Cairngorms Loop 300 - September Group Start?

[robbie]

Sean, we are considering one of the Travelodges in Perth, 50mins to Blair Atholl. Still leaves a bloody long journey the day before for you though.

I'm in Perth so gimme a shout

[Lazarus]

I am just north of manchester and handy for M6 if you want a stop off - We can go for a bivy locally if you want to get into the feel of it properly

Happy to offer lodgings for you and bike for a night - will mean stopping 30 mins /40 miles sooner
PM if of any use

[fatbikephil]

Just seen this - I'm about an hour and a half away from Blair Atholl with a spare room - if you get stuck give us a shout. Not sure how the whole social distancing thing would work but at the very least you could kip in my shed!

[stevewaters]

The Travelodges around Perth are showing £28 for the Friday night.

[ScotRoutes]

I saw on Instagram that Hue Oliver recently went round in 18 hr 29 min

https://topofests.com/2020/08/13/naviga ... orms-loop/

I'd avoided commenting...

[sean_iow]

Cheers all. I've booked into the campsite at Glengoulandie for Fri/Sat/Sun. The plan will be to sleep there Friday before the event and Sunday after I (hopefully) get back. That really requires a sub 36 hour completion, I'd better do some riding over the next few weeks The tent can stay up empty Saturday but will be there if weather/river crossings mean I have to scratch.

The current plan will then be to park up in Aberfoyle on Monday and then go for a 2 day/300km ride round Loch Lomond and the Trossachs Scotland's too far from mine to drive there for just one 300km ride

[sean_iow]

https://topofests.com/2020/08/13/naviga ... orms-loop/

I'd avoided commenting...

Ops, but he has done the right thing and withdrawn his time. That makes my previous comment look more like a prediction now

Hue's on the group start list so maybe that was just a practice lap and he'll do a proper fast ride this time

[fatbikephil]

Fair play to Huw for calling that one. I'm glad its not just me that follows their nose rather than the bloody gpx track on familiar ground!

Blimey he was quick to the Eidart - 8hrs!!. On my first attempt I got to the Geldie in just over 9 hours (on bone dry trails) and blew myself up in the process.....

[ScotRoutes]

Fair play to Huw for calling that one. I'm glad its not just me that follows their nose rather than the bloody gpx track on familiar ground!

Aye, but he passed up one of the really nice bits of singletrack

[bigtalljohn]

So the good news is I'm repairing well and had what I thought was my last physio session, told her of my plans to do this and she thought it was a good idea to have another appointment on the 17th "to see what's left"

I have decided to take it easy and will be taking a tent, luxury item No 1
I will be filming so taking camera, luxury item No 2
I will be taking a 4 pack of pork pies, luxury item No3

[ScotRoutes]

Excellent news (on the recovery, not the pork pies).

[bigtalljohn]

Excellent news (on the recovery, not the pork pies).

To be brutally honest I think both in the big scheme of things have equal importance, any news on the latest GPS route

[In Reverse]

Wrong way or not that's an incredible ride by Huw.

[ScotRoutes]

We had another fast time this week - 20hr 5min. I'm genuinely in awe of these folk!

[fatbikephil]

Funny isn't it, when Phil Simcock did it in under 22 hours there was much dropping of jaws.... Averaging 9mph over that terrain is good going

[ScotRoutes]

It's not the average speed that gets me. I'm perfectly comfortable with the idea that folk pedal much faster than me. It's the idea that they're not slowing down on the HaB bits

[ScotRoutes]

One of September's starters did the Badger Divide in under 24 hours so it looks like there could be a bit of a race on.

[whitestone]

It's not the average speed that gets me. I'm perfectly comfortable with the idea that folk pedal much faster than me. It's the idea that they're not slowing down on the HaB bits

It would be interesting (in a geeky way) to know what their times were between Nethy Bridge and Bob Scott's. I know not everyone uses Strava but it can be useful for this. Had a peek and I noticed that Phil Simcock had done the CL again last year in 20h23m - https://www.strava.com/activities/2530211870/. He took 7 1/2hrs to get to the Red House/Geldie Burn! That's quicker than Huw Oliver the other week so he must have slowed down some in the latter part. Three hours of that time were between Nethy Bridge and Bob Scott's.

[sean_iow]

Is it safe to leave the car in the Bridge of Tilt car park during the ride? Or is there somewhere close by that's better?

And for those of you in Scotland, what time is it likely to get dark at night and light the next morning? Just thinking about battery life for the lights and I remembered that down south we have the sun for several hours longer than you?

[ScotRoutes]

Is it safe to leave the car in the Bridge of Tilt car park during the ride? Or is there somewhere close by that's better?

And for those of you in Scotland, what time is it likely to get dark at night and light the next morning? Just thinking about battery life for the lights and I remembered that down south we have the sun for several hours longer than you?

BoT car park should be fine. There are a few spaces near the station too.

You might want to check sunrise/sunset times. It barely gets dark up here in summer. 12th September is before the equinox which probably means it's about the same here as the IOW.

[ScotRoutes]

There are some spaces at the wee visitors centre/chippie too.

[fatbikephil]

And for those of you in Scotland, what time is it likely to get dark at night and light the next morning? Just thinking about battery life for the lights and I remembered that down south we have the sun for several hours longer than you?

0640 am to 1941 on the 12th in Aviemore. I'd figure on full dark at 8.30pm and enough light to see by 5.30-6am depending on the weather.

Geldie to Feshie traverse could be a challenge to get through before it gets dark and not an ideal trail in the dark.....

[sean_iow]

Geldie to Feshie traverse could be a challenge to get through before it gets dark and not an ideal trail in the dark.....

Looking on the map and google earth there's about 5 miles which is only a feint path/trackless? There is still over 100 miles to go* at the start of that section so waiting for daylight (up to 9 hrs) isn't really an option?

* I might be looking at the wrong section entirely, my local knowledge is somewhat lacking. It starts when the double-track finishes at mile 77?

[fatbikephil]

Geldie to Feshie traverse could be a challenge to get through before it gets dark and not an ideal trail in the dark.....

Looking on the map and google earth there's about 5 miles which is only a feint path/trackless? There is still over 100 miles to go* at the start of that section so waiting for daylight (up to 9 hrs) isn't really an option?

* I might be looking at the wrong section entirely, my local knowledge is somewhat lacking. It starts when the double-track finishes at mile 77?

Thats the section - between the turn off from the double track near Geldie Lodge to the NTS boundary (923 877) its had work done on it so although its fairly hard going in places its well defined, just a few boggy sections. Beyond the boundary its rougher and the line on the ground deviates from the line on the (OS) map on the last few hundred metres to the eidart bridge. Looks like the GPX track follows this so it should be OK (it used to follow the line on the OS which doesn't exist on the ground) but I'm thinking that in full dark (and rain) it will take a bit of care to stay on line as there are a few false turns from memory. This bit used to be quite vague but I think its better defined now, and boggy..... Beyond the bridge it gets better but there is an argo cat track that parallels the single track and its very boggy - stick to the single track.

The more I've looked at the route the more I've worked out that unless I go like the clappers I'm going to hit this section at dark o'clock. Hey ho... I think my biggest concern for riding in the dark is the goat path above the feshie (i.e the pic in my post above) and the bloody Alt garblach a couple of k past ruigh Aitachain. A few years ago Colin posted some scary pics of this 'side burn' and if the river levels are up, crossing in the dark could be dodgy. At least we can hide in the bothy if that is the case. Oh we can't.....

[In Reverse]

Me and Crisp rode that stretch together in the dark and didn't find it too bad, no real navigation issues. We rode the next stretch through Glen Feshie separately after I stopped to put a tube in and both had issues . Looking back at my track on Strava there's quite a bit of wandering off route and bits that look like this:



I reckon I lost at least half an hour and wasted a good chunk of energy due to navigation around 147 - 150 km. If/when I ride it again I'll be doing a proper advance check on that bit of the gpx. The good news is it's a very fast blast from there to Aviemore and the 24hr M&S