Highland Trail 550, Day 2

Nice resort (I think), really caught my eye as I passed by on day 2

Day 2

I started my day with a short bit of bonus miles up the paved road I had woke up on, that smooth pave had me zoned out and not watching my GPS track.  Once I got back on route I climbed up to the wide open terrain around Loch ma Stac. 

There was some hike-a-bike across some marshy areas and along the shore line. 

Other than this I remember the rest of day 2 terrain as being roads, two track and quite a few short climbs, seems like only one required some pushing. Alan Goldsmith, the event organizer spent a few minutes riding and chatting with me as he passed by.  Alan was making up time after a too fast 1^st day followed by a long sleep in.  Thanks once again Alan for a great route, one of the best multi-day races around, one that should be on everyone’s bucket list.

After some fast food resupply from the Contin Filling Station I got rained/hailed on.  I was ‘expecting’ to get rain during the race so I simply suited up and kept going.  Had I been a bit more in tune with the local weather I might have realized it was just a passing storm and not anything long lasting.  But rather than shelter up I just but my head down and paced on. 

The entire day was one long slow easy pace.  I did some extra miles by initially missing the café at the Oykel Bridge Hotel, needed to turn left after the bridge. 

I wasted some time getting a real meal at Oykel but enjoyed listing to all the other racers milling about.  The café is very in tune with the race and had set up the bar area to dine in for all of us stinky dirty racers.  Worked out good, when I left I could see the normal clientele watching us come and go out the main dining room windows.  I wonder what they thought of all the crazy bikepackers, hopefully one or two saw we were all having a good time…..

I finished up the second day after dark at tip of Loch Shin.  I was 220 miles into it and had made up some of my hoped for miles but not enough.  I was still about 15-20 miles shy of where had I hoped to be.  Also at 220 miles in I was basically done with the easy miles.  Up till now it had been relatively easy and fast, at least in comparison to what was coming.  Day 3 would be quite a bit more strenuous.  If I were to ever run this race again I would push much much harder on days 1 and 2.  I think for a ‘average’ racer like myself days 1 and 2 are where one should burn some matches and gain as many miles as possible. 

HT 550 Ride Report, Day 1

It begins...

The start was typical for a multi-day.  Low key, everyone checking out bikes and gear, riders and friends gathering at the start, lots of pictures, last minute questions, jokes about last year’s follies and then off we roll with some low key jockeying for position up the first hill. 

Within a few miles everyone will find their pace and settle in.  It’s always interesting how within the first few hours you can tell who you will most likely be seeing and possible riding with over next few days. 

I really enjoyed the first several hours, unlike many multi-days I was not really focused on my pace or effort.  Rather I just could not drink in enough of the scenery.  Every cottage, lake, stream, stone wall, old arched bridge made me think I had stepped into a post card.  I was giddy like a child on their birthday with lots of cake, ice cream and big boxes of presents.

Race wise day one is a ‘make miles’ day over mild, mixed terrain.  The first 100+ miles consist of rocky two track (everything is rocky in the Highlands), gravel roads,

some sweet bikeable flowy single track but no technical riding, that would come later.  Strategically there was only one objective on day 1.  I wanted to reach Fort Augustus (95 miles) in time to get some re-supply.  Other than that is was just ride steady and long, enjoy and get as far as I could go.

If I was to make notes to and comments to myself for a future race day 1 was like this:

·         First extended climb at mile 26 (a non-technical but steep gravel road climb from the valley floor up into the hills). This 1^st real climb was where I realized my poor shifting was not just my imagination but really had gone south.  Once up the climb I remember being surprised to see small logging operations & trucks in the area.

·         Soft marshy area with disappearing trail as you approach and skirt the edge of Loch Ericht around mile 49.  Route stays above, to left of Benalder Cottage/bothy (I lost some time and effort thinking the trail would go to and on past the bothy)

·         Closed Café around 72 miles at Laggan Wolf Tracks Mountain Bike parking lot TH.  Closes at 5pm and I did not roll by till 6pm.  Might have possibly made the Café if I knew it was there and hadn’t stopped several times and adjusted [make worse] my derailleur.

·         The steep approach to Correyairack Pass about mile 86 was a huge surprise.  It shouldn’t have been as this is our Check Point 1 on Trackleaders.  But for some reason I had not picked up on it in my pre-race prep and was not expecting it till I saw it.  One of the few roads that had switchbacks vs a straight up is better approach.  Ha , still had to walk some of it. Anyway it’s quite an eye full on the approach and very intimidating when you are a bit tired and trying to make a re-supply cut off time.  This pass (not really that long) was particularly hard for me because I was mis-reading the time on my GPS clock by 1 or 2 hours and thought I was going to miss making the re-supply at Ft Augustus.  I had fiddled with my GPS and got it on 24 hr instead of 12 hr time.  I did not want to fiddle again and dump my track so the 24 hr clock threw me off several times on day 1 and again on the last day when I was really tired.

·         Ft Augustus at 95 miles.  I made the cut off, barely, and proceeded to made what I consider to be one of my biggest mistakes of the entire race.  I got to the only open restaurant a few minutes before closing and ordered a pizza.  Mistake you think?  Well a couple that was picking up their earlier order collected two trays of fish & chips.  I wanted to just reach out and snag their order it looked so good. Ahh, huge crispy golden fish fillets and perfect chips.  But my mind was locked into ordering a pizza and so I did.  Mostly because that’s what all the race reports had mentioned so it was in my mind to do so and also so I planned to eat some on the spot and slip the rest into a zip lock for a late night snack.  The pizza was not very good, never order a pizza right before closing, and even if it had been I can still see to this day that tray of perfect fish & chips…yes this mistake will be a lifelong regret……..If you do the race, order the F&C and let me know how they were.....

·        

I wrapped up my 1^st day at midnight with a bivy in the weeds on the side of the road, around 110 miles.  I had hoped to get 10-15 miles farther but considering my middling training effort that had produced a slightly overweight race engine, one with some extra padding around the middle I had no room to complain.  And it HAD been such a wonderful ride across the Highlands I was stoked for more.

Highland Trail 550

Highland Trail 550 (My Birthday Present)

“The Highland Trail is a long distance self-supported mountain bike time-trail route through the Scottish Highlands. For 2014 the distance is increased from 430 miles to 560 miles with the addition of a loop further north into Assynt. There is no entry fee, no prize money, and definitely no support. It is a self-timed Individual Time Trial (ITT). All that is provided is inspiration, a suggested start time, a GPS track file, and a list of completion times. Riders are limited to 40 for the suggested start time.

You may experienceScotland's beautiful sunny blue skies and cool mountain streams and lochs asfar as you can see! But, be warned, the weather in Scotland can change on awhim, and you may be just as likely find yourself getting besieged by coldlashing rain and high winds. In short, don't attempt this ride unprepared - noone will be there to rescue you! Approach the ride as though you are on anindependent expedition, fully prepared for your own limitations and whatevernature has in store for you.”

When I found out the 2016 Highland Trail 550 (HT) started on my 60^th birthday and had scrutinized lots of the Scottish Highland pictures the die was cast, I was going.  Before I dive into my short, typically boring day-by-day account of my race let me detour and comment a bit on the HT verses some other multi-day races (CTR, AZT 300/750, Stagecoach 400 and TDR) I have had the pleasure of competing in.  The idea here is to encourage any US multi-day racers to add the HT to their bucket list!

Number one:

All told compared to the other major multi-day routes the HT probably has the most technical sections. Ha, I think it’s against Scottish nature to construct trails with mild grades, probably have to pay a tax or fine if a trail or old cart path has one to may switchbacks in it, straight up and straight down 'over the rocks we go' seems to be the required construction routine.  Actually I think Alan, the event organizer, simply went looking for fun, long descents and then figured a way to string them together regardless of required hike-a-bike in between. 

No this is not a technical section, just a pretty one.  Funny how the camera stayed tucked away when the pucker factor was in play...

Anyway all joking aside there are lots of hike-a-bike sections going both up, down and even flat plus many many rocky, semi-challenging descents, ie: lots of technical riding on this route.  But there are also miles and miles of mild Tour Divide type sections, paved sections and bike path cursing.  In the end, if you are inclined to some semi-‘enduro’ style sections the HT route will probably put the big smile on your face.  I should point out I am a technically modest rider at best and what is challenging for me will be much less so for many. Also you can look at pictures of my bike you will see that it is more of a TDR set up.  In retrospect I personally would have been a lot more confident on a light FS bike with larger tires and some of my gear carried in a backpack for a lighter front end, better balance and less seatbag sway in the back. 

Number two:

The Highlands are truly stunningly beautiful to this American bikepacker. 

The terrain and scenery was simply beyond expectations. I should point out that this was my first trip to Scotland and the weather was basically perfect.  Also what will be routine to many locals was utterly new and somewhat exotic to my eyes.  On the other hand backpackers and day walkers come from all over England and Europe to experience parts of the Highlands so it’s not just me being ‘new’ to the area.  You decide but just take a look at my typical tourist snapshots but also google up some better pictures and see for yourself.  If you have never been there and think you might want to do the HT, the scenery alone makes it worth the trip.

Number three:

The HT was easy for me to to finish compared to the say the AZT or CTR. 

Ha before all the HT naysayers jump in let me clarify.  The ‘2016’ HT was easy to finish because we had truly perfect conditions.  Just read the 2015 accounts to get a feel for how tough this exact same route is with more typical weather. Plus I rode a hard but not true 'race-pace' as I was simply not in shape to do so.

Anyway, every multi-day route has its challenges, from my mid-pack perspective:

The TDR is all easy resupply, non-technical but so so very long and so easy to go so very hard……beautiful in a different way from all the single track races………….

The AZT 300 has average to difficult resupply points, rocks, hike-a-bike, sometimes cold/snow and almost always sun/heat.  The 750 has the 300 plus 450 more miles of mostly high desert the dreaded Highline trail and for desert the Grand Canyon on foot.  All in all the 750 is probably the hardest route overall I have done.

The CTR single track is ‘mostly’ fast and flowy (Sergeants Mesa 2-track excepted) it has average resupply (with a one rather key ‘no-resupply’ section) and many times has afternoon lightning strikes and sometimes serious rain plus lots of high altitude climbing.  Rain and high altitude temps are one of my personal worry points.

The SC 400 has good re-supply, snow, sea, desert, wind, rain, sand plus interesting urban night life.  Such a unusual little fun route, I have done this one three years running……

The HT has plentiful resupply (at least during 9-5 hours), ridiculous easy easy easy water re-supply, lots of bothy’s to sleep in (if needed) and low elevation with mild temperatures overall.  If the rain is out of the picture like this year all that’s really left is how hard and fast you can push though the constant punchy steep climbs, the numerous hike-a-bike sections and how fast you can or are are willing to descend.  In short in 2016 with good weather the HT was all about pure/fun basic mountain bike skills and strength. Note: even with little to no rain there is still water everywhere by US standards, stream crossings, constant puddles, marshy areas etc so your feet could be wet much or most of the time.  And again least you think I don’t get-- it I did read the 2015 accounts—so if the HT route is on your radar screen-- for a more typical, 180 degree opposite, picture just read those 2015 accounts, anyone who finished in 2015 was hard core.

The upcoming Black HillsExpedition (a 430-mile Bikepacking Race through the Black Hills of South Dakota).  Check back—it’s on the list for Sept.  But I already know it’s likely to be a tough one, at least the Centennial trail single track section is hard from 1^st hand experience—that trail put in the hospital with an IV drip due to mild heat exhaustion a few years back……

Number four:

The base speed and technical riding skill of the average HT racer is a notch above what you might see at the SC 400, AZT or CTR. 

Alan, the event organizer is limiting the participants to roughly 40. As this event gains in reputation he said he must pick between potential participants.  If I understand correctly he is picking mostly those who have some base level of racing and or bikepacking qualifications. 

So here is a call out to all the top CTR, AZT and TDR finishers (and/or the not so fast yet experienced multi-day racers like me)—take the HT challenge, get your name down on that start list.  Ha, in a wet year the HT will be one of the toughest, most challenging routes you can finish.  And in a picture perfect dry year its pure unadulterated mountain bike fun for hundreds of miles mixed in with plenty of friendly, skilled, fast competitors, from the front of the pack down to the not so back backmarkers.

Number five:

From the US perspective Scotland is a fantastically easy place to vacation for a multi-day.  Glasgow is easy to fly into from the US.  A mid-size airport with all the convenience needed but not the size/hassle of a huge airport.  English makes it easy to navigate, both from a verbal and written point of view.  So if you screw something up its easy to ask for forgiveness and get things right. For me this kept the stress down as I did not have to worry about or contend with any major or minor communication snafus.  The race itself is a loop vs a point to point so you start/finish at the same location.  You can arrange to store some stuff at a campground, hotel or bed & breakfast etc near the start/finish. Minus the plane ticket the overall cost is similar to doing a US event, ie: food, accommodations etc are similar to US costs.  Plus after the race you can play tourist as see castles and stone rings and and.....

You do have to drive and ride on the left side of the road.  And the back roads are truly one lane with motorized traffic taking turns. On the bike my rule was to simply keep my ‘left hand’ always on the left side of the road or trail.  I only messed up twice (once, because even knowing it was wrong, I followed a local who cheated a corner and the other time because I was tired and briefly forgot my rule)

I could go on but you get the idea.  The HT is a fun challenging event, ideal for the experienced US multi-day racer.  So go do it!!

On the flip side any UK or Europe HT racers looking to come to the US there is a whole list  of routes and races to pick from, including the ones above,

even the non technical routes can be hard sometimes...

all ‘hard’ yet appealing in their own way.

Stagecoach 400, 2016

I never wrote up my Stagecoach 400 (SC) race so before I move on to the Highland Trail 550 (HT) write up here is a quick summary.

My work pulled a fast one and scheduled a last minute “mandatory” meeting the week of the SC so I changed my vacation plans and ran the SC 400 as a Individual Time Trail (ITT).  This is my first ever ITT of a multi-day race vs the usual group start.  I was using the SC as a training /stepping stone for the HT and did not want to totally mess up my training plans.  Also the SC route is one of the most interesting routes I have done so along with my training schedule it was easy to convince myself to attempt my first multi-day  ITT.

In past years the route ran clock wise, this year for the first time it ran counter clock wise so my previous course knowledge/ time splits were of marginal value.  However a couple of others did ITT’s before mine so by studying their Spot dot times I had a rough plan for my hoped for time splits.  You can look up everyone’s Spot history here (http://trackleaders.com/stagecoach16 ) Turns out my planed splits worked out for some good and some not so good.

Day 1:

One nice thing about a ITT is a relaxed no-stress start.  Just pick your time and get up and go, no nervous waiting around for everyone else to assemble and be sent off in a huge wave of twitchy bike handling and over pacing.  The initial climb out of Idyllwild was a smooth, pleasant warm up. With no one pushing a race pace around me the singletrack decent down to hwy 74 was mild and relaxed. Humm, this ITT stuff aint bad……

Other than a whole series of ‘water the tree’ stops during the early hours of the day (note to self—don’t over hydrate so much the night before) the whole day was one long, firm but relaxed, pace into San Diego.  A truly beautiful day out on the bike. I started at 6am and hit the Escondido gas station 12 hours later right at 6pm.  I was right on plan for my first time split.  By 9:30pm, some rain and mud in between, I was down to the ocean.

(The SC 400 route starts in the high pine trees wanders over hill and dale down to the ocean, runs right thru all of San Diego with cool urban single track, interesting residential side roads and plush bike paths, climbs sharply up to Pacific Crest Trail altitude, drops down down down to true scorching hot desert and then finishes with a big climb back to the pines.)

By 3:30am I was 180 miles into it and pretty much out the far side of San Diego.  It had been a great day for maintaining a smooth pace and riding strong. 

However in hind sight I should have pulled up about 1-2pm as although I made my pre-conceived split distance I paid for the lost sleep on day 2.

Up with the sun after a few short hours of sleep for my 2^nd day.  With the short rest it was going to be a long slow slog and if I was to enjoy it I needed to be smart and pace easy all day.

About 8am I was quickly passed by a larger group of road riders on Willow Glen road, out for their morning ride, and saw the same group a few hours later going by up in Alpine, different routes, dirt vs pave, different bikes mtn vs road, but same beautiful S Cal morning out on the bike…..

By the time I hit Alpine the sun was beating down and hydration and pacing was the order for the next few hours.  A short stop in Descanso for a taco and resupply had me refueled and feeling better.  The climb from Descanso to Sunrise Hwy took 5 hours. 

The highway pavement was a welcome rest followed by fun singletrack in the dark and a ripping rocky decent down Mason Valley truck road and out into the desert.  But first a detour to Auga Caliente for some water.  The desert sand was not to soft and I paced on till about 12:30pm.  Nothing beats drifting off to sleep under the bright desert stars after a long day pushing the pedals……

I made a tactical error by sleeping in a bit.  My thinking was I needed the rest for my last day, which I did but it cost me as the wind really caught me after the turn west on hwy 78 at Ocotillo Wells.  I have been riding bikes a long time and I swear the head wind from Ocotillo Wells to Borrego Springs was the worst I have ever experienced. 

side ways palm trees.....yha the wind was a blowing right in my face....

We are talking standing up to barely turn over a super low 24X42 gear ratio!  Had I reached that turn west just 1 or 2 hours earlier I would have saved massive effort/time.

After a huge lunch at Borrego Springs I pushed on thru the dwindling wind but still hot sun up to camp cabin in Canyon Springs.  It’s hard to put into words how strange it is to hike-a-bike in the desert thru running water and a green grotto of brush and willows.  I wrung out my wet socks at the cabin and freshened up a bit for the final push to the finish.  Leaving I was regretting my desire to ‘race’ for time as it would have been so pleasant to crash out in the cool little cabin for a few hours of sleep…..

The climb out of the canyon seemed to take forever as I was in full conserve bikepacking ‘pace mode’ with no energy reserves.  On the other hand the finish was getting closer and after a few hours I was past hwy 78 and climbing in light snow up the final few miles to the finish at Idyllwild.  I rolled up to the Hub (http://www.hubcyclery.com/) at about 2:20am (2 days, 20 hours, 25 minutes) and my 3^rd Stagecoach 400 was in the books.

Final thoughts on the Stagecoach 400 route.  I have had the opportunity to race the Colorado Trail (CTR) Arizona trail (AZT both 300 and 750), Great Divide (TDR) and recently the Highland Trail 500.  I can heartily recommend each and every one of these routes, each is quite different than the others.  But with regards to the SC 400 it is the most unique route I have raced.  Pine trees to ocean to true desert.  Singletrack to fire road to pavement to bike path.  Remote to reservation to suburbia to urban.  High altitude with maybe some snow, sea level and desert with sun, wind and heat.  This route is just so varied compared to the rest----well worth putting on the bucket list.

Race Strategy, Stagecoach 400

 

Link here for race info: https://socalenduro.wordpress.com/stagecoach-400/

 

My ‘passion’ is self-supported multi day bike racing.  I have been at it for a while now and feel I know the basics pretty well.  In terms of importance one could break down the basic parameters as follows:

·         Fitness
·         Bike/gear/craftsmanship
·         Route knowledge
·         Race Strategy

This break down isn’t absolute, one might come up with a logical alternative but this one suffices for this post. 

Fitness, ahh even at my age fitness is an ongoing work in progress but in general I just need to reach my ‘race weight’ and that gets me 90 to 95% of my maximum.  In all honesty I do not have the inclination (read time and dedication) to work on that last 5 to 10 %.  I will leave that to those who want to and can.  I struggle hard enough just to reach the desired weight and frankly that’s good enough for me.

 
Bike/gear/craftsmanship is also a never finished project.  I truly enjoy honing my gear and craftsmanship However unless I take up wintertime multiday racing I am pretty far along the learning curve in this area.  I work at this more for the satisfaction and fun rather than noticeable improvement.

Route knowledge is something I do spend a lot of time at.  I know many like to approach a multi-day with less than ideal route knowledge because that’s the way they want to experience the event.  I on the other hand truly enjoy the study.  Studying a route is one of my simple pleasures in life.  And it’s also a huge stress relief from my day to day work life.  Perhaps someday I will do a multi-day without my usual in-depth pre-route preparation, just for the experience, but I sort of doubt it.

Race Strategy, now this is currently where my head is at.  This is where one tries to put all the pieces together in such a way so as to minimize your finish time and maximize your race placement.  I think if I ever archive perfect implementation of an ideal race strategy my head will explode from pure satisfaction.  It won’t happen because first I always make too many mistakes during a race and second I can always think of something I might have done better.  To me strategy is a journey not a destination (thanks Ralph)

So right now as I prep for the upcoming 2016 Stagecoach 400 I am  working on fitness/weight but really I am wondering and thinking about strategy.  How should I approach this particular race?  My current thinking (sure to change) is to focus on pace, followed by duration with a set recovery time.  This is not so different than what I always think I will do.  But in both Stagecoach 400’s I have done it seems I never quite nail the ‘pace’ part of the plan, ha-not even close.  Which then throws the rest of my strategy out of sync, and I wind up yo-yoing most of race. 

So how might I actually hold a sustainable pace?  Sounds easy but when you factor in my untested/current/improving/early year fitness level, huge temperature differential vs my home base and the shock of always longer than trained for ride hours—well let’s just say I could not possibly do worse than my first two Stagecoach races at holding a ideal 1st day pace.  If fact this is a common issue (horrible first day & maybe even second day) in almost all my multi-day races.  Only in the TDR have I avoided this issue, I think because the TDR sort of regulates your effort due to the easy terrain.

 

Thought about it for most of my 5 hour ride today.......nice day bty....

Power Meter?  Heart Rate Monitor? Perceived exertion scale? Jedi focus? Forget the whole idea and just go with the natural flow? 

What say you?

I am open to all ideas......