It’s the first event we’ve seen in a while and all those long distance riders must surely have the pent up energy of a spaniel that needs a wee. The Highland Trail 550, 550 miles in length with over 16000m of climbing, kicks off this Saturday 22 May, and with bothies out of bounds this year there’ll be no ‘luxury’ sheltering from whatever the weather throws up. If you’re not familiar with this event, the rules are pretty simple:
- Complete the entire route, under your own power. No drafting, no e-bikes.
- Be completely self-supported throughout your ride. No support crews, no gear sharing.
- Only use commercial services that are available to all challengers. No private resupply, no private lodging.
- If you have to leave the route, you must rejoin it at exactly the same spot.
- No gear or food caches.
- No prearranged support before you begin your ride, e.g. booking a B&B, arranging to meet a vehicle.
- No travel by any motorised means during your ride.
So, with those rules in mind what will everyone be taking with them? We’ve managed to catch up with some of the riders as they make their final preparations for the event to find out what they’re riding and what they’re hoping to achieve. Will survival or completion be enough? Or is the clock ticking?
Alan Goldsmith
Alan is the organiser of the HT550, so we all have him to thank for the trials and tribulations that follow in the coming week and a bit. Thanks Alan!
Here’s my bike setup for next week’s adventure.
It’s a 2019 Trek Top Fuel, with 1 x12 (30 x10/50). A mix of Ortlieb, Alpkit and Revelate baggage. It looks light but I also have a 22l pack for food and water.
Goal is to enjoy myself, sleep out every night, support the local economy and get around in five and half days.
Steve Chapman
We notice that Steve has expanded from his usual range of one gear for this year’s attempt.
Bike: Custom 853 steel frame made by my mate Ben Yarnold of @teme_frameworks Stans rims on Hope Pro 4 hubs, Maxxis Rekon tyres 29” x 2.6, RaceFace crankset with steel RF chainring, Deore 10sp cassette (11-46T)and rear derailleur. Travers Prong XC Carbon fork (so good!), Ergon GP2 grips (essential when it gets hurty).
Aim for this year is to finish. After the difficulties of the past couple of times I’ve made the trip north I just really want to see the rest of the route 😂, I’ve ridden almost all of it in sections but never put the whole thing together in one continuous outing. Third time lucky?
Jim Higgins
I’m Jim Higgins (47) from Inverness and I’m riding a Transition Spur 29er specced with SRAM Eagle AXS electronic (I know this is bling but it serves a very practical purpose having a damaged thumb!). I run a 32 Absolute Black oval chainring with a 10-52 cassette. Tyre choice is a bit tricky due the nature of the route and conditions, but I’m running a Vittoria Barzo (29×2.35) up front and a Vittoria Mezcal (29×2.25) out back.
Kit-wise, I’m mainly using bags by Straightcut Design in Edinburgh (Ross’s quality is second to none) including a custom frame bag in which I have a 1 litre bladder. The saddle bag is by Apidura and holds a small amount(!) of clothing including waterproof jacket. The bar bag is by Miss Grape and contains my bivi, mat and sleeping bag. Top tube bags contain spares, tools, cache battery and food. Below the downtime I have a small tool caddy holding a spare tube and levers.
As bothies are out of bounds this year I think we are all hoping for improving weather! And as for my own expectations, well I’ll just pedal, try to find some rhythm, and see where it gets me!
Lars Henning
Age 40 based in Oxfordshire, UK.
Bike: 2016 Santa Cruz Highball 29 with Fox 32 fork and Hunt XC Wide wheels
Kit: Mix of Alpamayo and Wildcat harnesses & bags carrying a Cumulus quilt & Neoair mat with my DIY bivy bag & tarp. Though I might swap for my Lighthouse Solo tent at the last minute depending on weather! Etrex 35 Touch for navigation, Exposure lights, Osmo Action and lots of snacks!
Emma Holgate
Bike: Trek Top Fuel 9.8 GX, Bontrager carbon wheels, with Maxxis Ardent on the rear and a Bontrager GR5 on the front, 32T front ring with 12 speed 10×52 cassette. Lock out ability on shock and forks, short travel full sus, 120 mm RockShox SID Select+ fork, 115 mm of rear travel with a RockShox SID Luxe Ultimate shock.
Kit: A mixture of packs from a great secure Evoc front roll to a neat Altura seat pack and then durable and very functional Revelate top tube bags. My sleeping plan is very basic as I’m not planning on too much sleep so a very basic bivi setup. Clothes, I cannot decide, I think it will be very last minute although I will have full Goretex waterproofs to try and stay as dry as I can for comfort. Luxuries hmmm toothbrush! I’m going light, but quite apprehensive about how minimalist but with safety in mind too, so still have 1st aid and enough warm layers to survive the ever-changing Scottish mountain weather.
Food: This is one of my biggest anxieties for this race and I’m uncertain how this will play out for me, I am not taking a stove but have lots of ideas of how to power my body with snacks, dehydrated food that I will just have with cold water and then feast on whatever I can get at resupply locations. I will report back on this once I’ve finished!
My overall aim is to just complete the route, I would love to try and push hard the whole way and really test myself to gain the fastest time I can, but I just don’t know what this will be. I did my first race like this in Colorado and because the scenery was so amazing and I’d paid a lot to get there I decided I would only ride in the daylight to take it all in and enjoy the riding as much as I could therefore in the end it made the journey feel more like a holiday.
Here in the Highlands, I have ridden many sections of the trail before so I plan to push on through the dark as much as I can, so if I complete this under 7 days, I will be very chuffed, but I may surprise myself who knows. There are so many factors that could slow me or speed me up. I suspect it won’t feel like that much of a holiday, but I thrive on a bit of suffering.
Iain Cormack
I’m 47 and stay near Aviemore in the Cairngorms, only around 25 miles from the HT route as it heads North through Laggan, I took part in the group start ride in 2019 and despite the awful weather that year loved the whole experience. I vowed I’d be back for another crack at it with hopefully some better weather, at this point the jury’s still out on the prospect of that. Last time round I rode a Yeti SB4.5, which was relatively light and fast and great at handling all the rough terrain, but not very practical for carrying bags. This year I went for a bike setup inspired by Alex Pilkington’s 2018 “Fatster” it’s based on a 29+ rigid carbon Flyxii frame. I’m taking a tent as bothies will be off limits, Last time out I finished in 6 days 23hrs, I’m hoping to cut a huge chunk of that time, I certainly won’t be troubling the leaders but home to finish under or around 5 days.
I’m packing 2 large power banks as these will need to charge my phone, my inreach and front light, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get a prolonged charge on the route so would rather take 2 than spend unnecessary time hanging about.
Bike: Flyxii 29+ rigid carbon
- One one Geoff Bars
- Shimano SLX 11 speed, 32 oval x 11/46
- Charge Spoon Saddle
- Bontragar Line Plus wheels with Vittoria Bomboloni 3” tubeless (F+R)
- Moon Meteor Storm Dual Light
- Garmin Etrex 20x
- Inreach Explorer
- 2 x Anker 20100 power banks
Kit:
- Tera Nova Laser 1 Competition tent
- Exped Air Lite mat
- Berghaus Intrepid 100 bag with silk liner
- Spray Way Down Jacket
- Endura waterproof trousers
- Marmot hardshell Jacket
- Bags are a mix of Alpkit, Blackburn
Chris Moorhouse
Bike: Stanton Sherpa Ti with a standard triple
Kit: A mixture of wild cat, Alpkit, restrap and Surly.
Bar bag attached by a Surly rigid cradle, top tube bag a modified restrap race, Frame bag a trusty wildcat, Seat post bag a trusty wildcat harness and bag.
Main fear, being late home……… 😉
(We were curious about that tenner in the rear brake, Chris tells us its a secret bike packing hack – it stops other racers overtaking him!)
Steve Waters
I did the HT550 as an ITT in 2019 the week before the Group Start. It was wet, but the river conditions were not as bad as for the Group Start folk. I made it across the Fisherfield river crossing just before a deluge which cut the crossing off next day from a fellow ITTer (Martin Brown).
The 2019 experience was incredible and has had a large and positive influence on my life since and I am so excited to return.
Bike: Sonder Transmitter Carbon
- Rockshox Pike 130-160mm forks
- Hunt Trail Wide 27.5” wheels; Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.6” tyres (tubeless). – I had this set-up in 2019 and – whilst not fastest – it was great fun on the technical descents such as Torridon and Glencoe
- Drivetrain: 32T oval chainring and 11-46 11-speed cassette
- Shimano SPD pedals
- On-One OG handlebars with on-board bar ends found on Amazon.
Kit: Wildcat Lion front harness (hung from a Thorn Accessory Bar MK2 T Shaped to prevent cable-rub); Alpkit Airlok Xtra 13l dry bag and Acepac Bar Bag; Ortlieb Seat Pack M 11 Litre; Revelate Mag Tank 2000 Top Tube Bag. Navigation: Garmin Edge 530. Lights: 2 x Exposure Joysticks. Sleep system: Cumulus 250 down quilt, Thermarest NeoAir Xlite mat, Borah Gear Ulltralight Bivy and Deschutes tarp shelter with Bare Bones carbon pole. Hydration: Katadyn BeFree Water Filtration System 0.6L, Elite Fly 950ml bottle (with cap and home-made restraining strap), Precision Hydration PH 1500 electrolyte tabs. Cooking: Jetboil Stash with various dehydrated meals from TentMeals. – I didn’t take a stove last time, but am assuming there will be fewer dining options this time.
Bad weather kit: After my 2019 experience, I am being cautious and will take a Rab Mens Kinetic Plus waterproof/softshell jacket and 7mesh Revo Gore-tex 3/4 shorts for changeable conditions plus an R7 Goretex Shakedry Trail waterproof jacket and Montane Minimus waterproof overtrousers for sustained downpours. For the hands I have neoprene gloves and Buffalo mitts. Woolie Boolie socks as always. Shoes: Either Northwave Spider Plus 2 or Shimano XM7 depending on the conditions and forecast.
Anyway, this year, I have these objectives:
(1) To complete the whole route.
(2) To avoid a repetition of the nerve damage to the hands and wrists I suffered for months last time (I have improved the bike set-up to hopefully enable this).
(3) To complete in under 5 days (I took 6.5 days in 2019).
(4) To have another great adventure.
Ian McNab
Bike: Frame – On-One Scandal 29er, custom built by me.
- Tyres – Front 2.3 Specialized Fasttrak, Rear 2.1 Specialized Fasttrak.
- Gears 10s: 32 x 11-42. Carbon bars, dropper post, and 130mm forks.
- Bags: Revelate Front roll and Revelate accessory bags, Ortlieb rear seatpack, and DIY frame bag.
- Sleeping system: Goretex bivi bag, Neoair matress, Western Mountaineering Highlite down bag.
- Lights: Exposure Revo dynamo on bars, Exposure Joystick on helmet, rear blinky.
- Navigation: Garmin Etrex 20, plus spare Etrex 20 as backup.
- Favourite kit: Granite designs cowbell aka “cricket bell”, good for warning others on descents and mixed use trails.
Aim: I’ve done a few big bike-packing events before (AZT750, Tour Divide, and Colorado Trail) but as this is my first time on the HT550 my aim is to make it to the start, then get to the finish, anything else will be a bonus.
Tom Vincent
Bike: It’s a Specialized Epic Expert set up pretty much stock except for a DT Swiss 232 dropper post, Farr carbon bars, SQLab Innerbarends, Vittoria Barzo tyres and SRAM AXS groupset.
My goal? Finish. After that, anything is a bonus.
These are just some of the 50 or so riders taking part. We’ll be keeping a watch on progress next week and hoping for some successful racing – and good anecdotes!
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