Highland trail 550!!

[Chew]

I hope Matt Slater knows that if he went the other way it would have been an easy 5 mile ride to the station at Corrour and then the Train back to Tyndrum

[vorlich]

Does this Simcock fellow have an internal combustion engine, or what?

[composite]

Phil was always going to be one of the men to beat. He was neck and neck with Aidan last year until he broke a rear mech, won the BB200 2013, won pairs at Strathpuffer 2014, former WHL double record holder... he's got some pedigree.

EDIt: I forgot he's been a top 10 finisher in the 24hour worlds too.

[firedfromthecircus]

Phil was always going to be one of the men to beat. He was neck and neck with Aidan last year until he broke a rear mech, won the BB200 2013, won pairs at Strathpuffer 2014, former WHL double record holder... he's got some pedigree.

That gives his performance some context. Thanks.

[FLV]

Has Dave (FLV) scratched? His tracker is being shown at Fort William.

Yes, which is a shame.

Yep. I'm out.
Shame, but these things happen.

[Chew]

Yep. I'm out.
Shame, but these things happen.

Hopefully nothing serious

[composite]

I hope Matt Slater knows that if he went the other way it would have been an easy 5 mile ride to the station at Corrour and then the Train back to Tyndrum

According to reports he snapped a rear mech at mile 6 (harsh) struggled on with single speed but then jacked it in.

[ton]

what kind of time are the winners expected to do?

[Chew]

what kind of time are the winners expected to do?

I'd be guessing a sub 4 day time

[composite]

Under 4 days.

[Chew]

Phil Simcock turning back south now. Probably crack half of the route in 1.5 days at this rate.
A climb over to Unapool (maybe some chips) and then a bit of road for a rest

[Chew]

The weather may be taking its toll.

Andy Toop and Michael Greunert are offroute in Muir of Ord
Phil Fraser is in Dingwall and Stuart Rider & Richard Seipp may be joining him.

[composite]

Looks like Phil Clarke has sacked off the top loop.

[Mart]

Some of the dot positions are getting interesting (some drop outs happening)
Looking at the tracker Phil looks to be arourd 4.5hrs ahead of Steve Heading

[Richpips]

Having my supper in Strathpeffer. Missed the shop and garage at Contin. Today has been grim, tmw, hopefully better

[ton]

i take my hat off to you blokes doing this......i am not one to be easily impressed, but this is one hell of a challenge to take on.
good luck to you all.

and Richpipps.........dig deep old mate.....

[hairy]

Good luck to all still going , getting grim up there. We'll done

[deejayen]

I've done a handful of longish audaxes in quite grim conditions, and I imagine this must be even tougher. Even the roads around Lochinver and Drumbeg etc are bad enough!

It's been misty and drizzly today, and quite cold for the time of year.

What's the terrain like - is there a lot of decent Land Rover track, or is most of the route really rough and boggy?

[hairy]

Total mixed bag, nice trails. Hills. Single track Hike bike. Carry's unridable bits slogs you name it it's there

[Alpinum]

Having my supper in Strathpeffer. Missed the shop and garage at Contin. Today has been grim, tmw, hopefully better

I really looked forward to that stop for food at Contin last year. Missed it by 10 min. Dragged myself on to the Hotel in Garve for food. There are is a very nice sheltered moss bed at N57.70235 W4.69091 (WSG84)

Dig in and get a good rest.

[touch]

The weather may be taking its toll.

Andy Toop and Michael Greunert are offroute in Muir of Ord
Phil Fraser is in Dingwall and Stuart Rider & Richard Seipp may be joining him.

Dingwall and Muir of Ord are the closest train stations to that part of the course. So I guess they might be on their way home.
I expect the others who have stopped in Strathpeffer are just there for resting/refueling. There isnt a train in strathpeffer but if they had wanted to get to a station they could freewheel all the way down the hill to dingwall, there would be no point stopping in strathpeffer.

[Alpinum]

Looks like Iona had a good and early start. If you get going on the third morning, it's very likely that you're mentally ready to take the rest.

Marc McPhillips pulled an all nighter. It'll be interesting to see how he get's on. I guess some of the folks up front will push through once they passed Kinlochewe, or even Ullapool.

There's still that notorius climb outside Ullapool and the following material killing descent towards Dundonnell, the Fisherfield traverse, a babyhead rough descent south of Loch Maree, Torridon, Glen Affric and what not. Gosh, it's still a loooong way. And there's still tons of painfully boring road. I hope they get the views...

I guess it's still about 45 h for the first to get back to Tyndrum.

[Ray Young]

If Phil Simcock forgot to turn on his spot tracker until after getting over a hundred miles done is his time likely to be discounted? What's the rules on that?

[Chew]

I doubt anyone would care Ray.

Kev C said he was running a Gen 1 Spot which arnt as reliable for tracking. It was probably on and tracking, but not being picked by trackleaders.

It'll be interesting to see how long Phil stops in Ullapool. Key opportunity to take an hour out warm up and have a good meal before heading out to Fisherfield, or will it just be a quick Spar raid and back on it?

Tim and Andrew seem to have closed the gap slightly

[Alpinum]

Phil S. might hand over his GPS tracking data to Alan "chief sadist" G. (IanB).
This should sort out any scepticism. But I guess Steve H. was there all along until Phil started pulling away, so that'll be confirmation enough.