Highland Trail 2019

[AlasdairMc]

I’m back in Tyndrum after a long day’s driving taking a few folk down the road in the van (I was in Durness this morning). I’m happy to do more shuttling tomorrow if anyone else wants brought back down here. Can someone on Twitter share this please in case it’s of any use?

I can take 3 people at a time, either to here or a train station.

Alasdair - I’ve just posted your offer on Twitter
Mart

Thanks Mart. A few pints in the Tyndrum Inn means it’ll be a tomorrow start, so hopefully everyone is bedded down for the night (as Trackleaders would suggest)

[drjon]

fug. it looks gnarly out there. its gnarly enough without the weather playing hardball...

[cyclingtiger]

James Hayden looks to be sneaking into first place overnight. Meanwhile Liam Glen seems to be sleeping in the public toilets.

[redefined_cycles]

James Hayden looks to be sneaking into first place overnight. Meanwhile Liam Glen seems to be sleeping in the public toilets.

I was just gonna say that. He's proving to be more of a hardball than the other hardballs... Surely he might realise after this that cycling is about mtbing (just saying)...

[wriggles]

James Hayden looks to be sneaking into first place overnight. Meanwhile Liam Glen seems to be sleeping in the public toilets.

I was just gonna say that. He's proving to be more of a hardball than the other hardballs... Surely he might realise after this that cycling is about mtbing (just saying)...

James Hayden has been saying for a while how uncomfortable and how threatened he feels by road riding, especially since Mike Halls passing. He cycle commutes in to London and frequently expresses his frustration. He has said that Italy Divide and HT550 are part of his move to ride off road more. He is also incredibly tough, and his blog about the science of managing himself over long events is fascinating. Seems to learn incredibly quickly from each event as well.

Think he is also in the top 40 all time UK 25ml TT list so pretty nippy when he needs to be.

[ScotRoutes]

Andy Jeffries and Ben Salthouse seem to have skipped the northern loop and be holed up in the Schoolhouse Bothy.
Jason Thomas has gone past the Schoolhouse and is making a beeline for Ullapool via Corriemulzie.

Looks like Pert Kohoutek, Iain Cormack and Daniel Gona are also off-route at the Aultguish Inn. It's possible they could regain the route tomorrow though by a little backtracking.

Jenny Graham is now off-route and may well be at, or near, the Overscaig House Hotel. Again, it's possible she could pick up the route again in the morning.

A collection of 6-8 riders in and around the Oykel Bridge Hotel.

3 riders in the Orrin cement store. I hope it's dried out a bit.

Most of the rest seem to be strung out in various camp/bivvy spots, though delays/gaps in Spot transmission can cause confusion, so Liam may have decided that the Kylesku Hotel was an option or it may be that he moved on.

[redefined_cycles]

James Hayden looks to be sneaking into first place overnight. Meanwhile Liam Glen seems to be sleeping in the public toilets.

I was just gonna say that. He's proving to be more of a hardball than the other hardballs... Surely he might realise after this that cycling is about mtbing (just saying)...

James Hayden has been saying for a while how uncomfortable and how threatened he feels by road riding, especially since Mike Halls passing. He cycle commutes in to London and frequently expresses his frustration. He has said that Italy Divide and HT550 are part of his move to ride off road more. He is also incredibly tough, and his blog about the science of managing himself over long events is fascinating. Seems to learn incredibly quickly from each event as well.

Maybe someone should mention the BB300 to him. He loves a challenge (and hopefully it will remove and make him him forget the frustration of not being able to race the other hardball (Kristoff))... What a top banana...

[Richard G]

I'd wager that's a touch short for him!

[redefined_cycles]

I'd wager that's a touch short for him!

Not when he realises he can win an orange badge with frilly bits on the edges and a smiling teddy bear in the middle... and that its a regular jaunt of some/many of the riders around him today... and that there was many/a significant number of DNFs for 2018 and noone likes to talk about 2014 and the route designer is a maniac that loves seeing people suffer.. sorry, I meant Endure

-------

Anyway. Seems like James has taken the lead and ahead by around 5 miles over Liam now who seems to be chasing (both trackers updated location within last 21 mins)... Not sure where Ben is whos last location update was over 5 hours ago...

Dont think James he'll able to maintain though and sooner or later that trails bashing on him is gonna (surely) really take its toll... Still though (despite the training at altitude and professional/sponsored conditioning) WOW...

[tanadog]

Nelson Trees posted on fb he'd arrived in Kylesku around 3 hrs back, so sometime after midnight.

[Alpinum]

Surely he might realise after this that cycling is about mtbing (just saying)...

HT550 is full of easy double tracks and roads.
There's actually very little MTB in there. Just don't tell him

fug. it looks gnarly out there. its gnarly enough without the weather playing hardball...

Doesn't look that gnarly to me, it's actually quite beautiful...
Of course, the weather is proper sh!it.

Loving how Karl is doing. Well ahead his former pace, despite conditions that make for much slower progress than 2016.

[AlasdairMc]

Jason Thomas has gone past the Schoolhouse and is making a beeline for Ullapool via Corriemulzie.

JT said he was looking for shelter earlier - he’s back on track now though. Hopefully it wasn’t a navigational error by having both tracks visible at the same time.

[fatbikephil]

Karl and Jenny were in the Overscaig hotel by the looks, Karl was away by 3 though! Liam Glen seemed to have stopped at the Kylesku hotel for a good while then left at 2am!

[touch]

Nelson Trees posted on fb he'd arrived in Kylesku around 3 hrs back, so sometime after midnight.

Has he dropped his tracker? It seems like it's still pinging updates every 4 hours but hasn't moved since just after the start.

[tanadog]

Has he dropped his tracker? It seems like it's still pinging updates every 4 hours but hasn't moved since just after the start.

Yip he knows he dropped it at the start. From Fb he's just arrived in Drumbeg, low on brake pads

[BobCatMax]

Any news from Javi?

[Bearbonesnorm]

How many riders are there not scratched? It's not easy to see on TL as some still show as active and some confirmed scratches don't appear to be showing as such.

I knew Karl had the bit between his teeth this year and Adrian's resolve never disappoints

[redefined_cycles]

Any news from Javi?

He's at route mile 259 and just 4 miles behind Karl who seems to have overtaken at some point in last couple hours... both spots/in Reach updated around 4 mins ago and both still moving... Seems the weather might be starting to ease up a bit as the replay button shows people moving a bit more quickly...

Liam seems to be making isyering progress so his good nights rest (around 5 to 6H stopped it seems from that littlw graph) must ve done good...

James Hayden seems to be maming much slower progress (so maybe his shorter stop time of only 2 por3 hours it seems, might not have worked well for him in this situation)... He's got a fair old liad though and 3 sets of gloves alone as well as a sleeping bag weighing in at 1.35kg and then other kit that obviosuly helped the last 30 hours or so but posibly bwcoming a bit much any time soon...

The framebag he's running seems an interesting concept. Full waterproof and welded and made by some italian lady... over 200 euros though (to normal folk and potentially him too)

[redefined_cycles]

*Comical bugle noise*
Scratch of the day:
Lee Craigie
Pete Worsfold
Scott Lindsay
Cath Wightman
Aidan Robbins
Bryan Singleton
Steve Chapman
Ben Yarnold
Ben Houdry
Sean Belson
Lars Henning
Fiona Massey
Richard Wilson
Clem Shovel
Craig Dolwin
Steve Large
Remi Lequint
Peter Brooking

Stu... that was last nights confirmed update...

[Mariner]

Has he dropped his tracker? It seems like it's still pinging updates every 4 hours but hasn't moved since just after the start.

Yip he knows he dropped it at the start. From Fb he's just arrived in Drumbeg, low on brake pads

If he did drop it it is giving a position of 56°29'39.9"N 4°41'58.8"W.
He might want to collect it after it has stopped updating.

[whitestone]

How many riders are there not scratched? It's not easy to see on TL as some still show as active and some confirmed scratches don't appear to be showing as such.

I knew Karl had the bit between his teeth this year and Adrian's resolve never disappoints

Alan said at the start only to let Greg know if they wanted to be removed from Trackleaders

There’s a group of about half a dozen heading back down the Great Glen including Alan

[In Reverse]

How many riders are there not scratched? It's not easy to see on TL as some still show as active and some confirmed scratches don't appear to be showing as such.

I knew Karl had the bit between his teeth this year and Adrian's resolve never disappoints

I think it's 26 left - Mirek Svab upwards plus Alan Parkinson.

Karl was drinking pints and eating pizza when I saw him last week. Clearly very good preparation

[Richard G]

Karl was drinking pints and eating pizza when I saw him last week. Clearly very good preparation

You should have seen me before the BB300...

[fatbikephil]

I make it 28 still on route with Michelle Dulieu in the lantern rouge position. Karl's going great guns!

[redefined_cycles]

Thats what the 'field of dreams' looked like around 3 hours ago and this what it looks like now



Relentless...