HT550 Day 4 & 5
Day 4 - Ledmore Junction to Poolewe.
After a night on the Ledmore Traverse I headed down to Oykel Bridge completing the northerly loop, continuing on to Ullapool and then Fisherfield, this has to be one of my favourite sections on the route the views are just incredible, the river crossing not so much.
Day 5 - Poolewe to Camban Bothy.
Started off the day on the Tollie Path which was brutal the descent was near enough unridable. After many more hours spinning away I eventually ended up in Dornie and headed up into the hills to spend the night in Camban Bothy. #ht550
U23 24 hour National Champš¬š§ & 3rd overall at the @strathpuffer this weekend!
19 laps, 235km and 22.5 hours moving time, safe to say I put everything I had into my first Puffer and Iām stoked it paid off.
Some very tough conditions to say the least, what started out as hard packed snow soon turned a slushy mess with ruts everywhere making it impossible to stay on the bike.
A savage 24 hours but an insane experience that Iām chuffed to have been a part of!
Huge thanks to @seth.bolton7 for supporting throughout with food and bottle swaps on every lapš«”
Highland Trail 550 - 6th place
926km, 20,000 metres of climbing,
4 days 10 hours & 13 minutes.
Lost for words, this ultra is a special one. Last year all I wanted to do was finish so to come back and put down a competitive time feels surreal.
Some wild conditions out there, below freezing most nights that combined with the rain made things pretty gnarly at times.
I pushed harder than I ever have but also kept a pace I knew I could hold, slept well (5 hours on the last two nights)!
The final shift from Fort William to Tyndrum was where I got my second wind, donāt think Iāve ever ran and rode up Devils Staircase, closed in finishing only 10 minutes behind 5th.
So much to say but I canāt quite process it all right now all I know is it feels incredible. More to come soonšš¼
Highland Trail 550 kicks off tomorrow, 900km of mountain passes, hike a bike and bog.
Chuffed to be lining up once again for what will be my biggest race for the year. Hoping for better weather after last year but this is the highlands so you never know what itāll do.
So so much learnt since last year, a massively refined setup, more fitness and experience leaves me excited to see what I can do.
Huge shoutout to @restrap for the sorting the last minute custom frame bag and to @jade_saskia for bringing it up, production line to highlands in less than 24 hours!
8:30 tomorrow morning we go, very excited to see what the coming days bring.
Back between the tape this weekend for the first National Enduro of the year! Serious lack of gas on the day plus a puncture on stage 4 but so much fun racing the local tracks. Cheers @scottishenduro š
The crashout I had trying to make this post was almost as generational as the Dales Divide - Insane experience, hereās a massively simplified version of what went downš«”
Dales Divide ā¢ 9th place
604km, 11,800m, around 2 hours sleep.
You can push yourself further than you ever thought possible. Havenāt got many words to describe this one, body and mind exhausted yet something keeps me coming back for moreā¦
A beast of a route with some insane weather, making it to the bothy Saturday night in storm Dave was a pivotal moment in the race, a moment where time stood still. @kerrymacphee@apcordingley & myself sheltered for a few hours while the storm raged, huddled round the fire before completing the final stretch and finishing together in 9th place.
