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Anyone going to take a guess on the winners finishing time?
I'm guessing Phil's time from last year is well and truly out of scope.
I'm tracking Steve Field a fellow coach and club member, very unassuming guy doing well in the midfield for his first outing, also Markus Stitz who I used to work with and a previous finisher.
They're heading into the bit I've ridden through so quite exciting just tracking the blue dot (dare I say Inspirational!! not sure if I'm up to it... but maybe?)
good luck to all.
For those interested, last year Phil was just in Glen Affric at this stage after the waterfall push up.
Wonder if Tom can See Josh from the top of where he is now
It appears the small legs have fallen off. Greg, Rich will contact you later. They are heading back to Contin for tonight and then to Fort A.
That's a shame. Still an unbelievable accomplishment for the lad.
Looks like Ilan Rubinstein isnt going to cross paths with Josh as he's ing for Lochcarron now
do****cher - Member
It appears the small legs have fallen off. Greg, Rich will contact you later. They are heading back to Contin for tonight and then to Fort A.
No problemo!
There is always next year. 😕
I'm in awe of what he's achieved !! 🙂
My new hero is Ilan Rubinstein. Can't wait to see where he's gonna go next!
shandcycles - Member
My new hero is Ilan Rubinstein. Can't wait to see where he's gonna go next!
I suspect Portugal
HT550? Nah, Ilan Rubinstein is gong for the HT1100....
Looks like Josh and Tom have met now. Will Tom give him the fingers as he flys past or will they stick together.
Tom is past Josh 🙂
looks like Tom has powered on, hope josh sticks at it...
seems like (as much as you can guess from dots) josh needed a forced refuel, that would be my take - otherwise you'd do your best to stick to him..
i know from experience that tom is not easy to stick to, nor does he need to refuel!
i know from experience that tom is not easy to stick to
Second that. Tried to stick to him up the Alp d'Heuz once. It lasted about 6 or 7 hairpins before I gave up.
Agrred Steven. Been watching how rigid SS Tom is getting on in trying to catch FS + gears Josh, then being distracted from the race by zooming right in on where Ilan is and looking forward to hearing about his ride 😀
Mark McPhillips has been in Tesco for several hours now, either that or he's forgotten his tracker, or his bike and left on foot.
Josh scratched, broken linkage.. should have ridden ss
Quick update - They are going to Contin, then onto Fort A. From there to Fort Bill where tehy are going to pick up the bottom section of The HT550 trail back to Tyndrum.
It was a case of Rich making an execuitive decision after pussing up the hill - they would have been out on their timings for Bothys and shopes. Minipips is not broken as earlier reported.
What an achievement for Minipips and really pleased to hear that he's OK. You'll sleep well tonight do****cher. 😀
Its with a real glum face that I confirm our race long leader Josh as a scratch.
Spoke to him on the phone, he's fine and safe if a bit sleepy.
Looks like his suspension linkages are toast - not sure if it's just the bearings or if they snapped. Either way, he is out.
He sounded surprisingly chipper for a bloke who's had sod all sleep - planning to head to the pub/inn in Strathcarron - fuel up - have a rest then get the train out.
Tom is now on the road leader.
That's a real shame for Josh. It's the old story in endurance, eliminate anything that can break or cause trouble because it will break or cause trouble.
Full credit to minipips. I await his next exploit.
It's great that Tom is still going well.
Nightmare, he was doing so well. Are those forged linkages on that bike of his or carbon? Lair descent with a load on any bike is a bit brutal.
Sickener for Josh. Easy seen how simple bikes win so often, it's a long way with lots of hammering.
Bets on Ilan getting in a boat next? 🙂
I'm in Ullapool for the night. In two minds about continuing as I don't think my knee will give me 230 painless miles and I know fine well that the next day or two has a lot of pushing. I'll report back in the morning.
Sorry to hear that Alasdair. You were going strong as well, but I saw you have a slow start this morning and wondered if you were hurting. Rest up and hopefully you'll be ok tomorrow!
Thanks for following guys. This is the toughest race I have ever done. I massively underestimated it and unfortunately the conditions took their toll on my bike and my bike maintenance skills! the lower swing arm linkage has collapsed meaning no hard pedalling. I've had to to push really hard to stay ahead of Tom and he doesn't even have gears or suspension!!!! Fair play to him a top effort. I pulled the plug given the state of my bike and the grim conditions all week. Now I've stopped my feet legs etc are swollen and I didn't even realise I.can't feel my fingers... Imagine how Tom feels riding single- speed !!!
Came over on the ferry from Stornoway this afternoon, and came up behind one of the riders going down loch broom. I think if I was him, I'd have waited half an hour to miss all the ferry traffic, he wasn't getting much space from passing cars overtaking him.
Bloody impressive ride though josh. It's been great watching your dot! Hope you are satisfied with what you've done, although I'd imagine frustrated at being stopped by kit failure...
Hope you are able to enjoy a few restorative beverages. Anything under 5% is re-hydrating 😉
sorry to hear of the scratch Josh. It's been great following the dots. That was a really impressive pace early on to stretch out a decent lead.
That sucks big time Josh. Did Tom offer his commiserations as he passed you or secretly give a little fist pump? Hope your journey home is a safe one.
Mark McPhillips is safe and taking a well earned rest in Dundonnel Hotel after 20 hours riding, biving at 3:30 and up since 5am.
I see Ilan is off for a wee evening jaunt up the Bealach na Ba! Fully expecting his dot to be somewhere in the Western Isles when I get up tomorrow!
Josh - sorry to see your ride ended the way it did. Great performance to that point though - didn't look like an effort from someone who had massively underestimated it!
Tom now has less than 100 miles to go.
He has a dynamo - allnighter coming up?
Won't have to wait long to see whether he stops at Camban. He stopped there last year, arriving at 12:08am, so he's almost bang on for the same time...
Fair play to Tom for taking on the Allt Grannda at this time of night... must have taken some willpower to cruise past Kintail!
Is my map right? - it looks like he is 50 miles ahead of the next rider (if you ignore Josh's tracker).
Aye but it's 3 hours since Mike Toyns SPOT provided an update so he could be a lot closer.
not stopping at camban then!
Anyone know who or how the guy on the Ice Cream Truck is getting on?
Never mind found him. Cracking job!
Looks like Tom stopped for a few hours just north of Fort Augustus last night
But he's "only" got 84 miles to go now and is over 75 miles ahead of the next guy.
Looks like today's the day.
think so! the weather is about to go to shit, good reason not to stop.
Just outside Fort Oggie - 60 miles to go.
Still watching the dots....
Really pleased and rooting for Steve Field, one of 'our' Stirling bike club coaches...
Official Scratch Update:
Alasdair McClean - two days in the redzone, food no longer works. Getting the train back and eating more.
Chris Alder - scratch at Oykel Bridge .
I do feel like the grim reaper some days.
Saw Steve Field eating in Ullapool last night. He's doing ok, but wasn't sure where he was going to stop last night ( maybe at the end of the road before the off road section to corrie hallie.
Looks like Rich & Tom are re-visiting Strathpuffer!
Mark McPhillips has scratched.
He stayed at the Dundonnell hotel last night and is unable to continue this morning. He's trying to figure out how to get back as he cant ride! Legs, knees, back trouble etc etc.
^^
Official Scratch as above for Mark McPhillips
Scratch Update:
Bryan Singleton - Arm injury ... can't hold bars.
Scratch Update:
Bert Platzer - no reason given.
That was a flurry - it is an attritional race.
I'm in Garve now, riding an OK 30 miles this morning validating my decision to scratch. Both knees now sore, and I'm feeling generally worn out from pushing too much over the last couple of days. Suggestion for next year is to pass directly through Garve as the food van is amazing!
Sorry to hear you scratched Alasdair!
I rode some of the course with this man the last couple of years, and he did an amazing job of finishing last year, despite starting off with a nasty cold. He looked like death warmed up that year at the start!
Did you go out too hard this time? I know you had wanted to better your time. Bad bonk two days in a row, and the weather sounded bad, plus a twitchy knee, not a good combo!
At this stage in the race, it gets really really hard. Being exhausted, and there area lot of hard walking sections all the way down the West coast. If you are carrying any kind of injury, it is not good.
I don't think I went too hard really as I was fine for the first two days. Day 3 even when I did the Bealach Horn was OK but I just couldn't eat enough food towards the end and I'd stopped getting any energy from it. I used to get an effect from food within about half an hour but my digestion had slowed down so much it was taking two hours before I felt the benefits, even from a combination of simple and complex carbs.
I had considered exit as far back as Kylesku but kept on to Lochinver. A frankly horrific bonk from Achfary to Kylesku had me almost crawling up the hill and considering a nap in a ditch as my spirits were so shot. Lack of accommodation in Lochinver meant I committed to the bothy, which in turn meant I needed an exit to the road the following morning, so Oykel Bridge. No buses from there so I rode out to Ullapool and it was that section, which was just lovely last year, that sealed it for me. The majority of it was pushing into a headwind and even after three bacon rolls and loads of fluids in Oykel Bridge it still took me two cans of Coke and my emergency big bag of sweets to get me through.
That sounded a bit like a whinge and a confessional - oops!
Scratch Update:
Jonathan Edwards & Bryan Singleton have both scratched and are returning on the road together.
Mark McPhillips is riding back to Spean Bridge over two days (50 miles a day) so he can jump on the train.
Ok,
So far these are all of the scratches I have recieved:
Jonathan Edwards
Bryan Singleton
Josh Ibbet
Steve Heading
Bert Platzer
Mark McPhillips
Darreb Kosliki
Amanda Brooks
Tom Gibbs
Alasdair McClean
Chris Alder
Giacomo Maltman
Ed Procter
Ashraf Kame
Kristan Rivers
Dave Barter
Steve Robbins
Andrew Hutchenson
Also confirming the following:
Pete Lumsden will be starting his ITT tomorrow at 9am.
Scratch Update:
All three French riders have scratched together. Oh mon Dieu!
Fabien Frohlicher
Nicolas Senie
Jean-Louis Doridot
Dropping like flies!
Worth nothing Phil had finished 4 hours ago at this stage last year
😯
r8jimbob88 - Member
Dropping like flies!
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Is that the midge concentration?
😉
Last climb coming up for Tom - wahoo!
Ilan's back on the route!
He's going to confuse a few of the other riders.
After riding for that long I don't think it will take much to confuse them...
surroundedbyhills - Member
Ilan's back on the route!
If his tracker is right he's done an epic of his very own. 🙂
The race between 3rd-6th looks as if it could be interesting... those dots are getting close to each other.
2nd is surely sewn up (assuming no major mechanical or illness). Poor Mike Toyn is treading a lonely furrow out there. (sneaky edit there...)
Lots of interest behind that though, with Ricky Cotter in 5th/6th place.
<edit??? ;)>
Javier Simon could be in a spot of bother - hasn't moved for 2 hours and just been over taken by Steven Sloof ...
More likely his SPOT tracker is off (intentionally or otherwise)
Hope so - it would be heartbreaking to get so close.
Is anyone there to meet Tom? He should be on the final hill by now. Not a record time but hours ahead of Mike and conditions seem to have been much more challenging than last year.
His fiancee is there waiting for him. He has a few days to recover now before his stag this weekend.