Have fun and stay safe those riding.

GregMay wrote:Have fun and stay safe those riding.

Are you out too? I'm going to make my mind up on Saturday morning by either boarding a train for Blair Atholl or somewhere else.

AlasdairMc wrote:

GregMay wrote:Have fun and stay safe those riding.

Are you out too? I'm going to make my mind up on Saturday morning by either boarding a train for Blair Atholl or somewhere else.

Not wasting 12 hour round trip to drag a bike in the snow. I've training to get done for the Tour Divide - unfortunately it makes more sense to do so down here.

GregMay wrote:Not wasting 12 hour round trip to drag a bike in the snow. I've training to get done for the Tour Divide - unfortunately it makes more sense to do so down here.

Would have been good to meet you but your TD training is more important - good luck with that.

I was just thinking about you in your role as HTR twitter master. I've sorted out a tweet via SMS option so I'll be able to give some live updates this year (when there's phone signal).
Also set up a contact form on my tracking page where people can send texts to my phone: http://frasermacbeath.co.uk/tracking/
It'll be live for cairngormsloop this weekend so you can all feel free to send me messages of encouragement/abuse (and directions? :p)

gonna give it a try anyway . if its rediculusly hard going etc i might retreat or just do the outer loop. and just go back to my car and go ski touring insted haha. but the forcast is looking ok mostly now anyway so should be ok aslong as the ground conditions arnt totally awefull ! haha. definatly going to end up bringign to muck kit though ....

touch wrote: Also set up a contact form on my tracking page where people can send texts to my phone: http://frasermacbeath.co.uk/tracking/
It'll be live for cairngormsloop this weekend so you can all feel free to send me messages of encouragement/abuse (and directions? :p)

That's a cool page Fraser I'll be able to see how far ahead of me you are

Friend skiid in above Fords of Avon. Have fun....

GregMay wrote:Friend skiid in above Fords of Avon. Have fun....

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Single Speed George wrote:gonna give it a try anyway . if its rediculusly hard going etc i might retreat or just do the outer loop. and just go back to my car and go ski touring insted haha. but the forcast is looking ok mostly now anyway so should be ok aslong as the ground conditions arnt totally awefull ! haha. definatly going to end up bringign to muck kit though ....

Yeh I'm going to give it my best as well. Conditions are gonna be slow, but as long as I can make forward progress, without getting frostbite, it'll be ok.

And I thought I was mad buying a new pair of winter boots last month

Well to much kit for fast progree but might be just warm enough ... hummmmmm lets have a crack

OOps, try this instead:



Now snowing heavily down in Calderdale too. I suspect I'll be running a lot this weekend. I will not turbo!

Bring you fatbikes

Same here in CCC-Country
(Cow, Cheese, Chocolate)

Have fun out there (seriously)

Have fun - and be safe. Especially the safe.

Fraser - is that page easy to set up, or is there an easy way to make spot tracking work outside of event tracking pages? Anyone? Tracking is very hit and miss normally - only showing locations from which check in messages are sent.

Uugh, more snow ovenight :-/

http://www.winterhighland.info/cams/cai ... orlich.php

boxelder wrote:Fraser - is that page easy to set up, or is there an easy way to make spot tracking work outside of event tracking pages? Anyone? Tracking is very hit and miss normally - only showing locations from which check in messages are sent.

Have a look at Spotwalla.com. You can upload a track before you set off then folk can follow your progress with Spot updates

boxelder wrote:Fraser - is that page easy to set up, or is there an easy way to make spot tracking work outside of event tracking pages? Anyone? Tracking is very hit and miss normally - only showing locations from which check in messages are sent.

The spot tracker gives you your own personal tracking link. This is what mine looks like:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... 9y5FiMIWyW

So all I've done is embed that link onto my own website to make it easier to remember and share the link. Very little work required to set up my tracking page.

the weather forcast atleast has sunshine in it ocasionally to keep us going . and looking back on my strava of the bb200 this year , when i compare it with the cairngoarm loop the cairngoarms has less eleivation gaine and is longer so thats gotta be goor right

I'm seriously considering taking the fat bike for this weekend based on the amount of snow there is likely to be up high.
It will be slower for a lot of the route due to the rather draggy 4.8" tyres but if it makes some more of the route rideable then it may be worth it.
See the rest of you brave/foolhardy folks at the start line tomorrow!

just got email saying its "grand depart is cancele but do it if you want ". i might just do a shorter route with less snow, or a day ride and then go ski touring/ back country the next days tbh . but going up anyway and will see

Single Speed George wrote:just got email saying its "grand depart is cancele but do it if you want ". i might just do a shorter route with less snow, or a day ride and then go ski touring/ back country the next days tbh . but going up anyway and will see

Yep - will still be at the start. I've been in the hills in bad conditions (finished all the Munros earlier this year), so am used to making the decision to bale when it gets beyond what I can cope with. I've ridden into the Fords of Avon from the west, so there is a relatively straight forward exit route at that point if the crossing is bad. Most important thing is to know when to bale. The factor that worries me most is the 50mph winds on Sunday morning and where I was going to camp. Big windchill. My ambitions always were in the following order:-

1) Come back in one piece
2) Have fun
3) Complete
4) Complete in time limit

Number one far outweighs all the rest! So I may or may not attempt the route, as always it will be a decision at the time. Anyway - I will be carrying a SPOT and my feed is http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... 0qsn5d0HAi
I don't have a nice page like Fraser, so I will be oblivious to any abuse or encouragement

Be smart.

The route will always be there.

hmmm - I was going up to do this next weekend (fri-sun). Will have to keep a close eye on the weather. It's a long way to go from Bristol! I'd say it was looking unlikely

Maybe do the transcambrian route instead.

I'm going to head to the start anyway and see how far I get. Looks like it's thawing fast out there, check the difference in Loch Morlich since Nik posted his photo 4 hours ago:

a fat bike works very well up there even in no snow.

did the inner loop from blair atholl - aviemore (the second tiem round) in november and it made the larig a laoigh infinately more ridable.

Great fun.

Woulda done the whole loop but i fell in the feshie being a fanny and fell out with some guided tour taking over the bothy.....we arrived too late at the 5 star hotel (9.45) and woke up their paying customers.

I'm unlikely to risk this, given the weather. However, having driven up to Scotland from Somerset yesterday, I am keen to get out on the bike. The Capital Trail is an option, but I expect the weather will also make that route unpleasant. Any suggestions for other rides that might be less impacted by the weather?