HT550 - 2017

[Borderer]

There's Loch Broom filling station, but according to google that doesn't open til 7.30 so I think they would have missed that too.

[Richard G]

One thing is certain, if I do do this next year, I'm not even going to try to be near the sharp end. Bollocks to going that long without sleep / stopping for a decent meal.

[JohnClimber]

These sort of distances in such a short time over this terrain I guess are out of this world for around 99% of us mortals.
Amazing riding going on out there and now the rain is in for the day.

[Asposium]

One thing is certain, if I do do this next year, I'm not even going to try to be near the sharp end. Bollocks to going that long without sleep / stopping for a decent meal.

If I do next year perhaps best to do the week before with some of the other ITTs

[Richpips]

The only logic consequence; time to give it a try in winter.

Ha, I'd been giving that some thought. Short days and crap weather would take it to another level.

[ScotRoutes]

I've done the very northernmost section in winter. It's certainly committed!

[ScotRoutes]

If I do next year perhaps best to do the week before with some of the other ITTs

IIRC the guidance last year was to avoid setting off just before the race so as not to "interfere" with accommodation, food supply etc.

It looks like the ITTers are having their own wee event though. Maybe a 2nd division race in 2018 for the "mere mortals"!

[adjustablewench]

Been ringing so not been stuck to the blue dots - however on the playback it looks like CB goes way off - is he still in the race?

[Asposium]

If I do next year perhaps best to do the week before with some of the other ITTs

IIRC the guidance last year was to avoid setting off just before the race so as not to "interfere" with accommodation, food supply etc.

Hopefully by setting off a week before I'd be easily finished before the main event.
Accommodation? My tent and the odd bothy.
Food supply? I don't eat THAT much.

[whitestone]

My spot seems to be having a hissy fit. Only just checked online now as I've been off-grid.

Ianpv told me it was playing up. I'm currently in the Lochinver Larder. Have given the SPOT a kick. Will sort it out with Alan later

[Richpips]

My spot seems to be having a hissy fit. Only just checked online now as I've been off-grid.

Ianpv told me it was playing up. I'm currently in the Lochinver Larder. Have given the SPOT a kick. Will sort it out with Alan later

Good to hear Bob, keep 'em rolling.

[touch]

Fraser is out?

Yep, afraid so.
Chucked up my dinner last night when i got to suilven bothy. Had a long lie to see if i could sleep it off but still couldnt eat anything in the morning. No way i would have got from there to oykel bridge on empty.
It was my own fault. Ate too fast in kylesku and pushed too hard on the coast road trying to get to the bothy.

[ScotRoutes]

Bugger! I'm surprised more haven't succumbed to the pace. Was it feeling a lot faster than last year?

[touch]

I wasn't going a whole lot faster than last year. I stopped at kylesku on the 2nd night last year so I was only around 3 hours up on that this year (with most of that down to a shorter stop on the first night). I did notice that there were a lot more riders around me doing a similar pace this year compared to last year.

[adjustablewench]

Been ringing so not been stuck to the blue dots - however on the playback it looks like CB goes way off - is he still in the race?

Erm hate to ask again - but why does he seem to have missed a huge chunk?

It would help if I got the letters right - i meant CH

[Chew]

CB?

[gairym]

Everytime I refresh the page they've done about two or three times more than I'd expected they'd have ridden since I last looked - mentals!!!

The only problem I've got is that things are becoming so far removed from anything I've ever experienced personally that it becomes a little hard to relate to.

No different to every other sport performed at the pointy end but it's interesting to watch it happening progressively with bikepacking as the boundaries are pushed and pushed with each event (I don't think it's a bad thing just interesting).

[boxelder]

CH had a lack of Spot signal for about 10 hours. On the replay the track will just straight line between the two points. He won't have missed anything. Alan deals with any mis-navigation with GPX after the finish.
Edit- same again after Kinlochewe.

[NewRetroTom]

After the singlespeed champs in Evanton Sarah and I popped up to Oykel Bridge to see if we could catch some of the riders. We managed to see Pavel, Fraser, Steve Large, Dan Golob, Javi, Huw and Phil F-T.
I had particularly wanted to catch up with Pavel as we saw a lot of each other on the Tour Divide last summer (finishing 4 minutes apart) and it was me that talked him into riding the HT550! It was also great to see Javi again (always grinning from ear to ear!) and Dan Golob who I had met on day 3 of the Tour Divide and who had given me a big morale boost with his chat when my knee was really sore.
The management of the Oykel Bridge Hotel has changed since last year and the lovely couple who were there last time have gone. First impressions were that the new management don't seem quite so switched on and the food isn't quite as good, but hopefully they will still be helpful to racers.
I managed to get photos of Pavel, Javi and Phil.

[Richard G]

Javi's rocking new shorts I see (he utterly destroyed his on the #jennride).

[Richpips]

Neil is definitely looking good for sub 3 days if he can fend off the sleep monsters. We took 11 hours from where he is now.

[Ian]

Neil is definitely looking good for sub 3 days if he can fend off the sleep monsters. We took 11 hours from where he is now.

Even if he doesn't go sub three days, a) it'll still be mightily impressive and b) set the new bar very high and tantalisingly close to that "2 day-something" accolade.

I reckon he's only had 4 hours sleep so far, tops...? That's like less than RJ last year, and he was a self confessed insomniac!

[larsmars]

Just caught up reading this thread. Really enjoyed everyone's posts, especially the photos - Thanks, Tom.

What amazing efforts by all these riders. I wish I were up there! Hopefully get back again for 2018.

[FLV]

It occurs to me that if this was the original HT4xx route of 2013 which I think was 430 or 435 miles.

Neil would be finished by pure miles.

Several, certainly top 4 would be finished without the difficulty of the top loop.

That's just staggering to me.

[Mart]

by my interrogation of the dots, it looks like Chris is around 2hrs behind Neil as he starts the climb up to Camban.
Just nuts how they can do it without hitting resupply points at the right time for food etc

Not sure i can go to sleep tonight