Training Log Archive: GD44

Final results announced and I finished 6th!

https://highlandtrail550.weebly.com/2021.html

#	NAME	Time	Comments
1	​Liam Glen	3-11-00	singlespeed record
2	Andrew Hutcheson	3-17-19
3	James Hayden	3-18-59
4	Jim Higgins	4-14-15
5	Steve Chapman	4-21-18
6	Gary Davies	5-00-08
7	Steve Waters	5-06-12
8	Lars Henning	5-07-02
9	Phil Clarke	5-07-50
10	Mike Toyn	5-07-50
11	John Fettis	5-08-47
12	Annie Le	5-08-55	1st female
13	Pete Crawforth	5-13-43
14	Chris Moorhouse	5-19-28
15	Nick Carter	5-21-20
16	Ian McNab	5-21-35	oldest ever finisher, 65
17	Nick Bubb	5-22-31
18	Emma Holgate	5-22-59	2nd female
19	Chris Sleight	6-03-30
20	David Murray	6-05-31
21	Rob Waller	6-10-17
22	Tom Robinson	6-10-34
23	Iain Cormack	6-14-42
24	Mike Dennison	6-16-38
25	Crispin Hoult	6-16-45
26	Ruth Crewe	6-19-56	3rd female
27	Russell Jones	6-20-07
28	Johnny Baker	8-03-43
29	Martin Brown	9-01-59
30	Andrea Rodgers	9-03-39	4th female

54 starters
Two that finished ahead of me were DQ'd:
Josh Ibbett - needed to follow other riders to find his way due to GPS problems.
Rich Rothwell - stayed in a bothy (https://www.richrothwellcycling.co.uk/highland-tra...)
Others DNF or shortened their route considerably and therefore not ranked

HT550 DAY 6

I managed to go through the early hours of Day 6 without any sleep. At midnight, I had just crested the summit (330m AOD) after Fort William and was near Lairigmor ruin.

I arrived into Kinlochmore/Kinlochleven in the early hours of the morning whilst dark after a very technical descent which needed a lot of walking.

I then faced a ridiculously steep climb beside some water pipelines out of Kinlochleven. OMG it was steep! At this point, I put on a playlist from my phone and played it at full volume for the next few hours.

Once past the top of the pipeline, the track undulated up to a high point of 548m near Beinn Bheag. The following descent was asptly named devil's staircase. I didn't ride much of this as it was very steep and technical, plus I was a little wobbly!

I popped out onto the A82 at Altnafeadh but had to follow the Old Military Road to the north of it. I cycled past the Glen Coe Ski Centre and approximately 15km from the end of the race, my etrex 32 said that I had completed the route. I was very confused as I was clearly not back in Tyndrum. I panicked a little and stated heading back up the track I had descended. Luckily, I decided to stop, get out my map and compass and double-check. It appeared that the GPX file was shortened when I had combined the two supplied by Alan Goldsmith (the HT550 organiser). Doh!

My neck was getting very weak by this point and unable to hold my head up! I took off the Joystick to make the helmet lighter. This helped a litttle but didn't overcome the problem. So I had to keep flicking my head up so I could see where I was going - LOL!

There was an unexpected HaB after Loch Tulla and before Bridge of Orchy. This wasn't welcomed!

Before Tyndrum, I mistakenly started heading down the main road but soon realised I should have been on the track on the other side of the railway. SO I headed back and crossed underneath the train track to join it.

I finished just over 5days and was delighted.

I put the bike in the car, checked into the hotel, had a shower, had a snooze and then went back out to the Real Food Cafe to see Steve Water come in. More joined as the afternoon wore on. Great afternoon.