Day 6, Last Day

I slept on the side of the road for a few hours and then up & off.  At this point I was well into a smooth steady routine.  The last day strategy was simple, easy and steady to the finish about 100 miles away.  I costed down into Fort Augustus by 8am and got some breakfast, cleaned up a bit in the public washroom.  I remember sitting in the warm sun thinking a nap would be nice but eventually pushed on down canal path to Fort William.  I enjoyed the easy pedaling while checking out the boats, locks and idyllic scenery.  

In Fort Williams I thought of finding a restaurant for a late lunch but settled for a small grocery store along the route. It was them some climbing up then down to Kinlochleven.

Kinlochleven has a touristy feel to it, lots of day trippers busing around, felt a bit hectic after the relaxed canal riding earlier in the day.  A quick resupply and then up over a long steep climb and on to the finish.  I rolled the last 10 miles as hard as I could and reached the finish at Tyndrum around 10:20pm.  Right at the finish line there was a small group of racers and friends hanging out.

I looked for my wife and son but they weren’t there so after a bit of banter I left to find them.  And so ends my HT 550. 

More of a ‘fast tour’ than race with a official finish of 5 days, 13 hours and 21 place out of about 40 finishers. Not bad for a 60 yr old.  If you get the chance I can’t recommend enough you race the HT 550.  One of the best multi-day races anywhere.

The rest of the week was spent playing tourist with Sharon and Scot. 

We saw castles galore and all the usual stuff.  We visited the McPherson museum (family tree stuff) and had fun driving on the wrong side of the road…..and in general just had a great time.  I would go back to Scotland in a heart beat........

Day 5 (slow drag)

Shortly after I got going on the morning of day 5 I tipped over and hit the ground pretty hard.  Knowing that I was not going to make my self-imposed finish time goal, hurting a bit and surprised from the crash and just general exhaustion I now lowered my expectations and mentally let go of the race.  In retrospect this was the end of my ‘race’.  My sense of urgency to push on moderated from high to medium.  From this point onward I didn’t take as many pictures, I stopped more and more, and in short I was cooked and just riding out the miles to the finish.  The weather was perfect, the scenery fantastic and basically I took a mental deep breath and transitioned to a ‘I-am-on-vacation’ mode and proceeded to enjoy the remaining miles from a more relaxed perspective.

I soon arrived at Kinlochewe and kicked myself once again for pulling up short the night before as I realized I could have spent the night at the small Kinlochewe Hotel. 

Gurr, Missed staying in this cool little hotel by about 2 hours…..

On the other hand I had gotten a fairly good night, under the stars in the Highlands, so maybe that was better.  

Took a rest inside this little bothy, and unlike in this web pic, the sun was out, the day presently warm, the legs tired and even though it was only 9:00am I actually took a short nap on the floor of this cute little bothy.  Its more of a day rest hut than sleeping hut. The sun and big windows had warmed up the small room, I easily could have stayed 2 hours but after 30 min I still had enough ‘race’ in me to move on.  

Soon I was riding again with Karl Booth (he had gotten a room that night at the Kinlochewe Hotel, slept in a bit and seemed to be pretty chipper) across the fast & fun Achnashellach singletrack.  Once again wishing I had bigger tires with a bit more traction.  By the gate at the end of the steep technical section Karl was gone and I made no attempt to catch back up.

The next 10 or so miles to Strathcarron were flat and easy pedaling along a sealed country road. Many times I find these type sections 'easy road riding' the hardest going as I tend to let up, relax, get sleepy, start to feel each ache and pain etc.  By the time I rolled up to the intersection at Strathcarron I needed a break. Got a nice lunch, one of my few real meals, even had pie for desert.  I tried to sit off by myself as I am sure I stank a bit but was treated nicely and left refueled from a meal and the little post office, I was now somewhat refreshed.

Strathcarron Hote & Restaurant

I leisurely made my way on to Dornie arriving about 4:30.  Took pictures of the 'tourist' castle and then sat next to water and ate some snacks from the post office. I remember being tired, content and in no hurry to get anywhere, yup I was feeling the vacation mode….

The route passes by the Eilean Donan Castle http://www.eileandonancastle.com/

Soon after leaving Dornie the route returned to the backcountry and does so with a steep sharp hike-a-bike climb.  The climb got me going again plus I wanted to finish off any singletrack before dark.

Cool ruin right before the hike-a-bike begins.

I passed by the Camban bothy around 8:40 pm but couldn’t quite bring myself to stop.  There was still daylight and I pressed on for 3 more hours.. At 12pm shart I camped up right next to the road in some lonely pine trees.  It had been a long, slow 20 hour day with only 75 miles to show for it.  At this point in the race I was still putting in the hours but really just riding out the remaining miles and taking in the sights.  A little disappointment going from a 'race' perspective but 100% satisfied from a vacation point of view.

Day 4 (short, strikingly beautiful & very hard)

The 4th day was overall probably the most spectacular day from a constant WOW factor.  But was also one of the hardest days from a motivation point of view.  Up and going by 4:30 am, it had been a less than restful night, buggy, interruptions from other racers, little recovery, just a bad night overall.  And to rub salt in the wound about 2.5 miles into day 4 I pass by a nice modern Bothy with a bikepacking bike leaning up against the wall.  Later I would learn I had this bothy pegged once in my pre-race prep as a potential stop but had lost track of it and neglected to place it on my final cheat sheet map.  Ahh, if I had only rode out my planned 100 miles for day 3 I would have stumbled upon it and had a perfect camp with 1 fellow racer—if I ever get a re-do I hope the route and timing takes me to this specific bothy (humm, does this sound like good excuse, I mean reason to go again?).

Schoolhouse Bothy (lifted this pic from the web) http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/bothy-details.asp?bothy_id=7

Side note; I never hit a bothy at the right time to spend the night, always to early or to slow to reach one.  I did spend about 30 min in one the following day, took a short nap under a sunny window all the while wishing I could stay much much longer….

Shortly after I the missed Bothy I was joined by the occupant who had the good fortune to spend a solo night there, Karl Booth.  Karl was back to finish the HT 550 in 2016 after a missed attempt the yr before.  Karl is a younger, stronger rider but we did spend some time together working our way thru some tricky sidehill tracks and on to Ullapool.  A late grocery store breakfast and full re-supply in Ullapool and back on the route about 1 hour later.  After stopping for 1 hour, eating and drinking all I could get down, I could tell that I was not fully recovered.  Normally this would have been upsetting but I was still taking in all the fantastic Highland scenery, enjoying unusually good weather and basically was quite content to ride along in a ‘fast tour’ frame of mind.  

A long steep climb and I had a reached this high point with great view.  I tried to take a quick 360 deg video but had the start/stop settings backwards and shot 30 sec of my feet—but you get the idea with this still shot.

The route drops down and across the Dundonnell River then up and back down to the head valley above Loch na Sealga.  Again I was being wow’ed, almost overwhelmed by the terrain.

Old cottage on the way to Loch na Sealga

I rolled by the Shenevall Bothy at 3pm, again wishing my timing was different, although this particular bothy was busy with backpackers

Inside of Shenevall Bothy

Moving on after a quick tour of Shenevall I arrived at the “potentially dangerous river crossing” mentioned in the route discretion, the same one that in other years proved a huge stumbling block with high dangerous water.  I had been stressing about this river crossing ever since I began serious HT 550 prep. 

Well for my HT 550 it was all cake, ha a sunny day, shallow, still water, maybe almost knee deep at best  

On the far side, putting the socks and shoes back on

Pushing the bike across the rock, on route along the beach at the tip of Loch na Sealga.

Around 4pm I was climbing away from Loch na Sealga and starting to mentally drag a bit.  There was a bit of hike-a-bike, trackleader says about 30 min for me, before the drop back down to the Duba Lock Causeway.

Nice trail after some hike-a-bike.  Plus size tires would have been way more fun in these type sections….

Causeway can be seen in the upper left

Causeway, after which the route heads to the far right and then hooks left and up a valley

Around 8:40pm I topped out above Letterewe Estate (http://www.letterewe-estate.com/estate)

Looking down on Letterewe.  The route comes up the now closed road that was cut in just to build this estate. So this building now only has access by foot or boat if I understand correctly.

Hum, I wonder if they drove that truck on the left in or ferried it in.

The route skirts along the edge of the main buildings and shoots off to some tricky sidehill singletrack.  Once I reached this section, apparently an old ‘walking postman path’ dark was closing in and I became a bit concerned about crashing and walked the bike more and more.  This was also one of the few times I got ‘bogged’ with a bad line choice and had to wade thru some mucky muck to get back on track.  The hope was to reach the end of this 'postman path' before camping but it was not to be. 

Only 60 miles in a long 18 hour day I was cooked and found a small hill top with a light breeze to keep the pesky Midges mostly at bay.  A short, hard day but in the end a very rewarding day….but I did sleep good this time.

Day 3 (HT 500 starts to bite back)

Day 3, have left planet earth for a few hours......

It was cold and damp when I woke the morning of day 3.  I had slept on the steps of a small building, wasn’t my best ever choice for stealth camp spot but got the job done. Heading out thru the mist and fog I felt lots of solitude even knowing other racers must be nearby.  The sealed road turned to dirt then to a rough two track.  Soon I was riding next to then above the Glen Golly River. 

Foot bridge across a tributary of the Geln Golly

A racer just a tad faster than I was could do a lot worse that to set up a 2^nd day camp down in the shelter of a low meadow area, where route gets near this river.  

Above the Glen Golly, heading into the remotest (coolest?) part of the route

As I slowly climbed up to Lochan Segreach the going got steep, other racers began to roll by and the terrain and trail became single track to bushwhacking.  Not a section to attempt at night unless you like wasting massive amount of time and energy.  During the day this section is great fun as even in light mist and fog you can see enough to pick a reasonable line to follow, riding or hiking.  This section like many others is now deeply embedded in my ‘western US cowboy county memory’ as truly other-worldly. 

For a short time I felt I was on a different planet, ahh such memories….

After some hike-a-bike I shot down out of the rough backcontry, back down to rural highlands.

Once you pass thur these gate rocks you have returned to planet earth

In a couple of miles the route has passed me by the few homes and buildings of Achfary and up a steep climb, up to some unnamed saddle and on towards the coastline and Kylestrome then Drumbeg (got a snack there) and on along the coast to Lochinver (lots of resupply choices here)

Fun singletrack next to the Atlantic Ocean (when I at this picture I again realize I was not in peak race condition, carring about 10 extra lbs--and on day 3 I started paying the price)

As I moved along the coast line other racers came and went and for the first time since the start I talked and chatted with the few that were close to my pace. 

Singletrack that drops you right into Lochinver

After a fast resupply I was back by myself and found smooth sailing till just before Lochan Fada.  The trail hear was chunky and beyond my tired legs to ride.  I pushed my hardtail for what seemed like hours (Trackleaders says it was 3 hours) till I hit A835 and could remount and ride.  It was about 10pm and for the day I had around 77 miles and 17hr behind me.   

9:40pm, I had just finished pushing my rig down that shoreline,

I was now about spent and found it hard to fully appreciate the spectacular view, it had been frustratingly slow going the last 3 hours…..

The plan was to push on till I hit 100 miles for the day and then camp up.  At 92 miles I gave up and called it a day.  I picked what I thought would be a great camp spot but soon was fighting off Midges as I ate, cleaned up etc.  The next morning, in only 2.5 more miles, I would learn I had made a truly major blunder in not staying on plan and going for the full planned 100 miles…….as I write this report this gaff still bugs me almost a year later...ahhhhhhhh......

Mike Hall

A few days ago Mike Hall died during the inaugural Indian Pacific Wheel Race in Australia.

https://www.indianpacificwheelrace.com/

We never met, we never raced at the same time but we raced some of the same events and exchanged a bit of forum talk.  I studied his bike prep intently and tried to emulate in my own way his hard core race strategies. Mike was a front runner and I mid pack at best. Once when Mike wrote some unexpectedly complimentary remarks about one of my upcoming races it made my day.

I don’t write this lightly but Mike was one of my few multi-day racer heroes. 

I have been away from this blog, pre-occupied with my current prep for the Tour of Idaho (moto event).  But Mike’s death has really made me reflect on my multi-day racing.  It’s made me realize that while busy with other things I am not done with multi-day bike racing.  Look for me to finish off the Highland race report, and in time post up future multi-day stuff.

Tailwinds forever more Mike.