As suggested by someone else on here and a good idea it is too. As I'm not organising a group spot track for this event individuals are encouraged to put a link up on here so we can watch your endeavours.

I spoke to Ray and have offered to try to set up a location page on Spotwalla that anybody with a tracker could join. I contacted Spotwalla and they have confirmed it is free - but I do need to give them details etc, and then everyone has to join themselves so they are taking the decision on privacy etc. So before I do that, I thought I would ask how many people who are riding will be carrying a spot tracker, and of those, how many would be interested in adding their dot to a group page?

It's worth saying at this stage that trackers are NOT mandatory for this event and so a group page would definitely not be a leader board. However, I do think it would make it more interesting to be able to follow everyone on the same map.

Another question I wanted to ask - would it be better to have a separate or combined page for the 220 and the 350. Anybody with any thoughts please chip in.....

I'll be using my tracker however I have a number of other challenges to deal with before I commit.....

htrider wrote:I have a number of other challenges to deal with before I commit.....

Sounds ominous! I fell off my bike in Knoydart three weeks ago and did the same rib that forced me to drop out of the HT last year. I think I'll be ok to start, but if it goes during the ride I'm going to scratch instantly this time rather than carry on for another 2 days

Anyway, there was interest on Facebook on a shared page so I'm going to give it a go and then post information back here...

I'm taking one. And many thanks Howard.

Howard wrote:

htrider wrote:I have a number of other challenges to deal with before I commit.....

Sounds ominous! I fell off my bike in Knoydart three weeks ago and did the same rib that forced me to drop out of the HT last year. I think I'll be ok to start, but if it goes during the ride I'm going to scratch instantly this time rather than carry on for another 2 days

Anyway, there was interest on Facebook on a shared page so I'm going to give it a go and then post information back here...

Ouch! Well I got one problem solved today (ish) I've managed to get two days off work, I was hoping for three or four as I think I'll struggle to do it in less than 4 rides. This is compounded by my major problem which is a dodgy knee that has suddenly flared up big style.... Physio next week.... Getting old sucks

Suppose you could call in sick on day 5 to say your knee is too sore to go into work ??

Anyway - Jason at Spotwalla is a star and we now have shiny pages just waiting to have dots crawling all over them

The links are completely public and are https://spotwalla.com/locationViewer.php?id=559 for the 220 and https://spotwalla.com/locationViewer.php?id=558 for the 350.

I'm going to play a bit over the weekend with my tracker to make sure it all seems in order and then post again to explain how to join etc

Feels like it's getting close now!!

OK, Here are the details for joining your spot to the Borders350 and 220 Spotwalla pages.

1) You obviously need a working Spot – people who are hiring/borrowing may have to get that all set up last minute, but there are plenty of other places where you can find out how to do that. You will need to create a SPOT shared page in your SPOT account as this is how SpotWalla gets its data.
2) You need a Spotwalla account. Go to http://www.spotwalla.com and register, it is straightforward – but you need to decide whether to use your real name or not!
3) Go to Devices and the +New Device. Then select the device type. It does a lot more than just SPOT trackers (including iPhones but doubt that is going to work where we’re going ).
4) The name you give your device will end up appearing on the details page that everyone will be able to see. I just used my first name, but again, a warning if you are concerned about privacy.
5) Then you need to provide the ESN for the SPOT (the number inside the battery compartment) and the url for your SPOT shared page that you set up earlier. It is going to look something like https://share.findmespot.com/shared/fac ... tkq34MkqZt
6) Once you have your device active, there is one more privacy setting you should consider. You can set up a “secure zone” so that within say a 5km radius of your house, the spot location will be suppressed. From the Devices page, there is a drop down for the device you have just added with a menu item of “Secure Zones”. I have it set up for mine and it works.
7) The last step is to join the event location page. There are several ways to do this, but here are direct links to the relevant pages : Borders220 https://spotwalla.com/join.php?a=a&id=559 and Borders350 https://spotwalla.com/join.php?a=a&id=558
8) The password to join the page is Peebles. I only added the password to prevent people “accidently” joining the page. For the Location ID, I used my initials (like Trackleaders does), as you are only allowed 3 characters. I chose to only display the message type of “Tracking”. Again this is a privacy consideration – an “OK” message often indicates where you are camping!
9) And that should be that. Fire your device up, start it tracking, make sure you are outside any secure zone you have set up, and your marker should appear on the page – even if it is miles away from the actual course. There is always a delay on things updating – so don’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen immediately. If it isn’t working, have a look first on the SPOT page just to check it isn’t that.

Hope that makes sense - good luck!

PS - meant to say that there doesn't seem to be any way to click through to the history of an individual's route (like Trackleaders lets you do). I will ask if that is possible, but people may want to still set up a page of their own if they want family and friends to be able to see the history.

Howard, your a star. With my ineptitude in all things technical I'd never have got that sorted.

Ray Young wrote:Howard, your a star. With my ineptitude in all things technical I'd never have got that sorted.

Thanks - my worry is that by trying to give detailed instructions I've made it sound worse than it is... Let me know if you're fighting the technology and I'll help if I can.....

So I got an answer on how to link through to your individual history from the group page. If you set up an active, public trip, a link will show automatically. If you want to show the route map on your trip page, you need to have a kml of the route (which I can share) and add it as a track to your trip. That's possibly a bit cryptic, but if anybody wants more detailed instructions - let me know

Cheers for sorting that out Howard. I've had the Spot on today and appear to of popped up on the map so all working!

HELP! How do I find or create SPOT Shared page in my spot account?

Ray Young wrote:HELP! How do I find or create SPOT Shared page in my spot account?

Go to the Share icon at the top of the page. On the page that appears there's a link "Create a Share Page". Click that. Give the share a name, make sure the page is public but I think that's the default. Everything else can be left default. Click create and that's it. You'll get a popup with the web address of the shared page to use with spotwalla, trackleaders, etc.

whitestone wrote:

Ray Young wrote:HELP! How do I find or create SPOT Shared page in my spot account?

Go to the Share icon at the top of the page. On the page that appears there's a link "Create a Share Page". Click that. Give the share a name, make sure the page is public but I think that's the default. Everything else can be left default. Click create and that's it. You'll get a popup with the web address of the shared page to use with spotwalla, trackleaders, etc.

Thanks will check it later, bloody hectic day today just when I least need it!

Looks like a close race at the front of the 350 with only a few miles seperating the front 3! Good going in that heat over the weekend

Looking like all should be finished tomorrow with Ray the first back.
A bit more drizzle tomorrow morning should cool a few brows

Is Ray the "???" on the 220 spotWalla. Looks like the leaders in the 350 are chasing him down! :) I think Tom Phillips finished the 220 yesterday evening - great stuff!

Tom Phillips was first finished on the 220 crossing the line at 9.00 pm last night, approximately 2 days 13 hours. We rode together all the way to Jedburgh where I suffered a huge slit in the front tyre requiring a new tyre so Tom pressed on. I crossed the line at 11.10 pm, approximately 2 days 15 hours. Trail conditions were fantastic but the heat and humidity were often hard to deal with. Write up later. I left it too late to sort out the spot I hired, the two days before the off became very hectic for no unplanned reasons and I just ran out of time.

Hey great effort guys! Glad you've got another finish Ray and that the tyre didn't hold you back for long! Sounds like at least it happened in a convenient spot? Looking forward to the write up!

Yes, it happened about a mile and a half from Jedburgh. Even with a boot it was bulging like hell. I met Tom afterwards in a cafe just as he was finishing breakfast so told him what happened. More than happy for him to press on, indeed he is a very fit man and could have left me for dust at any point if he'd wanted.

I know some of you don't do Facebook but there's some good stuff being posted.https://www.facebook.com/groups/517013845127454/

The first three are all very close, could be anybodies win and a sub four day finish, fantastic.

Good effort Ray, particularly dealing with a proper mechanical to boot!
Look forward to reading all about it

We've had three finishers of the 350. Rob Andrews, Pete Gretton and Freddy Tanner. Rob posted on the Facebook page that he finished at 10pm last night with the others so I believe they all crossed the finish line together but this is yet to be confirmed. This gives an approximate finish time of 3 days 14 hours, a superb effort given the heat and humidity. Thanks guys, I'm hoping this achievement will spur on others to attempt a solo effort or next year's group start, .