boxelder wrote: ↑Thu May 20, 2021 4:53 pm According to Facebook of a rider who set off (twice) last Saturday, OBH is open for food from midday and the pie shop in Lochinver is, as already suggested, doing 'eat out'. He didn't make any comment about new route sections after Ullapool, so presume all good. Took the 'old route' via Poolewe and Tollie to restock. Now in Glen Affric. No midges.

Yup Andy Tollie path is back in your missing yourself!
Midge forecast showing a 3 in a few places on the West but looking at the forecasted temps and wind, they won't be an issue.

I rode most the HT550 with a friend starting 1st may, we finished last Saturday, albeit in Fort William.

Lots of shops, cafes, and pubs were open.
We were able to sit inside cafes (before the rule change here in England)

There was no issues finding food.

Let’s not talk about the weather and the tracks.

Good luck everyone

Looking forward to dotwatching....

Good luck all! Eagerly checking socials for pictures already!

Just looking at the forecast - a rain front moving in tomorrow night and sitting over the north west for Monday. Hope it isn't as wet as indicated.

Edit: On Trackleaders there's an icon, marked with "New", that lets you overlay the current weather on the riders' locations.

hope they have all got warm gear. just been out for a hour on the bike. bloody cold this morning.


good luck to em all.

Massively looking forward to this, best of luck to everyone

ton wrote: ↑Sat May 22, 2021 8:22 am hope they have all got warm gear. just been out for a hour on the bike. bloody cold this morning.


good luck to em all.

There's a fresh dusting of snow on the mountains this morning.

Does anyone know how much of a lag there is between someone's Spot and it updating on Track Leaders? I ask because Trep's still showing as being in Sheffield.

And a couple either who have forgotten to start their SPOT's, or left them in the car, or haven't started yet.

Was hoping Iwona Szmyd was riding this year (fast marathon racer, ex Poland national champ and other notable wins) - not sure if she is actually riding.

Let's hope the weather gods are kind, or at least Contin stores have a supply of ponchos.

Landslide wrote: ↑Sat May 22, 2021 9:38 am Does anyone know how much of a lag there is between someone's Spot and it updating on Track Leaders? I ask because Trep's still showing as being in Sheffield.

Typically they ping every ten minutes from when they've been turned on and activated. In 2017 I forgot to activate mine until Lochinver!

The sequence is something like: SPOT transmits signal; SPOT update their tracking page; Trackleaders reads tracking page and updates the map. Because of the differences in when each unit is turned on, the actual position on the ground and whether someone is ahead or behind another rider can't be relied on. If you hover over each icon it tells you when the last signal was received.

I know Trep's on her way, as I've got access to her friends' Spot tracking page. Last track point has her by Loch Lyon.

My Spot didn't register on Trackleaders at all on DD. It tracked on the Spot page. It was something to do with me getting the share page link incorrect when I registered.
Talking of Dales Divide, I see James Craven is on the HT550. His pretty much non-stop trip around DD was pretty impressive. Wonder if he's recovered fully.

Talking of Dales Divide, I see James Craven is on the HT550. His pretty much non-stop trip around DD was pretty impressive. Wonder if he's recovered fully.

I thought I read somewhere that he wasn't fully recovered and didn't know if he'd make the start. Can't find it now so I could be mistaken. He's going well now anyway.

Anyone got link for the TLs pls

Thanks Stu..

Liam's going well

Given the current state of that bit if track at Pattack, being on it early will pay dividends. Pity the tail enders.

Liam's going well

Well, he avoided locking his bike in the car for a few hours at the start (2016), and doesn't have any shifter to distract his right thumb. Phil C likewise cranking on SS.

I'm just wondering if Phil is doing his usual "Keeping up with the fast guys and paying for it later on" approach But looking at his TL trace from 2017 he's in about the same area as back then, assuming he started some time around 9am.

As Liam will have started in the last group he's overtaken the whole field. If you were riding and didn't know who he was I wonder how it feels to have someone on a clunker* pass you and disappear into the distance

*In no way am I putting down the Stooge Scrambler, it's a great bike, but it's miles away from a carbon race whippet with all the latest parts, quite literally in this case

I hope he manages to stay at the pointy end all the way round.

May the gods of racing and bicycles and weather and mechanicals smile on everyone :D

Landslide wrote: ↑Sat May 22, 2021 9:49 am I know Trep's on her way, as I've got access to her friends' Spot tracking page. Last track point has her by Loch Lyon.

So which one is trep please? Need help with forum vs real names please

Andrea Rodgers :)