Well done Ray, it is indeed a pretty brutal ride although I understand that there might be a revision of the Dun bicycle part at least.

I think I used about ten minutes of candle and one match from the bothy but it appears to have had minimal use as it was pretty tidy when I was there

AlasdairMc wrote: I understand that there might be a revision of the Dun bicycle part at least.

Yes, I heard that too. Here's hoping. I have previously got onto the drove road lower down using the planned route but not going all the way to the top of Dun bicycle (hard enough) and another time taking the path through the woods to Whiteknowe Head (a boggy nightmare all the way until clearing the woods then bikehike through thigh high heather for at least 1k).

Well the trail has been revised and Dun bicycle is staying in. I sent Markus a query on the facebook page about his recommended bivy spot as it's close to a couple of houses from what I remember.

I have also devised a cunning plan for completing the route in a "for me" reasonable time..........

Ride whilst it's light. Sleep whilst it's dark.

Sounds simple enough, even I can do that .

Ride whilst it's light. Sleep whilst it's dark.

Cunning Ray

Ray Young wrote: Ride whilst it's light. Sleep whilst it's dark.

Good idea, and very sensible when out with a bivi. I don't tend to stop until it's dark, a mile today is a mile not needing done tomorrow etc...

The route is now featured on Pedalling Nowhere, have a look here. http://www.pedalingnowhere.com/location ... rn-europe/ I will ride the whole thing, toothache permitting, on Monday and Tuesday, and will revise route finally if needed, and also mark some good spots to bivy on the GPX. There is also a great report here from Charlie Orr, worth a read: https://voicefromthenorth.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/131/

I'm in! :D

Did the first ~80 miles yesterday for a bivi somewhere above Innerleithen. The hike-a-bike in the wood outside Selkirk followed by the climb up to Minch Moor was brutally, energy sappingly long. Never been so overjoyed to stop

Edited so as to properly get over how bad it was

jamiep wrote:Did the first ~80 miles yesterday for a bivi somewhere above Innerleithen. The climb up to there was brutally, energy sappingly long

Yep, that climb just goes on and on.

jamiep wrote: The hike-a-bike in the wood outside Selkirk

After doing that bit I am thinking of adding it into the borders 350 only downhill, would be ace and only add about six miles.

jamiep wrote:Did the first ~80 miles yesterday for a bivi somewhere above Innerleithen. The hike-a-bike in the wood outside Selkirk followed by the climb up to Minch Moor was brutally, energy sappingly long. Never been so overjoyed to stop

Edited so as to properly get over how bad it was

I take it you didn't do Dun bicycle then, otherwise your complaints about the Selkirk climb would fade into insignificance...

Hi folks, just a quick post, updated list of starters is here https://fearlessandunique.wordpress.com ... 5-entries/.

There is also an additional perk for the £15 entry fee you will get a three month OS subscription for their online services worth £15.99. So you get something in return for the suffering (o: And I will do my best to convince the Bikemonger to bring plenty of stickers. I was planning to ride the route at the moment, but buggered my left knee at Forth Fat, so hopefully this weekend I'll be out doing the whole thing.

AlasdairMc wrote: I take it you didn't do Dun bicycle then, otherwise your complaints about the Selkirk climb would fade into insignificance...

Didn't get that far on day one and had to head home day two. I've just looked at the map - that amount of ascent in such a short distance is really, really upsetting

Just a wee note, entries are almost closed, for those who have a spot, we have a page on Trackleaders. http://trackleaders.com/capitaltrail15 - Rider information will go out soon, looking forward to welcome people to Edinburgh and ride with the locals, yippie!

Dun bicycle is out of the Capital Trail. Hooray!

AlasdairMc wrote:Dun bicycle is out of the Capital Trail. Hooray!

Yes, , always thought it was a bit pointless.

Anyone doing the trail want to hire a Spot Gen3 for a reasonable price (say £15)?

Mine is available and can be collected from Edinburgh before the start.

Tom

AlasdairMc wrote:Dun bicycle is out of the Capital Trail. Hooray!

Are you in Alasdair?

Ray Young wrote:

AlasdairMc wrote:Dun bicycle is out of the Capital Trail. Hooray!

Yes, , always thought it was a bit pointless.

just checked and its still in according to the gpsies site....

htrider wrote:

Ray Young wrote:

AlasdairMc wrote:Dun bicycle is out of the Capital Trail. Hooray!

Yes, , always thought it was a bit pointless.

just checked and its still in according to the gpsies site....

New gpx supposedly out tonight.

htrider wrote:

AlasdairMc wrote:Dun bicycle is out of the Capital Trail. Hooray!

Are you in Alasdair?

I should be. My knee is still a bit dodgy but I'm hoping to dose up on vitamin I and ride it.

Ray Young wrote:

htrider wrote:

Ray Young wrote:

AlasdairMc wrote:Dun bicycle is out of the Capital Trail. Hooray!

Yes, , always thought it was a bit pointless.

just checked and its still in according to the gpsies site....

New gpx supposedly out tonight.

I have the file and Dun bicycle is out and there are a few other minor changes. I'll leave it to Markus to share the good news as I'm just printing the maps to PDF as per usual

Alasdair, would you mind emailing it me now? I've been waiting all evening for the update - I'm on leave tomorrow and could check out the revision

The route has landed!

Still a weird way up onto the ridge down from Dun rigg but hey ho, a chunk less climbing! For info sainsbury's in peebles is open until 10pm and the co-op in West linton opens at 7am. Looking forward to this now as long as my knee holds up. Will also hopefully be my first bivi bag experience....