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Are we all ready for some vicarious adventure next week?
Saturday morning at Tyndrum will see the biggest field yet for the HT550, with a very sizable contingent of women after Alan making a special effort to encourage more along.
Weather has been damp and blustery this past couple of weeks so it'll not be dry tracks. On the other hand, river levels are currently ok.
Some of the line up...
https://do****cher.cc/feature/bikes-of-ht550-2022
Follow the action in real time.
http://trackleaders.com/highland22f.php
Yay, love a bit of dot watching 🙂
I was chatting to some of them in Tyndrum thos morning. Posse of french blokes one of who wants to challenge the record.
Why are cyclists so obsessed with kit?
Why not invite the participants to say a bit about themselves, objectives, fears, aspirations
I couldn't give a shit whether xxx is using an oval chainring...
TJ's post is the most interesting window into one of the competitor's psyche on the thread. More of that please....
As a counterpoint, I'm interested in their kit. It's an article called 'bikes of the HT550', so the content isn't entirely unexpected.
He was a young lad. I suspect he is going to be suprised. With the weather we have had i dont see anyone doing a quick time. The bogs will swallow folk and the river crossings will be fun
An old mate "Ed Smith" who is a photographer based out of Kingussie is one to watch...
Yes! Love a dot watch, especially on trails you can, at least in part, relate to!
I do know that Alan has been really supportive of womans ultra, and its great to see many of the 24 spaces he set aside taken https://highlandtrail550.weebly.com/startlist.html
Arghhh…two woman down. Phil and Alice both just tested positive for covid 🙁
One of the french blokes i met is also a small scale bike manufacturer and he had a very interesting ti bike that he built for this. I have pics but promised mot to post them yet as he is going to launch it commercially after the race. Ti frame optimised for adventure races /bike packing
It looked great
Women of The Highland Trail 550
Now we're talking, that's a bloody excellent article 🙂
Hope the weather improves
Next couple of days aren’t warm and a fresh northerly wind but at least dry, easterlies and showers for the homeward leg. We’ve had record rainfall this year which means it’s quite wet everywhere.
Depends where you mean dovebiker - been so dry in the east.
Good luck to all!
Women of the highland trail was a good read, thank you.
If the French guy wanting the record is simon guingard, then he looks to be off course already. Hopefully a tracking error.
Has Rich Rothwell really pulled out? He seemed to stop quite early so possibly trashed a bit of kit? What a bugger.
The two Frenchmen are going well. I suppose this time tomorrow is the test of who has paced it well.
Cracking bit of do****ching!
Has Rich Rothwell really pulled out? He seemed to stop quite early so possibly trashed a bit of kit?
An early injury due to a crash with another rider.
I quite like reading kit lists 🙂
https://steezycollective.com/what-kitty-packed-for-an-ultra-cycling-road-race/
Yes, According to Facebook, clipped by someone very near the start. Injured knee and bruised/broken ribs!
looks like a few folk in the chippy in Fort Augustus but two frenchmen didn't bother! Still - have they gone out too fast? Tomorrow will tell I guess
Jeezo, that is rotten luck.
Angus Young way ahead! In an Instagram post pre event he said he was knackered 😳
Angus Young way ahead!
I bet he feels like he's on a highway to hell
pulling out a 40 mile lead overnight is impressive - when I went to bed he was at a similar distance to the other leaders sleep is for losers?
I have ridden or walked most of the trails they use. the miles they are covering is almost unbelieveable
It looks like Angus didn’t stop at all. He would have missed Contin Stores so must have plenty snacks to get to Drumbeg!
Any news on Oonagh Thin? She was storming but her tracker is stuck at Fort Augustus. The other front five women are within 5 miles of each other. Naomi Freireich dropped her bike early on and broke (I’m not sure if that means bent or snapped) a brake lever.
Annie Le and Jonny Williamson are both in the area taking photos so we might get some non-dot updates on those with tracker problems today.
Angus aiming to gorge himself at Drumbeg Stores? Shoving a massive pork pie in yer maw whilst enjoying the view over Oldany…
Shoving a massive pork pie in yer maw whilst enjoying the view over Oldany…
Is it a typo or is it the English misappropriating the Scots slang ...
Either way I'm sure you didn't mean to write what you have written.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
OK, maw as in your mouth, not you mother…
Maw = mother
Mau/Moo= mouth .
None the less I laughed 🙂
I have been do****ching on and off - is Angus Young human? He does not appear to have stopped yet and is at over 300 miles in a day and a half - and gawd knows how much climbing
I cannot believe the pace they guys are going for so long in such conditions
Looking at the elevation profile at around the 5 mile mark it looks like it jumps up by about 600ft in not much distance. Is that right or is it an error? Fair play if real but the contour lines make it out to be fairly level.
I remember that climb up to loch lyon as a fair old climb. I rode it so not that steep but yes it climbs a fair way
Edit - also a fair old climb out of tyndrum
Shell posted up on IG yesterday that he rode head on into a closed gate that he didn't see, has withdrawn to heal and was assisted to a campsite.
Angus Young has not updated for 7 hrs now. He was 30 miles in the lead. has he scratched or is it a tracker glitch?
Crashed and broke his tracker
You’d have thought he would’ve got to cp6 by now though, it’s only 20 miles from his last position. Unless it’s a really tough 20 miles.
If his tracker is broken then you'll not know when he passed it. The control points aren't manned, they're just points on the map.
Ahh, cheers scotroutes, I didn’t realize that. If they’re not manned, what makes a checkpoint different from any other point on the map? Is there a stamp at that point where each rider must stamp their card or something?
Nope. The timing is auto-generated as they (actually their tracker) passes it. They don't really serve any function as the gps trace will later be checked to ensure the whole route was completed.
Is there a back up if trackers are broken? Can they use Strava or equivalent?
They'll all be carrying a gps unit to record their track. The tracking intervals on Spot/Garmin trackers aren't usually granular enough to check route compliance.
The trackers just add a bit of safety for the riders and interest for anyone following the event.
Ta for that rak
It is greasyrider - a big bike carry up and over a pass plus another pass perhaps more rideable plus a big river crossing. IIRC its not even a push but a carry. Shouldn't take the 9 hours or so he has not registered for tho
Also makes it tricky for some of the participants, if they are competing against others with faulty trackers.
Huw Oliver is in the shop in Poolewe! I do wonder if they warn the shops on route that they will be invaded by zombie MTBers
the leading group after HO are on the tricky fisherfeild section with speeds at walking pace
Simon Guignard is the lad I met who was chasing the win now 25 miles behind HO and we do not know where Angus young is. I don't think he had ridden in Scotland before 🙂
2 of the ruiders are struggling at the big river crossing. there is a hidden sandbar at the entrance to the loch IIRC or you have to go a mile upstream. I can imagine the cursing from here 🙂
Ha. I wonder if Alan will be lenient with them. 😂
Looked to me like they went to the loch mouth but crossed a hundred yards upstream - they didn't go to the easy crossing a mile upstream
they didn’t go to the easy crossing a mile upstream
Are you allowed to do that as long as you come back to the same point on the other side or do you have to follow the route exactly?
I think the rules are, if you consider it "unsafe" and come back to the point on the other side it's ok. Never been more than waist deep for me thankfully!
I have been do****ching on and off – is Angus Young human? He does not appear to have stopped yet and is at over 300 miles in a day and a half – and gawd knows how much climbing
He's human, I ride with him occasionally, but also doesn't sleep. His plan usually seems to boil down to win or scratch trying.
His last 3 GBDuros were losing to Lachlan Morton, scratched due to hypothermia (the COVID edition when it was self sufficient not just self supourted) whilst ahead by a very long way, scratched due to exploding freehub (finished first but not on the bike he started) whilst ahead by a similar margin. At some point his luck will change and he'll start setting course records 🤣
It looks like Huw is slightly ahead of Angus and they're both nearing Fort William.
About an hour and a half at CP8 according to adventurepedlars on IG. Some nice pictures there too.
Any news on who has finished?
Is there anything worse than an incomplete do****ch!!
Also makes it tricky for some of the participants, if they are competing against others with faulty trackers.
Arguably based on how this type of racing started out you shouldn't be concerning yourself with the other racer's dots, out of sight is out of mind so just focus on your own race. I say this as I once raced disconnected, original Great Divide Race style of no phone, no GPS, against other riders who were dot-watching on iphones as they rode. I very likely could have finished ahead of them in the final day or so but they were alerted when I got past them and could set off to chase. But I recognise that tech is in bike racing now and trying to eliminate it would be futile and pointless. Each to their own tactics.
Any news on who has finished?
Huw finished in around 3 days 11 hours with a faulty tracker.
Huw finished in around 3 days 11 hours with a faulty tracker.
Was he the first home?
Was he the first home?
Yes, according to the Café (where he had his recovery fish and chips) FB page.
Huw finished in around 3 days 11 hours with a faulty tracker.
Ebike? Jedi mind tricks? is he a marvel superhero?
His Instagram post said he’d done Ullapool to Tyndrum in one hit. So yes, probably some sort of Jedi!
Yes, according to the Café (where he had his recovery fish and chips) FB page.
Ah, great work. Clearly the tracking was not working well but it looked like he was a good way back after 48hrs. I guess that's what experience of the race/route does for you.
Angus Young started to feel unwell so booked into a bed for the night, giving Huw a clear run.
Huw also rode home and was in a good enough state to argue with me about the Real Food Café (which isn't as good as the American diner). But he does love recovery fish and chips.
I'm glad he's finally done alright at it given the shit times he's had doing it in the past, including getting ambulanced off.
Angus Young started to feel unwell
Bronchitis apparently,
and just seen the photos of Angus's bike, not suitable if you're about to eat dinner:
[/spoiler]
Whatdafuq? I take it that's not from 'bronchitis'? I'd be heading for the nearest A&E!
Angus was involved in the accident on day 1 that saw one rider DNF. There's a photo of his leg with blood running down it. I wonder if there is a link between his symptoms and some sort of wound infection?
Whatdafuq? I take it that’s not from ‘bronchitis’? I’d be heading for the nearest A&E!
That was my first thought.
He's also taken what looks like a big flap off the front of his knee, but the blood splatter does look like it's from a coughy angle 😬
Looked at his instagram, and by the look of the latest pic he 'may' have been hacking so hard he gave himself a nose bleed. Or just given himself a nose bleed via other means.
These guys are a different breed.