava.com/activities/57644913
Day 2: http://app.strava.com/activities/57645458
Day 3: http://app.strava.com/activities/57645902

I’ve started the write-up of my race. It’s split into several parts, and I’ve yet to get to the 3rd/final day, but here’s what I’ve got so far:

http://ianbarrington.com/2013/06/01/highland-trail-race-an-introduction/
http://ianbarrington.com/2013/06/02/highland-trail-race-day-1/
http://ianbarrington.com/2013/06/02/highland-trail-race-day-2/

Enjoy 🙂

Cheers guys, I look forward to reading…

That’s a good read Iain, cheers.

I found out about this too late to make space in the work schedule this year, definately planning it for next year though.
Aidan that day 3 Strava is just bananas 😯

Here’s the next instalment:

Highland Trail Race – Day 3

Working on the words for the Singletrack article now, will keep you all posted when it goes live 🙂

Greg

What the winner uses 🙂

Highland Trail Race – Kit

If anyone is still with me, the final instalment is here:

Highland Trail Race – The Final Push

Great write-up Ian, that is some riding to be doing. Well done on 2nd place!

Ian I’m sure many are still with reading your account; it’s a superb read of a very impressive ride.

I don’t think many would be still with you in bike terms though. Most will be a looong way back down the trail!

Well done Ian – I really enjoyed reading your account.