2019 Scotland Highland Trail 550 (HT550), Introductions and Day 1 from my viewpoint.

Round 1, 2017 Attempt, brief introduction and synopsis.

I thought about writing this up as I while I was still in Scotland, but it took me a while obviously. I thank Karl Booth and a couple others who did this in 2019 and seeing their stories on line to get me motivated to complete the write up. Plus not being a tech nerd, this whole blogging thing took me a while to manipulate. Bear with me on the tech end of things.

I attempted the HT550 adventure/mountain bike race in May 2017 on my custom steel single speed/rigid, having just finished antibiotics for recurrent bronchitis. I originally planned to do this ride in 2015, though had a left knee arthroplasty that year, 4th surgery on that knee. In 2017 I flew from Chicago to Edinburgh on Aer Lingus for ~$950, the best price I could find. Both years I took the train-so affordable and easy to manipulate with most helpful people to tell me where to go!https://www.scotrail.co.uk/ I took the train from Edinburgh to Tyndrum, the race start/finish town and back. I did the group start with about 60 or so total riders 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJJL1_iwzbo) for Video clip of 2017; about 5-16 seconds is my interview at tunnel/sheep gate, and 3:35-3:40 on downhill to the gate-note empty Salsa Anything Rack on left fork tube with loose flapping strap-I lost my orange dry bag off the fork <2 miles into the race!, ~3:08-3:15, myself heading to start with Joachim Rosenlund with Tom and Rich Seipp in background walking after they completed the 550 miles, 4:15-4:21 at gate, videographer/cyclist commenting on the SS set up; at 1:28 shows Rich Seipp and son Tom walking to the start with the racers-Tom, who at 12 years old finished the HT550 as an ITT with his Dad early that morning getting in at around 1 AM-they set the racers off at 0900 that morning, 3:55 race promoter Alan Goldsmith, 4:02-4:15-the badass ladies, UK/Scot Lee Craigie and Jenny Graham-the fastest female around the world on a bicycle. I was off the back and got caught in cold rain, while those ahead were in front of the rain which approached from the southwest. Lee Craigie was filming the ride that year and kept going ahead, coming back. I saw her several times-HA! When she saw me she knew she was at the back!

After riding 12 ½ hours, about 9 ½ of that in cold rain, my bronchitis recurred and I tented about 8 miles past Culra Bothy, where Berten de Caane crashed for the night. In the morning, though I felt better, I made the decision to scratch once I hit Fort Augustus where I rested for a day, lodging at the Richmond House Hotelhttps://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/richmond-house-fort-augustus.html. There are no medical facilities north of there, should my lungs worsen. I tried to contact Alan and Greg May via text/email from Fort Augustus to inform them I was scratching but was unable to reach them, at least that I could confirm. In the morning I took the return part of the course south from Fort Augustus at Loch Ness along the Caledonian Canal to Fort William, where I stopped at Inverlochy Castle built by a distant ancestor John Comyn in 1270https://www.inverlochycastle.co.uk/. I then took the train back to Tyndrum. I learned my lesson the hard way; no SS in Scotland unless you’re Javi! I also realized I needed to get my lungs better tuned up for a return trip. Overall 2017 was a great year regarding weather. The official HT550 course is 550 miles, though I inevitably take wrong turns, thus increasing my personal miles because 550 miles is just not enough it seems. There is approximately 53,000 feet of elevation change in this mileage, ~10,000 feet per 100 miles-though this varies day by day. Like my Norwegian friend, living in Berlin Social Worker Joachim Rosenlund said, “10km (6.2miles) can take you 20 minutes or five hours”, terrain and weather dependent. He rides professionally for Bombtrack (the German bike company, not the song by Rage Against the Machine) and does rides like this all over the world. The northernmost portion of the course lies above the 58th parallel, same as Juneau, Alaska. That area is ~500 miles SE from Iceland. At that latitude there is about 20-21 hours of daylight, and the 3-4 hours it is darkish it is not real dark. The trails can mostly be ridden safely without lights.

Scotland HT550 May 2019-ITT

Round 2, MAY 2019.

Full GPX track available here,http://trackleaders.com/highland19. You can open trackleaders site, racers names on right, scroll down ~3/4 way, look for American flag by my name. My personal track photo follows:

 http://trackleaders.com/highland19i.php?name=Gregory_Cummins.  I departed Tyndrum, Scotland 23 MAY 2019, doing the HT550-this time as an Individual Time Trial (ITT) to start with Brian Robinson my friend from Kansas City, now residing in Austin, Texas. Brian and his wife Shelly loved my tales from 2017 and planned this trip together for 2019. My intent was to depart 2 days prior to the HT550 race again on my steel hardtail Bohemian 29er, built by Dave Bohm in Tucson Arizona-the same bike as 2017, but entirely different set up.

 Despite what many who know me think, I indeed can from my poor life decisions #poornicole . My setup this year was front suspension with a 14 speed Rohloff SpeedHub—see I can learn. That set up made my bike about four pounds heavier gross, but I packed less, coming out about two pounds heavier net with bike, bags, gear, water and food weighing about 52 pounds depending on supplies at any moment. I learned from 2017 to carry a couple external batteries to charge from the dynamo hub to then charge my electronics, rather than try to charge electronics directly from the hub.

Thanks to Brian alerting me, I got a great deal on American Airlines/British Airlines airfare, ~$400 taxes included from Chicago to Inverness. However BA cancelled the flight from London to Inverness, so I scrapped those plans and flew again, as I did in 2017 into Edinburgh and used Hart’s Cyclery https://www.harts-cyclery.co.uk/ run and owned by Graeme Hart, former RAF officer and his graciously made available shop and crew--an awesome independent local shop/bicycle collective with great people and space for me to assemble my bike. I did so and was on the road to the High Street Hostel at ~$18/night https://www.highstreethostel.com/facilities/ in about an hour and a half, storing my case and unneeded gear in Graeme’s shop.

At the start of the course, though I did not yet know this until much later, between a few doing this as ITT style combined with the official race starters, there were 73 riders, with only 23 finishers due to the severe weather. Alan and all other riders agreed this was the most brutal weather for the HT550 in its year history. But as it is northern Scotland, I suspect this weather will be topped in the future. However, due to the cold and wet weather there were only minimal midges to bleed you dry. LikeMonty Python says, “You’ve got to look on the bright side of life”

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Day 1, 23 MAY 2019, Thursday.

We ate at The Real Food Cafe https://www.therealfoodcafe.com/-I had a full Scottish breakfast. Shelly, Brian’s wife planned to drive ahead and stay at various points near the course and meet Brian periodically for “socialization” when able. 

There was a local Scot, Crispin (Cris) Hoult who was also starting as an ITT that day and headed out with us briefly for some camaraderie.

We departed Tyndrum ~0900 and got to Loch Lyon, riding at a casual pace with frequent breaks, as Brian was not really enjoying this as much as he anticipated. Cris took off riding quickly well before this, and as a local is a well fit and seasoned rider who knows these trails. I never saw him again though I was the next person to sign the register after him at Hydro Bothy. He scratched just before Oykel Bridge and returned partially by the course, some road to Ft. William and then home, still putting in well over 250 miles I’d guess. About eight miles into the HT550, Brian rethought things and headed back to Tyndrum to find Shelly-he decided this was more than he wanted to pursue at this time and wanted to spend time in beautiful Northern Scotland with his lovely wife Shelly rather than snuggling me. I can’t blame him at all as there’s so much to see and do in the Highlands and Shelly is much better looking than I am. Kudos for giving it a shot-but he paid for it on the climb out after the sheep gate/tunnel near the start/finish! Here he is cautiously walking down that hill after we started. 

After Brian's departure I took off solo at an increased pace towards Bridge of Balgie, where I stopped for a light snack at the Glenlyon Post Office and deli.https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g551795-d2075739-Reviews-Glenlyon_tea_room-Aberfeldy_Perth_and_Kinross_Scotland.html. I had a bowl of ginger tomato soup with fresh baked bread, a brownie, ginger beer and filled up with water. I passed up this stop in 2017 except to grab a link of hard sausage and use the bathroom. I learned my lesson and partook in better nutrition this year. A really long climb followed. Not much further in an area of active forestry work I took a wrong turn, where the trail goes to the right off the edge of the road onto tight deep forest singletrack, but the main gravel road veers off left.

Yes, wrong turn at the same spot BOTH years 2017 and 2019-but I sort of learned this year and only went 1/3 the distance I did in 2017 before doubling back! In 2017 on this stretch of singletrack the air was so thick with Scotland midges https://www.highlandtitles.com/blog/midges/ pelting my face so that it was red everywhere except the area my glasses covered, as if my face had been sandblasted. In 2019 however, after Tyndrum I do not recall seeing a single midge due to the low temperatures, wet weather and wind.

The day’s start was ~50 degrees Fahrenheit (~10Celsius) partly cloudy and dry until about 6PM when a storm consisting of hard windblown rain rolled quickly off the North Atlantic from the west. I noticed several snow patches on the mountainsides early on and realized it was quite a bit colder than in 2017. As I had scouted the weather in preparation, I knew it would be cooler than 2017, though grossly underestimated by how much. I had several layers, mostly wool, but only had a light cycling jacket and minimalist rain jacket. As I rode along Loch Ericht, there was a storm coming in off the North Atlantic, though it was sunny riding along the shore before the long peat bog to Ben Alder Bothy-at the base of the peak on the left side (Ben Alder) in the background of the photo, beyond the large clump of trees at the left side of the loch's edge.

I stopped only long enough to take some pictures at Ben Alder Bothy this year and found my way west quicker this year.

In 2017 I stopped at Ben Alder Bothy for about an hour briefly sheltering from the storm. This quickly approaching 2019 storm abruptly dropped temps to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit (~4.5C). Notice a storm pattern here? There was a very stiff head wind at 20-30 MPH steady with gusts to ~60MPH, with a ~2,000 foot climb over the next ~1.5 miles. There was only minimal rain initially. This put the wind chill at well below 28F, or -2C, though I was warm as I was layered well and working quite hard, though barely making headway. As I started up westbound on the south side of Ben Alder, a 3766 foot peak, the wind and rain hit about halfway up the west bound climb from Loch Ericht and Ben Alder Bothy. The wind was gusting so fast it was difficult to push/pedal up the hill making minimal progress, especially navigating the numerous stone water bars, spaced unevenly though sometimes as frequent as 15 feet.

These water bars are large stone slabs, often sharp edged, laid perpendicular to the trail to funnel the 15 feet of average annual rainfall down the mountains, and they range from a width of 4 inches to 15 inches across the trail. The larger gaps are risky to try to bunny hop across with slow speed and a 50+ pound (23 kg) bike and gear, so lots of dismounting/remounting required. I think it took me over an hour to make this roughly one mile stretch. I finally got to the turn at the WSW corner of Ben Alder to continue the climb northeast.

Thankfully the wind lessened as Geal-Charn,https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/munros/geal-charn-alder the 3,714 foot peak just west of Ben Alder blocked most of the wind as I turned northeast. The wind funneled out of the south valley as it blew across Corrour Train Station, Loch Ossian and Corrour Lodge- the train station and mountain scene where they filmed this portion in the movie Trainspotting.

The nearest public access road to the station is ~14 miles away. This is at the southern edge of Geal-Charn, which funneled the wind north at 40+ MPH, giving me a boost up the slope-I relished the relief. In 2017 on this section, warmer though with less wind and more rain, there were hundreds of Scottish common frogs hopping everywhere and Scottish black slugs all over. It’s hard to try to race when you’re a biologist and dodging frogs every three feethttps://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/species/common-frog/#:~:text=Common%20Frog%20Rana%20temporaria,legs%20covered%20in%20dark%20bands. These frogs breed at 5C, or 41F-when US fair weather frogs put on a parka in this weather. I saw no frogs at all this year, and only a few slugs moving quite slowly (Scottish black slugs, up to 12cm, 4.7 inches long). At times I feared for my life. These things are huge and relative to my speed on this section, were moving quickly.

 https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/82003-Arion-ater.

Once on Ben Alder, I arrived at the site of the 10 DEC 1942 crash of a WWII RAF Wellington bomber 

where it augured into Ben Alder due to instrument malfunction/pilot error while NE bound in the above valley between the two mountains having flown over Loch Ossian/Corrour Station on a training flight in bad weather, crashing about 100 feet shy of the peak; as often happens, the aviators were nearly home, crashing about 80 miles from their targeted base in NE Scotland. I stopped and paid my respects to those who died. The tail gunner made it out alive with a broken leg and walked/crawled about 6 miles dropping over 2000 feet elevation to Corrour Lodge-all other crew died. Here is a detailed write up of the bomber sitehttps://heavywhalley.wordpress.com/2017/12/11/75-years-on-a-forgotten-tale-of-the-wellington-crash-10-dec-1942-geal-charn-near-beinn-alder/. My Dad was a career USAF SAC B52-D tail gunner with 120 combat missions in Vietnam, so I paid proper respects to these five dead aviators. I saw the site in 2017, though my camera and phone were dead at that point due to water damage. After paying my respects I took a couple photographs of the wreckage then finished the peak of the trail and rode on down the valley towards Culra (Scot pronunciation Cul-a-rah) bothy (or Asbestos Bothy as I call it).

As I dropped down into the valley planning to make it past Culra bothy, but between a late start, being darker early because of the storm, and being wet I decided to stop at 10PM, just before this photo was taken-see how much ambient light there is at almost 11PM. This provided shelter from the wind without having to pitch my Big Agnes Three Wire Bivy in the wind-it probably would have wound up in Norway. I slept in the “ASBESTOS-STAY OUT” side as it was only occupied by one other person-the left half had 6+ people judging on the number of bikes outside. We are both still alive today, as far as I know-thanks for sharing, whomever you are. Even with no fire my wool clothing dried out mostly overnight. This put me at ~65 miles for the day, 13 hours total on the bike, about 10 hours since departing Loch Lyon and Brian heading back. This was less distance by about 8 miles than I made on Day 1 in 2017, but I was fine with that.

Day 2 to follow soon.