Highland Trail 2019

[thenorthwind]

Dusty appears off route as well. He’s on the road when the trail goes onto the singletrack of the GGW. Hopefully he’ll reverse out, or it’s just a tracking error.

Saw that. An unfortunate ping!! That entrance to the GGW is easily missed, especially in the dark.

It's been noted.

The speed of the ping is my worry -from memory, 7.8mph is not the speed I'd expect on that part of the trail.

Hopefully the big gap before that ping is an indication of the reliability of its position. (Not exactly sure whether that's logical, but the gap may indicate it's struggling to find satellites, and therefore the position may be based on fewer, and therefore be less accurate. Maybe. Looks to be about 1000 feet out by my best estimate, which is quite a big error. I'm sure all will become clear soon.)

[Alpinum]

We have a bouncing dot! Well done Dustin.

Amazing
890 or some what km in those conditions, just a bit beyond 4 d

Stellar effort.


And in the meanwhile some get all excited over a 1 km stretch

I wonder how many have previously missed that section, or even better, the even shorter section on the right hand side, above the road just shortly after...
I bet that would lead to many DQ's.
Before some start picking on a potential mistake, they might want to check their own files

Let Alan decide and check (or not) and trust in his integrity. It should be up to him. It's his baby.

No matter what, Dusty has put down a truly amazing effort.

[GregMay]

Northwind - SPOTs do tend to ping their location accurately. Intermittently sure, location...pretty solid on that.

[GregMay]

Gian, as I literally said to Ian F in a text - not the first time someone has missed a section, not the last time someone will miss a section. It's all part of it.

FWIW, i hope he didn't.

[touch]

The speed of the ping is my worry -from memory, 7.8mph is not the speed I'd expect on that part of the trail.

The last ping before that was 18.6 miles back. The 7.8mph is the average speed over those 18.6 miles.
The important bit for me is that the next point shows a significant drop in speed (down to 0.9mph average), likely meaning he either stopped for a bit or went back to ride a section he'd missed.

[AlasdairMc]

4 days 2 hrs 50. I think Nelson Trees is next (I see someone went to find his spot!)

We weren’t sure where Nelson had got to as we were using Instagram posts to guess.

I collected his inReach a couple of days ago, hidden in plain sight at the side of the trail. It uses the classic Garmin eTrex mount that needs modified with a piece of tape to make it work.

[slarge]

What’s going on with Jenny? She’s struggling on the postie path?

[thenorthwind]

We have a bouncing dot! Well done Dustin.

Amazing
890 or some what km in those conditions, just a bit beyond 4 d

Stellar effort.

Absolutely, I think we all know that.

And in the meanwhile some get all excited over a 1 km stretch

I think most of us appreciate the gravity of a rider having completed such an incredible ride only to have missed a small section, especially given the history of the event. Hence some of us discussing that in the hope it's not the case.

Before some start picking on a potential mistake, they might want to check their own files

We're not discussing my efforts because they're not in the same league

[Dave Barter]

What’s going on with Jenny? She’s struggling on the postie path?

I wonder if something bad is wrong with her bike and she is waiting on another rider?

[GregMay]

Possible she's having the kankle issues again. No way to know. But she is moving slower than I'd expect along that section.

EDIT: IIRC we renamed them Tankles afterwards as they were that bad.

[NewRetroTom]

Regarding the cankles/kankles/tankles the cold and wet definitely makes them worse as the body isn't sending so much blood down there, focussing on keeping your core warm.

Fond memories of 2015 keep coming back to me. Shivering myself to sleep in Carnmore bothy was a particular highlight.

[Alpinum]

There was a tweet of Karls setup somewhere preride and it was rather light (although I understand that he would have had some bits in his backpack but still...).... lemme finds it

I've done a few rides with Karl and he always had his rucksack with him. I think he only has rocks inside. Not the lightest gear, but well sorted. I think he focuses more on functionality than through and through lightness.

not the first time someone has missed a section, not the last time someone will miss a section. It's all part of it

Exactly. I'm not asking for answers, just questioning some statements.

[sean_iow]

Karl didn't take a rucksack, he stuffed a few things in his jersey pockets but other than that he only has what you could see on the bike.... plus a plastic poncho from Contin and more determination, courage and enthusiasm than I had. Epic ride from him

[GregMay]

I've been made aware that Karl also has a bonus treat if he finishes :)

[slarge]

I've been made aware that Karl also has a bonus treat if he finishes :)

I hope that's not an unfair advantage - if I had known there was bonus treats happening I would have carried on - bet Sean would as well!

[Alpinum]

Karl didn't take a rucksack, he stuffed a few things in his jersey pockets but other than that he only has what you could see on the bike....

Thanks for the clarification
So he put the rocks in his jersey pocket?

I've been made aware that Karl also has a bonus treat if he finishes :)

Indeed. This time he gets to go ontop of a cow, not beneath one.

Epic ride from him

+1 and still chugging (speed chugging...)

[GregMay]

Similar, but different ping for Ben through there:



But on the trail.

[redefined_cycles]

I've been made aware that Karl also has a bonus treat if he finishes :)

I hope that's not an unfair advantage - if I had known there was bonus treats happening I would have carried on - bet Sean would as well!

That means he's cheating and someone should tell the organiser/race (I mean erm, adventure/notAnEvent) leader (I forget his name)...

Sean, thanks for that update that Karl didn't have a bag as when I seen that pic I was initally gobsmacked (as I am now) but then presumed everything else was in his backpack .... backpack with rocks for training

[Alpinum]

backpack with rocks for training

well... also rides a fatbike every now and then. That's properly good training.

(The rocks in the rucksack was a joke I made - but who knows, perhaps it's true )

[sean_iow]

I've heard Josh Kato trains with rocks in his framebag, picks them up at the bottom of climbs and loads up for extra weight and ditches them at the top

[redefined_cycles]

i only assumed its true cos I often had that idea but then gave it a miss as its the kind of thing only hardnuts would do...

From Karls reports of BB300 (carried all his food as training for another challenge... which I assume HT550 was one of) and the fact that him and his partner/friend were 2 or 3 of the only ones that turned up for a Winter Event (2018 I think) which was powerful enough to be lifting some of them off the ground (thw wind and constant rain).

He's definitely been training with rocks and possibly no water on his rest days

[landel]

I've heard Josh Kato trains with rocks in his framebag, picks them up at the bottom of climbs and loads up for extra weight and ditches them at the top

Yep that's true https://bikepacking.com/plog/adventures ... -training/

[D Faff Master]

https://twitter.com/Clarionrider/status ... 86209?s=19

Karl had a rucksack on when I took these photos yesterday... He was on top form complaining a bit about elephant legs and planning on putting his feet up for a while to drain them in the bothy.

He looked a bit gutted when see later on at Kinlochewe Hotel and the owner reluctant to serve him, James and another rider. They'd missed food, till had been cashed. They ended up bartering energy dense provisions and charity donations as he was refusing to sell them anything. I felt a bit guilty having had a 3 course meal!

[redefined_cycles]

Thats one of them collapsible rucksacks (I have the Osoprey version which collapses into the size of an apple and wieghs around 150g or summat)... He must have been in the mood of carrying some rocks so took out of his bikepacking bags and filled it up and on back

[summittoppler]

Epicyclo has been out and about taking pics. The latest on JG is she's out of brake pads and has to be back in work on Friday...
pics and words on other STW
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topi ... on/page/4/