2016 Highland Trail route.

[boxelder]

Padonbike - you can see the green sign of the pie shop in the background of your pic. I think your bike is leaned against the B+B I stayed in - great value with no charge for breakfast when I said I'd be away around 4am, as she wasn't getting up to make it

[ianfitz]

I made some PDFs of the route today. 50k mapping printed at 100k - 20 sides!!!

Happy to share, but via download link as the file is 130meg.

Pm me an email address...

[AlanG]

I have sent out the final GPX track today. If you are in the group start or on my list of potential ITTers then you should have received it.
Anyone else that wants it can contact me via my email address on the Highland Trail website.
There are only minor changes from the last version so Ian's maps (above) will still be good.

[Ian]

Nothing received so far, Alan..,

[ianfitz]

Nothing received so far, Alan..,

Alans email went into myspam folder - thanks Gmail!

[Ian]

So it has, thanks.

And what a bloomin' rigmarole getting it back out of spam using the Inbox app. Nice one, Google - make what used to be a one step operation 4 steps

[GregMay]

Really? Just tag it and click the "not spam" button...

[Ian]

Yes, really. My options were "remove from spam" or "bin". The only viable option was move into a bundled inbox, but it automatically marked the message as "done", which hides it from the primary inbox view, so I had to then search for the message and mark as not "done" so it came back into my inbox and read it. Crazy

The gmail app was far better than inbox, IMO.

[ScotRoutes]

Yes, really. My options were "remove from spam" or "bin".

What's wrong with "Remove from Spam?". That just puts it back in your Inbox

[Ian]

I tried that on another message to test the function and it vanished without a trace

[GregMay]

That'd be the delete button Ian

[Ian]

Well, whatever it was, "not spam" or "move to inbox" would have been much clearer as to what they do/did.

But anyway, shall we get back on topic;

I've decided I'm going to run 29+ at the front with a 3" chronicle. The logic is it's lighter than a bouncy fork, less to go wrong and probably not substantially worse in terms of bump performance than a tired suss fork would be after 300+ Scottish miles.

[ianfitz]

I've decided I'm going to run 29+ at the front with a 3" chronicle. The logic is it's lighter than a bouncy fork, less to go wrong and probably not substantially worse in terms of bump performance than a tired suss fork would be after 300+ Scottish miles.

I was going down that route until about five weeks ago when I decided that I'd buy and build a spearfish! I ran a chronicle up front and an ikon 2.35 on 35mm rims for Rays B350 and was very impressed at how much the front soaked up.

[ianfitz]

I just started a new thread for lift sharing - http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB ... f=8&t=7661

[Alpinum]

I've decided I'm going to run 29+ at the front with a 3" chronicle. The logic is it's lighter than a bouncy fork, less to go wrong and probably not substantially worse in terms of bump performance than a tired suss fork would be after 300+ Scottish miles.

I'll be using a squishy fork.
120 mm Reba, broke it twice (just to give Ian more reasoning not to take a suss fork ) then gave it to the tuner at Akira Tuning. It's seen 1750 km across UK and a similar amount in Switzerland since and still running like when I picked it at Akira Tuning. He tossed in some SKF seals, good stuff for scottish weather .

Even a tired suss fork will do some damping work, while the tyre will just bounce around making it harder to keep things under control on the descents - the only reason to ride the HT… right?

[fatbikephil]

For info, the weekend of the 4th and 5th of June is the World Cup downhill round at Fort Bill so all accomodation in the general area will be booked solid probably Thursday eve onwards if you were fancying grabbing a sneaky night in a hotel or BB before tootling back to Tyndrum. Watching a bunch of guys fly downhill at great speed might also be a fine way to relax after finishing...

[Karl]

I'm hoping to be back by Sunday as we've got tickets for race day. Nice little incentive to get round quickly

[Alpinum]

I'm hoping to be back by Sunday as we've got tickets for race day. Nice little incentive to get round quickly

Same here
Ft. Bill is THE venue do experience a WC DH. Last time my girlfriend got sunburnt during finals. Redcar rocket or Ratboy it should be.

Campgrounds will be full too.

[padonbike]

HT Track Leaders.
I've set it up on SPOT and set up and paid up with Track Leaders but I'm not showing up there - only Huw Oliver is.

Anything I might have done wrong?

[Alpinum]

HT Track Leaders.
I've set it up on SPOT and set up and paid up with Track Leaders but I'm not showing up there - only Huw Oliver is.

Anything I might have done wrong?

+

He's got the 4 gen SPOT. The one that has the anti midge/anti ticks button.

Perhaps setting the SPOT into tracking mode for half an hour? I really don't know, but that's my guess.

[AlanG]

Huw is starting an ITT tomorrow. The group start riders will get loaded up nearer the time, hopefully next by weekend.

[padonbike]

Ok thanks Alan and Alpinium.

[GregMay]

Looking like some strong riding from Huw so far. Conditions must be almost perfect too.

[padonbike]

Some useful route info.
At Fort Augustus there is Girvans Hardware. They are a great liitle store with some basic bike spare like tubes and lube. They also stock screw in gas cannisters and meths. You pass them coming in from Corrieyairick but would have to go slightly off route second time in FA.
Contin Stores are open officially from 8 on Sunday morning, but they guy says there is usually someone there from 0730. This is last shop until Drumbeg stores!!!
Everyone thinks Ullapool = Tesco but there is also N W Outdoors which isn't too tricky to find. He too has basic bike spares and says he will try to get more now he knows of HT. Also has gas cannisters and meths, energy bars and Extreme Foods dehydrated meals. Open 0900 to 1730.
Google these places for exact locations.
Hope this is useful, especially for those coming from abroad.

[touch]

There might be a shop in Rosehall too (between contin and drumbeg). It's marked on google maps as 'Invercassley stores'. It was closed when I went by last year but it was quite late so i'm not sure if that was just outwith opening hours or if it was permanently closed.